"A surprise party was held in Bond Head Community Hall on Saturday afternoon for Amy Young of Bond Head, formerly of Beeton, on the occasion of her eightieth birthday. Many of her family, neighbours, and friends from near and far, including members of two local bowling clubs, the Women's Institute of Bond Head, the Ladies Orange Lodge of Beeton and members of the local churches, gathered to spend a pleasant social interlude with her and partake of a buffet lunch. She served her guests a piece of delicious birthday cake with George McCague, our local Member of Parliament assisting her. An address was read by Margaret Westlake, a cousin. Shelley Bishop, a niece on behalf of the friends, presented her with an engraved wrist watch as a token of respect and appreciation, and a momentum of the party. George McCague presented her with an emblem pin on behalf of the Ontario government. Mrs. Young thanked her friends for coming and for her gift and expressed her appreciation to the convenors of the party. All departed with happy memories of a pleasant afternoon."

"Twenty-eight years ago, Peter Bierling was helping farmer John Rupke build a new storage barn in the Holland Marsh. Before starting work, Peter carefully wrapped plastic around an old pocket watch his grandfather gave him and placed it in a shoe polish tin. He didn't want to lose it because it was a family heirloom, and he tucked it away in his pants' pocket. A few hours later, Peter discovered to his dismay that the tin containing the watch had fallen out of his pocket. An exhaustive search failed to turn up the watch. Last week, John Rupke was in the process of tearing down the storage barn, and - you guessed it - the shoe polish tin, with the watch intact, turned up. A worker helping tear down the now-old structure found the tin lodged between the walls, in sawdust used as insulation. Mr. Rupke wound the old watch and, sure enough, it ran. He quickly called Peter's son, Louis to inform him of the find. (Peter died a few years ago). The watch had survived almost 30 years, including Hurricane Hazel in 1954 when the barn was half-covered with mud and water. Louis said afterward, "I had always kept the location of the watch in mind. I always thought I knew where it was. I think it's about 100 years old. "It was still in good shape, and it should be - it's had a rest for 30 years," he said. Louis, production manager at Bradford Frozen Foods, plans to have the watch completely overhauled. The shoe tin in which it was found has also become a collectible."

"Marking Wilbert 'Wibb' Orr's 30 years of safe school bus driving, a celebration was held at Parkview Transit recently. In photo above, Mr. Orr (wearing the hat) stands in front of his first school bus in 1947. Sharp-eyed readers will also spot Jim Thompson, formerly with the Bradford police department. At right, Wib tries out a reclining chair which was given to him by fellow drivers, as his wife, Jean, and Ted and Doug Brown of Parkview Transit look on. Wibb also received an engraved gold watch from Ted and Doug."