News

The Pumpkin Inferno, coming to Upper Canada Village this October, will be totally original, and totally spell-binding. There is already a feeling that it will rival Alight at Night in its appeal to the public. 

“It’s magnificent,” said Susan Le Clair,  manager of customer service & corporate communications for the St. Lawrence Parks Commission. “We are investing a lot of resources into our Pumpkin Inferno.”

On Friday, October 5, the Commission will unveil its newest attraction, the Pumpkin Inferno.  The Inferno will be an event unlike anything Upper Canada Village has ever staged before. 

For the entire month of October, (leading up to an as yet top secret finale on October 31), the Village will be the site of an extraordinary display of over 25 fascinating exhibits, all created using 4,000 pumpkins. (Five transports were needed to deliver the pumpkins to the work site.)

Visitors to the Village will be dazzled by pumpkin creations, two and three dimensional, tied to themes as diverse as Under the Sea and the Old West. 

“We hope to enhance and augment this experience for our visitors, with the wonderful Village as the backdrop,” Le Clair explained. “There will be lights and music, and the exhibits will be in the trees, in the water, and on the ground, making full use of the Village site.” 

Events officer Jancis Sommerville brought the idea of the Pumpkin Inferno to the commission, and developed the business plan. “Management was immediately excited by her idea,” said Le Clair. “They are backing her vision 100 per cent. We hope to see as many as 25,000 visitors to the Village in this our first year. We want to keep Upper Canada Village alive and vital even after the regular season ends. We want to drive tourism through this region.”

The artistic force behind this incredible new event at Upper Canada Village?

It’s a group of extraordinarily talented young people, many drawn from right here in South Dundas.

The Leader had the opportunity to meet Liam Mills and Dave Hurtubise (later joined by Nikki Ault), who head the project. They are young graphic designers whose vision for the Pumpkin Inferno has “fired-up” the Village. 

Mills and Hurtubise lead a team of 13 students, some in high school, some in college, some in university. From a variety of backgrounds (art history, animation, industrial design and art classes), what they all share in common are strong creative and artistic skills. 

Liam, Dave and Susan Le Clair led a tour of the Pumpkin site (built in a large work shop behind the Upper Canada air strip) on Thursday, August 16. It was a beehive of activity, as the students bring the exhibits to life.

Hurtubise and Mills’ original graphic concepts are designed, first on paper, and then in computer simulations, at the start of what the team jokingly calls “the assembly line.”

“We have 25 major themes for this exhibit,” Liam Mills said. “They are very diverse: traditional Hallowe’en to underwater creations, Chinese themes, gardens, even the Old West. Just one of our themes required 27 pumpkins to make a figure life sized. I think people will be very surprised by what they see.”

“The pumpkins are all styrofoam, and come in several sizes,” Dave Hurtubise explained, “from really small hand sized ones to others almost three feet tall.  The pumpkins are attached to plywood and the students trace outlines in the dark room cannister. We disassemble the pieces, later reassembling them to make the exhibits. I think that when our finished works are lit up at night, the exhibits will be really striking.”

There were no blue prints for this project. The whole concept was completely unique. “The team often had to invent the process as they went along,” Le Clair said. 

“We collectively work on one theme at a time,” Liam explained, “although two or three exhibits may be on the go. Work is constantly in progress on the line.”

“We are very team driven,” Dave said. “Everyone is involved in every step of the process. There’s a lot of satisfaction for people to see where everything is going. I think the most creative work takes place in mid process.”

Each worker has his/her station and tools. Carpenters take into consideration the lighting and settings as the exhibits near completion and are stored in labelled trailers. The exhibits have been created to use the buildings, the lights, the trees and the full size and scale of the Village to create an impact.

It is obvious, from the level of energy and enthusiasm on the work site that the young artists are excited about and dedicated to this project. “We have been very, very busy,” Dave and Liam laughed at the end of the tour, “and maybe our heads bounce around a lot.” 

It looks like this is going to be an event at the Village no one should miss.

The Pumpkin Inferno is scheduled to open October 5, soon after the end of the regular Village season.

“Willard’s will be open during the event,” Susan Le Clair said, “and there will be some delicious pumpkin themed treats throughout the Village. This walking tour is really a family friendly experience. And if people want to come to the Pumpkin Inferno in costumes, they should go right ahead.”

Tickets for the grand Pumpkin Inferno at Upper Canada Village are already on sale. Check the Village website for dates and prices.

[…]

 

The tenders for the rehabilitation of the Morrisburg Collegiate Institute building left municipal officials with  sticker shock when the bids came in about a million dollars higher than they had expected, so much so that have not yet decided how they will proceed with the project.

Since the bids to convert the historic building into a new clinic and administrative facility were opened about a month ago, municipal staff, project managers and the design team have undertaken much analysis and research to prepare a report for council which was presented at the Aug. 14 meeting.

Municipal officials had expected to see bids in the range of $3 million, but instead the prices submitted by the pre-qualified contractors were in the $4 million range, with the lowest coming it at almost $3.9 million.

“It became apparent, as the project evolved, that it was a very complex project – maintaining the heritage aspects of the building while upgrading it to current standards,” reported Stephen McDonald, South Dundas chief administrative officer. “And, it can be assumed that the complexity of the project is reflected in the prices.”

The renovation project will consist of removing everything but the shell and will cost about $150 per square foot. The 20 year borrowing costs to finance the large scale project are equivalent to a tax increase of 2 to 3.5 percent, depending on the success of South Dundas’ Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund application. 

“The township has applied for $1 million funding under the CIIF,” reported McDonald. “This program is for existing infrastructure only and a new building would not be eligible to receive funding.”

According to the report presented to council the financial cost to construct a new building will be at least $6 million, not to mention the cost of lost time in getting such a project underway. 

South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds asked council to state their preferred direction for staff offering up the options of; doing nothing, going with the project as presented, starting over with a new building or deferring the decision until September to allow them time to gauge the public’s reaction. 

“I don’t think doing nothing is a good option,” said the mayor.

Only South Dundas councillor Jim Graham was willing to make a decision to get the project moving. 

“Everybody was surprised by the cost, that’s for sure,” he said. “But if we don’t go ahead there’s a ripple effect to a lot of other plans. I think the time has come that we have to present an image that we are open for business. I am ready to support this, as is.”

“Going to the public, we won’t get a consensus,” said Graham. “This is a decision we, as a council will have to make. That’s what we’re here for.”

“We obviously can’t afford a new building, so it’s the old building or nothing. I definitely don’t think doing nothing is an option,” said Graham.

Every member of council agreed that doing nothing is not an option. 

South Dundas councillor Evonne Delegarde is supporting starting over and pursuing a new building. “With the rehabilitation, we’ll still have an old building,” she said. “It’s hard to believe it will cost that much more to build a new building.”

CAO McDonald pointed out that a similar new building project now taking place in Winchester shows that  the numbers presented in the report are accurate and valid.

Delegarde also suggested going back to the doctors of the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic to contribute more money to the project, now that the actual costs have come in higher than anticipated.

“It is a tough decision,” said South Dundas deputy mayor Jim Locke, who was not yet willing to make a final decision. However he did say, “If we do nothing with that building, I feel it will have to come down. We can’t leave it sit there with snow fence around it.”

South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan, like Locke, was not willing to make a decision. “I’m not prepared tonight to say one way or another,” he said, later adding that he will be prepared to make a decision at the next council meeting. “I’ll tell you then, which side of the fence I’m jumping to.”

Mayor Byvelds said, “My leaning is to go ahead and bring this project to fruition.” However, he was willing to respect his fellow councillors who have not yet decided and support deferral until the next meeting.

“We’ll let this settle out within the public sphere,” he said. “As a council, it’s our responsibility to listen. Listen well, but filter through it,” he told council. 

The decision will be made at the September 4 council meeting.

[…]

 

 It was a great day for pirates when Ontario Early Years and South Dundas Recreation teamed up to present a day of buccaneering at the Iroquois beach on Thursday afternoon, August 16. Area youngsters joined Fiona Carr, Family Resource co-ordinator of Early Years and Ben Macpherson, SD Recreation director, to make hats and swords, eye patches and sailing ships and to join in fun-filled games.

“We do this every year to promote community and getting kids active,” said Macpherson. “We encourage kids to have fun in the sun.” “There is also an educational element,” Carr added, “as the kids have fun doing crafts.” The Eastern Ontario Health Unit also offered workbooks on sun safety for children.

 Left, ‘Captain’ Callam Larocque and ‘Mate’ Ethan Boucher sword fight as the ‘ghost’ of pirate Captain Anne Bonney (Ashleigh Jackson) watches. Below, left, Katie Barkley (visiting grandparents Jack and Anne) gets her face painted by Abby Trizisky, while Lawrence McClafferty shows his ship. 

[…]

 Family reunions are always memorable. However, when the Lundeen family gets together for Thanksgiving dinner in The Playhouse’s upcoming  show, A Nice Family Gathering, by Phil Olson, the meal won’t be the main event. 

It’ll be the hilarious and heart-warming chaos that erupts when conflicting family members try to cope with each other’s differences and a ghost! The play is set just months after Dad has died, and the usual tensions among family members are higher than ever before the meal is even served. 

Brothers Michael and Carl have never seen eye to eye, the former a successful doctor, the latter an easy-going would-be writer working odd jobs. 

Then there’s Stacy, the younger daughter, who is always ignored and feels left out of the picture. Add to that Michael’s wife, Jill, who’s going through an emotional time because she can’t get pregnant. And Mom is struggling with the pressures of trying to hold the family together long enough to enjoy a civil dinner. 

There’s an elephant in the room, so to speak. 

The chances of this nice family gathering succeeding are blown out of the water when Dad’s ghost decides to make an appearance, not to haunt anyone, but to try to direct the proceedings and settle some old scores. 

To complicate matters, he only appears to one of the family members, son Carl, who’s charged with the task of helping him get his wish. Dad and Carl’s battle of wits, as they attempt to accomplish this, makes for an hilarious and touching experience for all, especially after the arrival of another guest that Mom has told no one about. 

“This show has everything: comedy, conflict, a great story and very strong characters,” says Artistic Director Donnie Bowes. “I think the comedy comes from the pressure that the characters are under to get along. There’s also the ghost of Dad who is, himself, a very funny character. And there are some touching family moments that the audience will relate to and enjoy.”

Ensuring that Dad’s ghost gets a star appearance is Doug Tangney, in a role that Bowes says the Playhouse favourite was born to play. 

Tangney was earlier seen in Hotbed Hotel and has been enjoyed by audiences in shows ranging from the hilarious grand-dad in Having Hope at Home to starring roles in The Sensuous Senator, Weekend Comedy and many more. His character of Dad’s ghost will square off with another popular Playhouse actor, Richard Bauer, who plays son Carl. 

Bauer recently directed Wife Begins at Forty and earlier in the season starred in The Foursome. 

Sparks will also fly between Bauer and Jamie Williams who plays brother Michael. Williams was recently seen in Here on the Flight Path and has starred in such hits as Run For Your Wife and There Goes The Bride.

The role of Mom is in the talented hands of veteran actress Linda Goranson seen in such Playhouse shows as Not Now, Darling and The Christmas Express. Goranson is currently commuting to rehearsal from Belleville where she is starring in Calendar Girls.

Sister Stacy is played by another familiar Playhouse face, Liz Gilroy, who joins the cast after a busy summer acting, directing and choreographing at various Ontario Summer Theatres. Last seen here in Dear Santa, Gilroy will star in Elf: The Musical at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre later this year. 

Rounding out the cast is Kate Gordon, who returns to UCP from last year’s Not Now, Darling, to play Jill, and Don Ciaschini, last seen in Maggie’s Getting Married, who will play special guest Jerry. 

John Thompson, who has designed several Playhouse productions including Wife Begins at Forty and On Golden Pond to name just a few, created the set. 

Donnie Bowes will be directing this production. 

A Nice Family Gathering runs September 6 to September 30. The shows are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.  For tickets and information call 613-543-3713, or 1-877-550-3650 or go to www.uppercanadaplayhouse.com

[…]

It was a celebration of biking and bikers at Gillard’s Chip Wagon & Dairy Bar on Thursday, August 16, when the Gillard family held a special night for bikers of all ages. “This night was a chance for us to give back to bikers for supporting our regular Thursday Bike Nights for the last three years,” said Sheila Gillard, eldest daughter of owners Patty and Dennis Gillard. “On a normal Thursday evening, we get between 60-120 bikers dropping in during the good weather,” said Patty Gillard. “but tonight we expect well over 200 to arrive and join us for free coffee, donuts, finger foods and beverages. These are great people, and we count them as friends for life. Word of mouth has brought bikers from Cornwall, Brockville, local areas and the United States to our stop. This Appreciation Night is our thank you.” Above are just some of the early arrivals at Gillard’s. In the inset, proving a love of biking runs in the family, are (l-r) Sheila Gillard, Kayla Gillard and grandfather John Beehler, who rides a 2009 Harley-Davidson Tri-Glide.

[…]

 South Dundas Sports and Recreation Program director Ben Macpherson, with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, has taken another step in bringing healthy living and recreation to residents of South Dundas.

Last Thursday, August 9, Macpherson, along with Catherine Maclaine, a member of the Trillium Foundation’s grant team for the  local Champlain area announced a $27,500 Trillium grant  for the purchase of sport and recreation equipment to establish a Sport Lending Library.

Joining Macpherson and Mac- laine for the announcement were Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MPP Jim McDonell and members of South Dundas council including mayor Steven Byvelds, deputy-mayor Jim Locke and councillors Evonne Delegarde and Archie Mellan.

In addition to the announcement of the Trillium Funding, Macpherson announced that the Sport Lending Library will eventually find its home in some of the space currently occupied by the County Library beneath the Morrisburg Arena lobby.

“The Township of South Dundas is to be commended for their innovative approach to providing their residents with the use of sporting equipment, which will enhance their healthy and active lifestyle,” said McDonnell. “I am very pleased that the Ontario Trillium Foundation supports this initiative.”

“I think this is a great opportunity for South Dundas and for those people who don’t have equipment,” said mayor Byvelds. “I certainly want to thank the Trillium Foundation for this grant that has enabled Ben to buy the equipment.”

“There is a demand for recreation in South Dundas and this will enhance our recreation programming. It will certainly give everyone the opportunity to try something, and they can decide where to go from there.”

While the space at the arena is occupied by the library, equipment in the Sports Lending Library will be temporarily housed in a unit to be built in the south west corner of the arena as well as at the nearby former St. Lawrence Parks Commission building. 

Macpherson said he has been busy purchasing the equipment which will support a wide range of sports and activities.

The equipment will include such items as life jackets, basketballs, volleyballs, skipping ropes, badminton nets and racquets and other sporting balls. Big ticket items are skates, helmets, snowshoes and cross country skis.

The Sport Lending Library will offer residents access to a variety of sporting and recreation equipment at no charge and as soon as Macpherson can get it arranged, he will open satellite lending cupboards in Iroquois and Williamsburg.

Although there will be no charge to use the equipment, users will be required to fill out loan forms and there will be charges applied in the event of damage or lost equipment.

Macpherson is hoping to line up some volunteers who will handle the loans in addition to having the staff at the arena help out.

“South Dundas Recreation is committed to helping residents improve or continue leading healthy, active lives,” says Macpherson.

The Trillium Foundation is a leading grant maker in Canada which strengthens the capacity of the voluntary sector through investments in community-based initiatives. 

[…]

 

It isn’t every young hopeful, fresh out of college, who gets the chance to live her dream. But that is how things have worked out for Lindsay Gilmer, daughter of Doug and Cathy Gilmer of Iroquois.

Lindsay, who graduated this spring from the Humber College in film and television, a three year advanced diploma, is the newest office production assistant on the television show, Bomb Girls, which will air on Global in the new year. 

“I work five days a week, 12 hour days, and I love it,” Lindsay said. “It’s very tough to break into the entertainment and film industry in Canada, and I consider myself very fortunate. I really wanted to get into television, and here I am, starting a career I really love working on Bomb Girls.”

Executive producers Adrienne Mitchell, Michael MacLennan and Janis Lundman of Back Alley Films, are the forces behind Bomb Girls, which originally aired as a mini series January 4, 2012. 

The show will return for a full run on Global beginning in January, 2013. 

The series is set in the 1940s, at the height of World War II. It is based on the lives and experiences of five women, of all ages and backgrounds, who have stepped into traditional men’s roles in the factories. The central characters work on an assembly line in a munitions factory creating bombs, a dirty and potentially deadly job. 

The series (actress Meg Tilly won the 2012 Leo Award for best lead performance by a female in a dramatic series) is a gritty and realistic look at women at war. 

Lindsay has only been with the company a month, but she feels that she is constantly “learning new things, as aspects of the job are becoming more and more natural.”

Lindsay’s decision to enter the challenging world of film and television began back at Seaway District High School. With the encouragement of then drama teacher, Kevin Kennedy, she submitted an original short film, The Christmas Monster, to the 2009 Toronto Student Film Festival. She was thrilled to receive the Judge’s Special Recognition Award. 

That fall, she was accepted into the Humber program where she made short films throughout her school years and filmed documentaries and studio drama. In her third year, she was the producer of a 10 minute ‘thesis film’, The Writer’s Room, a story with science fiction overtones. “I loved every minute of school,” Lindsay said. “It was lots of work, but that work was fun.”

Lindsay laughed when she described sending out resumés to “every single television show filming in Toronto. I really wanted to get into television.”

She was actually en route to her graduation ceremony when she got a phone call from the production co-ordinator of the police drama, Flashpoint. The company offered her the chance to work the last week of filming for Flashpoint. 

“They wanted to see if I had what it took to come straight out of school to a working show. At this point, I had no real experience except a brief internship at school.”

She worked hard with the company for the last three days of filming (this is Flashpoint’s final season) and the two wrap days. 

To her delight, she was offered a tentative position with Bomb Girls. “However, I wasn’t completely sure that I had a definite commitment with them, and my Humber professor arranged an interview for me with the Rookie Blue police drama.” 

Lindsay received a call back from Rookie Blue, but ultimately decided to take the job with Bomb Girls.  

“Most of the crew from Flashpoint had shifted over to work on Bomb Girls, and I felt that I had started a solid working relationship with that crew and producer.”

Net working and connections are very important in the entertainment industry, Lindsay explained. An entire crew can go with a producer when he moves to a new series. Ultimately, Lindsay hopes to “piggy back into other television series as I go along with Bomb Girls.” 

 Gilmer feels that the film and television industry in Ontario is healthy and vibrant.  The film Total Recall, which recently opened, was made in Toronto, as was the current Resident Evil sequel.  

An extraordinary number of television series are actually filming in and around Toronto including Rookie Blue, Saving Hope, LA Complex, Nikita, XIII, The Murdoch Mysteries and a new series for Showcase called Copper.

“There is a strong entertainment district in Toronto, which is home to a lot of studios, primarily Canadian. Cinespace has four studios and Pinewood is another big company.”

Most of the shows are partnered with US networks.  The  Americans “like our tax credits. Ontario has a tax point system that provides some government funding if a company uses Canadian crews and production services, or films on locations in and around Ontario. This brings money and work to the province, and showcases the real talent we have in this country.”

Vancouver and Montreal are also hubs for the television and film industry. “I believe this is a good time to get into this field,” Lindsay said.

What are Lindsay’s long term goals?

“Ultimately, I would like to become a ‘show runner’, which means a combination of head writer with a lot of say in editing, directing and producing. I’ve seen the challenges this job involves close up and I like them.”

Gilmer laughed when I asked her whether she already had some ideas for television shows.

“Frankly, I think right here in South Dundas there are enough interesting characters to create a show, or at least an episode in a television series. 

Try explaining Tubie Weekend to outsiders: it’s like the Olympics if you live in South Dundas! And what about a high school holding farm day, complete with tractors in the student parking lot? There is great source material here. Really, you can’t make this stuff up.”

[…]

 

 Like many 19-year-olds, Cody Lewis is planning to head to university within the next year or two intending to study theology. 

But unlike many Canadian teens, Cody Lewis also chose to spend nearly four weeks in May, 2012, in the nation of Romania, volunteering at four state-run orphanages. 

Cody volunteered to travel overseas with International Teams, the Canadian branch. International Teams currently has 102 volunteer teams, made up of people from over 24 countries, serving world-wide. Cody went specifically with ‘Impact Romania’ and its Pas Cu Pas program (Step by Step in Romanian).

The Impact Romania program focuses on institutionalized Romanian orphans and young adults in northwest Romania. 

“I first got involved with this group through Muskoka Woods, a Christian Youth Camp near Parry Sound. We saw a video of a previous team’s work in Romania, and I soon felt I had to go. After interviews and a screening process, I was pleased, and nervous and excited to find out I had been accepted.”

At Toronto training sessions, Lewis learned that his purpose would be to meet the orphans, to work with them, play with them and share with them. He would live in the orphanages during his stay, sharing the children’s lives.

On April 29 he flew from Toronto to Paris and then to Budapest. After a nine hour bus ride, he reached the Romanian town of Cluj, a hopeful city with  growing universities.

En route to the orphanage, “I saw how beautiful the countryside was,” Lewis said. “Buildings are hundreds of years old with many Medieval churches.”

In the small city of Beclean, he lived in the town orphanage.

“The town itself is mostly run down. The orphanage is gated and guarded: children can’t leave and people can’t get in. The yard is big, but it is mostly paved over. The pavement is covered in broken glass that no one cleans up, and there is a kind of dump/garbage site on the property. I never saw anyone pick up the garbage while I was there.”

Many orphanages in Romania are the legacy of the manic policies of her former totalitarian president, Nicolae Ceausescu. His behaviour bordered on madness, “degrading social and moral life in his country” Romanians say. 

Although Ceausescu was executed by his countrymen following an uprising in 1989, child abandonment had already become commonplace among desperately poor families. At one point (early 1990’s), Cody was told, there may have been more than 80,000 orphans in Romania.

“Orphanages have toddlers and kids up to age 18. Sometimes the children have physical or mental issues, but sometimes,” Cody explained, “little kids are simply dropped off when a new baby arrives. Parents are so poor, they can’t feed both children. 

These abandoned kids are almost never reclaimed, even though they know they have families out there. They can be angry and frustrated. Some of the older kids become very aggressive in the orphanages, bullying the younger ones. Few trained counsellors or psychologists are available. We often sat and talked to these kids, trying to show them there are other ways to act.”

At Christmas, one of the mission trips from Impact Romania holds a special feast in each of the orphanages presenting some small gifts. “But birthdays and other holidays tend not to be celebrated,” Cody said quietly.

Teachers are dedicated and do what they can. The classrooms are organized not by age, but by levels of education. “You can have a five year old and a 10-year-old in the same class because they both have limited education. We talked to them about Canada, but I still think they don’t really know where it is,” he said. “We handed out maple syrup, and the kids licked the cups clean. It was a rare special treat.” 

Cody played games with children, helped with English lessons, gave piggy-back rides, smiled and laughed with them.
“While I was there, a five-year-old was dropped off. I can’t imagine what it felt like, to be left like this, confronted by strangers, even ones trying to be friendly. It breaks your heart.”

Cody lost his own heart to many of the children. “I wish I had gotten involved sooner. I wish I could have stayed longer to work with Andre, a troubled 15-year-old. I wish it had been possible to adopt Ana, a child from the Princhindel Orphanage, who clung to my hand everyday and smiled at me. I cried when I had to leave her; she kept calling my name. I want, I hope, to go back next year because it will matter to these kids to recognize that someone came back to them, not just the one time.”

“This was a life-changing experience,” said Cody Lewis. “You come face to face with the reality of people’s lives, dealing with hard situations. The lessons  I learned in Romania, I hope to apply even here in Canada.”  

[…]

A woman facing the trauma of cancer and the often harsh effects of chemo and radiation therapy already has a lot on her mind. Particularly devastating for many women is the loss of their eyebrows and hair, and the subsequent alteration in their appearances. 

Look Good Feel Better is devoted to helping women combat the toll cancer can take by helping them to learn how to maximize their looks as they heal. 

“If you don’t feel good, it’s harder to heal,” said Joanne Notman, who has been a volunteer with Look Good Feel Better workshops for seven years. “Women, especially cancer victims, need the morale boost of looking their best.”

The two hour work shops are designed to work with women, one on one, so they can learn tricks about how to minimize hair loss, puffiness, dry skin, and how to cope with nail issues, all of them by-products of cancer treatments. The workshops give women a chance to share and relax, to try on wigs and experiment with make up secure in a private and supportive atmosphere.

“When I attend a workshop,” Notman explained, “I find the participants are always amazed at the quality and quantity of the goods they receive for free. Each work shop has a team leader (Notman is a leader) and a group of cosmetic advisors. These advisors are all volunteers and are all in the cosmetic business.”

“There are three aspects to each workshop,” Notman explained. “Makeup and skin care, nail care and the hair portion. We also talk with women about what to expect as they undergo treatments so that the changes they face are easier to bear.”

The Look Good Feel Better movement began in the United States about 20 years ago, when an oncology nurse witnessed women, devastated by the changes in their appearances, essentially “dropped” once their medical treatments were finished. The idea of workshops to help them cope took hold.

In Canada, the program is sponsored by the Canadian Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. 

Each participant in a workshop receives a complimentary kit of products donated by this group, all of them designed for traumatized skin. 

“There is even a workshop held at CHEO,” Joanne explained, “for teenage girls who are undergoing treatments.  The teenagers, we’ve found, are less concerned with the whole background program. They just want to get into the makeup,” Joanne laughed, “but then what girl doesn’t?” 

There are already workshops held in Ottawa and Kingston. And now Winchester District Memorial Hospital also holds a free workshop bi-monthly.

The free workshops at WDMH are held every other month, with the next one scheduled for Wednesday, September 26, in the afternoon. Women of any age can register, whether they are currently undergoing treatment, or will be starting therapy. The number is 613-774-2420, extension 6792.

Joanne Notman believes that the Look Good Feel Better program  is of great value to women facing the trials of cancer.  

“If we can make a woman (and her family too) feel happier and more confident, then it’s all worth it. I call Look Good Feel Better my charity of choice. I love it.”

[…]

The uncertainty created by the unrest between doctors and government hit home Monday when South Dundas Mayor Steven Byvelds announced that a planned expansion of local health care facilities has ended before it even got started.

In a media release, Mayor Byvelds announced that the Township of South Dundas will not pursue the purchase of the former St Cecilia’s School in Iroquois. 

The Township had been in discussions with St. Mary’s/St. Cecilia’s Parish to purchase the school to provide a new location for the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic in Iroquois.

The Township had been approached by the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic to partner with them to provide modern, accessible space on a long-term lease basis, similar to the arrangement with the Clinic in Morrisburg.

The Township had completed its due diligence on the school property and had submitted a conditional offer for the consideration of the Parish. 

However, recently the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic advised that due to an uncertain future with respect to Provincial support of rural medicine they cannot expand further at present.

Acknowledging the position of the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic, Mayor Byvelds said, “I fully realize that with the Province imposing cutbacks that it does impact your business. Rest assured that the Township of South Dundas is willing to work with the SLMC to provide for the health care needs of our residents.”

South Dundas chief administrative officer Stephen McDonald told The Leader that the SLMC and Township are still moving ahead with the agreement they have in place for the Morrisburg clinic that will see it move into a renovated space in the former Morrisburg Collegiate building.

A detailed report on that project is expected at this week’s council meeting.

[…]