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The Pines Seniior Public with ihc comipetition being tice and c-ame hIome wiihï se- Tlennant, Greg Leach, Mike School Volleyball teamn held ai l-obbs Seýnior Public cond plIace in the tourna- Teel and Tim Bailey; (front recently won the champion- school in Hampton. Ment. row) Mike Tait, Ken Davies, ship at a meet he[d between Last Friday the boys coin- Pictured above with their Ijarryl Burke, Treffor the three senior public peted in competition ai championship miedals are: Davies, Willie McGarvey and schools in the western area another district meet in Cour- (back row) Ted Gaudet, Mike Scott Alldiread. Rhonda Malomet Their stories contain elements of a Dickens nqvel. They were the children nobody wanted, the homechildren or the Littie Immigrants. And thirty thou- sand of them, English or- phans and waifs were sent to Canada between the mid- nineteenth and early 2Oth century to farms from one end of the country to the other. Some were placed ti the Newcastle area to con- tribute their toil to the grow- ing settlement. They owed their presence in Canada to one man, Thomas J. Barnardo. It was he who had opened up places of refuge, or homes in England for what appeared to be a rather large popula- tion of destitute children, casualties of the Industrial Revolution, who were living in the streets and slums of England's cities. Barnardo's homes provided for the needs of these children as well as for their moral upbringing. His policy--no destitute child ever refused. Through the l9th century Barnardo established such homes al over the British Isles. But as these homes became crowded with children, it was apparent that something had to bc done. So the childreni were sent to Canada, put in Barnardo Homes there and eventually placed with farmn families aIl over the country to help with the chores for a meagre wage or in some cases for nothing. For many, it was salvation from what could have been a lifetime existence in the streets and perhaps a death fromt exposure. For others, it was a formn of slavery and abuse. But for most, it was a mneans to a bet- ter life. One former homneboy, Alfred Randle lives in the Village of Hampton. He was in one of the last groups of children to be sent over. He admits his story is not as bad as some, still it has typical elements of the hardshîps atid problems the homechildi en encountered in Canada. Born in Liverpool, England, Randle was im- mediately given up by his mother. She placed himi with neighbours who were caring for his sîster. Figuring that the boy could withstand more, the neighbours sent Randle away and he went through several foster homes before ending up in a Barniar- do home. At 15, Randle was deemied physically fit enough to be sent to Canada. Randle recalls the date well, March 1931. He also remembers having a great time on the voyage over. It was the first' break from the rigours and routines of' being homnechildren that the group ever had. They Ianded in Halifax and Randie eventually went on to the Barnardo home on Jarvis Street in Toronto. He was then placed on a farm close to Toronto. This first ex- perience, was somewhat unpleasant though. "They promnised me a meal after a hard day's work. That turned out to be a slice of bread and two green onions. It was hardly enough for a working teenager who weighed 85 pounds.- After his first day he wanted to leave. So he wrote the home in Toronto four times but each time the letter was intercepted. Final- ly, he entrusted one to so- meone outside the famîly. This one did make it to Toronto and Randle was removed from the home. He was then placed on the farm of Hilton ýPeters who lived just outside of Hamp- ton. Here, Randle milked cows, pitched hay and "Prac- tically ran the farm for nine years."- And he was treated as one of the family. But sèmc homnechildren were not as fortunate as Ran- dle. "They were uised worse than the family dog," he says. Boys were horsewhip- ped and often farmers renag- ed on the terms of their in- dentures, failing to pay the children the agreed wages or providing that they attend school. For the girls there was the added problem of sexual advances from maie members of the household or even the farm hands. "Canadians should be ashamed of themnselves for this sort of behaviour", says Randle. And though hîs ex- periences were, for the most part quite positive, Randle always felt somewhat stigmatized about being a homeiboy. '"People tend to blame you more quickly for things." As an adolescent, he feir different fromn the rest of the young people, who at times dîdn't hesitate to rein- force this. And hie and his fellow homechildren felt powerless to do aniything about whatever misfortune they encountered. "When you're completely on your own' and you've been domninated alLyour life, you have this fear put into you," explains Randle. For this reason, Randle believes the homechildren made good law -abiding citizens because "There's less of a tendency to defy authority" on their part. Randle feels -no bitterness or remorse about his fate and' is quite happy he came to Canada. lnterestingly enough, he was reunited with his mother during the Second World War. His, sister, Evelyn, had managed to make contact with himi in Canada and when hie was sent to England as an officer, they got together. Evelyn, who was in touch with thieir mother decided to bring Ran- die to visit her. The two of themn arrived at the mother's house with iRandle in uniform. The mother im- medîately chided her daughter for running off with a Canadian soldier while her own husband was at war. "But Mother, don't you realize who this is, don't you rememiber Alf," she said.* And when she realized it was hier son, "wve prettly ncar had to pick her off the floor," says Randle. He also wasn't angry at her for abandoning him. Randle, as ail homnechildren, was eventually to leave his employer and strike out on his own. He worked in thre Maritimes for a while but returned to Hamp- ton and purchased farmland down the street from the fields he worked as a boy. Here, he has lived with his wife and raised his famîly. He worked for 27 years at the Goodyear factory and then as a custodian before retiring three years ago. The early circumstances of Randle's life mnay have been rough but he has withstood that to lead a happy normal life. In his home, he keeps a copy of Kenneth Bagnell's book, The Little Immigrants." The author's inscription is an expression of thanks to Randie, "a hard working littie immigrant for his contribution to Canada." And it is unspoken thanks to the little known contribution the homechildren made in building Ontario. Mayor Rickard said gar- bage must be disposed in a Iiccc andfill ,ite and asýk- cd ilf(theccontractor as using a liceniccd sitefor isp i Roni Dupui, direc(tor of public \work,,said they had checked with the Ministry of the Enviroiinmentand that atlithoughi the answer was niot whai they wcee ooking for it Vas nlot on the othler hand ,negat i\ . He said the Mliistry said tbey had ino reason to shut downý the site. Counc. Hamire at this poinit said the Mnsryhad said two years agIo the site was full. Counc. Woodyard asked the director how mnuch was the garbage disposaI under thumb of the Region to which the director replied the contractor can dispose of the refuse in any licenced landfill site. A motion of' Counces. Hamire and Taylor did gain support with the exception of Counces. Hubbard and Hobbs that staff review 'billing op- tions which wýould include unit charges and pooling of the thiree raeas, Bowmanville, Newcastle and Orono on the assessment basis. This review is to be considered by counicil prior to the settîng of the 1985 budget. Counc. Hobbs said he would like to know just what this was leading up to and that if it would take in the whole of the Town it woutd be most costly. He said there had to be something behind this. Counic. Hamire said it was ici oly take into account the three areas now served (C:ontiinued page IU) HOME ENTERTAINMENT VCR & MOVIE RENTALS NO W SERVING YOUR CQMMUNITY A T M & MVARIETY ORONO -MOVIES - 2.99 - 2 for 5.00 Sat. 3.99 - 2 for 7.00 VCR 1 Night - 10.00 2 FREE Movies VGR 2 Nights - 20.00 4 FREE Movies VCR 3 Nîghts - 30.00 5 FREE Movies Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Myles and Marilyn Clip Coupons for FREE MOVIES I 7 HOME FREE MQVIE iMONDAY-THURSDAY i IRENT ONE -GET ONE FREEi WITH THiS COUPON L.----------------------------- I ENTER TAINMENT Pf'R FREE MOVIE iMOtNDAY-THURSDAY RENT ONE -GET ONE FREEI WITH THIS COUPON i L----------------------------- Famniliar uPlaces-Faces Homechildren Came to Canada .. . .......... . .... ........... . ......