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Brooksdale wr celebrates 75 years Snow covered the roads as the ladies of the Brooksdale area travelled eagerly to the home of Mrs. Angus Mathcson who lived on the 3rd Line to attend the very ?rst meeting of the Brooksdale Women In- stitute on Jan. 18, 1923 - the third Thursday of the month at 2:30 pm. Seventy-?ve years later, one chartered member - Mrs. Florence (lnnes) Ross plus 40 present and former members and guests travelled again on snow covered roads to the Brooksdale United Church to celebrate the 75th anniverary - on the 3rd Thursday of Janu-- ary, 1998. The anniversary celebra- tions began with anoon lunch- eon catered byJanice Mitchell of Uniondale. President Joanne Shelley presided over the afternoon activities. Greetings were brought from Oxford North District W.l. Donna McPherson and subdivision 23 director Donna Willows. To remember this special anniversary. the three surviv- ing chartered members will be given a pin/badge scarf made from the Federated Women's institute of Ontario Tartan. Joanne Shelley and HelenPiett presented Florence Ross with her scarf prior to the cake cut- . ting ceremonies. The anniver- sary cake was decorated by talented member 10 MacKay. Mrs. Mary lanes and Mrs. Frances Rowland will be pre- sented their tartan badge scarf at a later date. Rosina Morris, curator for the branch'sTweedsmuiri-[is- tory and secretary Cathy Mor- ris highlighted the history and traditions of the branch. A tradition started in Dec. 1923 was to remember to sick and shut-ins of the area. Even in 1998, recuperating patients still enjoy the thoughtfulness of the Brooksdale W.l. (B.W.I.) B.W.i. has always taken an interest in the activities of the one room school to the modern complex of Zorra Highland Park with ?nancial support forspecial projects and awards at the Grade 8 gradua- tion. Support of the 4-H pro- gram began in 1938 with the Girls' Club. Many girls. who joined the club have become leaders of 4-H work and mem- bers of the B.W.I. or afar in their new communities. Knitted and sewn items, quilts and jars of jam were made for the Red Cross dur- ing the Second World War. Today crib quilts, ?nger pu'p- pets. slippers and other items are donated to the Children's Hospital of SouthWestem Ontario. Over the years, members have organized social . activi- ties for the whole family or just the adults. They spon-- sored dances at Bailey's Hall in Brooksdale and at the Em- bro Town Hall, garden par- ties. Halloween parties. euchre parties and bus trips to enrich the lives of the community. Women's institutes have been well known to preserve local history and Brooksdale is no exception. Four books of local history of the area -- his- tory of farms, hamlets, schools, churches and community ac« tivities are well preserved There are four scrapbookao . newspaperéli'jipiiigsvthichare' ' . photocopied and mounted on quality paper to preservethi form of history. ' ' ' Preserving yourfamil'yhis- " tory was the theme of the af- ' ternoon speaker .[osie i VanLoon of the Salford area ' of proper preservation o tographs by mounting 0 acid free paper and using acid free ' ink for labelling. . ' - Labelling'the who's wh is very important for future 'j generations. Vanl..oon started her own . v business Creative Memories . from her home just over ayear j ago and she . runs classes in it preserving in her home or at . the customer's home. 3 Members had the opportu ' : ' nity to create their own them , .I.'s recently held 75th anniversary celebrations page of personal photos using thethird. Thursday of this month - was the ceremonial uniting ol' the cake. Pictured doing the acid free products from , honors:% the irrstltute's president Joanne Shelley and charter member Mrs. Florence her business. (lnnes) Ross. The ceremony m held at the Brroksdale United Church. (Laura Green Photo) 3'I'he age old expression "you must have a bee in your bon- iet" is one way to describe how anfidea has developed into a full-scale renovations project for the Embro Com- munity Centre. ; The project is to develop an elevated heated viewing. area in the lobby of the centre from which the entire ice surface can be viewed. a The project was spear- Eheaded by Robert M. .Matheson, who noted 1 this style of viewing area at the Mitchell arena while attending ?lisjson's hockey game {last spring. Iris simi- Eflar'in structure to the s. . Embro centre. t a he 'It will be wheelchair accessi- ble for the physically chal- lenged spectators and will pro-- videva great spot for the fans Who don't like sitting in the cold stands. At present, a portable plat,- form is set up against the boards in the Southwest cor- ner of the arena for the wheel- chair viewers. The project was spearheaded by Robert M. Matheson. who dated this style of viewingarea at the Mitchell arena while attending his son's hockey game last spring. It is similar in structure to the Embro cen- tre. A committee of interested citizens have been working together since the spring de- veloping plans and working through all the 'rcd tape'. The ?nal hurdle will be gain- ing approval from the Zorra council's recreation commit- tee. Engineering reports and plans have been drawn up and early estimates for the projects are 540,000-350,000. Funding for the project will come entirely from;the com- p Examining the engineer's plans for the proposed renovations at the Embro and West Zorra Community Centre are committee members (clockwise), Ronda Shewan, chairper- son; Al Matheson, Robert M. Matheson and Dale Matheson. Renovations include an elevated heated viewing area in the lobby of the centre which will be wheelchair accessible. It will also have a full View of the entire ice surface. (Laura Green Photo) munity. it calls for no tax dol- lars to be spent. Chairperson Ronda Shewan said a ?ycr explaining the project and asking for pledges will be distributed with the next municipal tax bill. The committee is also hoping the local service'clubs will under- take fund--raising projects for the renovations. Donations can be made pay- able to : Township of Zorra-- Embro Community Renova- tion Project and can be dropped off at the Royal Bank in Embro, Matheson Food Town or mailed to the township of~ ?ce. A tax receipt will be is- sued upon request. ? The committee would like to start the renovations at the end of the hockey season. The tar- get date for completion is the Embro Fair. Innes elected society president The 60th anniversary year of the Zorra Caledonian Society came to a close at the recently held annual meeting. A roast beefdinncr served by the Embro Legion Ladies pre-- ceded the meeting. The Highland Games -- the society's major event was an- other success dcspite the often cloudy weather. There were 176 dancers competing in the 16 classes - for they knew it never rains on the ?rst ofluly in- Embro. . THE INGERSOLL TIMES, Wednesday, January 28, 1998 - Page 3 i 5 a The new executive for the Zorra Caledonian Society was recently elected. Standing at _ back: secretary/treasurer Dianne and Rollie Rutherford; director Gard Richards and dance secretaries Marlene and Bill Matheson. Front row: Keith Matheson; ?rst vice- president Ken Minler; President Rick Inm and past president Gord Green. (Laura Green Photo) The ladies tug--of-war team from Embro won its ?rst match at the 601h annual Games also. The society, working jointly with the Embro and Zorro Agricultural Society. com» pleted the construction of a large storage building on the community centre grounds for both organizations'equipment. The 1998 executive and di- rectors are as follows: l'ast president - Gord Green President - Rick lnnes First vice - Ken Minler Second vice - Mel Sim Secretary/treasu rer - Rollie and Dianne Rutherford Dance secretaries - Marlene a nd Bill Matheson Directors - Keith Mathcson and Gord Richards