Townships garner funds for recreation projects

Recreational facilities and projects in Woolwich and Wellesley townships will get nearly $1.9 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments under the Recreation Infrastructure Canada program.

Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht and his provincial counterpart, MPP Leeanna Pendergast, were at the Wellesley administration building Tuesday to announce funding for Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich …Read more

Playground fun goes green

The Woolwich Summer Playground is going green.

Those are the words of Adrienne Schmidt, supervisor of this year’s summer playground. Along with having fun and keep them busy, the leaders will be trying to raise a little environmental awareness in the children.

“It just seems so common around our society these days, trying to better our environment, and what better way to do that than try and encourage the young children of our future …Read more

Crash of small plane claims pilot

Police and the Transportation Safety Board continue to investigate the cause of a plane crash June 29 that claimed the life of a 65-year-old Kitchener man.

Janic Volcec died at the scene, not far from the Region of Waterloo International Airport.

The small, two-seater plane went down about 8:30 a.m., nose-diving into the ground and bursting into flames. Due to the extensive damage, it took investigators some time to determine Volcec was the only one on board …Read more

Sale of parkland to fund township’s building blitz

The rationale for a residential development in Victoria Glen park slipped out at the very end of Tuesday night’s public meeting: Woolwich is counting on the money to help finance its recent construction binge.

Mayor Bill Strauss, seemingly stung by the steady stream of objections from the large group of more than 150 who crammed council chambers, blurted out that foregoing the plan would mean looking elsewhere for cash …Read more

Hands-on know-how

They start the morning like the rest of their schoolmates: in class, studying math, English or religion. But at 10:30 a.m. the bus swings around, picks them up and carts the eleven students from St. Mary’s High School and Resurrection Secondary School to a work site on Dolman Street in Breslau. There they work away for the remainder of the day …Read more

Ropin’ and ridin’ into town

With the warm, sunny weather June 21, the stands were full for the annual Milverton rodeo.

Residents unite to save Victoria Glen

The threat of losing some green space has a large group of Elmira residents seeing red. Woolwich councillors can expect to get an earful Tuesday night as they discuss turning a portion of Victoria Glen park over to developers.

At issue is a township proposal to declare as surplus a total of about three acres of land it owns, a prelude perhaps to a builder clearing the forest to make room for residential development. The properties in question are in Elmira’s north end, bounded by Victoria Glen Street, Snyder Avenue North and Dunke Street North. The Kissing Bridge Trail runs to the north …Read more

Three decades of music

When Donna Lenz decided it was time to retire from giving music lessons, she planned to quietly “fizzle into the sunset.” But after 33 years of teaching in Elmira, she has several hundred former students who weren’t going to let her go without a party.

Her former students have organized a musical performance set for 7 p.m. on June 25, at Trinity United Church …Read more

Take a deep breath

A year ago, Don Harloff couldn’t walk from his car to his office without fighting for air, even with the help of an oxygen tank. Showering, getting dressed – doing anything was a struggle.

His breathing problems developed gradually. At first he was puffing after skating up and down the ice at hockey; then he was breathing hard on the golf course. Soon it was clear the problem was more than just being out of shape …Read more

Art, not food, is the goal

He has exhibits of his craft in all but one of the globe’s continents.

And that is something that Daniel Kramer, wheat weaver and one-time owner of the former retail shop The Top Drawer in St. Jacobs, has been looking to remedy with a vacation to Antarctica.

“I was trying to get a piece down there just so that I could say my work has made it to every continent – I might have to do a trip myself,” said Kramer with a chuckle.

After 30 years of operating The Top Drawer, Kramer closed his shop at the end of last month. Although he is now pulling away from the retail side of things, he will continue to make new creations from his home studio in Waterloo and sell them through his former retail neighbour at the Village Silos, Elsa Brigden Elliott . Her store, the Silo Weavers, will continue to carry Kramer’s products as well as those created by other artists formerly affiliated with his shop.

Kramer’s foray into the world of wheat weaving happened serendipitously. …Read more

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