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GEORGIN AS HISTORIC CHRISTMAS Hansen You didnt have to survive the first major snowstorm of the season this week to find out how Canadian pioneers marked Christmas Georglna Historical village provided an opportunity Sunday to experience that pioneer life The occasion was the villages annual Christmas tea The event which featured homemade candies and crafts attracted a large crowd TOP LEFT visitor Audrey got a cheery early Canadian greeting from Diane Rodney centre and Patricia Keefe TOP RIGHT A childrens choir entertained visitors with some traditional Christmas hymns while left Bob Bon and Roger ODell swapped stories and hot chocolate around the old country stove The village Is on the verge of expanding with old Sutton railway station standing in two pieces nearby waiting to be included Group fills position KESWICK Keith Rose has assumed chairmanship of the Georgina Chamber of Commerces mem bership committee the chamber announced this month in Echo Chamber its official publication The Keswick real estate agent succeeds Neil who resigned due to business commitments In addition to a new emphasis on mem bership the chamber is developing a strategy that will promote growth and prosperity within the township The strategy sessions involve a small com mittee chaired by Dob Luke report Dr George Burrows Georgina Township mayor CHRISTMAS TEA PARTY Historical Society held its annual Christmas Tea at the historical village last Sunday aftcrnoonand it was very well attended Shirley Verdoold led the carol singing in the old church Nina and her helpers gave out the delicious mulled cider I never did see any tea and a lovely bunch of clerks were serving in the old store A very delightful afternoon Many compliments to the historical society Oh yesI forgot Gavin Morton and his lop hat- truly looking like the lord of the manor Good work Gavin Its your time with Fred Horvath Well unfortunately it happened The ice machine at Keswick Arena could not take the challenge It simply refused to give us good hard ice that was needed The arena was closed and engineers worked steadily repairing the damage The lubes or more had be removed cleaned and put back in There was a leak in this area which con tained a mixture of brine and ammonia that caused the poor ice surface By the time this column gets you ice will be on and the programs back in progress Due to the unseasonable weather in the past month and a half machine has been going steady around the clock and with one com pressor it certainly is putting out more than it can handle The committee discussed the ice condition at the last meeting of community services committee and hopefully something will result to improve situation The Cross Country Skiing Information Night will lake place on Thursday at Sutton arena from pm to pm All those interested in obtaining more in formation on equipment course contents etc are asked to come and attend At the present we have been receiving many inquiries about the course and registration forms will be in the mail this week to refresh your memory the course will be on Saturday Jan 14 and Sunday Jan for four hours each day There will be two courses a beginners and an advanced Each class will be limited to 15 skiers Cost of the course is and this includes rental of skis poles and shoes If you have your own equipment then cost is only If you ore interested please do hesitate to call our office and have a registration form sent to you The annual historical society dinner will be held at House on Jan AND The committee again have come up with a very pleasant and entertaining Christmas Santa and all The acts as a nice complement to the Santa Parade held in Keswick The committee was very pleased with the at tendance this year Many thanks to all those on the committee A job well done SUTTON FIREFIGHTERS I was pleased to be invited to the annual dinner party held by the Sutton firefighters It was a very pleasant and delicious dinner at lite Anchor Restaurant Certainly our volunteer firefighters In Sutton Keswick and are working with the con struction crew to make our community a belter and safer place in which to live PRIVATE Council and many members of the community attended the second session of the judiciary committee hearings on the private bill at province last Thursday These hearings gave both sides of controversy time lo present their points and in general a fair hearing was given to participants by the com mittee The Committees decision was to pass the Bill wilh an amendment The bill now will go to second reading in the legislature It is not anticipated there will be any further difficulty in having it receive third reading and Royal assent The overall effect of Bill is The seven wards that had during the last election arc confirmed as the seven wards that will be in for the next elections The bill will have no effect on Ihe court proceedings relevant to the writ issued by Bob Garden against the township The present council members are in fact the council until proven otherwise Council was quite pleased with the results Both Councillors Welch and who are most directly involved In Wards and indicated their approval The committee by their vote agreed with council that the Intent was to divide the ward this intent was frustrated by a technical error at the staff level All In all the results of the hearings I feel con firmed that councils original approach in seeking a private bill was the correct one Council feels they have received a fair just and decision from the province hears arena complaints from OMHA reps 11 J Barbara Scott finishes a Christmas hanger Jersey pupils host artist in classroom KESWICK Jersey Public School came alive new latent recently as students participated in York Board of Educations program Teachers applying for the program spend a weekend working with artists in a conference centre setting In this way tin artist and the teacher can work to bring new ideas to students school officials explained Artists visiting Jersey included painter Gail who worked Diane sculptor and weaver Tony Tudln who worked with and a language arts and drama instructor who worked with Helen Brown All of Jerseys Grade students pariicipatcd in the program with each of the artists visiting each group of students for a twoday period The aim of the program is to allow children to experiment with new ways of seeing things to use materials in a new and different way and gain a new insight and ap preciation into world of art and school officials said If enthusiasm of Jersey Public School students is any the program is certainly a success KESWICK Keswick arena came in for some strong criticism during Georgina Coun cils community services committee here last Wednesday Officials of the Keswick Ontario Minor Hockey Association described the facility as the poorest in the province and said referees have been forced several times this season to call games because of unsafe ice conditions Terming icemaking equipment totally unreliable they said the Keswick arena is the laughing stock of the The committee heard four suggestions for improving ice at the arena and postponed any decision until the four proposals can be studied Suggestions In cluded installing a new compressor and motor at a cost of removing the floor insulating and relaying the floor at a cost of about purchasing an auxiliary 30horscpower motor to act as a standby and lengthen the skaling season allowing it to run from the beginning of September lo Ihe end of April or purchasing a 50- motor to be used as outlined in the previous proposal While all suggestions are being studied the horsepower proposal seems likely lo gain the most support a com mittee source said In other activity last week the committee was told Keswick Optimists plan to cancel the bingo they hold once every two weeks at Keswick arena The bingo created controversy at the end of summer when the committee voted to end the service clubs Saturday monopoly on the arena and open the facility for general rentals every other Saturday Since the decision there has been little demand for the arena on Saturday nights ac cording to one committee member The committee decided to better publicize fact that the arena Is available for Saturday rentals Newmarket votes to expand library Karen works at potters wheel By TERRY CARTER Era editor NEWMARKET The Alexander Muir school property is out as a site for a future municipal library Instead town council voted Monday to expand the existing Park Ave building to meet the towns needs until at least and probably well beyond Council also com missioned the Newmarket architectural firm of Smith and Milne to design the expansion The move does not mean Muir site Is out as a possible location for a cultural complex said Mayor Bob Monday Maybe it is now more viable as an arts centre he said He said some experts claim mere is too much overlap of authority when a cultural complex and a public library are located in a single facility in this case we will have no overlap the library will run the library and the municipality will run the cultural centre Meeting in a special committee session Tuesday evening of last week the councillors reacted swiftly to a heated speech by Mayor and a plea for an immediate decision because of spiralling building costs by Newmarket architect Milne The councillors with only Tom Taylor absent unanimously backed a motion Regional Councillor Ray that they proceed im mediately with plans to expand the existing square foot library to approximately square feet The move came after the mayor outlined years of preparatory work which Ihe town and the library board have put into the new library and Mr Milne showed various studies done over the past three years including the sketch below and floor plans of the expanded Park Avenue library The expansion plan he said Is based on criteria supplied by chief librarian Lisa Her report indicated of a squore foot per capita is needed for adequate service On this the towns predicted population of 35000 by will require square feet of library floor space and its ultimate by will require square feet In his speech Ihe council committee last week Mayor was critical of the activities of the recentlyformed Friends of the library Committee The com mittee called a Dec meeting lo which councillors and library board chairman Jim were Invited to discuss a report prepared by two of its members on potential library board sites The mayor said the Friends of the library Committee members ore not appointed or elected by anybody and he said It takes a lot of nerve for such a committee to invite council members and Ihe library board chairman to meet in a private home to discuss the site of a new library He criticized the Friends committee for setting itself up as ex perts on the new library project The experts in this town are the people who have lived here a long lime he said pointing out that the library board and lis property com mittce are charged under The library Act with preparing for the new library and town council has ultimate responsibility for the final decisions and the funding He also expressed irritation over a letter sent out last week to a number of architectural firms by Mrs inviting them to submit plans for a square foot library building The figure used in previous discussions Mr pointed out was not for a library alone It was for restoration of the Alexander Muir school construction of a library at the site and con struction of a cultural centre for use by theatre arts and musical groups and recreation department Outlining the background of library expansion situation Mayor reminded council it has over past seven years invested more million In downtown renewal projects and that studies on a library site as part of the west side of Main St renewal scheme were first undertaken over years ago