A New Sign in Belleville

To the sounds of the Town Crier, and short speeches by the Mayor of the City of Belleville, Neil Ellis, the Warden of Hastings County, Jo-Anne Albert and the president of Hastings County Historical Society, Orland French the official sign identifying the sity for the new Community Archives was unveiled on Thursday the 30th of June 2011.



Click on the pictures to see a larger version.




An article in the Belleville Intelligencer by Luke Hendry can be viewed at this link


Other pictures taken at the event may be viewed on this album

After the unveiling, drawings of the proposed renovation were on display inside the building.

Strawberries and a Virtual Tour and a Fund Raising project

A quick quality check
before the start

There was a very special flavour to the Hastings County Historical Society's June 2011 general meeting attended by nearly fifty people, namely strawberry!

Strawberries and and ice cream were served prior to presentations by Hazel Loyst on the progress of the Capital Campaign fund raising and by architect Ray Zaback on the renovations being made at the new location for the Community Archives on Church Street.

Serving!
John Lowery, Mary Jane Throop and Hazel Loyst

The million dollar Capital Campaign includes bronze, silver and gold levels for contributions, a total of approximately $650,000 having been funded at this time. Ray's presentation was a virtual computer tour shown on the big screen of the way the building will look when renovations are complete.



The fresh strawberries were donated by Shelter Valley Farms and the ice cream was provided at a discount by Reid's Dairy. As can been seen in the two photographs below they made for a deliciously enjoyable evening! There were seconds and even thirds for everybody.

Pictured posing with strawberries, left to right, Orland French, Mike Shaw, Gerry Boyce (getting a refill), Bruce Bedell, John Lowry (serving), Laurel Bishop, Elizabeth Mitchell, Sylvia French, Marilyn Hughes and Dianne Sule

Sharon White
outlined the elements
that go into an archives

Sharon White (archivist for the CIty of Belleville, County of Hastings and the Society) outlined the various features that have to be considered in designing an Archives building.

Building project architect Ray Zaback (of Shoalts & Zaback Architects) took people through a virtual tour of the proposed design.

And Ray Zaback took the audience for
a virtual tour of the proposed design

Listening and asking questions

From Pearl Harbour to Hudson's Bay to the Belleville Club

Lee Jourade

One of the founding members of the Hastings County Historical Society, Lee Jourard, was the Master of Ceremonies at an eclectic evening.

Starting with traditional Anglo-Celtic and Mohawk music the evening progressed with the theme of respecting and preserving our heritage and of course...

...the Society's campaign to raise funds to renovate and equip the new Community Archives.

Traditional Anglo-Celtic

Traditional Mohawk

Then, as the Master Crier of the Society loudly cried, proceeded to:

"Peter C. Newman Esquire: Companion of the Order of  Canada!

Discussing Canada from Cabot to Ignatief, with stops for:

The Company of Adventurers trading into Hudson’s Bay!

A Renegade in Power also known as John George Diefenbaker; 

And his current research of the United Empire Loyalists, who have given us Captain John Walden Meyers U.E. who built a dam on the Moira River making Belleville for over 200 years; the friendliest City by a dam site"

Stories and anecdotes spanned the globe

As the author of 24 books and Honorary Chair of the Fund Raising campaign , Peter C. Newman spoke of the importance to preserving the documents that will become tomorrow's history before digressing into many fascinating anecdotes of Canadian history.  At more complete story will appear in the September edition of the Society's newsletter Outlook.

A selection of photographs taken at the event can be viewed on the album here.

There is also a story by James Hurst about the event in the Wellington Times

Pictures and story by Nick White