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WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1976. PAGE 7 Have you ever won a major contest prize? Have you ever purchased a winning ticket on the Wintario draw? Have you been a winner in any contest in which Lady Luck is a prime factor? No? Then we have something in common -- neither have I. 'Like you perhaps, for more than twenty years, from time to time, I've entered contests which have offered glittering prizes of romantic trips for two to faraway places like Hawaii, an African Safari, the Far East, and/or an inc-ome of $100.00 a week for the rest of my natural life -- but I have never been a winner. Oh, I've won, as possibly you have too, prizes for achievement in business, professional feature writing and several for athletic prowess in my youth. Even one for being a finalist in musical chairs! But I've never been a winner in a contest which is really "the luck of the draw". Now people who enter contests of all types and varieties are frequently addicted to them. (The contest). They are professionals in the sense of working the numbers game. This means they make massive numbers of entries (I know because I've organized many local, provincial and national contests). I rçmember one lady in Toronto who entered a contest in the. mid-60's, and her first batch of entries amounted to 10,000! Yes -- she was a winner. I've found over the years whatever the rules are professional contest entrants often find loopholes. The point is that contests hold out hope as well as challenge and interest to individuals engaged on a day-to-day basis in mundane and repetitious occupations. A trip for two to a hot country in a cold January winter always has great appeal -- althotigh one of the nost popular contests that I was ever involved with was one in which the major prize was a week in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.., It was not merely the location -- but the fact that the winners would also receive $50.00 per day to spend at the gambling tables or the one-armed bandits! People found this challenging and exciting because they stated afterwards, "It was fun to spend other people's money", In Canada, the Olympic Lottery has been a smash hit and people have become millionaires over night. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of people, deep within thenselves, feel that-they have a chance of winning, and, of course, frequently, they are amazed when they do. One of the most intriguing of 'contest-promotions' this writer has come across was organized by the Quaker Oats Company. This took place in the 1930's, and allegedly the famous breakfast food company stuffed 21-million registered land deeds in their product which enabled the lucky purchaser to be the owner of one square inch of land in the alleged gold country of the Canadian Yukon Territories. So popular and powerful was this idea and so many inquiries were received regarding the "registered deeds" that the company apparently purchased 19,000 acres of property in the Yukon Territories. Years later, it seems that some people had held on to their 'deeds'. In fact, about 1,000 of them. They wanted to know how muen one inch square of Yukon Territory was now worth. The answer to the question was that the deeds were apparently worthless. In fact, this writer understands that the folks in the Yukon Territory reclaimed the 19,000 acres because, according to the records held in that part of Canada, back taxes in the amount of $37.00 were outstanding, and it seerms that those good people in the far north decided that that was sufficient reason to reclaim the land! Whatever the real facts are behind the one square inch of land in the Yukon, the point remains that it was a fantastically successful idea and probably people for a long time imagined that they had a slice of property that could indeed not only be increasing in value -- but possibly contain gold. Lastly -- people do win contests and they can be fun - if you haven't tried, give it a whirl. Roller skating is offered at Iroquois Park Arena "Roller skating is not recreation; I say it's entertain- ment", says Ken Barber, who has been involved in operating roller skating programs for almost 20 years. Mr. Barber,. a Whitby resident, is in charge of the roller skating programs at the Iroquois Park Arena and the Ajax Community Centre. Recently Mr. Barber has provided adult roller skating for those 18 and over, Mondays at Iroquois Park from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., in addition to his Thursday night programs for ages 14 and over. More than 200 people - attend the Thursday night programs,and Mr. Barber is hoping for a similar response for Mondays. Mr. Barber has outlined rules of conduct and dress for roller skating, which "are dictated by the rules of good taste and strictly enforced for the safety of the skaters". "Roller skating for years has had the stigma of the rough leather jacket roller derby element", says Mr. Barber. "I want to show it's a safe, enjoyable recreation". Four or five, staff are on the floor to help beginners, and rather than having a laissez-faire type program, Mr. Barber believes in tighter controls for greater safety. After three years in Ajax and two in Whitby there have been no accidents with broken bones in Mr. Barber's programs. Skating is provided to pop music and recorded organ music, and from tinc to time, Mr. Barber has a nostalgia night with music of the 1950s and 1960s. He started the adult skating in June, so adults would not have to mix with children. "Roller skating has increas- ed in popularity 300 per cent over the last four years", says Mr. Barber. "It is easier to learn than ice skating, and one can become a fair skater in six to 10 nights". Eitoriai Whitby by jrinW interý BARNES HOUSE This large brick house at the corner of Athol and Gilbert Streets is one of the few homes in Whitby still occupied by members of the same family that built it, more than 100 years ago. The house was constructed in 1875 by William Barnes, a carpenter, joiner and contractor, who had a hand in building most of Whitby's 19th century buildings. Mr. Barnes was born in Cumberland County, England in 1820, and came to -Canada with his family in 1856. He settled at Whitby, where he opened a carpentry and contracting business. SIDING COU for free estimates VINYL ALUMINUM COLOLOK MITCHELL BROTHERS Building Supplies Ltd. Brookiiln 655-4991 Whenever there was a major building project in the town, Mr. Barnes was usually given the carpentry contract. It was he who did the wood work for AIl Saints' AÀglican Church in 1866, and the Methodist Tabernacle (now St. Mark's United Church) in 1875. In the Whitby Historical Society Archives there is a tender submitted by Mr. Barnes in 1891 to shingle Ail Saints' Church and organ loft with "singles 18 inches long, laid 54 inches to the wind in a bed of a half inch well haired mortar" for $340. In 1878, John Watson had a row of five stores built on the east side of Brock Street, south of D)undas Street to replace buildings destroyed in a fire the year before. Mr. Barnes also received the carpentry contract for this major project. In 1882, the interior of the court room mn the County Building, (now the Whitby Centennial Building) was completely rebuilt by Mr. Barnes, and in 1889 Mr. Barnes received the contract to build a frame arena on tie block bounded by Brock, Ontario, Green and Gilbert Streets, at a cost of S4,000. This arena was re built in 1913, by Fred Burns. For several years Mr. Barnes wýas a town councillor for the Centre Ward. le died at Whitby on April 3, 1892 at the age of 72, and his son, Robert, one of a family of five children, took over the contracting business. Robert Barnes was hom in England in 1853, and died at Whiitby on June 30, 1935 a t the age of 82. Bolth he and his father were strong supporters of All Saints' Anglican Church, and Robert as a teen-ager assisted his father in building this church. At the turn of the century, wages were not high. In 1900, Robert Barnes charged SI .66 per day for 91 oliurs of work to do repairs on a uliuse belonging to Jamies McMANUS & STRONACH OPTIGAL SUNGLASS SALE 20% OFF ALL SUNG LASSES SALE ENDS JULY 30th. WHITBY MALL 576-4431 Rutledge, according to a archives. bih in the Historical Society's Robert Barnes' wife, the former Barbara Maude Farr, achieved the distinct:on of celebrating her 100th birthday in 1955, the year of the Town of Whitby's centennial. On July 29 of that year, Mayor llarry Jermyn and Town Clerk John Frost presented Mrs. Barnes with a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the people of the Town of Whitby. Mrs. Barnes was born in Montreal and came to Whitby in 1875. In 1878 she narried Robert Barnes in All Saints' Church. She died on Oct. 6, 1955, the oldest resident of Whitby. One other member of the Barnes family deserves mention in this coluni. He was William Douglas Barnes, a son of Robert Barnes, who was born at Whitby on Aug. 10, 1880, and died at Whitby on Jan. 5, 1974, at the age of 94. In the 1890s, hie was a member of Whitby's first Junior A hockey team, and in bis adult life he worked as a commercial traveller for the Prairie City Oil and Gas. Co. at Winipeg and Saskatoon. le retired in 1938, and shortly after his retirement he become a court officer for Ontario County. At the age of 90 in 1970. lie was still holding this position, being Canada's oldest court officer. "He has probably assisted in robing more judges than any other officer in Ontario", conmmented Sheriff Morley Bain, when Mr. Barnes was presented witb a gift for 26 years of court service. Two sisters of William Barnes still reside in the old home on Gilbert Street. Ontario Government Tender GENERALCONTRACTORS For the construction of six steel fire escapes with poured concrete foundations, new concrete sidewalk at steel stairs and new asphalt drive for the Ministry of Health, Psychiatric Hospital, Whitby, Ontario. T.O. 77 SEALED TENDERS will be received until 3:00 p.m. LOCAL TIME on THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1976. Tender Documents may be obtained from the Ministry of Government Services Regional Office, 322 Kent Street West, Lindsay, Ontario, Telephone No. (705) 324-9188 or from the Ministry of Government Services Public Tenders Office, Room M1-43A, Macdonald Block, Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Telephone No. (416) 965-1152. A $11,000.00 Bid Bond, a 100% Performance Bond and a 50% Payment Bond will be required. NOTE: For further information regarding this tender, please call Mr. T. J. Campbell, Ministry of Government Services, Toronto, Ontario, Telephone No. (416) 965-1152 or the Regional Office above. The lowest or any tender not necessarily accepted. Ministry of Government Services Ontario a_- --a bill in the Historical Society's