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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

The grassroots is where it begins.....

Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Time was when you pretty well knew where you were going to end up in life. You were born, grew up, got married, got a job, and lived happily ever after. If you grew up in Hanover like I did, there was a better than average chance that you were going to end up in the furniture factory where generations of young Hanover men had laboured. That all changed and it changed with my generation. Of all the people I went through school with, there are about two left in my old home town and one of those just moved back a few years ago. My entire generation moved from town after graduating school. We scattered to and fro, got jobs and got married and we're currently trying to live happily ever after. But it's tough because nobody knows where they're going anymore these days. Marriages are breaking up at a rather amazing rate and job security is a thing of the past. It's a big reason why we're all living under such stress these days. People don't really like change and there's nothing but change going on in our lives these days – there's no stability in any part of our lives. I don't really like it, and if I had it to do over again, I'd be trying to encourage everyone I grew up with to try staying put, just to see what would happen and how our lives would be different. I guess sometimes change is good, but I'm not sure the changes I've seen during my lifetime have been particularly positive. I'm glad people live longer and there have been some great medical breakthroughs – and I like my stereo and LPs – but I really am not sure that we have generally improved the quality of our lives our the last several decades. Strange, but true.

Exciting things are happening up Wallaceburg way with the "green power" study that's currently underway up here. Engineering students from the University of Western Ontario will be doing an intesive study and designing a system to make the Glasstown self sufficient in energy generation. It would be quite a feat if it could be accomplished and could give any community a huge leg-up when it comes to attracting new industry. It's exciting that a part of Chatham-Kent has been chosen for this project and it's resulted from a truly grassroots effort. The wallaceburg.ca committee is made up of local business people, representatives of Chatham-Kent's economic development department, and sponsored by KITAC, and it's been looking at way to improve the economy in Wallaceburg. We've like lost 4,000 manufacturing jobs since I moved to the community back in the mid 1980's – we've taken an incredible hit. This led town patriarch Harold "Pard" Martin to call a meeting out at the Oaks Inn and the wallaceburg.ca committee has grown from that. Huge commendations to folks like Dave Elliott, Kevin Cavanagh, Kim Murray and the other community-minded citizens who are making this work. Always look within yourself for your real strength.

Another example of that is in Blenheim where the folks down in that area have been raising funds for the new Leisure Centre. I've not seen the place yet (shame on me), but am looking forward to a visit over the next couple of weeks. I was down in Blenheim last weekend to meet Joan Boyes, Elinor Mifflin and Dr. Howard Rees and was most glad to make their acquaintance. I was doing a story on the wonderful Christmas lights display they do at Dr. Rees' home and they were busy tipping me off about a variety of stories that I should have been onto some time ago. Great effort for the Leisure Centre and hope to have a story soon and you really should get down to Blenheim on Dec. 6 or 7 to see the Christmas lights display. You will not be disappointed.

Also in Blenheim, I met Candy Myers. Great work to Candy for getting the Chatham-Kent Cares program up and running and getting every municipal service centre in the community busy gathering food for the needy this Christmas. Candy was bright and bubbling over about the program and she should be. Great to see local people getting involved and making a difference.

The Ralph Murphy concert in Wallaceburg at the Oak's last week was amazing. Ralph is a Wallaceburg boy who has earned quite a few gold and platinum albums over an illustrious music career. He came back to town to do a concert with celebrated Nashville songwriters Pat Alger and James Dean Hicks. Ralph and his songwriting friends agreeing to do a CD of the evening with copies to be sold to benefit Sydenham District Hospital. Huge thanks to Ralph, Pat and James for helping out the local community.

Had a great time at the Kinsmen $3,000 draw in Wallaceburg last week and also enjoyed the Chatham Chamber of Commerce's Business After Hours at Banks Mazda. Met the affable and welcoming hosts and had a talk with Dan Crawford.

Take care until next time and remember..."Hew to the line, let the chips fall where they may."



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.