Jun 00 'ARCHIVES'

BIG POND CONCERT 2000 PLANS GALA

COUNCIL NOTES - Rumours about sidewalk construction from the beach to the firehall were discussed. Members requested that the community have an opportunity to review and discuss any such plans in advance. Interest was again expressed in putting on a “Flag” course in anticipation of Highway #4 activity this year. A one or two day course would provide a three year qualification for successful candidates. Dave Cunningham offered to contact training officials on feasibility. Anyone interested should contact Dave at 828-2924.

President Mel Currie read a letter from Riverview Rural High School inviting Council to offer scholarships for graduating students. Council agreed to donate two scholarships for $300.00 each. Frank Sampson advised members of a meeting with Celtic Colours scheduled for the following week. Ed MacIntyre will join Frank representing the Parish Council and Dennis Mac Donald for the Council. The next meeting of Council is scheduled for Wednesday, June 7, at 7:30 in the Fire Hall.

SUMMER EMPLOYMENT- Council was recently informed that we were successful in obtaining approval for two placements under the Nova Scotia Employment Program For Students. Merrideth MacDonald, and Avery MacDonald have already started work.

Two additional placements have been approved under the federal Summer Career Placements program funded by Human Resources Development Canada. Angela Murphy and Angela MacPherson will take up these positions after graduation.

BIG POND CONCERT - You can start making your vacation plans now. The tentative schedule for the year 2000 BIG POND CONCERT has been unveiled. Concert Committee spokesperson, Sharise McKeigan advises that while the final schedule will be in the July issue of the Times you can now mark in the “8 day week” of Sunday, July 16 to Sunday, July 23.

Sun., July 16- Strawberry festival at the Fire Hall and in the evening Pastoral Airs at St.Mary's Church; Mon., July 17 will be a Seniors Social at the Fire Hall in the afternoon with the Sail Past at the Big Pond Beach in the evening; Tues., July 18 has Tarabish at the Fire Hall beginning at 8pm; Wed., July 19 the Scavenger Hunt is at the Big Pond School at 5pm; Thurs., July 20 Steak Darts at the Fire Hall; Fri. July 21 will feature Rita MacNeil & Friends (Mary Jane Lamond & others) at MacIntyre's Field followed by a dance to Kintyre at the Fire Hall; Sat., July 22 will see a Square Dance with Howie MacDonald & Tracie Dares again at the Fire Hall; Sun. July 23 is the 36th Annual Big Pond Scottish Festival at MacIntyre's Field. See you there!

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH would like to remind the Big Pond community that the June Prom and Graduation schedule is now available: Wed. June 21 -Holy Angels -Prom; Thurs. June 22 -Sydney Academy -Prom; Fri. June 23 - Riverview and Glace Bay- Prom; Sun. June 25 -Glace Bay, Holy Angels and New Waterford -Graduation; Mon. June 26 -New Waterford -Prom; Tues. June 27 Sydney Academy -Graduation; Wed. June 28 -Riverview -Graduation. Each year community volunteers have patrolled the beach area to prevent damage to the facilities there. Committee representative Sharise McKeigan advised the Times, “We will be requesting your help during the June Community Council meeting. If you are available to help during these evenings, please let us know or pen-in your availability on the schedule which will be circulated at the June Council meeting .”

ANGELA MACPHERSON - We owe Angela an apology. In the Millennium edition of the TIMES we noted the Big Pond young folk who were in regular school at the beginning of the new century. But, we missed one...Angela. How could we miss the editor of the Riverview Rural High Year Book, coordinator of this year’s prom decorating committee and valued member of that high school’s rugby team. By the way, we talked to her the evening she kicked the winning goal in sudden death overtime to give Riverview the regional rugby championship. Thanks to current technology we can sort of rewrite history: the web page edition of the January TIMES has been ‘edited’ to include Angela and a revised edition of that number has been printed off and presented to her.

TARTAN EAGLE reopens Sunday, June 11. Manager Raymond Duprey is pleased to advise us that not only will the menu be enhanced but the facility will feature air conditioning, yes that’s right, as well as being fully licensed. Raymond’s home-style pies and other desserts as well as gift items will again be available. Watch for further news on Friday night specials with live music. During June the Tartan Eagle will be open weekdays from 11am till 8pm and from 10am till 8pm on Sundays. Clip this notice and present it for a 10% reduction on food orders on your first visit during the month of June.

COMMUNITY NOTES -

EMMA MACDONALD would like to express her deep thanks to the Big Pond Volunteer Fire Dept. for their assistance on her return from hospital after hip replacement number three (don’t ask). Professionalism with a sense of humour was just what Emma needed to get back into her home. This was the first ever such call for our fire service and they met it with flying colours.

BIRTHDAY WISHES TO AGNES MACNEIL from Theresa, Geraldine, Helen, Natalie and Jean Marie. Our Agnes will be 90 years young on June 22.

INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS - for the Big Pond Volunteer Fire Department will he held Sat. June 17 at the Fire Hall. A ‘happy hour’ from 6to 7 pm will be followed by dinner with a dance following. Tickets are $7.50, contact Fred Myatt at 828-2661.

THANKS TO THE BIG POND VOLUNTARY FIRE DEPARTMENT and the Big Pond community for participation in and support of the Sun, May 21 search operation in the Glengarry Road area.

WORKERS AVAILABLE - Do you need your lawn mowed, other yard work or odd jobs done? Don’t wait, call MacDonalds: John, Joe and Jamie at 828-2554 or 828-3453.

CITIZENS IN ACTION PETITION - Over 25,000 residents have already signed the petition to halt implementation of single policing in the CBRM. If you haven’t signed and would like to, call Gerald Thomas (828-2287) or Dennis MacDonald (828-3417) and they will ensure that you have that chance.

BOOKMOBILE - The Bookmobile will be in the area on Wednesday, June 16: Big Pond, 11:15am; Irish Cove, 1:15pm and Johnstown at 2:00pm.

YOUTH NOTES - Congratulations to Christine MacDonald who was recently elected Co-president of the 2000-2001 Riverview Rural High School Students Union. - Christine also was named the most improved player with her school AA girls soccer team. - David McCarron recieved a sports award as the most valuable player in AAA soccer with Riverview. - Best wishes to Jean Marie MacMillan and James Currie who celebrated their First Communion at St. Mary’s.

CBRM COUNCIL NOTES: Tax Exemption - The CBRM has increased the low income property owners tax exemption: 1. Single Income $12, 000.00; 2. Multiple income $15,000.00. Those who are under the above income level (include income tax form) and are a resident and can show legal title of property can apply for a tax reduction of $125. Shouldering - I have received numerous phone calls regarding the shouldering along Route #4. This work falls under the Dept. of Transportation and Communications, not the CBRM. However, as your councillor I have called the DOTC in Sydney River, MLA Russell MacKinnonÆs office and the Sydney Cabinet office to relay your concerns about poor condition of the shouldering. Because the work that has been done so far this spring has left the shoulders unsafe and unsightly, I suggest that more calls to the proper authorities are appropiate. Sidewalks- Before the pricing of sidwalks in Big Pond area can be completed, the Dept. Of Transportation & Communications wants the Big Pond Community Council to indicate on what side of the highway the residents wish to see sidewalks installed. Student Lottery (Grade X11, College, University Students) for District 14 is scheduled to take place June 8th at the Coxheath Arena at 5:00 pm. Students or a representative are required to be present at the draw. Respectfully submitted, Ivan Doncaster, Councillor District 14, CBRM

GLENGARRY SCHOOL DAYS - Part two of a conversation with Michael MacInnis.

If we hadn't gotten the school we would have left Glengarry soon after my father died. I remember being in Sydney with my mother and visiting Annie Johnson. The Johnsons had moved to Sydney from Glengarry some years before. They had a business near the corner of Alexander and Argyle. They had a sort of inn. They kept people overnight. Forty cents to stable the horse and ten cents for a bale of hay. Perhaps fifty cents a person to stay overnight- something like that. My mother told Annie Johnson she was considering moving to Sydney. Would that be a good idea? Annie said yes, that she herself would have gone in twenty years before if she knew then what she knew now. But we got the school and we stayed in Glengarry. All the family-there were eight of us- got some education there, and most of us were able to get some education beyond that. Some went to Johnstown. Father George MacLean was parish priest and he wanted to get a school going in Johnstown- the Academy- but money was pretty scarce and somebody must have told him that if he could get Glengarry West into the section up there that they could get more grants. My mother and the others agreed so that's how some of us got some schooling up there. As I said before, I was the oldest and I had to quit school early to go to work.

Margaret was next. She went to school in Glengarry for a start- I just don't know how many years she went there. She went to school in Big Pond for a year. In Big Pond Centre. She stayed at John Archie MacDonald's. Then she went to Mabou for three years. She got her ten, eleven and twelve there. Then she entered the Congregation of Notre Dame in Montreal. She didn't stay there very long. She came home and went to work in Sydney. And eventually she got married to Alex MacKinnon and they made their life in Sydney.

Josephine was next. She got her high school in Mabou also. And she spent perhaps a year or so in Montreal with the Congregation of Notre Dame and then came home. Shortly after went to Boston. She married Charles Colwell there.

John Roddy was the next oldest. He's the only one of us who has passed on. What education he got he got in Glengarry. I think he got about grade nine before he had to go to work. He married Annie MacNeil.

Then came Betty. She had to stay home because our mother was sick and she had to stay home and kind of look after her. She did look after her. I don't believe she went to Johnstown. Not that I can think off. She was home until my mother died and then she went to the states. She went to Minnesota- I had an aunt out there. And she stayed there. She married Roy Morrison from Down North- the Ingonish area. She's still in Minnesota.

Flo went to school in Sydney. I believe it was the Academy. She went there for a year I think. Then she went to Johnstown, I think. She got through there. She was thinking of going in to be a nurse. She was home during the school vacation and Father George came out to the house and he told her she had to go somewhere and further her education. He told her to meet him the next morning at the corner of the Loch Lomond Road and he would take her to Antigonish. It was a little late. The term had already started in the School of Nursing. A sister was waiting for them. I guess Father George had contacted them before they got there. When the sister saw Flo,she said, " I though you were bringing a big, strapping girl." Father George told her, " She'll beat anything you have here." You know the way Father George was. So she became a nurse. She worked around here for a couple of years, working quite a bit but not steady. Then she thought it was time to go and get something steady so she went to Boston. Later she married Dougie MacIntyre. He worked for Massey-Ferguson in Brantford, Ontario. He was purchasing agent. Later Massey-Ferguson was reorganized after five of their top people were killed in a plane crash and Flo and Dougie ended up in Iowa. They're there ever since.

Kay, my youngest sister, went to Johnstown and then she went to school for a year in Sydney. She studied I think secretarial work. I know she learned typing. She stayed with us, Kay and I. Then she went to Boston and she went to work in a super- market as a cashier and she married Tony Carideo, who was manager of the meat department in the store.

Benny went to school in Glengarry and then Johnstown and then to Sydney Academy. He stayed at East Broadway, at Campbell's. Mrs Campbell was a MacPherson from up here. She was an elderly woman. Her daughter was a nurse. She had an ad in the paper, wanting a girl to stay with her mother when she was working. Benny needed a place to stay and he thought he'd apply. He went over to see them and they gave him the job and he stayed there for the year. At East Broadway. He'd walk over to the Academy every day. He got along well. Then he went to St. F.X. He'd come home every summer and work with me in the woods. It cost about three or four hundred dollars tuition fee at that time, and I remember I'd have a car of pit timber, eight by five, ready towards the end of the summer and the check for that would be his pay for the summer. It would be enough to put him through the year, you know. On the last day or his summer's work in the woods he'd take the axe and throw it as far as he could. He tried to get on the plant for the summers but he couldn't get on. He knew no one there. That was about the size of it.

Then he went to teach at Loyola College in Montreal and he studied at McGill at the same time. The principal's name was MacKinnon. He and Benny didn't always see eye to eye. One day they had words about something or other. As Benny was leaving MacKinnon's office he told him to go to the devil in Gaelic. MacKinnon heard the Gaelic and called after him, " MacInnis, where are you from ?" When he heard Big Pond, Cape breton, he said, "I'm from just across the water!" I think he was from Boisdale. I guess they got along better after that.

He wanted to get his masters so he went to McGill for three or four years part time, when he could. He was specializing in steel - tungsten steel- and the last year they told him he'd have to work for a while in a steel lab before he could get his degree. He told me about it. He said he had applied at the lab in Sydney and though there were fellows he knew getting on, he wasn't getting any satisfaction at all. He asked me if I knew anybody who could help. I told him I knew of one person who could get him on if he wanted to. He asked me who it was. I said I don't know him and I never saw him but I could tell him where he lived. He was a MacInnis, Joe MacInnis from the Rear of Irish Cove and he was electrical superintendent. He was there a long time and he lived on Hospital Street, right across from the city hospital. Benny said that he'd try him. So he went in with me one day on the truck and he went up there and went to the house and introduced himself and told him what he was there for. " Well, " he said, " come in. You're one of the first who came to me for assistance to get on the plant. Where would you like to work?" Benny told him he wanted to work in the lab. And he told him why he wanted to work in the lab. He said, " You go home and I'll call you up or let you know somehow." And in a couple of day's time he found out that he got the job. And he got along fine.

Then he got a car, a Pontiac coupe- they were around $1600 at the time. Then he went back to Loyola and finished up at McGill. When he was there he met and married his wife, Esther Morris from Douglastown, Quebec. Then he won a fellowship to Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was also offered a National Research Council Scholarship but he took the fellowship and got his masters at Holy Cross. Then he went to work with Sylvania Electric and he made his career with them. He settled in Towanda, Pennsylvania. He did a lot of travelling for the company. He even spent some time studying French in Grenoble, France. He really liked London, and said that if he were starting out again that's where he would go.

Anyway, most of us ended up a long way from Glengarry. My mother died in 1941 at the age of 46. Died of cancer. My father also died of cancer. We stayed about two years after my mother's death and then we left Glengarry. I went out the other day with Martin- not to the old property, but to the eastern part of the Valley- and I couldn't recognize one property. Everything is grown up in woods now. If I didn't know where I was I never would have guessed that I was in Glengarry. Everything changes I guess. (Jack MacNeil)