Project updates from township

 

They may not resemble conventional fliers, but this group of plane lovers are definitely ‘pilots’.

“We have jokingly called ourselves the Willyburg Fliers,” said Adam Hill, a remote control (RC) plane enthusiast. “Right now, we’re a small group, just the four of us, but we welcome others to come out and join us. We will teach people how to fly the planes, how to build them if they want. The whole experience is just a lot of fun. I guess you could call us plane addicts,” he laughed.

They can be seen out in the fields behind Williamsburg, at the waterfront in Morrisburg and even up at the point in Iroquois, piloting their graceful crafts. The group flies year round: they firmly believe that no one is too young or too old to enjoy flying remote controlled craft.

The planes the group flies are often striking looking replicas of real planes like the Pitts, the F4 Phantom or the Sbach 342. Among the four of them, they own some 17 planes.

Many people, thinking back to the heavy gasoline powered model planes from a few years ago, might believe that hobby flying is an expensive hobby.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Dave Rae explained that “our planes are all electric now. New battery technology and the electric engines have dramatically reduced the costs of the planes from what they were a few years ago. Now, instead of needing $1,000 to get started, a person can start on about $200.”

“The planes are all electric and definitely environmentally friendly,” said Jerry Gibson.

The Willyburg Fliers also have experience in building models and would be glad to share their expertise. 

“Right now, I’m actually building a Cessna 182 with a wingspan of eight feet,” Adam Hill  said. “It’s still a hobby plane, but building your own flyer is really a big part of the fun.”

How did the four get drawn into the hobby of flying RC planes?

Michael Butler, 14, the youngest fly boy, said he “spotted the guys out flying, and I went over with my small plane. They let me join them. I listened and learned, and then Jerry let me fly his plane. I was hooked. They ordered the parts, and helped me build my own plane. Now I come out on a regular basis. I say planes before homework,” Michael added. 

“As a kid I drooled over RC magazines,” Dave Rae explained. “When I was growing up, it was still too expensive a hobby, but in May of 2011, I was able to get my first plane, and I’ve been flying since.”

Jerry Gibson began with RC helicopters, but he soon got into the planes. Despite a crash or two (“Crashing is actually part of the learning process,”), he, like the others, was quickly hooked. 

Adam Hill  flew once, the others laugh, and was immediately “addicted.” He is now a major plane collector, who has built a miniature landing strip outside his Williamsburg home.

The hobbyists gather a lot of attention from the public wherever they fly. 

“Our planes are equipped with lights,” Dave said, “and we often fly at night. Actually, some people spotted us night flying and called the police thinking we were UFOs. Fortunately,” he laughed, “Jerry’s brother-in-law is with the OPP and he realized it was just us out there.”

Jerry has also mounted a camera in the cockpit of one of his planes, and been able to record the river and the colours of fall.  “The videos were crystal clear,” he said, “and fairly dramatic. We loaded two inflight recordings on YouTube.”

 A hobby shop (RPM) recently opened at Dixon’s Corners makes getting supplies and kits locally much easier for people interested in flying.

The Willyburg Fliers are looking forward to sharing their love of flying remote controlled planes with anyone in the area who might be interested.

“You don’t need to have your own plane,” Adam said. “We can buddy box two planes hooked into a remote, and we would be glad to work with you, and teach you. We welcome everyone (over age 12) to our hobby flying group.”

Adam Hill can be reached at 1-613-330-7630 for questions, references or information.

[…]

Four strong women. One 18-hole golf course. The wit of Norm Foster. The directing talents of Jesse Collins. 

It’s a mixture made in theatrical heaven. 

The Ladies Foursome, which had its world premiere at Upper Canada Playhouse July 3, is a fun-filled, fast-paced, thoroughly joyful celebration of the special bonds of friendship which link together four utterly unique women. 

Playwright Norm Foster was asked for years to do a female version of his enormously popular play, The Foursome. However, it was not until about a year ago that he finally sat down and created Connie, Margot, Tate and Dory, telling their story against a setting that Foster loves: a golf course. 

“I wanted the characters of the women in this play to ring true,” said Foster, during an earlier press conference. In the course of re-writes and rehearsals, while the play took its final shape at Upper Canada Playhouse, the writer was able to “step into (the characters’) shoes, to ask the actresses, would a woman really say something like this? And each woman does have a darker, an edgier side.”

Director Jesse Collins and his cast, with the playwright himself on site for the final rehearsals, were able to really explore the essential nature of the four lead characters. “We could gather our clues from the script…discover new things as we went. This play was not a sequel to the Foursome, but a fresh piece which shares some of the original’s inspiration.” 

Foster’s ear for actual conversations, for capturing on stage the way people really speak to each other, allows Margot, Connie, Tate and Dory to draw audiences fully into their lives. It is a delight to follow them in the course of their ‘regular’ golf game.

We have the pleasure of getting  to know them well. 

These four unforgettable women can make us roar with laughter one moment, then heave a sigh of understanding the next. 

Margot, Connie and Tate (splendidly played by Sharon Heldt, Melanie Janzen and Leah Oster) are on the golf course the day after the funeral of their fourth, for some 14 years, the late Catherine. They have decided to play this game in her honour, although Tate hilariously fusses that playing golf so soon may not be completely “appropriate”, and shouldn’t someone say a few words before they tee off, and if they are going to be religious words should she remove her visor?  

Invited to join them during this pivotal game is Dory, (a wonderful Jane Spence) who says she knew Catherine from the two weeks a year their late friend used to spend at Dory’s Lake Arrowhead Inn, deep in the wilderness.

From the opening tee off to the touching events at the final hole, audiences enjoy some of the funniest, most outrageous, and deeply involving “golf” exchanges in the history of the game. 

Absolutely no topic is off limits with this foursome as they take on the course challenges…and each other. Nothing.

Not television broadcaster Connie’s endless pursuit of men.  (“I don’t worry about getting a reputation. I worry about keeping one.”). Not business woman Margot’s drinking. (She hates golf, “but where else can you drink this early in the morning and people think it’s normal?”) Not Arizona born Dory’s ultimate admission that she loathes running an Inn in the Canadian wilderness. (“I should be grateful we have indoor plumbing or I’d be down at the river beating my kids against rocks to get them clean!”) Not fastidious, conventional stay-at-home Tate’s desperate belief that she may have “frittered away my life. I want more.”

Why, not even God escapes the foursome.

“God’s a man,” Connie flatly states, ending an impassioned debate in theology. “The Bible says he rested on the seventh day. A woman wouldn’t rest on the seventh day. She’d say ‘I need to reorganize that closet’.”

Hilarious, confrontational, opinionated, fascinating, these four friends take life apart during their ‘memorial game’, then find a way to put it all back together again. Secrets are revealed, friendships tested, new friends found.

And throughout the game, the enigmatic Catherine is never far from their thoughts. Indeed, Catherine, in a sense, is the catalyst in this play. Her friends learn, quite to their surprize, who she really was, what she actually meant to each of them, and how she has influenced their lives.

“Out of all of us, Catherine had the biggest heart.”

Norm Foster’s The Ladies Foursome is a celebration of the oh-too-real joys, and pitfalls, of friendship. Along the way, the author slips in the oh-too-real joys and pitfalls of golf as well. (Connie’s ‘Ode to the 18th Hole’ is priceless!).

Who would not want to have Margot, Tate, Connie and Dory for friends?  

The Ladies Foursome is an hilarious, touching, wonderful play about four pretty wonderful women. Don’t miss the chance to get to know them. 

The Ladies Foursome runs until July 27. Contact Upper Canada Playhouse at 613-543-3713.

[…]

 

Sixteen interested community members gathered at the recreation hall, here September 19, and agreed that the history of this area is important enough to them, to work to do something to preserve it.

As a first step the group decided and agreed that they will form an organization called the South Dundas Historical Society.

The group will meet again next month, and at that time they may name an executive. 

At the meeting, it was suggested that the South Dundas Historical Society needs to decide if its mandate will be to preserve historical artifacts of the area or to take on projects that aim to educate the public about the history of South Dundas.

No matter the direction, Phillip Blancher, one of the organizers of the inaugural meeting, suggested that they start small. “I think simple is better, to start.”

According to Blancher, the first goal of the South Dundas Historical Society is a digital history project, to be documented on southdundas.net

“With this meeting, we really wanted to gauge the community’s interest in re-starting a historical society with a focus on the entire South Dundas area,” said Blancher. The meeting was organized and hosted by Blancher and Sue Peters with the help of Evonne Delegarde.

“Across South Dundas, everyone seems to talk about the importance of its history and the importance of promoting history, but there is no organized group to do that,” said Blancher.

All who attended the meeting agreed that the formation of this society is important and worthwhile.

“It’s important to know where you come from, if you want to know where you are going,” said Robert Gillard. 

“There is a great potential to build a corridor of historical excitement,” said Howard Kirkby, mentioning South Dundas in relation to Upper Canada Village and the Lost Villages.

Alec Ball, who travelled from Metcalfe to attend the meeting, pointed out that the only historical society in all of Dundas County is a Chesterville group. He, and others who attended, said they would join the group simply because of their interest in local history and learning more about it.

Others who have long been advocates for the preservation of local history, such as Jim Jordan and Glen Cunningham, attended the meeting to support the formation of the group, in hopes that interest in this area’s history is not lost with their generation.

“This doesn’t stop here,” said Delegarde, adding that she believes there is much more interest, in the community, in the formation of this group, than the 16 people in attendance.

[…]