Dereham Centre's hall emphasizes community
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Dereham Centre in South-West Oxford Township officially 'cut the ribbon' for its renovated community hall Tuesday night, celebrating the occasion and raising funds through donations at a free barbecue to cover a remaining balance of $11,750.
A new entrance way, complying with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act which was scheduled to become law in January 2013, along with a rack for coats, two accessible washrooms, and heated floors will help keep the hall open for current – and future – community members.
“I am incredibly pleased with the commitment of the community towards maintaining and enhancing their community,” said South-West Oxford Township Mayor David Mayberry, who participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “I'm a great believer in community – community can do everything. It just takes a little bit of attitude.”
And the Dereham Centre community, present and past, estimated at nearly 120 people, showed the right attitude Tuesday raising more than $11,600.
“We absolutely had the support of the community,” said Marlene Spanjers, hall board treasurer. “This hall creates a huge sense of community. Just seeing the turnout tonight, you see people from all over. People who love the community. The old saying is, 'you can take the boy off the farm, but you can't take the farm out the boy.' And I think that's the way people feel here, too. You can't take Dereham Centre, this community, out of them.”
“We will raise our portion through community donations,” said Carol VanMoerkerke of the Dereham Centre Hall Board's fundraising committee. “Just by having a hamburger and a hot dog and saying 'We'll make a donation...'”
“Because we believe in this too,” said Mayberry. “The community said 'we can do this' and they did.”
“Very generous donations,” Spanjers nodded.
Without that support, the hall board would not have been able to complete necessary renovations.
“We had a community meeting just over a year ago and said, 'what do we do?'” said VanMoerkere. “We said, 'Are we going to close the hall or are we going to look into making the renovations so that it's accessible?' It was pretty much unanimous – investigate what it's going to cost and where we can get the dollars.”
In the past year, the Hall Board worked with South-West Oxford (SWOX) Township staff, members of the community and various levels of government to determine options and costs. The township acquired funding from the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund (30 per cent of the project cost), and township council contributed a portion of the funds (75 per cent of the remaining 70 per cent). Ed and Ewart McLaughlin provided the vision, resources and donated labour to complete the job.
“It's been a great partnership of people from the community, business from the community, levels of government, all working together,” Mayberry concluded.
“Councillors supported it, township staff supported it, and the hall board,” said VanMoerkerke. “Once we knew we had the grant money, and council approval, Ed and Ewart came in and started working on it. They basically walked into the township office and said, 'here's the plans and this is what we're going to do.'”
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Hall Board thanked SWOX township staff for their efforts, the township council for their support and belief in the Dereham Centre community. and Ed and Ewart McLaughlin for their vital support. Sobeys and local 4H members were also thanked for assisting with Tuesday's barbecue.
The Dereham Centre Community Hall has a long history in the village dating back to at least 1906.
“A lot of people use it for family Christmases,” said Spanjers. “Gatherings, showers, family picnics. The 4-H uses it to do their projects. Some people use it for meetings.
“But the big pull which keeps the community together,” Spanjers added, “is the Christmas party, done every year for as long as anyone can remember. It's got to be at least 70 years. Every year the community gathers the Tuesday before Christmas, and brings pot luck, Santa comes, and we have little kids on the stage singing and dancing. I think that is a big pull for the community. We've lived here for 35 years and I've never missed one... ever.
“My kids come back from Australia to come to this Christmas party,” she smiled. “It's nice to see the next generation of kids coming to it.”