Children's Cultural Camps - August
Station Gallery 2010
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Annual House & Harbour Tour - August 21st
During
the 250th celebration 29000
volunteer hours were given
and over 5000 participants attended the various events.
You need to keep in mind that these figures represent only the
events that were funded or run by the Heritage
Society’s 250th committee.
There were many other
events that were not included in this count.
Support came from everyone and every organization that we contacted
including council. I
can’t say enough about the
willingness of people to help, and
that help made the celebration a
success. We had many
compliments on the banners that were placed throughout the municipality
and I want to thank council for their support in installing and removing
these banners. At
this point we need to decide what to do with them once warmer weather
arrives. One option would be
donating them to the municipality for
on-going use another would be
to auction or sell them.
We
are hoping that
the cooperation between the various groups which worked so well
during this celebration will continue on future projects.
Did
you buy a window? So sorry,
you missed out. We
needed 19 windows for Lordly House and have sold all of them , each to be
plaqued, at $500.00 a piece .
They will be replicas of the windows that are in the house and we
will re-use the old glass panes
in the new sashes. Our
on-going fund raising, if
successful, will enable
us to continue with the installation of the windows, wiring
of the main house, insulating, and shingling .
We hope to see the blue and orange tarps disappear this year.
The
skating area at Lordly Park is ready and has been in use, but
the weather certainly hasn’t cooperated, even so a winter fun day is
planned for the park on February 20th from 1 to 3 PM. As
part of the Take the Roof off of Winter program.
Hot chocolate will be available here at the hall.
We
will continue to host heritage based presentations throughout the year.
Should you have any suggestions for programs you would like to have
presented please let a member of the society know.
And
now where and what are we doing that is new in 2010….what does the
future hold?
The Maple Cottage Stabilization committee
is in the process of obtaining an engineering plan for Maple Cottage, the
first municipal office. As
Mr. Keddy announced tonight,
we have received an accessibility grant from the Federal Government to
install a ramp, and an
accessible washroom facility in Maple Cottage.
The Municipality of the District of Chester has provided another
$20,000 toward the stabilization of the building.
A work plan for the
installation of the foundation, stabilization of the main building, water
pipes, washroom, sewage and electric power for this building are underway,
with work scheduled to begin shortly after March 1st.
We expect to hear back
from a federal heritage
legacy grant application for
Maple Cottage sometime in March.
Should we receive that grant we will be able to complete the
work at Maple Cottage this year, making it a year round site for research,
programming and small group meetings.
Finally
I would like to tell you about
the work we are doing to develop a municipal view of what programs and
interpretation Lordly Estate
Municipal Museum might offer to the residents of the municipality.
We do not wish to usurp any of the focus other historical groups
within the municipality may be pursing, but rather to compliment them and
offer services that perhaps they don’t now have, or
that we might join together to develop.
We have a unique opportunity to tailor this
municipal museum to meet the need of the entire municipal community.
To
this end we applied for and received
a provincial
grant from the Tourism, Heritage
and Culture Department to hire two consultants, Sally Warren and
Margrete Khristensen to
guide us through this process.
They will be contacting people by email, phone and
meetings to gather this information. Their
report is due the end of March. A copy of the questionnaire was provided by
e-mail to our mailing list, and in the Chester Times publication
this month. My thanks to Adam
Jacobs from the Lighthouse Publishing who made that possible.
I can’t stress enough that this is a municipal initiative, not
just the village. Please
take the time to fill it out. We
are very interested in your comments and suggestions regarding this
matter.
Another
aspect of this grant will be a
school program for students at
the grade six level throughout the municipality.
Currently this program is under development and will be tested with
a sample class to ensure that there
are no changes needed to make it an interactive,
educationally sound presentation.
This program will be offered next year in October and May and than
each year after that on a regular basis so that teachers can add it to
their curriculum plans. In the
future we will continue to
develop other programs that
can be offered to the students at different levels.
Summer
will bring a multi day star camp , with and a paid instructor and
hopefully other
group partners. This
camp will run during race week and provide space for up to 15
children 7 – 12 to learn about stars, though play, art,
activities and experiments. It will also include a star night when the
community at large will be invited to join us for a star night.
In
closing I want to thank you
for your support of the Lordly Estate Restoration Project throughout 2009
and ask that you will continue
to support the on-going fund raising efforts needed to complete
the project.
Carol
Nauss, Chair
Chester
Municipal Heritage Society
Lordly House restoration is happening!! You may access our heritage displays, files, information and the C@P site at the Chester Train Station, 20 Smith Rd. by appointment at 275-3842 or 275-3826
Costume Making - Notes and information
Lordly House Museum