PAGE 6 – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016
ALEXANDRIA, ONTARIO – THE GLENGARRY NEWS
MARITIME TIME TR AVEL:
Sandra Le Couteur, la diva acadienne,
or The Miscou Island Muse as Tourism
New Brunswick calls her, lived up to
expectations last Thursday night enrapturing her audience at the Bonnie Glen
Pavilion with an evening of song, story
and humour. The singer-songwriter,
actor and raconteuse was in Alexandria
as part of her Ontario tour before she
travels to South America in March to
perform in Argentina, Paraguay and
Uruguay. Backed by hot guitarist
Nicolas Basque (seen in the photo) on
acoustic six-string guitar and Julien
Breau on a skinny GD Design stand-up
electric bass, la chansonnière Le
Couteur took her audience back in time
with funny and heartfelt stories about
growing up in the tiny fishing community of Miscou Island in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence.
MARGARET CALDBICK PHOTO
FEAST, FROLIC: The grand tradition of Glengarry
storytelling came alive at Feast and Frolic, the annual
fundraising dinner for the Friends of Glengarry Trails at
The Georgian House in Alexandria with more than 40
people seated banquet-style at elegantly set tables.
Seen here is Friends chair, Helena McCuaig, left, with
storytellers Leslie Orr, Ron Lajoie and Helen Sloan. This
year the group's board decided to forego the usual
hired band and dance and invited new local storytelling troupe, “Glengarry Ties,” to perform. The idea
was a big hit. The three humorists whose personalities
shined through their stories disarmed their audience
with tales, some bawdy, some saucy, and all of them
entertaining. The stories were presented before the
start of the meal and between courses. Glengarry was
the setting for most of the tales with mentions of Glen
Nevis, Fassifern and Glen Norman, among others. In a
50/50 draw, Alain Lapensée won $434, and Claudette
Emond won the door prize, a pass to The Georgian
House Day Spa.
MARGARET CALDBICK PHOTO
‘A beautiful, heroic son’
BY SCOTT CARMICHAEL
News Staff
*The following is the second part of a threepart series based on the Glengarry Historical
Society’s World War I Family Reminiscences
event, featuring seven area speakers, which
took place at the Church on the Hill in
Alexandria on January 7:
The Great War exploits of four men, including two brothers from Glen Sandfield, were
among those discussed during the Glengarry
Historical Society’s World War I Family
Reminiscences event at the Church on the Hill
in Alexandria on January 7.
Bainsville resident Mackie Robertson
touched on the war-time service of his maternal great-uncle, (Sgt.) Hugh Farquhar
McCuaig, a Lancaster-area resident originally
from Cote St. George, Que., not far from
Dalhousie Mills.
“Hugh went to Saskatchewan, I’m assuming
to be in the great (wheat) harvest, and joined
the 46th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry
(Saskatchewan Regiment), part of the
Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), on Dec.
3, 1915,” explained Mr. Robertson.
The Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial
page dedicated to Mr. McCuaig
(goo.gl/vZKO7W) indicates that he was
homesteading “just southeast of Rose
Valley...but farming at Landis” when he
signed up in Saskatoon in late 1915.
Mr. McCuaig enlisted as a private, and had
risen to the rank of sergeant by the time of his
death in the Third Battle of Ypres, otherwise
known as the Battle of Passchendaele, in
October 1917.
He was 26 years old.
Kenny MacDonald of Williamstown provided an account of his grandfather, Johnny
Kenneth MacDonald’s time in a non-fighting,
but nonethelesss, integral, branch of the service.
“He was a lumber man, and he’s also been
up in the mines, done some homesteading
out in Alberta...and was working on the
Peanut Line...so he was a natural when it
came out in 1916 that the (federal) government was looking for lumbermen to volunteer
for overseas service,” said Mr. MacDonald.
Johnny Kenneth was assigned to the 224th
Canadian Forestry Battalion, part of the CEF.
“The unit originally had over 1,600 volunteers, and my grandfather, who wasn’t
young...He was 39 at this time, but had a lot
of experience in the lumber business...was
part of this group,” Kenny explained.
“They made him a sergeant. I’ve heard a lot
of things about where he was during the
war...None of his letters home during the war
survived, but I know he was up in Scotland.
There were a number of sawmills up through
there. And he was in different parts of
England as well as Wales.”
The 224th was formed following the creation of the Home-Grown Timber Committee
in Britain in 1915.
That body, recognizing the ever-increasing
requirement of lumber for the war effort, suggested that men should be obtained from
Canada for timber work (hewing, processing,
sawing, building, etc.) in the United Kingdom
and the battlefields of Europe, and that it was
best to raise the men required as a military
body.
A 1919 report – entitled The Canadian
Forestry Corps: Its Inception, Development and
Achievements – prepared for the British Board
of Trade, chronicled the importance of the
unit and the need for its existence.
“At the Front, the Army very largely walked
on timber, lorries drove on timber; railways,
light and heavy, required huge numbers of
sleepers or ties,” it stated.
“Underground no less than above ground
was timber used, for dugouts, and all the
complicated contrivances connected with
trench warfare. From huts to ammunition
boxes, from duckboards to stakes for barbed
wire, the uses of timber ranged.”
Johnny Kenneth MacDonald survived the
war and returned home to Glengarry, where
he died in 1932.
Alexandrian Stanley Fraser recalled the
Great War experiences of both his father, John
Fraser, and his uncle, and namesake,
(Gunner) Stanley Fraser – of Glen Sandfield.
John enlisted in Ottawa, in May 1916, at the
age of 21, while Stanley also signed up in
Ottawa, three months later, when he was 18
years old.
John, who was attending business school in
the nation’s capital at the time of his enlistment, went overseas with the 52nd Battery.
He survived the war, then worked in
Ottawa for a few years before returning home
to take over his father’s general store following the latter’s death in 1925.
“Like many servicemen who returned, he
never really talked about the war,” said Mr.
Fraser.
“And we, as children, never thought to ask
about it.”
However, Mr. Fraser said he’d heard that
his father was often called upon to serve as an
interpreter/facilitator between members of his
troop and locals while he was serving in
France, given that he was the only fully bilingual soldier in his unit.
He’s picked up French while growing up in
the highly francophone community of
Mongenais, Que., southeast of Ste-Anne-dePrescott.
Mr. Fraser also pointed out that his father
was a founding member of the Alexandria
Legion – although running the store, which
was open six days a week; helping to raise his
family of five children; being church treasurer; postmaster; justice of the peace; and member of the Alexandria High School board prevented him from devoting as much time to
Legion-related activities as he would have
liked.
His uncle, Stanley, listed in his attestation
papers as standing five-feet-four-and-a-half
inches tall and weighing “all of 115 pounds,
but certified as being in good, physical
shape,” according to Mr. Fraser, was sent to
France in September 1917 following training
at Barriefield in Kingston.
A member of the 11th Field Battery/Third
Brigade, he was killed in action in September
1918, during the Battle of Canal du Nord at
Cambrai.
Mr. Fraser read from a letter which his
mother had received from a former comrade
of Stanley’s, recounting the events surrounding her son’s death. “An airplane came over
us, in the open,” wrote former Gunner H.F.
Gordon. “Stanley was servicing his gun.
Everybody but that young hero dodged for
cover, and bullets from the enemy cut short
the earthly life of that beautiful, heroic son.”
BY ANGELA BROWN
News Staff
North Glengarry residents
considering an upgrade to their
building facades and landscapes will want to attend the
unveiling of North Glengarry’s
new Community Improvement
Plan today (February 3) and
tomorrow.
Public meetings will be held
Wednesday, February 3 at 7
p.m. at Sandfield Centre in
Alexandria and Thursday,
February 4 at 7 p.m. at Maxville
and District Sports Complex on
Fair Street. The draft plan is
also available on the township’s
website.
At its last meeting, council
reviewed the CIP, a five-year
project that offers grants to
property owners who want to
improve their properties. The
first phase (years 1 and 2) of the
program is for owners of prop-
for
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ALEXANDRIA RESTAURANT
127 Main St. S., Alexandria
613
525-2744
613
525-3075
Winter
Carnival
Saturday, February 6
at
Caledonia
Community Centre
6900 Cty Rd 22, St. Bernardin
OUTDOORS
FREE ACTIVITIES 1 to 4 pm
INSIDE CENTRE
1 to 5 pm – Roger Hamelin and his musicians – Adm. $15/person (includes supper).
1 to 5 pm – Cards and Board games tournament
– Adm. $15/person (includes supper). Door prizes!
5 to 7 pm – Spaghetti supper and best dessert contest –
Adm.$15 for 13+. (incl. all afternoon activities and
evening dance). FREE for 12 and under.
Bring your best homemade dessert. Prizes to be won!
6 to 8 pm – Just for kids!
– Face painting, balloons and crafts
for
Fun ole
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the ily!
fam
8 pm – Draw for the trip down South – $10/ticket. Only 800 tickets.
8:30 pm – Dance with Disco Mirage – Adm. $5.
Organized by
St-Bernardin Historical and
Cultural Society, Club d’activités familiales
and St-Bernardin Firefighters
www.reisequipment.com
AGRICULTURE
FARM SUPPLEMENT
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Including appetizer,
main course, dessert,
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Read all about it in our
www.quesnelinvestments.ca
Correction
& Labour
SENIORS
Nicole Sarault
Office Manager
An article in the January 27 edition of The News, ‘Relief for truck
congestion,’ incorrectly stated that counties council had passed a bylaw
prohibiting heavy truck traffic on a section of County Road 45 in
Alexandria. In reality, the bylaw affects a small section of County Road
43 – namely, the section between County Road 34 (Alexandria’s Main
Street) and County Road 46. The News apologizes for the error.
613-527-1501
10
431 Main Street South, Unit F
Alexandria, ON
Tel: 613-525-1263
Toll-Free 1-888-525-3244
36 years
in Business!
erties on Main Street in
Alexandria and Maxville. Year
3 involves commercial properties in communities, such as
Glen Robertson and Dalkeith,
and the third phase (years 4
and 5) is for other commercial
properties, industrial land, and
heritage buildings in other
parts of North Glengarry.
The township wants to officially adopt the CIP plan at
council February 8 so the plan
will be in place in early March.
A sum of $50,000 has been set
aside in the 2016 budget for
grants. Coun. Carma Williams
said at the Maxville meeting,
the 125th anniversary celebration logo will also be unveiled.
The June 11 celebrations
organizing committee is still
looking for more volunteers.
Anyone interested in helping
can contact Ms. Williams at 613527-1438.
Uptime. All the time.™
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Claire Sarda
John Redsell
Katelijne Stevens-DaCosta
Joe Gonsalves
CIP revealed
Emergency Service 7/24:
Parts: 613-551-0901
Service: 613-551-0900
FEBRUARY SPECIAL
OFF
Quesnel
Investments
(c) The Glengarry News
BELMONTE
UPHOLSTERY
50
GATHERING: St.
Andrew's rocker
Carey B. Grant
turned down the
volume to play
stripped-down
rhythm and blues
and gospel at The
Gathering, an interdenominational
potluck at The
Georgian House in
Alexandria. About
40 people from area
churches attended
for the luncheon
bringing with them
the makings of a
generous smorgasbord of delicious
dishes and desserts.
It was the inaugural
installment of the
free event that
restaurant owners
Heinz Kaswurm and his wife, Julie, hope to repeat every three
months.
MARGARET CALDBICK PHOTO
Info: 613.678.6471
www.st-bernardin.ca
Desjardins
ALEXANDRIA
255, rue Main Sud
Alexandria (Ontario) K0C 1A0
613 525-2141
ST-EUGÈNE
1110, rue Labrosse
St-Eugène (Ontario) K0B 1P0
613 525-2141
www.desjardins.com
For the outdoor activities, park
at the communtity centre and
take the free shuttle to town.
• Horse drawn sleigh rides
• Dogsledding tours
• Sliding – bring your sleigh
• Campfire and hot chocolate
• Skating rink open throughout
the day and evening
• Free skating
• Friendly hockey games
Les Entreprises
Rémi Bercier Inc.
Yves Lalonde 613-677-0649
Daniel Levac 613-880-0783
Vente et services
d’équipement d’étable
Farm Equipment
Sales and Service
Sales / Ventes
Jacques Auger 613-676-0279
Joyeux carnaval
1433 Conc. 6, Vankleek Hill, ON
Propane
Propane
Advertising deadline: February 19
Published: March 2
Educational and Informative
- not to be missed!
ST. ISIDORE
613-524-2079
1-800-465-4927
PERTH
KINGSTON
KAZABAZUA, QC