Geraldine Hardcastle is Georgetown Hockey Recipient

Tonight I will be attending the annual Georgetown Hockey Heritage Award dinner. Georgetown has a long history of volunteers who supported the sport of hockey for years. This years recipient is Geraldine Hardcastle who started volunteering as young teenage waitress during the Georgetown International Hockey Tournament. Geraldine became involved in an effort to assist needy families to make their registration payments. She was so adept that the funds were raised in one day and a few phone calls.

In 1993 she became involved in organizing the Georgetown International Bantam tournament and for seven years helped provide a very well recognized component of our Hockey Scene.

Geraldine has been an active volunteer for minor hockey over the years. She had positions from convener, scheduling, providing training for coaches and trainers in our area.

She also participated in " Shave Off Heads for Cancer , the Dudley Hewitt Cup and the Hockeyville submissions.

As you can see Geraldine Hardcastle is a most worth recipient of the Georgetown Hockey Heritage Award. This dinner is always a lot of fun as there a few former N.H.L. players and Olympic Athletes who attend.

Congratulations to Geraldine as you make this community so proud!

Meeting with Minister of Health

This week I met with the Minister of Health Deb Matthews. The purpose of the meeting is to get Provincial funding for the expansion of the Georgetown Hospital and CT Scanner. This is a $12.2 million project. The Town of Halton Hills is being asked to fund $4.5 million and the rest will be fundraised or raised through parking at the hospital. I feel the Ministry of Health should be putting some money into this very worthwhile project. Myself and Councillor Jon Hurst attended the meeting.

I knew going into the meeting that there were only a two scenarios. One being the Minister would listen and not make a committment right then or two where the Minister would listen and then flat out deny our request.

Well we got the best case scenario. The Minister listened and we left with another strategy for funding that I will present to the Minister in another letter to her. I am not optimistic as we are behind the eight ball. The best that we are trying to do is to come up with options that Minister Mathews can't refuse.

Georgetown's Knox Presbyterian Church celebrates 150 Years

On behalf of Council for the Town of Halton Hills it was my pleasure to be part of the Georgetown's Knox Presbyterian Church celebration. And what a celebration it was. They celebrated 150 years of service in Georgetown. The reception was held at North Halton Golf Course in Georgetown, Halton Hills.

Worship in our community helps develop community spirit, promotes a common culture and shared values amongst the young and old. This congregation has enriched many lives through worship, social and cultural activities.

Throughout its 150 years, this church and its parishioners have seen plenty of adversity. In 1901 there was a huge fire in the church. As it is today as it was back then the Georgetown firefighters played a key role in saving the church. There was still significant damage in the church. The church elders were smart as they had insurance which replaced the carpet and repaired the damages.

Another challenge of the church was in 1918 when the Spanish flu hit. This was a flu which killed many world wide. The Church was closed from October until late January. That is when the Christmas service was held. They even told the kids that Santa Claus had a bad flu but he is okay now.

All the challenges which this church and it's parishioners faced help bond and build the strong foundation within the community today. I told the congregation headed by Dr. Rev. Jim Cooper at the celebration that is a time to reflect the rich history, and be assured that your forefathers would be very proud of them to celebrate this rich heritage that has enriched the Town of Halton Hills.

Town Honours Our Youth Volunteers

On August 30th Halton Hills council, recreation staff honoured our Youth Volunteers. Many of our youth have volunteered to support Town programs, initiatives and committees over the past year. On this night we honoured 150 volunteers from all over Halton Hills. Some of them volunteered for administrative tasks, summer camps, aquatic programs, special events and the Mayor's Youth Action Committee to give you an idea of what many have volunteered.

A volunteers gift of time not only adds value to community programs and events,it also impacts the lives of children and our community as a whole. Through mentor ship and leadership volunteers become a role model and friend while helping the community grow through positive experiences. Many of the volunteers have learned that volunteering is a rewarding and valuable experience that helps build self confidence, discover strengths and is an experience which will be with them their for life.

Our youth volunteers committed an amazing 7150 hours of their time to Town Services. The volunteers were recognized by signed certificates.

These kids made a difference this year with their hours of volunteering. It was a pleasure to recognize them for their contributions.

Acton's Leathertown Festival Draws a Crowd

The Leathertown Festival has now come and gone. This was the 19th year for this Festival in Acton. At one time, it use to be called "Back to Acton Days" as in many ways it is like a homecoming. After a few years it was changed to the "Leathertown Festival" in keeping with the theme of Acton and it's leather industries and businesses.

The Festival usually attracts anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000. This year had to be one of the best ever. The theme this year was "Mardi Gras" and downtown Acton looked like the Big Easy. Street names were changed from Mill St. to Bourbon St. The historic YMCA building had a new sign "Preservation Hall". The Farmers market on Willow St. was renamed "the French Market". The Georgetown Little Theatre youth were dressed in appropriate costumes handing out masks and beads. We even had Louisiana weather, hot, humid and the odd rain shower to make it feel like we were in New Orleans.


The Kids Zone had little cars for kids to drive and obey the stop signs and were awarded with a certificate by our village constable. Councillor Clark Somerville was at the kids corner volunteering for the MasonChip program. A wonderful program in assisting missing children. Lots of service clubs were on hand and of course Jenny the Hot Dog Lady was also on hand as she is really part of Acton's fabric coming to all of the events. There were pizza eating contests thanks to Dominos pizza. The entertainment was terrific. The numbers may have been down but that was because the weather forecast was for thunder showers all day which never materialized but may have had some change their plans. I met an Asian couple of Toronto who experienced corn of the cob for the first time. They went on the Leathertown web-site and decided it was "worth the drive to Acton". Many say the Leathertown Festival is the prelude to the Acton Fall Fair.

I know I am being biased but I can tell you this Festival would never happen if it wasn't for a small group of volunteers headed by my wife Josey. Also Terry Foster, Councillor Jon Hurst and Nicholl Spence. On the day of the festival many other volunteers showed up to clean up and have the streets look as if a festival never happened. I must give kudos to the Town of Halton Hills staff for being prompt on putting up the picnic tables and closing the streets and again being prompt on taking down the tables and opening the streets shortly after the Festival closed.

Mark your calendars for next year's festival. It is always on the second Sunday in August. It is going to be celebrating the 20th year. Plans are already under way.

See you then!