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RO O VVEEKLY TIMES 65¢ GST Inuded Wednesday, March 4, 1998 "Old treasures come outfor show and tell" The Newcastle Historical Society held their first meeting of the new year, a show-and- tell Monday night. After the business was dispensed with many members shared their rare treasures with each other. Ron Locke showed a collec- tion of items he found between the walls of his old home while renovating. Of special interest were two Montreal tokens dated 1835-1837, and a bust- and-harp half penny. The brass half penny, a forgery, bore a 1820 date on it, while actually it was made in around 1837. Mr. Locke noted that the forgery was worth more than the real thing. A young Mr. Brown came with a contract made out to his great grandfather, Mr. Matthew Brown for caretaking duties at the Newcastle Public school for the 1919/1920 school year. The wages paid to Mr. Brown was $250.00 per year. Among the items Helen Schmid brought were two copy books. One had belonged to a 13 year old John Waddell, it was a math book dated February 15, 1849. The other belonged to an Anne Ruddocks, from S.S.#11, and was dated 1854. It was a very interesting meeting, displaying a broad range of local antiquities. Refreshments were served after the meeting was adjourned. Older aduits get thé shaft Erla Jose displays a petti- coat won by one of her ances- tors believed to be from the late 1800's. Richard Lovekin with a Tower Musket used by a family member in the Fenian Raids at Niagara in 1865. Jack Eilbeck with a photograph of his grandmothers cottage at the Port of Newcastle, circa 1934- 35. Happenings... ORONO FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION The Orono Firefighters Association is holding their Annual Spring Dance on March 14, 9:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. at the Orono Arena. Tickets are going fast - $20.00 a couple. Light lunch. Door prizes. Contact any local firefighter or call Rob at 983-9459. DURHAM REGION COMMUNITY CARE The next meeting of the Anxiety Support Group will be held on Wednesday, March 11 at 1:30 p.m. at Orono United Church. Brian Doddridge, Pharmacist will speak on Anxiety and Medication. For information please call Janice Kroft at 623-4123. Everyone welcome. 7th SAGA ANNUAL MEETING The 7th Saga Annual Meeting is being held Tuesday, March 10, 7:30 p.m., Oshawa/Kirby Ski Club, West Club House/Gate 1, Rd. 9. The public is invited to attend. At 8 p.m. there will be a film "Return Of The Trees" and Sharing of Oral Histroy of 'the way we were'. Don Welsh and Mrs. Annabell Sissons, Co-Chairs of the Clarington Older Adults Committee, let council know on Monday that they were not happy with some of the latest developments to the Older Adult Centre. The Municipality recently completed the purchase of the Lions Centre on Beech Ave. in Bowmanville. The former Lions Centre is to become the new Clarington Older Adults Community Centre. In his address Welsh said, "Last year when this building was selected we were assured that a first- class building would be con- structed and that it would be completed within budget." The engineering firm of Barry Bryant and Associates was hired, and through a process that included two pub- lic meetings, plans were drawn up for the renovations to the old building. When the municipality ten- dered for bids for the actual renovations, all the bids came in too high. To reduce the cost a list of 40 items were deleted, and the project was once again within budget. Some of the items to be deleted were windows in the small activity room, the main entrance with reception area, the elevator shaft, folding parti- tions in the main activity/ban- quet hall. It was noted that if the elevator shaft was not included in this phase of the renovations, it would be unlikely an elevator would ever be installed to access all three floors. After a short recess, coun- cillors went through the entire list of deletions with the engi- neers and one by one undeleted the items they thought were necessary to the project at this time. As a resuit, the small activi- As a result, the small activi- ty room now has windows, the elevator shaft is back in, the room divider is in, and the north addition including the reception area is in. Councillor Young moved that all the cabinet work be put under a separate tender as this would probably save some more.money, that motion was passed. The entire matter was referred back to staff to be dealt with at Monday's council meeting. In her closing remarks Annabell Sissons said, "This project is important enough to the future of this burgeoning municipality to be done right - and done right now! Both Welsh and Sissons felt much better after the meeting. "I like the direction council is going," said Sissons. But they won't rest too easy till council approves the report next Monday. A program of events to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Orono Town Hall is beginning to fill out and firm up. This was revealed at a recent meeting of the Board of Management held, of course, in the hall. There are still oppor- tunities for individuals and community groups to promote an event at the hall that would be of interest to the general public and have some connection with the hall or community. The board of management is offering free rental for any qualifying outing or event. The Orono Skating Club glided in with the first event with a reception in honour of Kaitlin and Adam Colville for their outstanding per- formances at the recent Canadian Skating Cham- pionships. Other scheduled events now on the 1998 calendar include:- Saturday, March 14th - Pub Night. Saturday, March 28th - Euchre Tournament Events scheduled to celebrate 100th birthday sponsored by the Town Hall Card Club taking place in the afternoon 1:00 p.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday, April 11th- Sponsored by the Orono Downtown Business Asso- ciation. Thursday, April 16th- Orono Horticultural meet- ing wth speaker and plant sale. Seven to ten p.m. Fri./Sat. May 22/23- Down Memory Lane from 1 to 5 p.m. Interesting items from local collections. 1 p.m. 'till 5 p.m. Saturday, May 23- Clarington Concert Band with program starting at 7:30 p.m. Admission charge. Tuesday. May 26th- Clarington Older Adults sponsor the Smiles Theatre musical production of 'Circus'. Tickets $8.00. Saturday, June 13th Town Hall Board sponsors "Blues Night" with the Barney Adams Blue Band. Wednesday, July 1st- Calathumpian Parade from (continued page 2) Volume 62, Number 9