For
Immediate Release
October 16, 2004
Bolingbroke
– MPP Norm Sterling stopped in at Althorpe Bolingbroke Community Club’s Open
House on Saturday to see the results of a $24,500 grant from the Ontario
Trillium Foundation (OTF). The
grant was made in January 2003, and after much work by dedicated volunteers, the
popular local building is now fully wheelchair accessible, the renovated kitchen
has new appliances and the Hall has a new, bright look. Bryce Bell, a volunteer with the OTF, Tay Valley Reeve Keith
Kerr, and councillor Susan Freeman congratulated the members of the Club for
their work.
"In Bolingbroke, the ABC Club
plays a vital role in providing a meeting place to hold community activities and
gatherings," Sterling said. "In many ways, a hall like this is more
important to a smaller community than it is in a larger urban area. That's
why I'm so pleased that the Ontario Trillium Foundation has supported this
effort to improve this facility."
The Althorpe Bolingbroke Community Hall (or ABC Club)
has been a popular meeting place in the community for over 50 years.
The Club is managed by a dedicated group of volunteers who run the hall
and raise all the revenue to keep it operating.
In recent years, the members have up-graded the hall to meet modern
standards, including the installation of air conditioning and a new roof.
Martin Yates, leader of the renovations committee
said, “The OTF grant has been
used to give the hall the capability to accommodate people in wheel chairs, to
make the busy kitchen area much more usable, and to redecorate the hall.
These renovations will enable the Club to serve the Althorpe Bolingbroke
area well into the century. We
would like to give the Ontario Trillium Foundation our heartfelt thanks.”
Over the years, the ABC Club has been the site of
innumerable events in the community. It
is used for dinner-dances, euchre nights, the Seniors Club, VON diners’ club
and foot clinic, training courses and other occasions both sad and happy.
It has proven to be a valuable community resource where people can get
together. For example, during the
ice storm emergency, the ABC Club provided a people with a warm place to go and
a hot meal.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the
Ministry of Culture, receives annually $100 million of government funding
generated through Ontario’s charity casino initiative. The Foundation
allocates grants to eligible charitable and not-for-profit organizations in the
arts and culture, environment, human and social services, and sports and
recreation sectors.
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For more information, please contact:
Martin Yates
Althorpe Bolingbroke Community Club
613-273-7505
Norm Sterling, MPP
Lanark-Carleton
613-253-1171