Perth Road Village Crafters draw a crowd for annual show and lunch

No one at the annual craft sale and lunch was too sure how long the Perth Road Village Crafters have been in operation but it’s been quite awhile now.

“My mom was in the Crafters in the late ’70s but I’m not sure how long it was going before she joined,” said Faye Barr at last Saturday’s annual craft show and lunch.

The Crafters are a combination social and activity group, Barr said. They’re always open to new members and pretty much open to any craft someone wants to try.

“You name a craft and somebody will probably do it, including knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, sewing . . .,” she said.

Often, for the craft show, they’ll do a group project such as the ‘fascinators’ wacky headwear featured a few years ago. This year’s project is a large quilt worked on by many of the members.

“We probably have 40 or so members but we have some snowbirds so there’s about 20 people on a regular basis,” she said. “We’d be glad to welcome new members, especially if you’re new to the community.

“We’re a welcoming and warm group.”

She said the best way for somebody to join is simply to show up at the Harris Memorial Park Hall on Wednesday mornings from 9:30 a.m. til noon.

They’re not a fund raising group per se, but they do some fund raising and this year were recognized by the Buck Lake Flotilla in support of Camp Merriwood for their contribution.

“We’re essentially a combination social and activity group,” she said. “But when we do make money, it’s very much used in the community.

In 1990 a small group of women formed a support group in South Frontenac.  They called themselves  'The Sydenham/Harrowsmith Breast Cancer Support group'.  At first the group met monthly at each others homes, but as the group continued to grow a larger venue was needed.  St. Paul's United Church in Harrowsmith opened their arms in welcoming support.  On the second Tuesday of each month approximately 25 women would gather for a hearty home-cooked lunch,  after which the church offered a private meeting space.   The meetings often included guest speakers detailing new treatments & relaxation techniques. However, the main component of each meeting was always camaraderie with a strong emphasis on humour.  At the close of each meeting a member was presented with a fresh flower arrangement provided by Christine Kennedy, the  owner of  Memory Lane Flowers in Sydenham.  Christine is a true 'petal pusher' and supporter.  For more than a decade she has donated a monthly bouquet and each Christmas every member is presented with a gift wrapped pink carnation.

Sadly, when St. Paul's United Church closed in 2016 many groups were left homeless.  At least it felt that way.  The breast cancer support group had established a strong bond with St. Paul's; more so with the volunteers who catered the Tuesday luncheons.  How could we possibly replace those smiling faces and willing hands.  Enter Yarker.  Calls were made and soon the group was invited to hold lunches at Riverside United church.  Lunch is served at 12 noon.  The cost for a home-made lunch is $7.00 and it consists of a soup choice, sandwich, dessert and beverage.  After each meeting the minister; Stephanie Klaassen has provided us with a private meeting space.

Along, with the new location it was also decided that the group needed a new name.  This support group now has approximately 45 members coming from Kingston, Amherstview as well as  several of the small towns in South Frontenac.  We offer hope, inspiration, friendship, education, laughter and sometimes tears.  But most  importantly a feeling that you are never alone on this journey.  There is nothing more hopeful to a newly diagnosed person than meeting a group of healthy, happy, IN THE PINK survivors.

The next meeting is on Thursday, February 16th at 12 noon.  The volunteers at Riverside United church need to know how much food to prepare so if you plan to attend call Ann at 613-572-1368 or Kim at 613-214-1329.

May we do more to keep our small country churches open.  The outreach is so much more than a Sunday service.

A group of concerned Hartington residents gathered at Princess Anne Community Centre on Saturday to protest the new Boyce Road subdivision plan in Hartington.

They were there to support 15 grandmothers who walked five kilometres from the community center, down Boyce Road and back. The walk was designed as a way to raise money for an appeal that they plan to make to the township regarding a new subdivision that is to be put in Hartington.

Developer Terry Grant has plans to build 13 new houses in the hamlet of Hartington. The subdivision is to be put in approximately 500 metres east of the intersection of Road 38 and Boyce Road, behind the Princess Anne Community Centre.

Many residents are concerned about what extra stress these plans could put on what they say is a limited water supply.

John Lesperance has been a part of the committee fighting these development plans for around three years now. He is one of the many residents concerned that the new development could have a huge impact on the water supply in the area.

“Hartington has always been a very restricted area for water that’s why it has never developed much more than the size it is,” says Lesperance. “So it was quite surprising for us that they would decide to put in this kind of development with this kind of demand on the water resources in an area that has always been known to have scarce water.”

Not only are the residents concerned about the amount of water available, they also fear that the quality of the water has diminished over time. They question whether the water has been contaminated by the old gas station that was on the corner of Road 38 and Holleford Road.

The protest walk was organized as a way for the concerned group of residents to raise money for their cause. The money that they have raised so far will go towards their participation in an Ontario Municipal Board meeting in May when the board will be considering the case of the development. In order to be effective in the process, the committee must raise a total of $50,000 to cover legal fees and engineering studies.

The group has been doing a number of different things to try to come up with this money over the years. One of their biggest sources of fundraising is their GoFundMe page online, where they have come up with around $22,745.

This walk was not the end of the committee’s fundraising plans as they work to reach their $50,000 goal.  

The Inverary Youth Activities Association needs your help! We are trying to build a children’s playground in Ken Garrett Park, a well-known ball park in the region. It has three ball diamonds, two with lights for night-time games. The ball diamonds are used every day from April until the end of September. The association sponsors children’s teams and hosts a number of tournaments during the season. The uniforms for children’s teams are provided, and umpire and tournament fees are paid. The income from diamond fees supports these costs plus our everyday expenses such as hydro, repair and upkeep, taxes etc. Volunteers open the canteen on tournament weekends to add to the revenue.

We have eight youth swings and two tot swings and most summer days at least 25 children are in the park daily.

The play area has recently been excavated thanks to Dig’n Dirt and is now covered with a safety cedar weave ground cover. The two tot swings have been replaced to comply with safety codes. All of this has cost $4950.87. A deposit has now been made on a play structure which will allow up to 30 children to enjoy it at any given time and it is suitable for ages 2 to 12 years. Total cost installed is $32,956.21.

We are asking for community help. Our project has been accepted into the funding competition of the Aviva Community Grant program. Now we need votes and lots of them! Voting continues until 4:00 pm on October 28. Each e-mail address is allowed 18 votes and these votes can be placed at one given time. Just copy and paste the address below into your web browser and follow the links!

www.avivacommunityfund.org/voting/project/view/16-79

Spread the news to your friends and post our campaign on your Facebook Page!

We are also collecting beer cans and beer & wine bottles and these can be dropped off at Garrett’s Meat Store, Perth Road in Inverary.   

It seems it’s upon us again….Pineview Free Methodist Church’s Fall Free Clothes Give-Away. It’s hard to believe that it’s time to put away our summer clothing, especially since the weather has been so lovely of late, yet it is true. Fall is here, and winter is chasing close behind, meaning it is time to go through your clothing and see what you want to keep, donate or throw out. Pineview is here to take those much needed, gently used, clean clothing, linens, outerwear, footwear, purses and accessories that could benefit others in our community.

This event cannot be done without your donations, so please consider the needs of others when you are going through your clothing items. It always amazes me year after year how many people use this much needed charity to clothe their families, especially when other costs of living are so high and they sometimes have to make the choices of hydro or putting food on the table or a roof over their heads. Every bit helps.

This Fall event will be held Friday, Oct. 28 from 9 am till 5 pm and Saturday, Oct. 29 from 9 am till 2 pm. Donations can be dropped off at the church on Thurs. & Friday, Oct. 27 & 28. Remember, it’s the Pineview Free Methodist Church, 14397 Highway #41, Cloyne. Your donations are greatly appreciated.

Each year, the Royal Canadian Legion celebrates Legion Week on the third week of September. Legion Week provides us with an opportunity to inform the public exactly what goes on within a branch, and what the branch in turn does for the community.

The Legion is a non-profit organization assuming the responsibility of maintaining the tradition of Remembrance of those who paid the supreme sacrifice by defending our great nation in past and present conflicts, so that we as Canadians can live in the freedom that we enjoy today!

We continue to support and represent our veterans of past and present with many benefits as a result of the determination of our dedicated members at all levels of the organization.

Legion branches across the province work together with their affiliated organization to raise funds in support of the many programs within the Royal Canadian Legion. The monies raised supports numerous programs benefiting our veterans, seniors and youth within our own local community.

September 18-24, 2016, has been proclaimed Legion Week throughout the Province of Ontario. Sharbot Lake Branch 425 celebrates this event every year with a seniors' day of bingo and dinner held on the Tuesday of Legion Week, which is a very successful day of fun, food and camaraderie.

Sharbot Lake Hollowood Branch 425 takes this opportunity to invite the general public to visit the Legion, or talk with a member, to learn what we're all about and to consider joining in the activities put on for the enjoyment of the community, and perhaps even consider joining our organization.

Have You Ever …

Cut up a log into firewood with a hand saw?

Then split it up with an axe?

Harvested a field of grain with a scythe and pitchfork

Carried it wrapped in jute bags sewn to create a large blanket?

Chopped fodder for cattle with a hand-held curved blade

Fed and watered livestock from hand-carved wooden troughs?

Scrubbed clothes on a metal or glass washboard

Pressed them with irons heated on a wood stove top?

This was the life of early settlers. It's hard to imagine that a house could be built of logs, roofed with hand made wooden shingles, boards hand cut and hand planed. Furniture and most necessities started with a tree and were created with function foremost. The Pioneer Museum has an extensive display of various tools and equipment to help visitors relive the early days. Many of them are made of wood. One display item that constantly amazes everyone is a homemade, portable forge that was donated by the family of Cecil and Helen Snider in memory of Cecil's father, Zara James Snider. In the early 1900s Zara Snider was a blacksmith in the Glenfield-Vennachar area. When the road to Denbigh was being built in the 1930s he diligently built a forge to fit into his wagon, hitched up a team of horses and followed the road building crew. He moved with them, repairing and making metal tools, blades and brackets for their equipment as items wore out and broke down. This might possibly be the first mobile forge.

As summer gradually moves towards fall, Villages Beautiful Sharbot Lake would like to thank all those unnamed flower fairies who have planted and watered the various flower displays, boxes and tubs, throughout the village. This year has been a real challenge. We tend to take for granted that these displays continue throughout the hot dry weeks. But it is only the hard work of these residents and businesses that makes this possible. If you see one of these fairies, please thank them.

Looking ahead, did you know that there is an official Canada150 tulip bulb, which will be available exclusively at Home Hardware throughout Canada? Our own H.H. is putting in an order, so get yours in now as there obviously will be a limited supply. These need to be planted in the fall for spring flowering.

If you miss the boat on this one, we might suggest that just plain red and white tulips would look lovely to celebrate this event.

Worried about squirrels? Try placing chicken wire over them. The bulbs won’t mind but the squirrels will be frustrated. Or some varieties of daffodils come close to red and white and the squirrels don’t like them.

Can you imagine it, all of the village, and maybe all of Central Frontenac, abloom with red and white flowers of any kind throughout the season, to mark 150 Years of Confederation? Think about it as you plan for 2017. Tracey at the Lawn and Garden Centre at Clement Road would be happy to advise you on plants to suit a particular location. Happy Gardening.  

The community of Stirrngton is reeling from a string of thefts targeting volunteer groups and children.

“This is a problem in our area,” says John Beskers, Acting President of the Storrington Lions Club which had its community hall vandalized the middle of August.

Run by volunteers, the Storrington Lions Club launched a campaign earlier this year to revitalize its aging hall. A popular and affordable meeting place for youth and families, the hall experienced a major setback recently when the air conditioning (AC) unit was vandalized.

“The sides were left in place. The robbers basically just cut everything and took the coil,” says Beskers who discovered the broken equipment while hosting a youth dance at the hall on Aug. 19.

The club estimates it will cost $5,000 to replace the unit; money the club can ill afford.

“We’re disgusted this type of thing is happening in our community,” says Beskers, visibly upset.

A volunteer with other community groups in the district, Beskers is joining a chorus of other residents who say they are troubled by a rash of break-ins, thefts and vandalism in the area.

Beskers cites examples as a broken sign and fence at the local school and a recent break-in and theft at the soccer association’s clubhouse. Other residents in the area have reported items stolen such as ATV’s and bicycles.

One family even went public with a $500 reward for the return of their new four wheeler which was stolen from their house while the family was at work and school.

“We’re here as a service,” Beskers says about Storrington Lions Club.

“We help people by providing an affordable and convenient community hall to connect residents and celebrate life. It’s disheartening to have this happen to us; especially when we’re in the middle of a revitalization campaign. We took a step forward, and now we have taken two steps back. It seems unfair that we have to take money and fix what vandals destroyed on us.”

The club has raised approximately 20 per cent of its fundraising goal of $75,000 to upgrade the washrooms, heating system and entrance ramp. The destruction of the AC is a heavy blow to volunteers who are trying to save the hall.

“It’s disgusting to think there are people in our midst, or outside our community, who would vandalize the Storrington Lions club Hall at a time when the club is working to raise funds to upgrade that much-need facility,” says Ron Sleeth, Storrington District Councillor with South Frontenac Township.

“Unfortunately, it would appear as though there is an increase in vandalism and petty crime in our community. Hopefully the OPP will catch the perpetrators soon.”

Speaking on behalf of the South Frontenac OPP Detachment, Media Relations/Community Safety Officer Roop Sandhu says thieves broke the AC to steal the copper wire. An attempt to vandalize a second AC unit at the hall was unsuccessful.

“The OPP Forensic Identification Unit was called in to gather any evidence at the scene,” confirms Constable Sandu.

“It’s hard to pinpoint what’s happening because it’s so varied,” he replies when asked if vandalism and theft is on the rise in the area. “It’s just a wide-variety of mischief and thefts that is happening.”

To help solve the problem, the OPP encourage residents to call the police at 1-888-310-1122 to report a suspicious person, vehicle or activity.

“Why do people steal stuff like that? It’s tremendously sad,” says Beskers about the missing wires in the club’s AC unit and stolen items from the soccer association’s clubhouse.

“It’s crazy what people will steal these days.”

To help Storrington Lions Club save its community hall, donations are gratefully accepted through the mail at 2992 Princess Road; Inverary ON K0H 1X0 or on the club’s electronic fundraising page Go Fund Me at https://www.gofundme.com/dzyxmr7y  

The Conservationists of Frontenac and Addington have an annual program to introduce local children to angling in our beautiful surroundings. Participants who have not had a chance to experience fishing are selected. Each is given a rod reel and some tackle by COFA and taken to a local lake to learn with experienced anglers. This year a COFA member and staff from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry provided boats and instruction.

The kids’ return to shore was one of excitement as they had caught several fish, learned a lot and enjoyed the company of their adult companions while they fished. One fish had to be kept to show the parents how big it was. The smaller fish were filleted, fried and served in a delicious shore lunch. There was enough to serve lunch to everyone in attendance, it was wonderful. Thanks to all who helped, to Ed Yanch who transported the fishers, and most of all to Brody, Zech, Jaydin and Scott, who caught the lunch.