English Country Dancing

 You’d have to have a heart 10 sizes too small not to fall in love with the spirit of Upper Canada Playhouse’s holiday production of Robert More’s Everything I Love About Christmas. It really does manage to bring together all those things, both magical and ordinary, that mean Christmas.

“There are many ways to tell a story about Christmas,” Grandad Barnes (Doug Tangney) informs the audience at the start of the play. “But there are a few things you must have: a tree, a house and a family.”

The family is the Barnes family, father Ted (Jeff Mulrooney), mother Maggie (Meredith Zwicker), daughter Gracie (Jody Osmond) and son Robbie (Clayton Labbe). 

There is one other daughter, Susan (Katie Edwards). And therein lies the difficulty for the Barnes family this Christmas eve. A terrible snow storm has swept over the countryside, and Susan is all alone, stranded at a deserted bus station. It will take some kind of miracle to bring her home in time for Christmas.

Miracles can sometimes come with rather pointy ears.

Four elves (Parris Greaves, Ryan Jacobs, Jess Vandenberg and Bruce Tubbe) come to the rescue because “every year somebody gets stuck and we arrive to help them out…” Helping the Barnes family be reunited with their eldest daughter will call for considerable elf ingenuity, and an “alpha cable” sent directly to Santa, who is “somewhere between Hawaii and Vancouver” this Christmas eve. (Alpha cables can only be sent by elves. Don’t try it at home.)

A further complication this busy night will be the Brannigan family, just down the road from the Barnes. There is very little to be joyful about this Christmas for them. Father Brad has lost his job. Their savings are gone. There are no presents, no dinner, very little hope in their household.

Another miracle is needed.

Will these dilemmas somehow be resolved by Christmas Day? Will Susan get home? Will the Brannigans find new hope? Will Santa appear in the very nick of time?

Well, this is a children’s show, so…

The entire cast of Everything I Love About Christmas is strong, and their ability to sing and dance is wonderful. Meredith Zwicker, who is also the production musical director, has showcased the actors’ considerable talents. “The level of energy and enthusiasm in this cast is stupendous,” director Donnie Bowes said. “I know the audience can feel it too.”

This is a show both adults and children can enjoy together. There is much whimsical humour in it that delights. 

Santa (wedged into a chimney): “Memo to Mrs. Claus. Stop making all those Christmas goodies.” 

Santa (still stuck, moments later): “Memo to self. Stop eating all those Christmas goodies.”

The stage, designed and lit by Sean Free, is versatile and striking, and makes exciting use of a revolving section and some unique special effects. 

Toss in the mighty “Rammer”, (you’ll see!) a shadow puppet version of the Christmas story and some serious magic, and you have a winning production at Upper Canada Playhouse.

Tickets for the show (which runs until December 16) are still available, but they are going very fast.

Incidentally, I’m not sure I recall a hippopotamus called Amber at the manger in the original Christmas story. Then again, I might be mistaken. After all, Everything I Love About Christmas proves that anything is possible.

[…]

An air show is planned for Iroquois, this summer–A Miniature Air show.

Members of the Ottawa Valley Zone of the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada, were thrilled to have discovered South Dundas’ municipal airport in Iroquois.

Ken Park and Brent Norman of the club which flies radio controlled miniature jets, both electric and turbine powered, requested the use of the Iroquois airport facility to host an event the weekend of July 4, 2015. 

“The airport manager John Ross gave us a private tour, and we were truly blown away as this location has everything we could think of for a possible successful event,” said Park.

For them, for a first time event, they hope to attract at least 20 pilots and planes.

South Dundas council unanimously approved the use of the airport for the club, which carries its own liability insurance, looks after its own crowd control barriers and takes responsibility for all safety measures.

The event would be open to the public and free. 

Oftentimes, flying will be stopped for a short time to allow the public to see the models up close, and ask questions of the pilots.

Organizers expect those pilots participating in the event will like the proximity to the Iroquois Municipal Campground to the airport.

The site plan and logistics will be fully detailed when the organizers come back in May for another site meeting.

The plan is for all flying to take place south of the airstrip. The airstrip would be closed to other air traffic that weekend. This miniature air show takes place two weeks before the annual fly-in breakfast.

[…]

 

Tim Hortons Camp Day 2012, last Wednesday, June 6, will be a day Carlie Barkley of Cardinal won’t forget.

That’s the day Barkley shed her locks to send a local child to camp.

The evening manager at the HK 401 Travel Centre east of Morrisburg, Barkley jokingly suggested “they could shave me bald” as an incentive for the staff to raise their $1,000 objective for Tim Hortons Camp Day.

“I said it, and they ran with it,” she said with a chuckle prior to her trip to the barber chair set up in front of the new centre last Wednesday where several staff members gathered as witnesses.

Barkley’s incentive was successful as the staff went to work and were well over their target several days in advance of Camp Day.

In fact, three employees chipped in $100 apiece which earned them a turn with the clippers. They included the Travel Centre’s assistant manager Marsha Shaver of Iroquois, Tim Hortons’ crew member Brian Hutt of Iroquois and Jeremy Benoit a porter at the centre.

This is the second Tim Hortons Camp Day since the HK Travel Centre opened. In addition to Barkley’s haircut, the staff ran various games to raise extra money in the nationwide event.

In total they raised a whopping $3,984.15 from the haircut, extra activities and donations, way more than last year and much better than their sibling stores did at Ingleside and Bainsville.

Each year Tim Horton store owners donate the money from their coffee sales on Camp Day to send economically disadvantaged children to Tim Horton Children’s Foundation Camps.

Many of the stores also run special events to top up the money raised from the sales.

Each year, more than 15,000 children enjoy the camping experience of a lifetime thanks to the generosity and support of the Tim Hortons’ owners and their customers.

“Everyone knows about Tim Hortons Camp Day, so it’s a fairly easy sell,” said Barkley who has been with HK Travel Centre for seven years.

Getting the first snip on Barkley’s haircut, was  Tim Hortons’ crew member, Sarah Toonders of Williamsburg, who collected the most donations.

Barkley said she was only too happy to give up her locks so that a child could go to camp. She expected one child from the Morrisburg/Williamsburg area, would benefit as a result of the 401 Tim Horton location.

The area, of course, has the advantage of having two Tim Hortons, the second in Morrisburg where staff there ran a Silent Auction and had some festively costumed critters assisted by representatives of the O.P.P. collecting additional donations in the drive through area.

[…]