Giving song to the Underground Railroad
When Toronto born blues singer Diana Braithwaite was growing up, she found that the history she was learning in school to be not nearly as interesting as the history she learned at home from her mother: the story of her ancestors, the black pioneers of the Queen’s Bush Settlement. Now, she is returning to the area to host the second annual Underground Railroad Music Festival, which will feature a number of different musicians, all performing to honour the Underground Railroad and the pioneers who settled in the region Read more
The art of public spaces
Sheri-Lyn Roy of Breslau has had an interest in photography ever since she noticed that she could use her sunglasses to ‘filter’ a sunset and create an interesting image while on a high school canoe trip to Algonquin Park. Today, her passion for sharing the beauty and uniqueness of the things she has seen is in full force and local residents can check out her photographs on display at the Woolwich Township administration building in Elmira as part of the Woolwich’s Local Art Program Read more
Elmira Scouts seeking funds to help with future move
The 1st Elmira Scout Group is making great progress on this year’s big project, but is putting a call out to past Scouts and friends of the organization to help them raise the last of the funds required to move their clubhouse.
The organization is taking down the building from its current location on Martin’s Lane and setting up shop on township land at 75 Oriole Pkwy. That site is already home to the Rovers’ den used by older members of the Scouting group Read more
Poetry under cover of the kissing bridge
The West Montrose covered bridge has played host to a wide variety of events and goings-on over the years. Next month it will add to its repertoire in a fresh, new way. A group of modern-day poets from Montreal will be paddling down the Grand River from Elora to Brantford between Aug. 10 and 17, performing readings in cafés, arts centers and libraries along the way, with an additional stop at the historic kissing bridge Read more
Blaze destroys Elmira-area barn
The fire that leveled a barn southeast of Elmira Monday evening left $250,000 in damage and more than a hundred dead animals in its wake.
Columns of smoke were visible miles away from the farm on New Jerusalem Road, not far from the newly expanded parochial school on Scotch Line, around 7 p.m. July 26.
“I just happened to be driving by,” said Floradale fire chief Dennis Frey. “I was about two kilometres away Read more
Back in the saddle again
On October 6, 2008 West Montrose’s Shannon McTaggart was merely weeks away from crossing a major life goal off her list. A marathon runner who was training for an ironman triathlon in Florida that fall, McTaggart had spent the past seven months conditioning her body; cycling more than 30 hours per week, passing up time spent with her family in order to prepare for the big race.
That afternoon she was cycling one of her usual routes, on Hwy. 6 just outside of Arthur. One minute she Read more
Haitian efforts continue locally
It has been just more than six months since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, and a number of Woolwich Township residents have spent that time planning, organizing and fundraising for projects that will help the country rebuild. Today (Saturday), a group of volunteer builders from Waterloo Region will begin their training as team leaders, and learn how to construct a prototype of an easy-to-build home for transportation down south later this summer Read more
The secret of their success
In June 1948, Ron Bock took Doris Brodrecht on their first date: a screening of the film ‘Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.’ The Cary Grant movie depicts the tale of a couple moving from the Big Apple into a gigantic home in the country, but Ron doesn’t remember a single thing about it.
“I can’t tell you anything about the movie, I’m afraid,” said Ron. “I wasn’t really paying attention; I was Read more
On the road to a gold medal
“Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best.”
This mantra is quite a mouthful for anyone, but is especially impressive coming from Samuel Rahbek-Ward, an 18-year-old Alberta man with cerebral palsy whose parents were told that he would likely never be able to speak. This week, Rahbek-Ward visited London, Ontario with his parents to participate in the 2010 Special Olympics Summer Games and then paid a visit to their good friend Dave Read more
A break from the fast track
Taking things slowly is not something that Elmira resident Olivia Charnuski is accustomed to doing these days. Spending the summer at her Birdland home and working at a feed mill in Elora is a drastic change of pace for the 20-year-old who has spent the past two years competing as a sprint hurdler on a track scholarship at Liberty University in Virginia.
Charnuski began training as a sprint hurdler more than five years ago when she ran for Elmira District Secondary School as well as the Laurel Creek Track and Field Club. Previously she had run short sprints and done gymnastics competitively: sprint hurdling was a combination of the two that her coaches Read more
