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McDonalds contributes to New Dundee park project

New Dundee Board of Trade Parks Fundraising Representative Jim Stirling and McDonalds employee Amy Baggey join McDonalds manager Mike Bolton as he presents Wilmot Township councillor Elliot Fung with a cheque for $420 recently. The money was raised June 24, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. when 15 per cent of revenue from products purchased at the New Hamburg restaurant was designated for the park project. The $648,000 project involves construction of two new ball diamonds on land behind the New Dundee Community Centre, and significant upgrades to the existing park.

Photo submitted

Early morning fire destroys farm shed

See the full story at Newhamburgindependent.ca

Wrapping up the school year

The entire student population of Forest Glen Public School marked the anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death and celebrated the last few days of school by performing the choreography for Jackson’s song Thriller.
We’re running around to area schools snapping pictures of the last few days of classes. Check next week’s paper for a photo spread of some of the activities students have been up to.

Donations flowing in to New Dundee Parks project

North Blenheim Insurance Company donated $1,500 to the New Dundee Parks Improvement Project recently. Here North Blenheim Insurance’s Jack Hamilton and Don Pruss give the cheque to Don Poth, a fund raising committee member.  On the left is Terry Knight.

The $648,000 project involves construction of two new ball diamonds on land behind the New Dundee Community Centre, and significant upgrades to the existing park.  These include a new children’s playground, a multi-use cement pad, parking area and landscaping.  The ball diamond construction is well underway and the outfields will be seeded in early July.  The ball diamonds will be complete and playable in the spring of 2011.

Fundraising organizers are quickly nearing the $116,000 community goal for the project.

Churches team up to host Family Fun Day in Baden

Adam Beck Park in Baden hosted Baden Family Fun Day on Saturday, a family event sponsored by four local churches — Westhills Fellowship, Wilmot Mennonite, St. James Lutheran, and Steinmann Mennonite. Here, the puppeteers and puppets from No Strings Attached, of Guelph, perform for a group of enthusiastic spectators.

Earthquake caught on video

Check out our article to see what local residents experienced.

Work to begin this week on second phase of Wilmot Recreation Complex

UPPER FLOOR PLANS

LOWER FLOOR PLANS

Check out the full article at newhamburgindependent.ca

Passenger train and gravel truck collide east of Petersburg

Fire crews and paramedics were on the scene of this serious crash involving a gravel truck and a VIA passenger train east of Petersburg this afternoon.

Baden firefighters rushed to the site of the collision around 1:15 p.m. where a Tri-City Materials truck lay next to the track, its cab twisted and crushed from the impact.

The driver was airlifted to hospital with unknown injuries.

Fashion shows revisits weddings through the decades

The Wellesley Arena was packed Wednesday night as local youth walked down the aisle donning the wedding dresses of their mother, aunts, grandmothers and other members of the community. The fashion show, called Wedding Dresses Thru the Ages, included more than 50 dresses from nearly every decade donated by community members.
See next week’s Independent for more photos and a full story on the event, which raised funds for the Wellesley Fair and the Wellesley North-Easthope Agricultural Society.

Shakespeare celebrates with annual Field Day

The Shakespeare and Community Athletic Association hosted their 63rd annual Field Day Saturday. The rain held off long enough for the parade at 1 p.m., with many families embracing the game show theme.

Check this week’s paper for more photos from the fun day.

W-O’s top athletes honoured

Waterloo-Oxford Secondary School honoured their top athletes of the year Thursday night during their annual athletics banquet.

Brett Sider was named Junior Male Athlete of the Year as well as the Most Valuable Player for junior volleyball and tennis. Ryan Martin took home the Most Outstanding Contribution to Athletics award as well as the MVP for senior volleyball.

Rachel Woolley earned the Junior Female Athlete of the Year Award as well as the MVP for junior volleyball and track and field. Katie Baer was also awarded the Most Outstanding Contribution to Athletics award as well as the MVP for senior girl’s basketball, volleyball and varsity rugby.

Forest Glen Skipping Demo Team celebrates 25-year anniversary

W-O’ Relay for Life raises over $110,000

Forest Glen Family Fun Fair a huge success

Photos and story by Brigitte Szucs

For the Independent

It was another day of games, food, face-painting, and fun.
Forest Glen Public School held its biannual Family Fun Fair on June 3, giving parents and kids the opportunity to spend some good times together while raising some much-needed funds for the school.
This fundraiser provides money to cover the cost of school trips, special events, guest speakers, or any other supplies. In past years the highest amount of money raised was $9,000.
The event offered families all kinds of entertainment, including a bouncy castle, lots of games with prizes, face-painting, as well popcorn, cotton candy, and barbecued hot dogs.
Magician Wilber Cortez, from Waterloo, was there to entertain the kids with amazing tricks, while Hooper the clown beautifully twisted colourful balloons into familiar shapes.
For his first performance at Forest Glen, Cortez was very pleased with what he encountered.
“The kids are very well bahaved and polite, so I’m really enjoying it,” he said.
Thankful that the rain held off, allowing the event to run smoothly, organizer of the Fun Fair Tara Chan says it was a real community event.
“The parents committee helped with organizing and they are volunteering their time tonight to help serving at the barbecue and so forth, and all the teachers are out there,” she said.
The Fun Fair ended with a big raffle that included 65 prizes, such as home-baked items and cakes, gift baskets prepared by the kids. Top prizes included GPSs and two bikes that were picked up from Canadian Tire after all the kids donated their Canadian Tire money.