The Brussels Post, 1977-11-23, Page 20•••••••••••••••••••••••••••,,..,=.101 .1.•••777..,........
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ROAD GOING IN—It may be hard to believe from
this photo but by next winter this empty field should
house a road and services leading to the new
Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre. Road
construction to the site started last week.
(Issue of May 4, 1977)
Committees made the arena possible
Arenas, and the committees
that build them, are alike in at
least one important respect.
There's more to both than meets
the eye.
That's the view of Jim Prior,
who Saturday will see the end of
more than a year of work as
Chairman of the Brussels,Morris
and Grey Community Centre
committee with the building's
official opening.
Anyone touring the building
will see the obvious; the rooms
and doors and seats, the beams
and stairs and lights.But beneath
the surface and behind the
coverings, are the structural
essentials which hold the building
up. And its the same with the
committees who made the
building possible. On the surface,
in publicity releases and
newspaper pictures, are the
heads of these committees and
the people who h eld executive
positons. But behind the scenes
working quietly and hard, were
scores of people who gave their
time and energy for no other
reason than that they believed the
project was worth the effort.
Without them, the arena couldn't
have been built. And it's those
people Jim Prior thinks of when
he looks at the building as it
stands today.
Mr. Prior has a lot of
impressions of the work he and so
many others have done to bring
the arena to completion, and most
of them, he says, are good.
When he accepted the job of
committee chairman, he knew it
would be a lot of work, but he
says he had no idea just how
much work there would really be
before the building was done.
Everything else, including the
golf that he liked to play for
relaxation, took a back seat. And
it was the same for many other
people Mr. Prior says.
The overwhelming impression
he has of the past year is of the
team work and the support of
those people who took jobs on and
for the various, committees.
• The committees, he says, were
"just phenomenal". From last
September through April. of this
year, when most of the planning
was done, attendance at any
meeting was in excess of 90
percent Mr. Prior says, no matter
what the weather and no matter
what other committments people
had made.
The building committee in
particular, deserves a great deal
of praise, Mr. Prior says. When
people began to think seriously
about building a new arena, "we
were warned that a building
committee should have no more
than three people on it. But we
had seven. That meant that it took
more time to come to decisions, to
reach a consensus, but the
decisions that were made were
the right ones."
Initially, he was frustrated that
things seemed to be happening
very slowly when he and many
others were anxious to get the
arena built. But looking back on it
today, Mr. Prior feels the fact that
it took more time to plan the
()
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Lifestyle.
building, raise the funds and get
construction underway than
happened in other communities,
made the Community Centre a
better place in the end.
The committee received a lot of
input from individuals and groups
in the community during those
months of planning, most of it
positive, Mr. Prior says, and that
meant the committee could plan
the' building to meet the needs of
everyone in the community.
Inevitably, compromises
had to be made,` but on the
whole, its what the community
needs" Mr.Prior feels.
Sometimes what seemed at the
outset to be negative criticism,
slowing the committees progress,
turned out to be valuable in the
end. As an example, . Mr. Prior
cites the time last year when
council asked the committee to
consider locating the new
building on the fair grounds . The
committee favoured the site
donated by Jack Bryans. In
considering both sites carefully,
and arguing in favour of the.
Bryans site, the committee made
certain that it really had chosen
the best. possible site for the
building. It was that kind of
questioning that kept the
committee from making mistakes
in judgment, Mr. Prior feels.
Fund raising brought to light
the commitment of many people
to the project, .a 'commitment that
sometimes was far greater than
they could easily afford. The
generosity of the community gave"
the committees a boost Mr. Prior
says, assuring them that the
people had confidence in them,
and were behind the project.
Friday, when a certificate of
substantial completion is issued,
the work of all the committees will
be largely over. All that remains
is to finalize some grants and
ensure thai any small problems
that may arise in the structure are
repaired by the contractor. And
Mr. Prior won't be sorry to step
down. He knows it will be hard to
end his involvement in the
building, but that's what he
intends to do, letting the
recreation committee take over
the responsibility of operating the
ar ena and making it pay.
A few days ago, Mr. Prior was
walking around the nearly
finished building with his son,
who turned to him and said,
"You know, I can't r eally believe
this is ours". "And you know"
Mr. Prior says, "there are times
when 1 go there and I feel the
same way".
"I hope its something that the
people can be proud of" he says.
"I know we sure are".
►etation
Lifettgle
TO
BRUSSELS, MORRIS
AND GREY
on the Completion of
a Splendid
Arena and
Community Centre
Too much bench time slows
you clown, Get AttiVe..G.-ot in
shape and put yourself
in the clear
Fitness isfun,
Try some. POOT/C/PatT/00
STAURANT SUPPLY
178 'Louisa. Street Witcherieri. OritatiO
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