Zephyr & Sandford news

by Pat Asling

On Sunday afternoon I was at the Roxy Theatre. It’s not often I go but the movies, “The Battle of Britain” was being shown, with Ted Barris expounding on the movie, how and by whom it was made, and his own book with the same title. I have heard Ted speak on this previously but am pretty sure I never saw the movie. I never appreciated before that I was born amidst this same battle, thankfully right here. The evening played to a full house with questions and book signings following. I had an uncle killed in WW1, and three cousins fought in WW2, which led to the Remembrance service on Monday.

The weather was good and the crowd was large with the music of the Legion Pipes and Drums, which never ceases to move me. The Township Council recently selected a list of 21 local veterans to use for street names, new streets or streets needing a change. This too is a result of the Banner Program initiated by Tish MacDonald! This is 10 years for the banner program and there are presently 274 banners with a wait list. The problem now is to find suitable places to hang them. Many other municipalities are now following this example.

A quite different parade happened on Saturday when the sky was blue and the sun shone brightly. It was a long and very colourful parade with maybe hundreds of participants. Certainly, we are fortunate not to be faced with the same problem as Toronto. Coming up, soon the Fantasy of Lights, which gets bigger and better every year, threatens to outgrow its boundaries.

A number of local events happened this past weekend, Leaskdale Loop, the Holiday Market hosted by the newly formed Zephyr Scott Lions Club. There are seeming dozens of craft shows in the area for you to browse, never mind buying from Amazon, etc. A workshop for children and youth entitled “The Brook Never Sleeps”, was held on November 15th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., a PA day!

The Zephyr Breakfast with Santa will be held on December 7th, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., with Santa arriving at 9 a.m. Admittance is $5 per person and you are asked to bring an article for the food bank. Student volunteers wanted.

Zephyr will be hosting a “Good Used Book Sale” with a bag of books for a Toony on November 23rd. Bring your own bag. Books can be dropped off at the Library on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between 3 and 7 p.m. Call Janet at 905-473-3668 for more information.

Sandford Community Association Breakfast with Santa will be on November 30th, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., admission by donation. There will be a vendors' market on-site at the hall. Contact Heather Moore if interested.

Last week the Horticultural group met. Unfortunately, the scheduled speaker was unable to attend and two of the members stepped in to demonstrate making Christmas planters etc. A Silent auction was also held. This had been postponed from earlier in the year. Funds will be used to pay speakers, buy plants for gardens around town and to look after other special events.

This week the Uxbridge Genealogy group will meet at 7 p.m. at the Library. Roger Blinko will talk about many of the soldiers who came from Uxbridge, an appropriate topic for the season. On Tuesday, November 26th the North Durham Nature Group meet at the Scugog Memorial Library. The speaker will be our own Geoff Carpentier who will elaborate on the work that citizen scientists do, including some of the things in which he is involved.

Oh yes, and the Seniors meet for another tasty lunch this week. The Maud Squad are outdoing themselves on November 30th when they host a Christmas market (4 to 7 p.m.) and free skate at the arena, with skating from 5:30 to 7 p.m. At 7:30 p.m. at the Heritage Church in Leaskdale, a special 150th birthday party will be held in honour of Lucy Maud Montgomery (LMM). There will be a Kitchen Party, with fiddlers, step dancing, and cake. Cost is $30 for adults, $5 for children under 12. Actress Megan Follows will be in attendance, taking part in some readings from LMMs books. Speaking to the president last Saturday, tickets were more than half sold at the time. Call 905-862-0808 to reserve your ticket.

We have had a lot of cloudy weather but Saturday was clear so the Beaver moon, the last of the super moons of the year was plainly visible. I didn’t see any meteorites but the moon was beautiful. This name supposedly comes because beavers start preparing their dens for winter, gathering twigs and shoots for food.

A few people had birthdays this week. Cathie Oros, formerly Weir, was born in the family on Weir Road. Along with her sister and brother. Diane Spencer is the daughter of our own Carol Johnson and runs her own gardening business in this area called, appropriately enough, Ann’s Garden! Helen Jean Westgarth celebrated another birthday in a long line of birthdays. The Westgarths used to live in the Udora area but she has moved a little further north. Also celebrating this week was Lynn Barry Gibson. Lynn, husband and family live just south of Sandford. We sang happy birthday to her at church on Sunday.

Many from our area and all of North Durham, would know of Hugh Baird, either through his singing career, solos, choirs, quartettes etc or his Jr. Farmers work and much else. Hugh was married to Roberta Bone whose parents, Bob and Thelma, lived in Zephyr for a number of years and were deeply involved in the community and church.

Now I am trespassing on my sister’s column. It seems this month has been bad for losing friends. Most of you know I was not raised in Scott Township but in Reach, now Scugog. In the last month, several of those I grew up with have passed away. The first was Bill Anderson. The Andersons lived halfway between our place and Epsom, on what is now called Medd Road. The second was Linda Geer Kendry. Linda’s sister Karen married Mel Tindall of Sandford, becoming the mother-in-law of the second Karyn Tindall. Three generations of the Geer family lived just at the west end of our road! The third person was Frank Millman. The Millman farm was right next to ours and we babysat the boys and took music lessons from their mother. Several of his family live in Uxbridge. I did not really know Norman Gourlie but he grew up in Epsom with his sisters and his parents, Jim and Faye, who I did know. Jim was a brother to my cousin Doris Armstrong. The Gourlies also came from the Uxbridge side of the area. Three of the four were younger than me!