The Village Squire, 1981-08, Page 31Update
New life for old documents
Those love letters from Uncle Fred to
Aunt Mary, Grandma's old diaries, or old
leases and legal documents may have
some value, if not to you, then to
historical societies like that in Huron
County. The group is urging people in the
area not to throw out old papers and such.
but to donate them to the society where
they will be treasured.
The Society, established since 1964,
has recently moved to the Huron County
Public Library in Goderich where it has
access to a fire -proof vault. Archives and
histories of the county are stored in this
ault and are accessible to anyone
wishing to do research. The Society also
has people on duty in the library to assist
researchers in locating particular books.
The society's archivist, Ethel Poth, has
catalogued the archives to make the
material readily available.
With a membership of 170. the Society
is always attempting to increase its size.
Four public meetings are held each year.
Each member receives a copy of the
Huron County Historical Notes (which the
Society assembles) and two newsletters.
The Society has members who live in the
States, according to Doris Batkin, secre-
tary of the group. Membership is two
dollars, single per year and three dollars
double per year.
The seventeenth volume of the Huron
County Historical Notes is now being
assembled. The material is collected at
the general meetings when curators of
Women's Institutes Tweedsmuir Histor-
ies provide historical talks or papers
about Huron towns or areas.
The book also includes authentic
material which is researched by the
Society, says Batkin.
A great portion of the material in the
vault has come from donations from local
attics and the Society is hoping for more
of these. The organization urges people
to "please make a search through your
attics, old files, drawers and odd corners
for such important material, and when
and if you find something, please get in
touch with the Huron Historical Society."
The Festival goes to Ottawa
For the first time since 1976, the
Stratford Festival company will visit the
National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa in
PU. 30 VILLAGE SQUIRE/AUGUST 1981
November with Wild Oats, a presentation
from this year's season.
Hamlet was performed in Ottawa five
years ago during the Festival's pre-
season spring tour of Canadian cities.
Wild Oats, which is Stratford's final
play of 1981, opens at the NAC November
3 and continues to November 21. It runs
from September 28 to October 31 at
Stratford.
Derek Goldby, in his first involvement
with the Festival, will direct the play
which will star Richard Monette, Fiona
Reid, Scott Hylands, Nicholas Pennell
and David Langton.
Berthold Carriere will provide the score
for the production.
Sales up at Stratford
Daily ticket sales for the initial weeks of
the 1981 Stratford Festival were better
this year than for the same period in
preceding years, a Festival spokesman
said in early July.
The news supports a comment made
earlier by artistic director John Hirsch.
Speaking about attendance at one series
of performances on a weekend near the
start of the season, he said, "With last
weekend's ninety-five percent house
for The Misanthrope and eighty percent
for Coriolanus, we're doing better than
ever before in the history of the
Festival."
Controversy over the selection of an
artistic director to replace Robin Philips
meant hasty preparations for planning
and promotion of the 1981 season. The
delay caused a slump in early season
ticket sales.
LAST WORD
(cont. from page 40)
watched the dancers in the big upstairs
ballroom gliding in the semi -darkness as
a few twinkling lanterns slowly revolved
in today's best disco maner.
This is how it was to be growing up in
London a half century ago. Long after we
moved away. an expressway ate uo half
the block where I was born leaving o4,
house gauntly standing at its very
edge --not our house any longer, but a
dingy -looking rug salesroom. those invit-
ing verandas, scenes of laguorous
summer afternoons, chopped away like
leaves from a head of cabbage. You can't
go home again, or if you do, be prepares
for a lot of surprises.
Those puppetry Powells
There have been Powells in puppetry
since Martin Powell of Covent Garden
practised the art in 1709.
This summer, Ann and David Powell,
brother and sister, have extended the
tradition with performances in southwest-
ern Ontario.
Billed as the Puppetmongers since
1973, the Powells, who left England in
1968 to settle in Toronto, offer a unique
world for youthful imaginations.
They draw from folklore, history and
circus, and their styles change according-
ly, making use of mechanical figures.
traditional puppets, dolls and building
bricks. They played at Blyth's Memorial
Hall last year and in various Western
Ontario towns this summer.
Puppetmongers Powell have per
formed at the Edinburgh Festival and the
World Puppetry Festival in Washington.
Their profession has taken them to eight
countries and has earned them a "cita-
tion for Excellence in the Art of
Puppetry." It was presented by Jini
Henson, of the Muppets, for the Puppe-
teers of America.