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a Tu PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, October 6, 1987 -- 5 $5 Viewpoint by John B. McClelland Bill Lishman's fame travels far and wide. Bill, in case you don't know, is the best damn artist- sculptor-tinkerer in metal and ideas to ever reside in Purple Hills. So where's Purple Hill you ask? Right on the Shirley Road, south of Port Perry. But don't blink or you'll miss the sign. Anyway, Purple Hill is where Bill Lishman has his home and studio, and just a couple of miles west of there on the Shirley Road is where Bill created Autohenge last year for a TV commercial plugging Chryslers. Autohenge is a replica of the famous Stonehenge in England, built to scale and set on a slight knoll in the middle of a farm field. Autohenge, as the name suggests, is made from old cars, arranged in such a fashion that it truly does resem- ble its namesake. Bill's Autohenge got high marks recently from Christopher Chippendale, a British writer who prepared an essay on the various "Henges" found around the world. Chippendale wrote the essay on the occasion of an exhibition by the Southampton City Art Gallery call- ed "Visions of Stonehenge 1350-1987." The author tells us there are now about a half dozen "henge" replicas in the world, including a Carhenge in Nebraska, a Concretehenge in Washington State, and a Plasterhenge in West London. Chippendale apparently paid a visit to all of them in the preparation of the essay and found Lishman's work very satisfying. He says Autohenge is 'splendidly named,' and the site on a low knoll is "superbly chosen." What's more, says Chippendale about Autohenge, "from a distance, its silhouette so exactly resembles Stonehenge that a photo of it will fool most." "It is,"" he writes, "the most impressive piece of work. Very considerable care was taken in its making to follow the proportions of the ruined original of Stonehenge, and the care shows in the fell of it." In fact, the author was so impressed with Autohenge that he used a colour photo (taken by Bill Lishman) to illustrate the front cover of the pamphlet in which the essay is printed. Pretty heady stuff. This pamphlet, on the occasion of the Southampton Gallery Exhibition, was published by the Directorate of Leisure, Tourism and Amenities with financial assistance from the Arts Council of Great Britain. I don't know just how wide a distribution this pam- phlet got in England, but I suspect it made the rounds of the arts community and those interested in art. For anyone who has never seen Lishman's Autohenge, it is really amazing, eerie almost. One can just about hear the Druids. To be sure, it is just a replica of Stonehenge made from crushed cars, that were destined for the permanent scrap heap. And it was created (delicious irony) for a TV commercial to plug new cars, themselves destined someday for the same scrap yard. It's fitting that when a writer from England was commissioned to do an essay on the various "henges" he found Lishman's Autohenge to be the most satisfying. Lishman not only is a man of tremendous creative talent, he's a nice guy to boot. One might think of an artist as hostile, eccentric, unfriendly, * moody, withdrawn and so on. Bill is none of the above, save for eccentric. But he's friendly, approachable, outgoing, easy- going, with a fine sense of humour. He's done some great work from a scale lunar module to a huge stainless steel salmon, a tower for Expo in B.C. last year; dragons for Wonderland. His work has been written up in numerous papers, on national TV and so on. There's no question that he's a talented individual. Whenever I've done a story on one of Bill's many projects, I've always come away with the impression that he enjoys building things right from the conception to the finished piece. The popular notion of "artist as first class boor," does not apply to this guy. Anyway, before I get accused of being the charter member of the Lishman fan club, I'll end this by sug- gesting a visit to Autohenge. You can view it quite nicely on the south side of the Shirley Road, just east of the Oshawa Road. THE PENNANT From the way the Toronto media have been cover- ing the Jays lately, one might be tempted to conclude they have already won the division, the pennant and the World Series. Gallons of ink have been splashed on the Jays, the (Turn to page 6) Yesterday's Memories 70 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 4, 1917 Messrs. Albert Orchard and Aylmer Cawker left for a trip to Western Canada. An aeroplane lighted in the Fair Grounds on Sunday and im- mediately a large crowd congregated to see the pilot make a few minor adjustments. Friends of Miss Ethel Miller, Greenbank, met at her home and gave her a shower. She received many lovely gifts. 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 8, 1942 Mrs. I.R. Bentley, Mrs. A. Brock and Mrs. J.E. Jackson attend- ed the first fall meeting of the College Chapter Alumnae at Ontario Ladies College, Whitby. Miss Florence McMillan left Port Perry to start her training with the Women's Division of the R.C.A.F. at Rockcliffe. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Prentice, Scugog, are moving to Port Perry. Mr. James Doble, recently of Ashburn, who has been employed in London, Ontario as a radio operator has left for Montreal to take up new duties. Miss Mamie Hardy, Honeydale has taken a position teaching at Brockville High School. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 2, 1952 Mr. Roy Scott, a 54 year-old Seagrave farmer was re-nominated as Ontario Riding's C.C.F. candidate in the next Federal election. Reeve Ernie Hayes states that the Ontario Hydro Electric Com- mission are planning to close their offices here, and the billing and inside office work. will be taken over by the village. The first Port Perry district man to head the Progressive Con- servative Association in 48 years is Dr. M.B. Dymond, who was elected as president by the majority of 250 delegates at Whitby, Ontario. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 10, 1957 Port Perry Ten-Town won the Ontario County Softball trophy when they defeated Port Whitby 11-4 in Whitby. South Ontario Plowing Match will be held on the farm of H. Malcolm and Sons, Brougham. Mr. Jack Griffen, Port Perry was the speaker at Prince Albert Church on Sunday. - 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 5, 1967 Bell Telephone lecturer, Don Cook, of Toronto, spoke to members of the Port Perry Lions Club on Monday night about the use of the laser light - a light beam that can transmit voice, business data and television programs. The young and happy captain of the Port Perry 1.G.A. Pee Wee Ontario Championship "B" title, Ken Nightingale received the coveted Harry C. Knott Memorial trophy from Vin Walker, an 0.AS A. executive member. The Pee Wees captured the title on (Turn to page 9) Letters Armwrestlers pull for Port Perry To The Editor: During the past fifteen months, the sport of armwrestling has become of great personal interest to me. It has meant extensive travel to numerous tournaments, and many hours of training and practice in order to be competitive in the sport. My ability to participate in these tournaments was helped greatly by a number of local "sponsors" and, without my "home team," I would not have managed to achieve my, present standing in armwrestling. I have lived in the Port Perry area for fifteen years, and have always enjoyed the warmth and friendliness of the community. My "family" of sponsors have given me terrific encouragement (not to men- tion practical support!) so, to these good people, I owe my heartfelt thanks: B & L. Donuts, Blue Spring Welding, David's Hairstyling, Don Forder Insurance, Dowson's Valu- * Mart, Emiel's Place, Bob Hanoski, Gary Hartung, Home Hardware, Homestead Furniture, Images, Ir- Stand up, be counted To The Editor: I have just finished reading an ar- ticle about The Federation of Women Teachers Association of On- tario holding their annual conven- tion and some very peculiar ideas have been reported. What some delegates say is that "substantial racism plaques the Provinces schools."" But the amaz- ing part of the convention is it says studies show that ethnic minority students often suffer from low self- esteem because textbooks and cur- riculum do not reflect their culture. Knowing that the classroom is under the jurisdiction of these teachers, we should ask ourselves why they are not handling their classrooms differently if they find a problem of this kind. I believe very strongly that this is Canada and incoming people to our land will have to accept the fact that this is a new land to them and they should try to join us - not wait for their culture which they left to be imposed on us here. How ridiculous that there is spme very corrupt thinking among some of our teachers to really believe that the school systeth in Canada can be run to include all of the World's way of education at the same time. Those who are many generation Canadian and proud of it may be regrelting an open door policy to many people from other lands - if they come here and expect us to change our ways to fit their old land ways. I believe the Federal and Provin- cial Governments should come out and declare that the object of im- migrating to Canada is to join us not dominate us Canadians. Canadians, both native born and by choice should wake up before our land is taken over by newcomers unwilling to fit into our society. As a citizen I feel under increas- ing attack in those areas which in- volve illegal immigrants and those who would play fast and loose with (Turn to page 6) win Smith Music Ltd., Barb Mcln- tyre, Monte Carlo, Nonquon Travel, Maurice Patchen, Pineridge Sports, Port Perry 1.G.A., Port Cleaners, Stedmans and last, but certainly not least, the Port Perry Star. Together they have given me the pleasure and opportunity to enter competitions in a sport I greatly enjoy, and I hope they feel they have been well represented both in and out of Ontario. At this time I am pleased to say I have been fortunate enough to be offered the sponsorship of Schildt Machining Ltd. (Port Perry), and I thank them for the honour and op- portunity to represent them, and our community, in future armwrestling competition. This week sees the 'official' for- mation of the Port Perry Arm- wrestling Team; the seven members have all trained with me extensively over the past year or so and are well on their way to becom- ing top-flight contenders. Our aim is to make a name for our Team on the armwrestling circuit, while representing our local sponsors And Port Perry wherever we travel to compete. Hope everyone will continue to "pull" for us! Mike Haigh, R.R.3, Port Perry. ter to the editor Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newpspaper Lo encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters col: umn helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous let- While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer.