Village Squire, 1973-09, Page 15ing one of the local councillors for
some time. He recommended that
before any more money be spent in
the building that an engineer be bro-
ught in to inspect the roof and make
sure it was safe.
So in came the engineer. He gave
a verbal report stating that the roof
structure was below standard to support
snow loads in the snow -belt village.
The theatre, he said, should not be
used until repairs were completed to
the roof. The lower portion of the
hall could safely remain in use. He
promised a full report, complete with
recommendations and cost estimates
in the next month.
Price tag
$20,000
That, was in early spring. By
August, the report was still not in
and council was getting impatient
(the supporters of the project were
past that stage by now). Finally
after considerable badgering, the
engineer attended a council meeting
with a further verbal report on the
situation. He also suggested areas
that might cause further problems and
recommended they be checked before
renovations were begun.
Council told him to go ahead. He
promised to report back within a mon-
th after apologizing profusely about
the earlier delay.
September and the report was fin-
ally received. By this time, however,
there was doubt in the community if
the project would go ahead at alL
One councillor after hearing the
engineer's earlier cost estimates sug-
gested "tear the thing down". Another,
one generally felt to be in favour of
renovations, expressed the thought
that perhaps the project was going to
be so costly that council shouldn't put
so much money into an old building.
A coupon was put in the local news-
paper asking whether readers of the
papers were interested in having the
hall repaired or should it be torn down.
Two groups came to the defence of
the building. The first was the group
that had all along wanted the building
renovated, those that felt the hall was
the best entertainment facility in the
area and wanted it put into use again.
The second was the group that felt
the building was a memorial to the
fallen of two world wars and therefore
shoull not be destroyed.
15
Opposition
underground
The opposition to the repair of the
building never did really surface. It
was generally known that some in the
community wanted to see the building
replaced with a new one which would
facilitate holding dances (the lower
floor of the hall is too small to be the
site of profitable dances), but no one
ever really spoke out on the matter.
Returns from the coupon in the news-
paper showed only one person voting
for the hall to be tarn down and that
came after the September council
meeting when council was to make
its decision. On the other hand there
were more than 30 replies before the
vote was taken and several others
afterward. Therz were also many
verbal votes for the project and two
pledges of money to help the renov-
ation.
The September council meeting
finally brought some good news to
supporters of the project. The eng-
ineer's report came in on time and
though expensive, was not as bad as
feared. It recommended the comp-
lete removal of the present roofs and
its replacing with a strengthened new
roof and truss syste m. It recommen-
ded minor strengthening of the floor of
the stage and auditorium. Total bill
for the roof was about $15, 000. A
rough estimate of the total project was
made by a councillor at $20,000.
Councillors, who had feared the
worst such as replacing the floor as well
as the roof of the theatre, breathed a
little easier. They voted approval of
the money to fix the building.
Finally it seems, the end of the road
is in sight. But until the building is in
use, the local supporters of the project
will hold their breath. The Blyth Little
Theatre, after being forced finally last
spring to stage its first, much -delayed
play in the local school auditorium, is
planning to carry on in the school again
this year, but casting longing eyes at
the big stage and beautiful acoustics
of the old theatre. Most supporters are
worried that approval of grants by the
government may slow completion of
the project.
One way or the other, however, it
seems that by this time next year the .
theatre will finally be back in use.
(We hope).
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