Your Wardsville

You are invited to Glencoe Train Station

Your Wardsville community association — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:18:05 +0000

Stop by Friday, December 11 at the Glencoe Train Station at 7:30 p.m.

It’s a wee Christmas party! Here is a chance to take a short break and enjoy the Christmas spirit. We’ll be sharing hot chocolate and Christmas goodies while welcoming Maria VanBommel to our community and pulling the winning ticket for $500. http://www.theartsandcookerybank.com/
As a regional cultural destination, the BANK will offer a snapshot of Southwest Middlesex, Dutton-Dunwich, Newbury, and West Elgin’s rural communities. Blending interactive photographic and cooking experiences, a visit to The Bank will delight our senses and enhance our understanding of rural culture.
The BANK is currently being renovated over in West Lorne. Meanwhile, our thoughts turn to the BANK’s regional goals:

• Promote the value of a rural lifestyle by providing a photographic gallery that makes a pictorial statement of the community’s past, captures and showcases the community’s present, and visually imagines the community’s future.

• Inspire interest in the local food economy by offering hands-on cooking experiences that concentrate on traditional local culture and cuisine.

• Build community capacity to support our unique heritage by encouraging collaborative relationships among individuals, groups, institutions, organizations that are involved in the cultural, heritage and tourism sectors.
I hope to see you there,Mary Simpson (519) 318 1074

PS: for all the details, contact Tammy at tammy@theartsandcookerybank.com or (519) 768-9986

Example of Barn Quilt in Iowa

Your Wardsville community association — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:42:25 +0000

This barn quilt is the creation of Carol and Larry Bailey. Carol, a veteran quilter, designed this variation of the combined evening star and pinwheel patterns.

Larry was in charge of painting the pattern on two 4 x 8 sheets of plywood. The quilt has a navy blue background with the star painted in burgundy and the center pinwheel in white. The quilt is attached to the old milkhouse, a cement block structure on the couple’s acreage at 3081 170th Street. Carol said she chose those three colors “because I like that combination. It is somewhat patriotic, although I used a burgundy rather than a brighter red.”
The quilt has been on display since July 2007. “It was our goal to have it up before the RAGBRAI riders rode past on their way to Alexander,” Carol said. “We met our deadline by just a few days.” Carol said she was asked by riders who stopped by the food stand at their house why they were seeing barn quilts across Iowa. “All I could say was that I love to quilt. That’s why I wanted one,” she explained.

Source: Belmont Independent, Iowa, June 25, 2009

Wardsville’s vision for an Ontario Barn Quilt Touring Route

Your Wardsville community association — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:35:24 +0000

The Vision

A barn quilt touring route marked by barn quilts, spiritual places, cairns, and battle sites that winds through Southwestern Ontario from Windsor to Niagara, commemorating the lives, stories, and conflicts of the War of 1812-1814.

What is a Barn Quilt?

A barn quilt mural is made of two sheets of high grade plywood (MDO plywood), 8′x8′ square, which has an individual quilt block pattern transferred to the plywood and painted with specifically chosen outdoor paint and sealed to withstand the weather. Other sizes can be made (4′x4′) but the larger size creates a bigger impact.
Looking to add a little character to your barn? Barn quilts are becoming the latest craze in rural America. The barn quilts not only add interest to your barn, but they grab the attention and interest of people driving by your barn. The mission of the barn quilt program is to celebrate quilting as a traditional art form, appreciate the architecture of farm buildings and rural landscapes, promote art appreciation, and stimulate county economic growth while celebrating our agricultural heritage. Barns, corn cribs, public buildings, homes, gardens, open spaces are the locations of mounts chosen for the heritage quilt designs.
To get the picture, google “barn quilt” images.
Board of Directors,Your Wardsville community association

Dr. Charles Duncombe slept in Wardsville

Your Wardsville community association — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:46:13 +0000

Not many Canadians know that when William Lyon Mackenzie launched his ill-fated revolt in Toronto in 1837, he was backed up by another Reform leader in Upper Canada West [now Southern Ontario] — an American-born doctor named Charles Duncombe, a popular physician who was well-respected for his forward looking views on health, education and responsible government. But when in December of 1837, Duncombe mustered a citizens army of hundreds of men in the vicinity of Brantford, intending to help Mackenzie in his armed uprising at Montgomery’s Tavern, he found himself on the wrong side of the law.

Acting on the false intelligence that Mackenzie had won and was in control of Toronto, Duncombe prepared for battle. When news of Mackenzie’s actual disaster finally got through [a week late], Duncombe disbanded his own forces without having fired a single shot. All the same, he was guilty of treason and would surely have been hung if caught. But with the help of his sister Huldah, his friend Charles Tilden, and a courageous boy named Richard Shenick, he escaped to safety across the border in Detroit, a journey he made disguised as a woman. They travelled by sleigh over the frozen roads and stopped overnight in Wardsville before crossing the ice at the Detroit River.

Others were less fortunate: they went to jail or even were executed. The remarkable story of how the 1837 Rebellion impacted Southern Ontario – in a battle for freedoms we now take for granted – was presented as a living history play in several Ontario communities this past summer, including Sparta ON on Saturday June 6 and Wardsville ON on Kin Day, Saturday June 20 2009.

By Marion Johnson, playwright

Welcome to Crossroads Bistro!! Grand Opening Dec 5

Your Wardsville community association — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:01:24 +0000

Wardsville hold your breath. Here comes the Crossroads Bistro!

Let’s welcome Penny Todd, the “hostess with the mostess” who is betting on Wardsville and area as a community that will rally to support a bistro offering healthy food choices of freshly prepared foods from the finest ingredients. The atmosphere is clean, modern, professional and offers free wireless internet to customers.

Target date for opening – Tues, Dec 1st. Just keep a watch for the Open sign as she works like crazy to open the doors. If she misses the Dec 1 target, then she hopes to open Friday 4th.

On Saturday Dec 5, she is opening the doors to the community. We’ll be able to sample her food specials and live blues music. 5pm – 9pm…or later
Dave’s Cafe can sigh with relief; customers wanting to eat after he closes in the early afternoon will not be disappointed. Between the two food establishments, we hope that one will be able to grab a bite anytime of the day. Of course, that depends upon us, the clientele. It also depends upon the quality of the food. The higher the quality of food and service, the farther people will drive to partake.

Good luck, Penny!

Crossroads Bistro is located at the corner of Longwoods Road and Haggerty Road.

Posted by Mary Simpson

M Hulls: Thanks for the info on the new restaurant in Wardsville. I will not be able to attend on Dec. 5 but will try to get over in the near future.

N Johnson: This is very exciting news for Wardsville. As someone who looked for a cup of coffee and snack after Dave’s Cafe closing hours I’m especially thrilled! We’re doing an Eldon House play on December 5 but if at all possible would love to be there for open house. Marion and I went to a dinner theatre event at Thamesville United Church on Friday night. Her minister in London was former minister at this church which is how we happened to be there. It was great, Some one knew all about Duncombe play and really regretted they’d missed it. Best wishes, Nancy