MELVIN'S BALOONS

 MARTINS RIVER - Melvin has been part of Heather MacKenzie Carey's life for a long time.

 So much so it's almost as if he were part of the family.

 The unique thing, however, is Melvin doesn't exist. Well, at least he didn't exist until Ms Carey, with the help of Bryler Publications Inc., brought him to life in the form of a children's book.

 "When my daughter was really little she had a helium balloon one time and let it go," Ms MacKenzie Carey explained. "Well, we had always called the moon Melvin and we made up a story that the balloon was on its way up to Melvin."

 That story has become "Melvin's Balloons."

 The book appeals to any child who has ever felt the excitement of getting a balloon only to watch it helplessly slip from their hands and float into the sky beyond their grasp.

THE NEW ROSS FREIGHTERS

 CHESTER BASIN - The signature event of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Chester Basin was a success.

 On August 14, the New Ross Freighters began their two-day journey from New Ross to Chester Basin, just as was done hundreds of years ago.

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 The re-enactment involved six to eight teams of oxen. "Teamsters" worked many extra hours with their oxen to prepare them for the walk along the now-paved route.

 The journey included an overnight rest.

 Beginning at 8 a.m. in New Ross, the teams travelled along Highway 12 to Cornhill and proceeded down to Highway 3, past the Ultramar station and into Oxners field behind the station.

FIRST SEA GLASS FESTIVAL

 BLANDFORD - For 25 years the Blandford District 1 community centre has served the people.

 In celebration the community centre society presented the first Sea Glass Festival on August 7.

 The main attraction was all the unique pieces of art made with sea glass. The marquee event, however, was when the local fire commission turned the community centre fire hall over to the society.

 The commission has run the building since it opened in 1985.

PRO KIDS BENEFITS

 CHESTER - Almost 10 months ago PRO (Positive Recreation Opportunities) Kids couldn't be sure where its next dollar was going to come from.

 Then the community stepped in and saved the municipal organization, which is aimed at helping underprivileged children participate in extracurricular activities.

 Most recently and the most publicized is the Driven Divas ladies-only golf tournament that raised $14,097.58 last month. But community organizations have also been flying under the radar with their attempts to raise funds.

 The people of the Fo 'c'sle Pub, led by owner Bob Youden have quietly raised almost $6,000 over the past several months.

COMMUNITY GRANTS

 CHESTER - Chester Municipal Council recently unveiled its 2010-11 fiscal grants budget, totalling $41,500 in to-date handouts.

 The largest of the grants, $15,000, was to the Chester Municipal Heritage Society.

 Other grants awarded include $7,500 for the Chester and Area Family Resource Centre, $5,000 for the Chester Playhouse, $4,000 for the Ocean Swells community centre, $3,000 for the New Ross Family Resource Centre, $1,500 for the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON), $1,000 for the local Relay for Life, $1,000 for the District 1 community centre, $1,000 for the Mill Cove Park ball fields, $500 for the Lunenburg County search and rescue, $500 for United Way of Lunenburg County, $500 for Mary Coffin to attend visually impaired space camp, $400 for South Shore Community Justice, $200 for Recreation Nova Scotia (for the Jamie Bayer golf tournament), $200 for South Shore Transition House, $100 for Christmas Daddies and $100 for the Salvation Army.

LIGHTFOOT TOWER RESTORATION

 CHESTER - The Chester Trust is more than a quarter of the way towards its goal of restoring the Lightfoot Tower.

 Built in 1904 by Alfred Ross Lightfoot, husband of Zoé Vallé Lightfoot, the tower remains one of the most unique structures in Chester.

 More than $27,000 has been raised toward the $100,000 goal since the project was launched two years ago.

 "We have a lot of hope for this project," said fundraising co-ordinator Suzi Fraser. "And there are some ongoing developments that we're excited about in terms of generating funds."

OAK ISLAND TOUR REVIVAL

 WESTERN SHORE - When the Oak Island Tourism Society folded late last year, one of the biggest public disappointments was the loss of Oak Island Days.

 People the world over participated in the event, the only annual glimpse afforded to the public of the privately owned island.

 Thanks to the Friends of Oak Island Society the tours continued this year without lapse.

 On July 31 and August 1 the island was open to the public for five guided tours.

 "The afternoon tour on Saturday saw 235 arrive in 98 cars filling the island to capacity," said society chairwoman Carolyn Ekins. "In total 632 visitors from in and out of the province arrived to walk the island."

STAR CAMP

 CHESTER - The Chester Municipal Heritage Society is pointing you to the stars.

 The society hosted an astronomy day camp for kids ages seven to 12 at Lordly Park last month.

 Led by Paul Heath, astronomy outreach instructor of the Halifax branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, the camp ran each day from 9 a.m. to noon.

 The camp included cool experiments and exciting activities during which participants learned how to identify stars, discover where life begins and what galaxies, black holes and other "weird" sky stuff are made of.

A GIFT FOR THE QUEEN

 CHESTER - It's something few people can boast, that the Queen of England owns a piece of their artwork.

 Well, that's exactly what local artist Vivian Zinck can tell her friends and family from now on.

 When Queen Elizabeth visited Nova Scotia earlier this summer her suite at the Lieutenant Governor's mansion was filled with gifts from the people and province of Nova Scotia.

 One of those gifts was from Ms Zinck.

 "It was purely by chance," she said. "I was at church with [local MLA] Denise Peterson-Rafuse and she said she knew I did a maple leaf [Canadian] flag with real leaves. She suggested I send a picture of it to the protocol office."

 She did. And the protocol office suggested it would make a nice gift.

NEW HEAD COACH

 CHESTER - The Chester Clippers junior C hockey club has named Eddie Young head coach.

 Mr. Young spent last season as assistant coach with the Clippers as well as with the South Shore bantam AAA team.

 He replaces former head coach Kerry Haley, who has moved on from the club.

 "I just finally had the desire to [be a head] coach again," Mr. Young said. "It's a big task and I'm up for it. Hopefully everything goes well."

 Prior to joining the Clippers, the new head coach held various coaching positions with many South Shore atom, pee wee and bantam AAA clubs over the past decade.

WATER UTILITY SHUT DOWN

 MILL COVE - Chester Municipal Council has officially served notice it's getting out of the water business.

 For years the Mill Cove Water Utility has been a financial drain to the municipality.

 Back in April council announced its intent to shut down the former military water system.

 On August 12, after months of preparing, council officially began the process.

 "What we did today is we approved a motion to submit our intent to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board," Warden Allen Webber said. "They will make the final decision following a public hearing."

RCMP CLOSE OFFICE

 NEW ROSS - The RCMP has officially closed its community policing office.

 The office, which is across from New Ross Consolidated School and adjacent to the Lion's Club park, was the intermittent home to one officer from the nearby Chester detachment.

 "We're just not using it," said Sgt. Paul Coughlin. "It has nothing to do with the community officer himself. He lives in New Ross."

 Sgt. Coughlin said the shutdown of the office won't mean any loss in service.

 "What we've found is that people still call the Chester detachment," he added.

TOURISM BUDGET APPROVED

 CHESTER - Chester Municipal Council has approved a tourism budget of $77,800.

 The largest portion of that budget has been delegated to Destination Bluenose Coast at $40,300. Another $37,500 was handed out to various organizations including Destination South West Nova ($5,000), Chester Municipal Chamber of Commerce ($20,000), Chester Basin Business Development Association ($2,500) and the Chester Basin 250th anniversary committee ($10,000).

NEW DIRECTOR

 CHESTER - The Municipality of Chester is welcoming a new director of the department of public works.

 Matt Davidson, formerly of the Municipality of Lunenburg department of public works, will begin his new duties as director on September 6.

 Mr. Davidson is replacing current director Bruce Forest who in turn is moving to the position of director of solid waste in charge of the Kaizer Meadow Environmental Management Centre.

 Mr. Forest is replacing the outgoing Dave Daniels, who is stepping down for personal reasons.

HIGHWAY 14 BRIDGE REPAIR

 WINDSOR ROAD - Falling ties, crumbling pavement and a weakening support system.

 Each one is a recipe for disaster, agrees Chester Municipal Council.

 Which is why Warden Allen Webber said he was pleased to hear the bridge is on the top of the Department of Transportation's (DOT) bridge repair list.

 "That was our understanding in the first place," the warden said, referencing a report from several years ago. "We're just happy they are carrying through with their commitment."

 The work is scheduled for this coming fall.

posted on 09/07/10