Ontario Power Generation gives to food bank

“There is just something about World War One,” Norm Christie, author, and creator of the acclaimed History Channel series, For King and Empire, told Kim McInnis. “When people begin to delve into it, it becomes an obsession.” 

For McInnis, who has just published the new book, “In a lonely soldier’s grave…”, the famed writer and director’s words have proved prophetic. 

In 2009, McInnis began compiling her new book about the generation of young men from Mountain Township, and surrounding areas,  who were lost to World War One. Her research was initially sparked by the names commemorated on the Mountain Community Park Hill 70 Memorial. Hill 70, fought near the French village of Lens, proved to be one of the bloodiest and most crucial Canadian battles of the Great War. 

Yet today, there is only  a single memorial to it anywhere: the park in Mountain.

In 2009, under the strong leadership of Bill Shearing, then honorary colonel (ret.) of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, the North Dundas History Stewards, under Carol Goddard and the North Dundas municipal council, the Mountain Hill 70 Memorial was rededicated. 

This ceremony took place on October 31, 2009, in Mountain on what Kim (who was one of the speakers) described as the “coldest, wettest day of the year. Hurricane force winds a lot of the morning.”

A number of dignitaries, including MP Guy Lauzon, then MPP Jim Brownell, members of the History Stewards, veterans and councillors were in attendance. Guests of honour were the SD&G Highlanders, who marched to the ceremony, following a training exercise, led by their officers.

“The original intention in 2009 was to preserve the park as it was, with the marker stone set up in 1922, a commemorative stone from the Highlanders, and a World War One German machine gun,” McInnis explained.

The site was later taken over by the Mountain Lions Hill 70 Refurbishment Committee in 2010.  That committee put up different markers in 2011-12, while preserving some of the original artifacts. 

With the encouragement of Bill Shearing, Carol Goddard, Ian Raveler and many members of the Historical Society, McInnis undertook, in 2009, to research and write her hard cover book based on the memorial.

She found uncovering memories of World War One a huge, but fascinating task. “I began going through honour roles, finding old documents and stories, tracking down diaries, letters and the military records of the men named on the monument, even listening to old taped interviews.” She became “well acquainted” with Archives Canada, and exchanged two years of emails with many historians and researchers. She even entered into correspondence with the present mayor of Lens, France, whose town near Hill 70 was utterly destroyed by the Germans in 1915.

The more she learned, the closer McInnis felt to the local men lost in the Great War. “I sometimes found the research very sad. There are often no descendants left who can even vaguely recall those terribly young, lost boys. Sometimes, I actually felt drained looking at all their faces.”

Her book includes collections of stories, photos and letters from  area Canadian soldiers dating back to the Boer War and 1812. 

However, the key focus remains World War One and our men who served. Still, the more McInnis learned, the more she realized that Norm Christie was right.

“Next year it will be 100 years since World War One began, and there is probably no one left alive in the whole world who actually knew the young men as they went off to war. Preserving the memories of those who were lost, and of those who returned but suffered physical and mental scars, is important. And these soldiers all came to life for me as I put this book together.”

“In a soldier’s lonely grave…” is available to order by contacting Kim McInnis at 613-989-2607. The funds raised by book sales will be going to the Chesterville District Historical Society.

[…]

The St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage has received word that the OETIO/Morrisburg Meeting Centre is no longer able to rent their facilities to them as of the end of June, 2015.

Member of the board, Sandra Whitworth said, “As our audience, musicians and supporters know, the stage at the OETIO facility has beautiful acoustics and is uniquely suited to musical performances. We have been proud to be able to make use of it since 2007 to bring so many amazing musicians and performers to this community.

But, as the saying goes, when one door closes another one opens.” 

Whitworth went on to say that when the Upper Canada Playhouse learned that the Stage was faced with the loss of its home in Morrisburg, UCP stepped up. Artistic director Donnie Bowes and the Upper Canada Playhouse board have found dates in their already very busy schedule next year so that the Stage can remain in this community and continue to present live original music in Morrisburg. 

The 2015-2016 St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage lineup will be  housed at Morrisburg’s fabulous Upper Canada Playhouse. 

This comfortable 275 seat theatre has many of the same intimate features Stage audiences expect, in a setting designed to be inviting to audience members and performers alike.

The St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage will announce next year’s lineup as dates and performers are confirmed. For now, the Stage is delighted to have found a new and welcoming home that keeps them in South Dundas. 

“Our thanks to everyone at the Upper Canada Playhouse who helped make this happen,” said Board member, Sandra Whitworth.

[…]

 High school can be very hard. The pressure to wear the right clothes, say the right things, go to the right parties, have the right friends is ever present, ever intense. 

As adults, people may look back on those high school years and wonder what all the fuss was about. But as teens, the majority of kids would privately admit that they want to feel that they “fit in.” 

The actions of the graduating class of Seaway District High School at their 2012 prom, held on June 1, at Stanley’s Olde Maple Lane Farm, gave one special young woman a memory of “fitting in” that she will be able to cherish the rest of her life.

Her peers chose Martina Gibson as the 2012 prom queen. She was crowned before all the senior class, along with the prom king Zach Lalonde.

On Tuesday, June 19, this graduating class of Seaway District High School in Iroquois was honoured with the presentation, by Martina’s parents, Ron and Lisa Gibson, of a beautiful, engraved granite bench for the school courtyard. “We want future classes to remember this class of 2012,” Lisa Gibson told the seniors gathered in the yard with principal Terry Gardiner, and Greg Pietersma, chair of the UCDSB.

“We want this bench to be a lasting legacy. You gave our daughter Martina a special moment to shine. When future generations of Seaway kids read the message on this bench, perhaps the spirit of caring you showed will be passed on. Caring and tolerance and acceptance are needed more now than ever.”

Martina Gibson, 17, was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder when she was in senior kindergarten.

“This is a disorder which makes everything a struggle for a child,” her mother Lisa Gibson explained, “socially as well as academically. Standard learning techniques are rarely effective with this form of autism. Martina has a phenomenal memory, able to interpret ideas and details. But the precise skills,  mathematics for example, are very difficult. She can discuss an historical event, but struggles with making change.”

Lisa explained that it was always very hard for Martina to feel she truly fit in at school. She wanted to feel part of the lives and the work that other kids had: at the same time, she and her parents faced a constant struggle to find approaches to learning that would fit her special needs. 

“There have been times when she has withdrawn,” her mother said. “ It was never easy. She was often excluded from the parties, the shopping trips, and many of the things that all teens love.”

But Martina, with the support of her parents and family, persevered.

“I am so grateful that she has been at Seaway,” her mother Lisa said. 

“This is a phenomenal school for children with special needs. Everyone at that school has gone over and above to accommodate Martina’s exceptionalities. 

Teachers found ways to diversify the curriculum so that she could work at the same academic subjects as other students, but in a manner she could understand. It has still not been easy for her, but certain teachers have made a real difference to her progress and happiness.”

Martina’s sister and mother helped her with the excitement of getting ready for the big night with prom date Michael Richer: no one had any idea of what the evening would bring. 

At 10:40 the family received a text message that Martina had been chosen the prom queen.

“I was crying,” Lisa said. “I know what this meant to her, what an honour it was. 

We learned later that the entire senior class was on board to do this. She was the hands down winner. Her father and I talked this over, and we felt that the selflessness and kindness of those kids on prom night, this one act which had so deep an impact on another kid’s life, this needed to be recognized.”

Spontaneous applause burst out from the Seaway graduates when the stone bench was unveiled. Later they joined Martina (who had no idea of her parents’ plan to make the presentation, and was caught completely by surprise)  and her family around the bench.

This is the message it bears. This is the legacy of the 2012 graduating class of Seaway District High School.

“This bench is dedicated to the class of 2012. Their selflessness on prom night allowed a very special young lady to feel accepted and loved.” How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because some day in life, you will have been all of these. – George Washington Carver.

[…]