Nearly 150 years ago, in 1861, the Episcopal Methodist congregation built a big new stone church on a hill above Sydenham beside what was then the main road south to Kingston. Now, the congregation of Grace United Church has diminished to less than 20 households. Burned out with fundraising efforts and weighed down with debt, on December 7, 2009 they voted strongly though not unanimously to begin the process to sell the church and adjoining property, and disband the congregation. For those present, it was a sad but inevitable decision.

Fifty years ago, the church was a centre of village society. It was packed every Sunday; latecomers were forced to march down the aisle to the few remaining seats at the front. There were usually both morning and evening services on Sunday. The Sunday school had many classes, from kindergarten to teens. There were three women’s groups: the Women’s Association, the Missionary Society and the Chi-rho Ladies’ Group, for younger housewives. There was CGIT (Canadian Girls In Training: remember the sailor-style "middies?"), though even then, the Young People’s group for older teens had disbanded, for lack of participants.

Today, the active congregation has dwindled down to a few people in two or three pews. Community groups who may have wished to use the building have been deterred by the high cost of heating, as reflected in the rent. Few new or young families have joined: there are no longer any children for Sunday school. The expense of maintaining, insuring and especially heating such a large open structure and employing a minister has, over the past decades, used up all the money from contributions, fundraising, and reserve funds, and still left the church running at a constant deficit.

Grace United is far from alone in this. Many churches are facing similar problems, along with many formerly vibrant community groups. A wide and sometimes conflicting list of reasons has been proposed: orientation towards the city, more women working outside the home, secularization, liberalization of views, questioning of beliefs, shifting priorities, enormous changes in means of communication, recreation and socializing.

Changes like this evolve gradually, undramatically; for a long time we can almost convince ourselves everything’s fine, nothing’s really different. But now, a handful of us has faced the end of an era, and forced ourselves to step off into new territory. It’s not comfortable.

Although the decision to close has been made, it is a slow process: Grace United will continue to hold 10 am Sunday services, under the leadership of the Reverend Mac Steinburg. Don’s twentieth and last pie sale will be May 8, and there’ll be a community potluck supper on Saturday April 24. The closing service will be held in the afternoon of May 16. 

Members of Sydenham's senior girls volleyball team help to unload medical supplies destined for Haiti. Photo Brian Rombough.

A second shipment of medical supplies valued at close to $1 million made its way to Verona on Feb. 12 and once again it was Linda Bates of Verona, her family and a committed group of volunteers, including the coach and members of Sydenham High School's senior girls volleyball team, who helped unload the supplies, which are destined for Haiti.

This is the second shipment that has made it to Verona; the first shipment of $100,000 in medical supplies arrived three weeks ago. Bates admitted to being “absolutely stunned” by the sheer size of the most recent shipment, which was donated by a number of groups including various Emergency Services Teams from throughout Ontario, the Oshawa Shriners, the Kingston Rotary Clubs, Inermar Kingston, the Verona Lions Club and the Verona Community Association.

Bates, who works as an educational assistant at Sydenham High School, is also the coordinator of the International Scout and Guide Fellowship (ISGF). Before the earthquake struck on Jan.12 her role as ISGF coordinator in Haiti had been to set up and rebuild schools and to bring scouting to northern Haiti. After the devastating quake Bates’ role shifted somewhat and as she explained, “The ISGF’s role is now focusing on getting medical supplies into the country to assist those who have been injured in the quake”.

This shipment includes countless regular and specialized wheelchairs for adults and children, wheeled stretchers, various types of walkers, commodes, canes, crutches, plus 65 plastic totes filled with various surgical supplies and dressings.

Bates explained, “Now we’re just waiting for a phone call from a trucking company that will drive the supplies to Miami.”

The cruise line Royal Caribbean has agreed to deliver the goods to Haiti where Bates says they will be divided amongst four key groups: The Help Tammy Help Haiti organization that is working to erect a medical clinic in Cite Soleil, and the medical clinic, orphanage and hospital in Grison Garde. Bates added, “Whatever they do not need will be sent to Port-au-Prince or wherever it is most needed.”

Bates admits that she has begun something that has snowballed beyond her wildest dreams. She anticipates a third shipment to arrive in Verona in roughly two weeks’ time and said, “After that I think we’ll take a break and see where we are at since finding space to store the supplies here can be difficult.” This time around Bates was very fortunate when five local couples immediately offered space to store the supplies.

Bates is grateful to the outpouring of community support she has received and specifically wishes to thank members of the Verona Lions Club and the Verona Community Association, Brian Rombough and the Sydenham Senior Girls Volleyball team, Jeff Ryan, Linda Wolsey, Dianne Kennedy, Ken Dearborn and his sons, Joanne van Luven, friends, family and members of the Verona community.

Bates added that she still requires funds to pay for the shipment of the supplies to Haiti and that donors will receive a tax receipt for any donation over $20. To donate call Linda at 613-374-1307.

Development issues in Sydenham area -

Three delegates spoke of their concerns about a proposed development at the corner of Rutledge and Sydenham Roads (Moon's Corners). At issue was the third reading of a by-law to rezone some of the property belonging to S. Gordon from Rural to Special Rural Commercial, which would allow the establishment of a gas station and the potential for a listed range of other commercial activities.

Fran Willes noted that there was a lot more development proposed for the Rutledge Road area and said she and her husband were concerned that there had been inadequate research done on water resources, and the general environmental sensitivity due to proximity to lake and wetlands. She alsomentioned that this is within an UNESCO biosphere area.

Peter Svendsen was concerned about increased water run-off and drainage problems caused by development of a low-lying area, and asked if construction blasting would affect local wells. He also asked whether locating retail outlets just outside the village was a good overall plan for the district.

A third neighbour, Jack Springer, had asked for a draw-down test on either his well, or one on the Willes' property, and wondered why such a test had been agreed to, then cancelled. He also spoke of the potential negative impact on the businesses in the core area of Sydenham.

Deputy Mayor Ron Vandewal reported that he had checked with the OMB, and it was quite clear that council could not rule on issues of business competition: it was up to the business owners themselves to prove that a change would be destructive to their businesses.

Township Planner Lindsay Mills said he had just received a petition from Sydenham merchants expressing concern that the Gordon application would create a duplication of the businesses that exist in the village. He said there had been a number of studies, peer-reviewed, that were all positive. All state that the proposed use of the property can work, with certain caveats: that the storm water design should be reviewed, a site-plan developed, and the design of the gas station should be monitored.

Currently, the Public Works Manager is doing a review of the increasing development on Rutledge Road. Reminding council that a carefully developed site plan can address most of the residents' concerns, he passed out copies of Section 41 of the planning act, which lists the things that a site plan can control: locations of buildings, facilities, traffic access,ground cover, storage of garbage, snow ploughing, etc. Mills recommended Council approve the zone change.

Council was reluctant to do so. Councilor Jim Hicks said water run-off had not been sufficiently addressed. Councilor Bill Robinson said things were moving too fast, that he didn't like being handed last-minute information by Mills.

Ron Vandewal said he found it hard to support, as it stands, that he wants to see the MOE's report, and well draw downs as promised. Also, in regard to traffic, he asked who would pay for traffic lights, if it were later found they are needed. He also noted that the drawings for Phase 5 do not agree with Phase 1 drawings.

Councilors Alan McPhail and David Hahn both worried that this was only the beginning of what had the potential to become a very large development, one that should not be initiated until council has revised the official plan to include policies for the development of Sydenham village. Why, for instance, encourage development outside the area that could be easily serviced by the Sydenham water system? Both spoke in favour of a larger plan for the future of Sydenham, before doing piecemeal development in the area.

Councilor Larry York said there were too many maybes, not enough facts, the proposal demanded "too much, too fast."

Councilor Del Stowe asked why the township would wait for an applicant to get this far, and then hold them off. "Why aren't we ever proactive?" he asked.

Ron Vandewal felt the present plan was too broad, citing a history of poorly enforced site plans. He asked for something in writing from the Ministry of the Environment regarding the potential impact of a gas station upstream from the lake.

Mr. Clarke, the developer's representative, said that draw down tests on a well on the property and a well directly across the road both showed an adequate supply of water. The other neighboring wells could not be tested, under current MOE regulations, for two of them were not cased to the surface of the ground, and the third was not currently in use.

He said qualified engineers had said storm water and traffic could be satisfactorily controlled. He also said it is not the developer's intent to draw business from Sydenham, but to enhance the area.

In the end, Council deferred the third reading of the zone change by-law until March 2, pending further information from the MoE and the Cataraqui Conservation Authority.

Building permits -

Councilor Hicks raised the issue of building permits, saying he wants to see a township policy about them. Mayor Davison said building permits were governed by the building code act, and that the township has no policy re exemptions, therefore there are no exemptions.Councilor Robinson said he felt it was unfair that the township had just turned down a request for exemption, yet the township itself doesn't pay building fees. He listed the Sydenham water plant and the upcoming library and ambulance buildings.

CAO Wayne Orr replied that council had made it quite clear there were to be no further exemptions, including the township. (Note: at the last meeting of the library development committee, of which Councilor Robinson is a member, the architect had been directed to include building permit fees in the budget. Councilor Robinson was unable to be present for much of that meeting, so may not have known this.)

Budget debates to begin -

CAO Orr presented a preliminary budget summary for the first amalgamated township budget. Debate will begin next week at the Committee of the Whole meeting, and is expected to continue at the Feb 16 Council meeting, with the final revision coming for approval on March 2nd. All these meetings are open to the public, and should be lively, as Council's present directive of a 1 to 2% tax increase presents challenges that may be possible to meet only by reduction in services across the township, or serious draw downs of the reserves

Why is the County sitting on all that gas tax money?

Mayor Davison responded to this query by Councilor Del Stowe by saying that County Council was struggling with this question, and hoped to have some answers soon.

Closing of Prison farms

Councilor Ron Vandewal suggested the township forward their letter of concern to Vic Toews, the new Minister of Public Safety, sending copies to the Prime Minister and MP Scott Reid. A letter on file from the previous minister, Peter VanLoan, is not encouraging, and gives no acknowledgment to the value of learning transferable work skills in a farm setting.

Bid accepted for Louborough Lake Bridge construction

Clearwater Structures of Ajax has been chosen to build the Louborough Lake bridge. The winning bid was $1.376 million, which is much lower than the price estimate on the project. The estimate was $1.8 million. Of the nine bids that were submitted, there was wide range of pricing, ranging to over $1.9 million.

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth said he is not familiar with the bidder, but the tenders were peer reviewed by Jewell Engineering, which recommended Clearwater, based not only on the fact that they were the lowest bidder by over $150,000, but also on Jewell’s experience with Clearwater on numerous projects. Construction is expected to begin in the spring and the new branch should be ready for occupancy by the fall. 

Shelley Brooks and her Organizing Committee, Front Row, L to R: Laura Gabriel, Emma Peters, Kelsey Ross, Shelley Brooks, Shelby Vicker, Samantha Perry. Back Row, L to R: Rebecca Mills, Kylie Holden, Megan Ross, Melody Patterson, Jessica Warmington, Raquel Pauls, Victoria Hill, Emily HOle, Laura Sands, Elwin van Alst.

For 40 years, Sydenham High's annual fashion show has been a popular sold-out spring event. This year's show will feature fashion from 20 local stores, with music from four decades and the local band Rock Bottom. The audience will compete for real prizes in interactive game shows from the past 40 years and there'll be a retro peek at fashions from the 70's.

To celebrate the show's 40th anniversary, there will be a special evening just for alumni. Everyone who has ever participated in the show, whether as tech, backstage, model, or musician, is invited to come to an anniversary gala. Please get in touch with show coordinater, Shelley Brooks, at SHS, 613-376-3027; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

All profits go to the Haiti Fund run by two fashion show alumni, and to sponsor students in need at SHS.

Public show will be Friday, March 5, 7pm: alumni only evening is Saturday March 6, beginning with social hour at 6:00 pm. Tickets available at SHS and Sydenham One-Stop.

Julie and Joel Hunt and his artwork he calls “The Present”

Well into its third season of offering programming to adults in South Frontenac with developmental disabilities, the New Leaf Link or (NeLL) is right on track with its mandate of “supporting the continuing education and meaningful occupation of youth and adults with developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum conditions, Down syndrome, intellectual disabilities, acquired brain injuries and other neurological disabilities.”

The non-profit, charitable organization was begun through the efforts of Dr. Karin Steiner and Howard Smith of Verona, who as the parents of Nicholas, their 23-year-old autistic son, are well aware of the gap in community services available to adults in South Frontenac after they graduate from local school-to-community programs.

According to Steiner, NeLL’s executive director, “Our main focus is on delivering programming to our sons and daughters who would otherwise sit at home with nothing to do and nowhere to go.”

Thanks to generous donations, especially from the Oddfellows and Rebekkahs of Harrowsmith, NeLL is now in its third season of offering regular programming two days a week to participating adults in South Frontenac and the surrounding area. All this has been accomplished so far without any government grants. NeLL currently offers seasonal Equestrian, Art Education and Food for all Seasons programs, the latter two of which are currently running in Sydenham at St. Paul’s Anglican church. The Food program enables participants to develop an awareness of the links between nutrition, exercise and health and to learn a variety of skills aimed at increasing their employability and independence. The art program connects participants with local artist/mentors from the community and participants work in ceramics, abstract art, printmaking and computing, developing their artistic expression and employable skills, and are given the opportunity to develop their work into saleable products.

Steiner is quick to point out that all of the NeLL programs offered can accommodate adults who function at various levels.

Currently four adults are enrolled in NeLL, which at this time has a capacity for 10 adults.

Joel Hunt of Sydenham has been participating in the program since its inception. His mother Julie Hunt said, “Prior to joining NeLL we looked into some programs in Kingston but going into the city can be quite stressful. I strongly believe that these rural adults have a right to stay in their own community and be productive here, where they are comfortable, safe and where they are known.”

Joel, who is 22 years old and who has an acquired brain injury, graduated from the school-to-community program at Sydenham High School in 2008. He participated in NeLL's Equestrian and Arts Education program where he was able to care for and ride horses for the first time in his life. Julie explained that for Joel, “It was the first time that he was given the opportunity to take care of something rather than being taken care of himself.”

Joel showed me the art work he has created in the current NeLL arts program, work that is impressive and of which he feels proud.

Both Joel and his mom are thrilled with the program. Julie Hunt explained, “With the New Leak Link program Joel is one of the lucky ones; his life is full and he really looks forward to it. Joel is a very social person and the program has allowed him to develop relationships with friends and others outside of our home, and has ensured a bright future for him in the community.”

Steiner is hoping to further expand and develop the NeLL program this year.

“Our goal this year is to raise additional funds so that we can offer a third day per week of programming for an Entrepreneurial Arts Program that will begin in September this year.” she said.

For years, in South Frontenac and other communities, after completing high school, adults with disabilities and their families have been left to cope on their own.

New Leaf Link is aiming to make those days something of the past in South Frontenac. In Steiner’s words, “Our world view is that everyone has abilities; everyone has something to learn and everyone has something to give back.”

For more information about the New Leaf Link program or to make a tax-deductible donation contact Dr. Karin Steiner at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 613-374-3451.

Photographer Keith Skelton and “White Corn” on view at the Mill Street Cafe in Sydenham until April 1

In order to enrich the Saturday night slow food dining experience at the Mill Street Café in Sydenham and to promote local art in the community, the café’s owners Pat and Rick Dawson have invited a group of artists under the leadership of Alana Kapell to put on juried shows at the cafe's gallery space, which is open for public viewing during the week.

The current show of photography by Keith Skelton of Battersea, titled “Food, Fuel, Millennium Corn” is a thought-provoking show whose high points are the three panoramic photographs of a single corn field and its variations in appearance in different seasons. The individual titles of the three panoramas are White Corn, Green Corn and Cut Corn and in each photo the central focal point is a narrow path that splits the photo in half, meandering from the foreground back into the field where it disappears from view. The images have a sense of mysterious foreboding.

Skelton, who lives in Battersea and who has been farming organic grass beef cattle for over 20 years, has been taking pictures for even longer and it is no wonder that these two occupations, farming and photography have crossed paths.

When asked about the title of the show Keith answers thoughtfully, “It’s a gently political comment on the fact that we are taking and turning corn into bio fuels to put it into our cars and trucks instead of feeding people with it, which does not seem like a very practical way to overcome the end of oil because we simply can’t grow enough corn.”

He continued, “If every kernel of corn in the United States of America went into producing ethanol so that there was no corn in all of America to eat they would only reduce their oil requirement by 12%.” Through the show Keith is also exploring the changes in the medium of photography itself. His panoramas incorporate both old and new techniques of photography.

The single panoramic views of the corn field are initially photographed with a 35 mm print camera where overlapping sequential shots are taken and then processed into prints.

The prints are then scanned into a computer and using Photoshop Keith then “stitches “ the separate images together into a single image which is then printed with pigmented inks as a ink jet archival print on archival paper.

Keith’s photos are framed with black borders and the look harkens back to old classic black and white photographs of artists like Cartier-Bresson, who printed not only the image but also the black border of the negative. For Keith this “reiterates the fact that I am putting in the photograph exactly what I want.”

The photographs are mounted with bugle head screws and stainless steel cup washers, which for Keith also speak of “the mechanical nature of agriculture and to the kind of advertising done in the late 19th and early 20th century."

The show is thought provoking on a number of different levels. It will be on view at the Mill Street Cafe, 4400 Mill Street in Sydenham until April 1. The gallery is open from 10am – 4pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and during Saturday night dining. For more information on Keith Skelton visit www.keithskelton.ca. For information visit www.desertlakegardens.com or call 613-376-1533.

Cataraqui Trail Success Story

Councilor Del Stowe and Pat McNamee made a brief presentation acknowledging the 10th anniversary of the 108 km Cataraqui Trail, which follows an abandoned CNR track from Strathcona (near Napanee) to Smiths Falls. They described the trail as a highly successful project. It is used year-round by hikers, cyclists, horseback riders, skiers and snowmobile riders. It has become a part of the Sydenham triathlon, and will be the site of a bike and hike event on September 25 and a cavalcade of colour wagon ride on October 14. There are plans to develop a rest area near Harrowsmith where the trail meets the K&P trail going north from Kingston. Del Stowe acknowledged the many contributions of volunteers, committees, clubs and municipalities in clearing brush, maintaining and repairing culverts and bridges, spreading gravel, and putting up signs and fences. He noted that 40% of the trail passes through South Frontenac, and thanked the township and its roads department for their ongoing support.

Septic Pollution Reduction Committee

Council agreed to accept the committee’s recommendation to run the septic re-inspection project for 2010 at a cost of $13,000 and at a target level of 100 to 200 inspections. This year’s subject lakes will be: Cronk Lake, Little John’s Sister Lake, Fourteen Island Lake, and the islands in Bob’s and Devil lakes.

Land for High School Expansion

Recently, the Limestone District School Board has approached the county to purchase the property at the corner of Mill Street and Rutledge Road, as part of the planned expansion of Sydenham High School. The county bought this land in 1975, but because it had not been intended for road widening, it was not transferred to the township at amalgamation along with the rest of the county roads system. The county will sell the property to the school board, but only with South Frontenac’s permission. Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth has met with the board officials, and reported that the building design is not completed, but the board has agreed to respect the township’s site plan control process in addition to the usual building permit requirements. Deputy Mayor Vandewal said he thought a site plan would be important, to ensure good sightlines were maintained at a dangerous corner.

Councilor Hicks suggested it should be more than a verbal agreement. Council added an amendment requiring a site plan agreement, then approved the sale.

Municipal Bridge Infrastructure Data Collection

Public Works Manager Segsworth recommended the township apply for the provincially available $5,000 matching funding to help finance the (provincially required) collection of data on the condition of municipal bridge structures. Council agreed.

CAO One-Year Performance Review

Deputy Mayor Vandewal said he was developing a small survey to collect input from staff, which would be taken into account when Council prepared the CAO’s performance review. Councilor Bill Robinson objected strenuously: “Why all this BS? This is a whole new procedure, we’ve never done it before… it brings in a lot of back and forth, and people who shouldn’t be in it.” Mayor Gary Davison defended the process, saying that the staff and department heads, who work daily with the CAO, are best equipped to comment on strengths and weaknesses. Council would still have the final say. Councilors Alan McPhail and David Hahn agreed. Councilor Robinson remained opposed to the change.

(Councilor Fillion was absent from the meeting.)

Shelby Vickery explored using tap water as a form of electricity at Sydenham High School’s Earth Day Carousel.

On April 22 as part of their focus on Earth Day, students at Sydenham High School participated in the Earth Day Carousel, a display of student projects whose focus was the environment.

Included in close to 40 displays were a number of projects that focused on environmental awareness and various practical strategies and solutions to reduce our carbon footprint.

Kieran Doyle, Jen Pople and Rachel Givens did a garbage audit of Sydenham High School, in which they examined 18 bags of school garbage that were collected on April 8.

Their findings were an eye opener- of those 18 bags only two were actually garbage. Four could have been recycled as paper; another four could have been recycled in blue boxes and the last four could have been composted. After crunching the numbers the group found that 89% of the garbage collected could have been recycled.

Doyle said about the project, “It was a messy job but it was well worth it since the statistics showed us that yearly SHS produces 37,000 pounds of garbage. We learned that if students made more of an effort to recycle, that number could be reduced by 27,000 pounds." Doyle hopes the results of the study will go a long way in raising student awareness and that after seeing the numbers, students will be motivated to take those 20 extra steps to the recycle bin.

Shelby Vickery, in her project titled “Tap Water: A Form of Electricity”, demonstrated how household tap water can be used to conduct electricity. Her display demonstrated how an electrical current produced from 6 glasses of house tap water is enough to produce 3 to 6 volts of electricity - enough to power a calculator and according to her, other household items like lamps. Shelby explained, “The technology could be used in emergency situations and for other household items that don’t require too much electricity.”

Tyler Hill, Adam Wilson, Brianna Jeffreys and Chris Lafontaine made a pop can solar heater that can be used as a home heater and another group explored the environmental impact of oil spills.

Most of the projects developed from Erik Rutherford’s grade 12 class on Human Environmental Resource Management. The day’s events also included a school-wide clean up of the Sydenham community, a BBQ, karaoke and a concert by Rock Bottom at the football field.

The day’s aim was three-fold: to explore various issues and alternative green options, and to raise students’ awareness of environmental issues while making a practical contribution to cleaning up the school and community.

Sydenham High School’s Assistant Vice Principal Kelly Roantree was pleased with the day’s event, and as acting chair of the school’s eco-team, is hoping to see the school take on more green initiatives in the near future in the hopes of earning gold status eco certification for this year. Last year the school received a bronze medal. 

Sydenham library groundbreaking ceremony-l-r: Claudette Richardson- chair of the Kingston Frontenac Library Board, Mayor and Warden Gary Davison and John McDougall chair of the library redevelopment committee

On April 26, two back-to-back ground breaking ceremonies took place in Sydenham. The first ceremony was on Stagecoach Road just south of Rutledge Road at the site of the new ambulance base for the Township of South Frontenac.

The project will include the construction of a new 3200 square foot two-bay ambulance facility equipped with staff quarters, eating and office facilities. The governments of Canada and Ontario each committed $250,000 to the project and the County of Frontenac contributed the balance of the total eligible costs of $750,000. The target date for completion is Oct. 11, 2010.

Immediately following was the second ground breaking ceremony, which took place at the Public Library in Sydenham. The sod turning inaugurated the construction of a new library, which will replace and expand the existing library with a new 6000 square foot LEED facility (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) that will include computer areas, quiet study and teen zones, a reading area equipped with a fireplace and a multi-purpose community room. The governments of Canada and Ontario each committed up to $726,667 to this project and the County of Frontenac contributed the balance of the total eligible cost of $2,180,000.

Both ceremonies were well attended by community dignitaries, representatives of the various groups and organizations involved, and community members.

Gary Davison, mayor of South Frontenac and warden of the county, was present and spoke at both events. He later commented. “It’s an outstanding day for South Frontenac and for the whole district since so many people will benefit both from the ambulance service and the library. We are very excited and very grateful to the federal and provincial governments, since without their support neither of these projects likely would have been able to happen.”

Over the past few years, Sydenham High School has been bringing more and more of an environmental awareness to all of its activities, from the curriculum to how the school uses energy and how it handles waste.

This has led the school to receive recognition as a bronze level eco-school.

At the same time, Earth Day activities have been ramping up each year at SHS. All of this has culminated in 2010 being a special Earth Day at Sydenham.

Thanks in large part to the efforts of Eric Rutherford`s grade 12 Human Environmental Geography class, an Earth Day Festival is being planned for Thursday, April 22 at the school, and the general public is invited to participate in a number of events.

In the morning of the 22nd, an Earthworks Carousel will take place in the school gym. It will feature displays of any kind of project that relates to Earth Day from all of the grades at the school.

“The carousel will include photography projects, video projects, world issues projects, geography projects and others. The ministry is trying to incorporate as many environmental issues as possible into the curriculum and it has been a priority of the Sydenham High School community as well. The carrousel is quite a display of the kind of awareness, understanding and commitments that our students have developed. Things have really changed over the six years that I've been at the school,” said Eric Rutherford.

The public is invited to attend the carousel.

Later in the morning, the entire school community will be taking to the streets of Sydenham to do a spring clean up throughout the village. Over 1,000 people will be out on the streets cleaning up. Again, the public is invited to help out. Anyone wishing to do so is asked to contact the school at 613-376-3612.

After the cleanup, everyone will gather at the school football field at the Point for a BBQ, and during lunch there will be a series of games and other events, including a recycling relay and a hay bale throwing contest, as well as music from student bands.