MERRITTON MATTERS

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‘Waking the Sleeping Dragon’ Carolyn Swan is to be commended for her leadership in breast cancer awareness. She has organized a team for the Rankin Cancer Run being held in St. Catharines on Saturday, May 23, 2009. Carolyn’s team for the Run is named after her breast cancer survivors’ dragon boat crew, ‘Waking the Sleeping Dragon’, the first of its kind in the Niagara Region. The Waking the Sleeping Dragon Boat Initiative of Niagara is a collaboration between Breast Cancer Research and Education Fund, Niagara Dragon Boat Club, Employment Ontario and Brock University’s Recreation and Leisure Department. The crew held a charity fashion show at Silver Spires Church in March. Their goal is to encourage and support those living with breast cancer to lead full and active lives by sharing experiences, strengths and hopes. Waking the Sleeping Dragon is about finding personal resources and strength as well as broadening perspectives and about creating a positive environment which encourages fun, friendship and support. If you’re interested in participating in the dragon boat or any of her other activities, please contact the editor at Merrittonmatters@ hotmail.com. Anchors Away Stephen Congratulations to Stephen Burns who recently graduated from George Brown and is now off to entertain the masses on Carnival Cruise ships! From left to right, Riley Mannell (Lead), Greg Sayliss (Vice), Ben Hughes (Skip), Ben Sayliss (Vice), Amir Bukhari (Second), Brian Tiner (Lead, Under Trophy). Burleigh Hill Wins DSBN Curling Championships! By R. Hughes In February, Burleigh Hill School’s curling team travelled to Welland for a Gold Medal match where they defeated the defending champions, Sheridan Park, by a score of 5-4 to finish their season with a perfect 14-0 season against other elementary schools. This young group of curlers executed the pressure shots to perfection. Vice Gregor Sayliss was responsible for a great take-out (hit and roll) in the second end to score four points. Skip Ben Hughes made an amazing draw to the button in the 5th end to score the winning point, and a pressure-filled takeout in the last end to help secure the victory. Second Ben Sayliss played extremely well all day, and executed 2 crucial takeouts in the last end to help preserve the victory. Lead players Amir Bukhari, Brian Tiner, and Riley Mannell made some incredible shots all day long, and it was their lead rocks that put Burleigh Hill in a great position to win the game. The team qualified to represent the DSBN in the Ontario Provincial Championships in April and finished 8 th in Ontario out of 80 teams, missing the Bronze medal game by 1 inch. Their final record versus grade school teams all over Ontario was 20 wins 4 losses. Congratulations on a great season boys! 14 I MERRITTON MATTERS
St. James Anglican Church’s New Chair-Lift Dr. Tom Pekar was lauded for his volunteer work at the City of St. Catharines Recognition Night on April 22 nd . Standing beside him is MM’s photographer Jean Westlake who emerged from behind the camera long enough to have this picture taken. Town Hall Architect In the last issue, we featured an article about Merritton’s Town Hall, a wonderful example of historic Victorian architecture designed by William B. Allan and constructed in 1879. Here’s some additional information about Allan based on a report by Pat Menon to the Historical Society of St. Catharines. Former local architect William Bryson Allan (1838 - 1911) was born in Scotland and immigrated to Canada in the 1850s. He settled in St. Catharines in 1861 and started a furniture business with his family while also dabbling in undertaking, sewing machine sales and photography. But it was apparent that Allan had a talent for architectural design. Allan’s first known design was the Riordan Mill in 1867. Chronologically, some of Allan’s designs include: St. Paul’s Ward School (1871), Central School on Court Street (1872), First Presbyterian Church (1872), the expansion of the family furniture factory (1875), St. James Ward School (1876), and St. Andrew’s Ward School (1883). Other designs included the Protestant Orphans’ Home, Grantham Academy/St. Catharines Collegiate, St. Thomas Ward School, Merritton Cotton Mill, the R.H. Smith Company (saw works), the Oddfellows Hall, and the Merritton Town Hall. by The Reverend Pamela Guyatt It has FINALLY happened! St. James Anglican Church, on the corner of Merritt and Oakdale, is now accessible to more people. People with physical disabilities can now use our new Chair-Lift to access the entire facility. When the church was established in 1871, very few people considered physical challenges when designing worship spaces. With four entrances into the building, and a set of stairs located at each one, we had a problem. As an example, at our parking lot entrance there are eleven steps into the main worship area of the church and five steps that lead down into our small hall. We had to do something to try and correct the situation. In April 2008, we applied for a grant from the Enabling Accessibility Fund. In September 2008, we were notified that our application had been approved. Construction started in November, when the sidewalk was ‘resloped’ to provide easier access from the parking lot to the door. In December, two crews arrived, one to install the Chair-Lift into the main worship area and down into the small hall. The second crew proceeded to create a new accessible washroom located across the hall from the current washrooms. All the installation and construction was completed by December 22, 2008. It was amazing to have everything operating and functional for our Christmas Eve services 2 days later. I have included a picture of Doris Fraser, at the time she was recovering from knee surgery and the chair-lift allowed her to have a ‘stress free’ arrival for the Christmas Eve service. Her smile says it all. MERRITTON MATTERS I 15
Page 1 and 2: MERRITTON MATTERS Spring 2009 • V
Page 3 and 4: Merrittonians We’ve Lost Whenever
Page 5 and 6: You know you’re from Merritton if
Page 7 and 8: Merrittonians in Sports Hall of Fam
Page 9 and 10: Habitat for Humanity For the first
Page 11 and 12: A Memorable Man and a Memorable Era
Page 13: MERRITTON MATTERS I 13

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