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16 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, December This week's photograph is an ex- tremely clear view of the old public and continuation school that served Brooklin for almost 50 years. The school was built on the south-east corner of Baldwin Street (Highway 12) and Winchester (Highway 7) in 1923 and opened its doors on January 30, 1924. This particular photo was taken in 1935. It replaced an old frame school house that was located on Winchester, directly opposite where Take a Look Back 16, 1986 Photograph courtesy Whitby Historical 1 Society the arena now stands. That school was built in 1880 and demolished in 1923 after being condemned. The new brick school served all public school students in the area as well as some high school grades. It was closed in 1970 when the Board of Education consolidated their schools, using instead Meadowcrest P.S. and Anderson Collegiate. The structure was torn down in 1982 and the vacant property is now in private hands. Into each life a little rain must fall .... or so the saying goes. But last Monday it was not a little rain that fell into number one hubby's life, it was more of a torrent. You see, all the circumstances taken in- dividually were not that significant. Together, however, they proved to be all too much for Hub and more than a big hoot to the rest of the family. It all started like this .. . Early Monday mornings, I always pop my roll of film up to Port Perry for developing, along with any copy I have typed over the weekend in order that both will be ready for when we "'paste up" the newspaper later in the day. As you will recall, a week Yast Sunday it rained. During the evening, the temperature plummeted and come Monday morning ng was covered with a coat of ice. That included both cars, which posed a bit of a problem. After checking out the situation, Geord managed to get the tailgate of the sta- tion wagon open. You must remember this is about 6 a.m. Anyway, as he was on his way to Toronto, the good samaritan offered to drop all my "junk" up to Port to save me the trip. His thinking was, by the time I was ready to go up to help with the paste-up (noonish) my little bucket of bolts would be thawed out. He got into the car via the tailgate and climbed . over the seats to get the car started. He relied on number one daughter to close said tailgate once he was inside and gave her instructions to close it gently so it would not completely lock. Of course, she slammed it down and took off to school. There was Geord trapped in the car. At this point he thought to himself, "by the time I reach Port Perry, the car will have warmed up and all will be fine." Wrong. When he pulled up outside the Port Perry Star of- fice, he still couldn't get out of the vehicle. What do you do now? ~ Well, Geord managed to roll down the window a fraction and spotting two children, boys around age eight or nine, walking by call Viewpoint ed out to them to come over for a minute. His intentions were legitimate. All he wanted them to do was put my little bag of goodies through the mail slot in the door of the office. These lads had obviously been well taught by their parents. There was no way they would even come near the car, let alone find out what Geord wanted them for. So there he sat, still in a predicament. The plot thickened as .an elderly gentleman approached the Star office. Lo and behold, he stuffed some papers through the mail slot and Geord's hopes soared. "Hey buddy, could you come over here for a second." The words tumbled out, and Geord admits, the chap gave him a bit of a queer look. Anyway, the man gave poor, frozen Geord . the benefit of the doubt and approached the car. Without benefit of explanation (he didn't think anyone was going to believe him at this point anyway) Geord asked the man to put the bag filled with film and papers through the slot. Again, flashing that queer look, the gentleman complied and the mail went through, so to speak: Finally, his job completed, Geord pro- ceeded on his merry way. The ordeal was over. Or was it? Just outside Port, a transport truck passed him and sprayed the windshield with dirt and debris. Couldn't see a darn thing, so he hit the squishers and turned the wipers on. Squishers worked fine, problem was the windshield wipers were frozen to the hood, or wherever it is they hide when not in use. Geord pulled over to the side of the road and found his door was still frozen solid. He was obviously not getting out that way. This is where the ingenuity comes into play. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and such was the case on this particular occasion. The wiz crawled over the seats again, and retrieved the long-handled snow scraper from the rear (or should I say far depths of) the back of the wagon. He then managed to get (Turn to page 17) Reflections of a golden age by Mabel M. McCabe Memories | know many out there who read the things | write, realize I'm not a polished author and that | get my syntax wrong and even split the occasional infinitive. That does not bother me, for I'm doing this to keep busy and maybe bring some little enjoyment into lives that are lonely. Now that I've set that straight, let's get down to the business of settling into nineteen eighty-seven. Oh Lord! It does not seem possi- ble that so many days and years have passed by. | think of that old song "As Time Goes By," and wonder where all the moments and hours slipped away to hide. Well here we are and there is nothing we can do about it. We will live to the fullest, and hope that we keep our health and make some small contribution to life as we pass through. It is strange look- ing at myself in the mirror and knowing that the old grey-haired lady is really me. You understand don't you? The young things we used to be are still there, but they are covered with a veneer of wrinkles and age spots. We recall though, and we become those vibrant youngsters again in our dreams. It can be very frustrating at times for we attempt to do things and the old bones scream "No, No." Just trying to clean my apartment can be difficult in some bad times and yet other times | breeze through it. It's an imitation of what life is like. New: Years resolutions are a thing of the past for most of us because we have made them all before, and broken them too. The best part of the New Year Holiday, is that it gives us a chance to get back to normal after all the celebrations of the foregone weeks. That's what being old is. Sitting down and heaving a sigh of relief that the tree is again in the box and the candles and ornaments are packed away without too much breakage. We gather our resources and get back to the basic elements of just living. It's like an oasis in a chaotic desert of merriment. In fact, it is glorious. As we sit enjoying it we think of the one thing we'd just as soon forget. We are going to be one year older with the passing days and we better make sure we keep our legs and arms moving, for if we sit too long, we may tighten up and not move again. | do hope each of you have a bright New Year, and that all the little things you want, come to you. May you have good health and be able to cope with any stress that comes your way. We have listened to the fading strains of Auld Lang Syne and wept a few tears for the days and folks who are gone. Now it is time to shake ourselves and see what is out there in the way of new worlds for us to conquer. Yes, we can do anything we want to -- we just have to try. Some of us will have a more difficult road to the pinnacle, but if we each lend a hand, we'll make it. All the good wishes and luck in the world to you, and I'll try to keep on writing, even if it is not perfect .... What's in a name? Members of the Corporation favour of the name change Board at Dr. Joseph O. Ruddy stated there was confusion as to Hospital have given their bless- where the hospital was located; ings to changing the name of that the inclusion of the town Whitby's only hospital onceand name would let people know for all. immediately in which At a closed meeting last week, 77 percent of the membership said OK to the proposed new name of Whitby General Hospital. The question of changing the name of the hospital has been the source of certain contraver- sy for some time. Those in municipality the hospital was located. Jim Miller, Administrator of the hospital, told the Profile, he has received verbal permission authorizing the name change from the Ministry of Health, and expects all the red tape to be cleared up within the next couple of months. SHR I