THIS AND THAT
Grand Kayaking
Kayakers leaving York for the guided scenic tour down the
Grand River to Ruthven. This first ever event, “Ride the
River to Ruthven”, was held on August 22 and both tours were
sold out. Flow Adventure Sports from Cambridge provided the
'sit-on-top' kayaks and trainer /instructor. |
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LOWER GRAND RIVER LAND TRUST INC.
WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS
Cayuga Mutual Insurance Company
Amy Scott
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Gate House
Jim Percival of Brantford, and grandfather of summer student Julie Richert, holds a model of the Gate House he designed and painted in 1989.
Jim recently donated the model to Ruthven and we are delighted to have it for interpretation and presentation purposes.
Thank you Jim for the thoughtful and generous donation!
Coach House Rental Rates
Weekdays: $60.00 ($25.00 per hour for not-for-profits)
Weekend Days: $60.00 per hour
Weekend Evenings: $100.00 per hour |
Outreach
An initiative of the Membership Committee is to participate
in festivals and events to create public awareness
for the Land Trust and Ruthven Park as well as
to support organizations who hold these events. This
year has been critical for Ruthven because many
potential visitors have been discouraged from attending
due to circumstances beyond our control. Our
attendance has been affected in a negative way particularly
during June and July.
Summer Team
This year was an exceptional one for the quality of
students hired for summer work at Ruthven. The
group worked very well as a team and took an interest
and pride in their work . Ruthven Park would like
to thank the following agencies for grant funds made
available to assist with summer staff wages:
Federal: Summer Career Placements, Human Resources
and Skills Development Canada
Provincial: Summer Experience 2006, Ontario Ministries
of Citizenship & Immigration, Culture, Tourism and
Sports and Recreation Branch.
Summer Jobs Service, Ministry of Training, Colleges and
Universities and administered through Mohawk College.
Summer student, Julie Richert, attended
the Selkirk Gas Fest on August 12, 2006.
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Yet another birthday! Summer students (l to rt) April Kitson,
Tara Miller, Julie Richert, Danielle Vanderzanden, Liz Sukkau
and Cassie Kett, celebrating "April's birthday". The students
decided that they would celebrate birthdays although only a
few fell on the actual date during the work term. |
Ruthven Gardens
The Ruthven Gardens have never looked better.
Volunteers have adopted various gardens and have
nutured them along from their initial planting, regular
maintenance to their colourful display in the landscape.
We would like to thank the following volunteers
for their expertise, time and hard work that they
have given to the gardens: Norma Curran, Suzie
Hartwick, Adele Pierre, and Carolyn Roberts
Adele tackled the Gate House garden this year and
has enhanced its appearance. She will be working
with the CAO on a possible redesign of the garden
based on historic record and possibly archaeology
Volunteers Betsy Smith and Gail Collins (and President of LGRLT),
attended the Caledonia Canada Day Event on July 1st.
New Brochures and Checklists Available
New Ruthven Park checklists for dragonflies, damselflies,
and butterflies are now available. The lure
and site brochure has also been redesigned, updated
and printed in colour! Copies of all brochures can be
picked up at the Gate House.
Help Wanted for Programme Assistance
Ruthven Park needs your assistance in delivering its
new educational programming, the development of
which was in part funded by the Ontario Trillium
Foundation. We need enthusiastic volunteers to lead
small groups of children from the school groups we
are attracting with our curriculum-based programming.
If you would like to become involved, or for more
information please contact Brian Pomfret, Ruthven
Park Interpretive Naturalist, at (905) 978-0018 or via
email at bpomfret@bfree.on.ca or Marilynn Havelka,
Chief Administrative Officer at (905) 772-0560 or mhavelka.ruthven@sympatico.ca.
FALL HOURS
FOR RUTHVEN MANSION
Open until Monday October 9, 2006 from Tuesday
to Sunday (Closed Mondays)11:00 am until 4:00 pm.
Tours on the hour with last tour at 4:00 pm.
THE PARK:
The grounds are open daily during daylight
hours for visitors who enjoy hiking,
bird watching, picnicking or exploring.
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Liz Driver, President of the Culinary Historians
of Ontario, and Presenter in the first 'below stairs
kitchen.'
Liz talked about "cooking in the open hearth
and using the bake oven required a lot of judgment and skill
on the part of the cook. She had to set and control the fires.
...For the bake oven, after raking out the ashes, she had to
judge the temperature with her hand, then place in the food
and close the door, only opening the door when she judged
the bread baked - opening the door too many times would
lose all the stored heat!" Liz served Johnny Cake which
she made, using a recipe that is handwritten on a
piece of paper and slipped into an early 19th century
cookbook in the Ruthven papers.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Rick Adams for providing
permission for the students from Wilfrid Laurier
University to access and excavate on his property during
the 2006 Archaeological Field School. The excavation
was important to investigate the commercial/industrial
core of the town of Indiana located beside Lock No. 1
of the Grand River Navigation Canal.
