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AER ol TN a can SIS rnp t P L FaIR t in Ln wr we Dover Titi. . of A 12 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday. March 24. 1987 Just like the good old days, Brock's employee Jane-Ann McGill displays a roll of wallpaper to customers in the store's recently > re-opened upstair's room. The old wallpaper " Brock's room is being cleaned out, and wallpaper, some ~of it nearly a century old, is being sold for fifty cents a roll. See story for details. Basic S for a better future. Train We can all profit from it ® Ontario , -+ Minister, Hon Gregory Sorbara Premier Hon David Peterson Those who need training the most often lack the basic skills they need to get started. The Ontario' Basic Skills program prepares adults for a better future in Ontario's workplace. Free courses in three important areas are offered at most community colleges and sometimes through employ er associations and unions. TRAINING READINESS: Counsellors help trainees identify the kind of jobs they want and the star ting point for a training plan that meets career objectives. ACADEMIC UPGR ADING: Courses provide up to grade 12 level IN re; ading and wr iting, mathematics, selence, and computer skills. JOB SEARCH: Classes deal with how to write a resume, fill out applications, do well at interviews, and follow up on job leads. Trainees are taught how to compete in today's If you, or someone you know, wants to start the Ontario Basic Skills Pro- gram, contact the Ontario Basic Skills Office at your local community college, or call the toll-free HOTLINE at the number below. For those who need them, there are g, cre tr es to help with costs of child- care, transporation and accommodation. Any Ontario resident over 25 and eligible to work in * this province may apply. HOTLINE NU MBER 1-800-387-5656 (Information is available in English and French.) Tucked away on the top floor of A W. Brock's Department Store is a time capsule, a mini-museum, a room where for 80 or 90 years nothing has changed. Even the dust seems original in "old wallpaper room," a space filled with sunshine from towering windows, a scuffed plank floor, and row upon row (right up to the 10 or 12 foot ceiling) of shelving filled with wallpaper. This isn't just ordinary wallpaper found in decorating stores. Some of the non-prepasted rolls date back to the opening of the room in 1898. Brit- tle with age, faded in spots, it never- theless retains much of the same colour and appeal it boasted when shoppers arrived at Brock's in a horse and buggy. In those days, according to pre- sent store manager Bill Brock, - 'wallpaper shopping was a treat. Customers were seated in chairs and shown books. When they found a pattern they liked, the clerk would haul out the rolls and drape the paper over a wooden structure, to allow the customer a better look, and a chance to make a more in- formed decision. The chairs, old wooden and iron® seats that resemble school desk ~ chairs, are still bolted to the wood floor. The draping structure also still remains, and for the first time in decades, Brock's customers can once again shop for wallpaper in this "museum.' All of the paper in the room, , hun- Dust is free at Brock's old wallpaper room dreds and hundreds of rolls, is be- ing sold for fifty cents a roll. Whether it's non-prepasted paper from the early 1900's, or gaudy psychelic paper from the 1960's, all of it is going for half a buck. Compare that to modern prices, when it costs an average of $100 to paper a small room. In July 1949, however, the most expensive wallpaper sold at Brock's was .18 cents a roll. The most expen- .sive stuff was an outrageous $1.50. The old price list still hangs in an east window, across from even older paper, yellow and brittle, which lists the dates the ice went out on Lake Scugog, starting at the turn of the century and continuing until 1974. The original William Brock started recording the dates and posted them by the window, which overlooks today's rapidly melting ice. The radiators in the room are fair- ly recent additions, replacing an old woodstove, which Bill Brock says *'1 wouldn't dare light up these days." Otherwise, the room is virtually intact. The time has come, however, for "spring cleaning," and the Brocks are clearing out the old wallpaper to make room for other things. Shop- pers are therefore invited to sip on a coffee and munch a cookie while they browse through the old room ---- and perhaps pick up on the deal of a century -- nearly a century old. MACKEY & BAILEY BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS Saturday Mornings - 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon Oshawa Rd., Port Perry Lake Scugog Lumber Building wo 985-7391 s tough job market. 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