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Artscene · FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2009 29 Music -- The Universal Language PHOTOS BY NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER CHOIRS UNITE: Ariana Jacobs (from left in main photo) Victoria Mancini, Katka Neumannova, Alicia Arnds and Blair Sommerville, Jason Finlay (top) and Jessica Cooper (bottom) sing Oscar Peterson's Hymn to Freedom during a vocal workshop co-hosted by the Oakville Children's Choir and the St. Andrew's Children's Choir with guests The Sedmihlasek Children's Choir from the Czech Republic. Filmmakers document life of local activist Joyce Burnell By Melanie Cummings SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER An Australian independent filmmaker is focusing her lens on 89-year-old activist Joyce Burnell. Mary Keily's intrigue with the woman who fought and won a battle to save a 250-year-old oak tree on Bronte Road began in 2006. Since then this octogenarian has written a book about local street names, become CEO of her own newly-created publishing company and taken up writing pen pal letters to soldiers in Afghanistan, among other projects. For these accomplishments Burnell describes her 80s as her "best decade ever." It's Burnell's effervescent attitude that Keily is hoping will translate on the screen and inspire other seniors to lead similarly productive lives. As a community nurse in her native Melbourne, Keily has witnessed the disinterest among elderly people living in nursing homes. "I visit many clients in their homes who have given up on life and whose illness and depression thwarts their interest in living," said Keily. "I want to prove that people like Joyce, even in their 80s, can contribute to their community. Joyce wakes up with verve every day." See Burnell page 30