Memorial Hall: Little known trivia you should know about.

Blyth Memorial Community Hall

Home of the Blyth Festival

The heart of Blyth since 1920

This picture was taken shortly after the hall was constructed in 1920. The landscaping has not been done. There are only a few of us old guys around who can explain some of the original features of this amazing building, features that have been obscured by additions and other changes. They tell us a lot about the way of life in earlier days.

Note the open doors at the rear of the hall. They are the entrance to the firehall which was in use from 1920 to 1941. The fire equipment included two hand-drawn reels for carrying fire hoses to the scene of a fire as well as some axes and other tools for getting at the fire source. The fire hall also contained a structure for hanging the hoses for drying. In 1941 the village acquired its first fire truck, replacing the hose reels. The fire truck is on display at the current fire hall.

Notice the bell tower at the front of the building. That bell for many decades was rung at least three times a day: 7:00 am, 12 noon, and 6:00 pm. Occasionally, as a result of vandalism or other misbehaviour by young people, the council would set a curfew and the bell would be rung briefly at 9:00 pm to announce the curfew. The bell was rung by the person holding the job of town forman and police constable (plus many other duties).

The ringing of the bell was an art form in itself. Timing was everything. Jack Cowan held this position for many years during which he drew a distinctive and rhythmic sound from the old bell. Every other pause between rings was slightly longer than the other. When the bell swung back for the second ring he held the rope down for a moment, allowing the reverberation to continue before letting the bell swing down and up into the next ring. Wherever we were in the village when the bell sounded, my friends and I could always tell whether Jack was the ringer or whether he had to have someone stand-in for him.

My father, who operated a bakery across the street, was asked by Jack to stand-in for him for the noon bell ring one day. I recall my embarassment when I heard my father's rendition. He just didn't have the right rhythm, and I was sure that the whole town would be upset by the performance.

The rope for routine ringing the of the bell hung could be reached from the floor immediately above the front entrance of the building.

There was another way of ringing the bell which produced a radically different sound. It was produced by a clanger, a piece of metal which struck the bottom of the bell when the rope attached to it was pulled. This rope was a small white one which hung down the fromn of the hall from the bell tower to a bracket beside the front entance. This clapper was used exclusively for fire purposes: to sound the alarm for a fire, or to announce a meeting (fire practice, it was called) of the volunteer fire brigade. For a fire alarm the bell was pulled continuously and in an even rhythm; for fire practice it was rung as follows: clang,clang,clang, pause, clang, clang, clang, pause clang ,etc.

In larger printouts of this picture and the others taken up to the 1950s, you can see that white rope. It remained there beside the main entrance to the hall for many, many years. As far as I know, there never was an occasion when someone gave a false alarm or rang this bell as a prank.

There is a campaign in place to restore the ringing of the bell through an automated system. I only wish Jack Cowan were around to show them how to do it.

Amalgamation

Small Towns Under Siege

Amalgamation

In the year 2000 an amalgamation took place which combined the Village of Blyth, the Township of East Wawanosh, and the Town of Wingham into the new Municipality of the Township of North Huron.

It was a very unpopular event and as far as I know, the only people who claim that any benefits came of it are members of the resulting councils. In Blyth, I would judge that the majority of the people considered the amalgamation to be a “takeover by Wingham”. Frequent comments like “All the revenues from the Threshers’ Park and Memorial Hall and our taxes are going to Wingham” indicated that. even though people knew about the formation of North Huron, it felt to them as though Blyth was being robbed. Those feelings still exist nine years later.

Amalgamation has taken place. Whether it was a good move or bad, whether we like it or not, there is no point now to complaining about it. There is, however, a very important lesson that we can learn from the process, a lesson that we need to learn.

Amalgamation was yet another example of control moving elsewhere; an example of decisions affecting our community being made outside of our community by people who may or may not share our understanding, our culture, our needs, our aspirations, our history. Not long after amalgamation, the potential hazard from this arrangement became obvious. The new council seemed bent on erasing our unique identity, and treating all three wards as if their historic realities were of no import.

An informal group (the Blyth Idea Group [BiG]) took form very quickly and decided that since council was not doing its job for Blyth, they would form some plans and urge the community and council to support them. The most tangible evidence of this group’s efforts is the street signage around the village. These are not just fancy replacements of drab old signs that went before: they are a revelation to visitors and locals alike of the many assets we have as a village, of the community’s vibrancy, of the things we have achieved over the years by volunteers in collaboration with visionary local councillors. They change the way Blyth was and is now perceived.

The lesson for Blyth is that they need strong representation in the local council, representation by people who know and value the special nature of Blyth and who are capable of communicating that awareness. Furthermore, the people of Blyth need to remain vigilant and watchful to ensure that Blyth continues to thrive and to build on its resources and values.

This is how Blyth can contribute most to the success of North Huron and to the County of Huron.

A Day Off From History Research - Sort Of!

Jan and I headed out yesterday for a pleasant drive to go wherever the car takes us. We need this sort of break now and then, when the pressure of history research builds up. Retirement, we have learned, is not for children.

Strangely enough, the car pulled over and stopped at an antique store. We obediently went in to see what was on offer. The store was absolutely packed with every type of object you could think of - and some that you could not think of. The only things missing were customers. (We were only browsers.) There were no aisles; there were only slight openings through which one could squeeze, being careful not to allow the static electricity to pull the artifacts off their purchase on other artifacts.

I talked to the owner while Jan cased the store. He was a clever interviewer. In no time he had extracted the information from me that we were involved in research about Blyth. At the mention of Blyth, he announced that he had a picture of some Blyth people. He had no idea where it was, but every once in a while he comes on it and thinks that he should set it out in case someone from Blyth shows up - but, alas, the picture disappears again. Here is someone from Blyth standing in from of him and - where is that picture? There followed a trek through the store. About every three feet, there would be a bunch of framed pictures leaning against a piece of furniture, a trunk, or some other solid object He would flip through these pictures very quickly, and then move on to the next. This went on for some time until I was convinced that I was never going to see the evasive picture. Suddenly an exclamation. Eureka!

I suddenly became a customer and we brought the picture home with us. It is now part of the Repository of Blyth History.

It's a framed picture of children aged from about 5 to mid teens, all dressed in their best, girls all in white dresses many wearing large white bows at the nape, boys in suits. It's probably marking the occasion of a confirmation ceremony at a church. The only indication of Blyth was in the name of the photographer stamped on the corner: "Baxter McArter - Photographer Blyth, Ontario".

I will post this picture here in case some one out there might be able to identify some of the people in the picture and the oaccasion and perhaps determine the time period.

But apart from that, Jan came up with the idea of creating a Baxter McArter Gallery. We have many of his portraits and we know that there are hundreds of other out there.

Why not? All we need is someone to call a meeting and ... well, perhaps you can decide how to get this project going.

Small Towns Under Siege

A series of discussions about small town issues

Small communities right across Canada are under siege. They are assailed from all directions and from many sources. They are at risk economically, culturally, medically, socially, politically, educationally, and some of the troubles come from within the communities themselves.

While we occasionally hear our politicians declare their concern about “protecting small town Canada” (usually when talking to a small town audience), they continue to enact policies that damage small towns, and ignore opportunities to protect them.

While Jan and I were driving the other day, we got to talking about the negative things that are happening now and those that took place in the past. Sometimes you need to list these things in order to realize the extent of the problem. As we talked, we saw the items as the result of trends. The over-riding trend has been that of control being moved progressively farther away from our community.

Take education for example.

When this community was first formed in the mid 1800s, there was very little money available, but the people found enough money to build a school and to hire teachers for it. The question never arose as to “whether we could afford it or not”.

In 1896 the village opened a modern two-storey school to house the Blyth Public School (Grades 1 to 8) and the Blyth Continuation School (Grades 9 to 12).

In 1946 district high school boards were formed, with one representative from Blyth on that board, and the Blyth Continuation School was closed. Students from 9 to 13 were bussed to Clinton to attend the newly named Clinton District Collegiate Institute. Blyth had an elected representative on that board.

Some time later the Huron County Board of Education was formed, and more recently Huron County and Perth County boards were combined to form the Avon Maitland District School Board. If there is a board member who represents Blyth, no one seems to know who that is. In any case, if there is such a person, he or she will be representing so many communities that none of them will be truly represented.

Now because of declining enrolment across the county, it has apparently become too expensive to educate Blyth children within Blyth, according to the AMDSB, so the school is likely to be closed permanently. This is a terrible blow to Blyth as a community. Many of the ramifications of this latest move is against the wishes of nearly all the parents and the members of the community. There is a deep anger throughout the community about this unfortunate turn of history. But that remote, foreign body – the Avon Maitland District School Board - does not care. Blyth is not their responsibility. While their actions have a direct effect on the community’s economy, society, culture, and the children’s development within their home town – there is no means to hold that foreign board accountable for the collateral damage they inflict, the negative side effects they cause.

The standardized tests reveal that Avon Maitland Students on average perform below the provincial average on all measured subjects. The changes being discussed provided an opportunity to make changes that would support strategies to improve education quality. Instead the board staff have recommended actions that will do nothing towards that end. These changes do not take children, parents, communities, or education into account - only the equation of bodies and desks to hold them.

Perhaps the board and staff members’ mentalities are victims of that whole centralization process – a process which has some good points as well as a good many negatives. Unfortunately there does not seem to be a mentality emerging which is capable of finding ways to ameliorate those negatives.

So, what are these damaging effects?

The education system has been completely divorced from the community context in terms of education content, community engagement, and acceptance of accountability to the community.

The fact that the larger unit of administration has almost completely eliminated the community’s meaningful representation on the Board has not been lost on the board staff and the board. They are showing that they feel no obligation to consider the community and make no attempt to even pretend to be accountable to the community.

According to the plans that we have heard about, the Blyth school children will be split off in several directions: Grade 7 and 8 children will be bussed to Wingham to take classes in that town’s high school, while some of the K to 6 children will go south to the Hullett school and others will go north to a school near Belgrave.

The curriculum will not relate to the Blyth community context since few if any of the teachers will have any interest in or loyalty to or knowledge of that village.

The Blyth community, devoid of any school, will be less attractive to young couples seeking a place to raise their families.

There will be an economic impact since fewer people will come for shopping to the village when the school link is broken.

The exposure of Grade 7 an 8 students to the influences of secondary school students is still of grave concern to parents and the educators have done nothing to assuage those concerns.



The next addition to All About Blyth will look at the municipal amalgamation process of 2000

What is a Blog?

Many people have asked me what is a blog: "What do you do with it?"; "How do I access it?" "How do they work?"

Since you are looking at this blog, you've already managed the most important part. I am just learning about this tool myself, hoping that it will be of interest to some people, and that it will help our collection of Blyth history fulfill our high expectations.

Do a web search for "What is a blog" and you will get many web pages that will help you understand what blogs are all about.

blog - It's a short form for Web Log. It is situated on the Web, and it's my log book or a kind of public diary. As for the content, it will include mainly my thoughts, ideas, stories, and hopefully, you and others will make some comments about what I write. Disagree with me, agree with me, chat with me, ask me questions, answer my questions, correct my mistakes. With your help, this blog could become really interesting. So help me brighten up this one-way chatter and make it a conversation.

You may choose to join this group and become a follower if you want to keep in touch regularly. I honestly do not know the benefits of joining and following. Perhaps someone out there can enlighten all of us by entering a comment below about what it all means.

Comments will be visible to me and anyone else looking at the blog.

I have a special request of you. If you know people with a Blyth connection who you think might be interested in this "stuff", tell them about the address of this blog: http://allaboutblyth.blogspot.com and suggest that they look in an leave a message or comment.

We have developed this Repository of Blyth History. It is helping dozens of people find out about their ancestors who once lived in Blyth. That's one of the main purposes.

Over 200 families have either requested information or have provided us with their information - and many have done both. It is turning out to be a tremendous resource. Many of our contact people are planning to come to Blyth this summer to look at our collection - some for the first time, some for the second or third time. They are coming from Northern Ontario, from Michigan, from Ottawa, from Kitchener-Waterloo, as well as closer to Blyth.

The Huron Historical Society's publication called Huron Historical Notes 2007 is entirely devoted to Blyth and our collection. There are still a few copies available at the Citizen office (weekly paper in Blyth) as well as the Huron County Museum in Goderich, Ontario. They cost only $8.00. If you need one mailed to you write to me at the address below and add $3.00 for mailing.

Brock Vodden
Box 492
Blyth, Ontario N0M 1H0

Discovery: Cache of Blyth Standard Issues

For Blyth history buffs and Blyth watchers, old news is good news.

A few weeks ago a large number of back issues of the Blyth Standard were discovered in a store room above Blyth Printing. Many of our readers will recall that the Standard was produced in that building from 1938 to the time that the paper was sold. The papers apparently remained undisturbed for many years because they are in excellent condition considering their age.

Jan and I were thrilled when we were told that the Whitmore family were giving us the entire bundle which will become part of the Repository of Blyth History. We have turned them over to the Huron County Library for microfilming and digitizing, so that the collection will be added to the newspaper microfilms available in the main branches of the library. We are all indebted to the Whitmore family for making these available.

There are no complete years of issues, but there are substantial numbers from 1900, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1908, 1930, 1943. There are a couple of fragmented issues from the 1890s, on 1914 issue, and a few from various years in the 1940s.

In all, there are about 150 issues of the Blyth Standard, 1200 pages most of which were believed to be lost in the mists of time.

WOW!

Why Blyth?

Blyth is located in Huron County, southwestern Ontario, Canada

Blyth is a remarkable village. It has achieved this distinction without the aid of a spectacular geological formation, haunted castle, or site of an ancient battle. It 's remarkable because of remarkable people who came here between 1850 and now, and quietly built and maintained a successful community and some are still building and maintaining.

My wife, Janis, and I have created the Repository of Blyth History - a collection of facts, stories, descriptions, pictures, artifacts, trivia, documents, old newspaper quotes, obituaries, marriage records, articles, etc. etc. etc. - all about Blyth, its people, its families, its events, achievements, challenges, character, ways of life, humour, foibles . . . We are volunteer historians. There is no charge for our services.

If you have ancestors who lived in Blyth and want to find out more about them, the chances are very good that we can provide you with some of that information. Sometimes people ask us for information which we have not uncovered yet - not often, but sometimes. We want to change that, so that 99% of the time, we will be able to find all that you want - or even more than you would like.

If you have any Blyth information or photos, we would appreciate getting copies for our collection.

I'll be adding brief messages here from time to time. I hope you will follow them and enjoy them.

Brock Vodden