The Rural Voice, 1996-10, Page 54People
Restoring memories hobby for
Pinkerton's Gordon Cassidy
The old Foresters' Hall in
Pinkerton had become too
crowded with treasures and
Gordon Cassidy had to have a
sale. Early in September he turned
the collection of restored items
over to auctioneer Len Metcalfe
to be sold.
Cassidy has been picking up
items at local auctions and from
his neighbours, for years now. Hc
then spends hundreds of hours
restoring them. He works from
old photographs and does research
in the library to find out how the
object should have looked. It's a
hobby, not a business, and so he
keeps the restored items.
"I just didn't have room. I had
that place right full. I have no idea
how many items I had." It took
Metcalfe six hours to sell off the
collection.
The auction brought back
memories for many of those
attending the auction. Bevis
MacKay of Walkerton sat in the
horse-drawn cutter he used while
courting his wife Janet back in
1939. "It's in perfect shape," he
said of Cassidy's restoration job.
"There weren't the snowplows
back then," MacKay recalled of
his courting days, so visiting his
future wife meant winter trips
across unplowed country
concessions. The cutter had been
bought by MacKay's father in
1939 and was eventually stored in
his shed until he sold it to Cassidy
in 1991.
Other items at the auction
included grinders, wrenches, a
seven -foot 1953 saw still in the
original packaging, a set of brass
handbells, blacksmith's tools,
buggies and cutters and an old
fanning mill, made in Clinton.
The mill was owned by Dave
Elphick, grandfather of Janet
Cassidy. It was purchased at the
auction by members of the
McTaggert family whose
forebearers had built it.
It's the second time Cassidy has
had an auction, the first being
back in the 1970s.
"I hate to see it go," he told the
Walkerton Herald -Times. "There
comes a time when you have to do
it."
The shed still houses a large
collection of household items.
And what will Cassidy do with
the proceeds of the auction?
"Buy more," he said. A good
sign for those who want to see the
memories of yesterday restored.°
It's on to new levels for Greenock rider
Nicole Umiker is dreaming ahead
to being an Olympic equestrian rider
and the daughter of Carolyn and Len
Umiker of Greenock Township knows
what it's like to win.
Competing on her pony "Melody
Lane" Umiker won a jump-off for the
show jumping competition at the
Canadian National Exhibition in
Toronto. The pair competed two
perfect rounds of 17 jumps then had to
enter a speed round to break the tie.
They completed the round of six jumps
in 37 seconds to edge the next closest
competitor by two seconds.
"She loves the speed rounds,"
Umiker says of Melody Lane. "She
loves the jumps. I love them too."
Melody Lane will be getting a rest
for a while. The 16 -year-old pony,
which Nicole has ridden since she was
seven, pulled a tendon after the show.
Meanwhile, in the first step to her
Olympic dream, Nicole is training
daily on Tamara, a horse formerly
ridden by her mother. She hopes to
compete next summer on the Georgian
Bay Hunter/Jumper Circuit, known as
the Trillium Circuit.
"I would like to be the next
Olympic rider," she says. "I'd like to
go on as far as I can."0
Port Albert rider
begins competition
with galloping start
Melissa Daer has gotten the
American Saddlebred competitive
season off to a fast start.
Aboard her horse "Skizekes" the
young rider took on all competition
at the American Saddlebred
competitions at Orono, early in July
and later at the Canadian National
Exhibition, bringing back a
staggering amount of hardware to her
Port Albert home.
At Orono she captured four firsts:
in the Three -gaited Pleasure Junior
competition, the Equitation compet-
ition for 14-18 year olds, the Equita-
tion Championship and the Show
Pleasure Championship against adult
riders.
Her performance in competition at
the CNE in late August can only be
described as `overwhelming". She
finished first in the geldings (three
years and over) line class, first in the
Equitation competition for riders 14-
18 years old, and took the gold in the
Equitation championship.
She took first in the Show
Pleasure Junior Exhibitor compet-
ition and in the Show Pleasure
Championship for all ages. Her total
points gave her the CNE High Point
Award and the American Saddlebred
Horse Association of Ontario's High
Point Youth CNE and Classic
combined award.°
History books
bring awards
Heading township history book
committees helped win Ontario
Heritage Foundation awards for two
local people, among 134 honoured
across the province.
Ferne Dougall led the Usborne
Township committee in Huron that
created a township history and now
is completing her own book, Between
the Fences.
In Wellington, Matthew Seffried
headed the Minto Township
Historical Committee that produced
the Family History Book.O