www.lunenburgacademyfoundation.com [email protected] Volume 23 2018 PRESIDENT’S REPORT John Harker The last time I wrote in the Scribbler, I mentioned our commitment to ensuring that the Academy, your Academy, continues to be a place where old memories are cherished and new ones created. That was certainly how we all enjoyed the official opening this summer of the re-located South Shore Regional Library, now fully at home in its beautiful new quarters on the ground floor of the Academy. Talk about creating new memories! The Library staff took a group of children up to the third floor, for a story-time adventure. The chosen story was all about a violin, and a young violinist. LAMP, which occupies the third floor, kindly provided a violinist to accompany the story and later show the instrument to the children. They were enthralled; memories were being created. This is your Academy at work. The Foundation will continue to foster the fullest use of the Academy, renovated to the best of standards. You deserve it, the building does too! PROPERTY REPORT Allan Richards – Class of 1972 It's been a very busy year on Gallows Hill as our Academy continues on its path of restoration, revitalization and transformation. Phase one of the exterior restoration was completed in May and three sides are now completely refurbished to their original state. As you can see from the picture taken from the west side, there's no more peeling paint! The $2.3 million dollar partnership of the federal and provincial governments, the Town of Lunenburg, and the $200,000 contribution from your Academy Foundation ensured this successful outcome. Another milestone in our journey was realized in July when the town library moved into their new space on the first floor and we once again became a public building, accessible to all. The official opening was well attended on a sunny afternoon and residents and visitors were suitably impressed with the new space that maintained the feel of our Academy classroom experience. Finally, as we near the end of the year the Foundation has undertaken several infrastructure projects needing attention. A generous anonymous donation will allow us to replace a very old furnace boiler which broke down last winter, repair a persistent tower leak in the front of the building and initiate additional security upgrades to better protect the building. Plans are underway in the New Year to hopefully complete the east side (front) restoration. The Town has also commissioned and approved a concept plan to refurbish the grounds around the building. The major change will be for the parking lot currently on the east side of the building to be relocated and expanded to the south side, entering from Unity Lane. The east side will become an open public pedestrian space where residents and visitors can truly appreciate the front of the building, with no vehicles to mar the experience. Finally, the Foundation has initiated a request for proposals for the redevelopment of the three remaining classrooms on the first floor, one of which will be an interpretive classroom which will tell our story to the many visitors who come to the Academy every year. Given all this good news I think it's fair to say we are continuing to meet our mission - "The care, preservation and restoration of this National Historic Site.” ~ 1 ~ FUNDRAISING REPORT Tom Hayes – Committee Chair Since its creation in 1981, the Lunenburg Academy Foundation has been generously supported by many alumni and friends allowing the Foundation to carry on with its vital mission. As mentioned in the preceding Property report, significant financial support in the hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Foundation has been directed to a number of important initiatives at the Academy in recent years, including but not limited to roof repairs, restoration of three sides of the building exterior, and upgrades to the heating system. However, there remains much work to be done including finishing the eastside exterior of the Academy, the redevelopment of first floor classrooms and parking and landscaping upgrades. In recent years all levels of government have also been generous in their support of the various Academy restoration projects. We acknowledge and thank them for their support. As a Foundation we continue to explore ways to leverage additional government funding for the remaining projects outlined here. As these discussions take place, it is obvious the Foundation itself will be expected to continue to play a major role in financially supporting these ongoing projects. To that end, the Foundation will be launching a major fundraising campaign in the spring of 2019 directed towards alumni, friends, and corporate donors. We will be announcing our campaign goal after further consultation with some key potential donors, and it is fair to say that this will be the largest fundraising effort undertaken by the Foundation to date. More details to come early next year, so stay tuned! Of course many of our readers like to make an annual donation in December of each year and your continued support in this fashion again this year will be most appreciated. Opening Day at the Library After a lot of hard work, and with great help from members of the Academy Foundation, the Town of Lunenburg, and the public, July 28th, 2018 marked an historic moment for South Shore Public Libraries - it was the Grand Opening of the Lunenburg branch at its new location in the Lunenburg Academy! The official opening ceremony included politicians from all levels of government commemorating the building and the occasion, and inviting everyone to enjoy the new space. Foundation President John Harker and local children led the ceremonial ribbon cutting, and after that, the 400+ people in attendance were welcomed inside to Lunenburg Mayor Rachel Bailey helps cut the ribbon to see and use the Library on its first official day of business open the new Lunenburg public library. in the Lunenburg Academy. Everyone eagerly went inside to explore the various rooms, new collections, and updated interiors. Dedications to prominent Lunenburger Solomon Morash, who led the construction of the Academy, and to William Roué, architect of the Bluenose, concluded the formal ceremonies. We were very excited that so many people came out for our Grand Opening! We were also thrilled that comments about the space were overwhelmingly positive, and that people loved the updated modern feel of the library that also honoured and complemented the heritage and history of the beloved building. We thank everyone for coming to the opening, we thank our partners for their help in making this move a reality, and we look forward to giving the people of Lunenburg the best library service in this fantastic location for a long time to come. ~ 2 ~ ALUMNI REPORT Roxanna Lohnes Smith – Class of 1959 Donald Hebb, Class of ’39, wrote in 2005, “Memories of Lunenburg and school are all happy ones.” It is great to know that so many were touched by the same magic wand. We were blessed to have had good teachers, a magnificent school building and surrounding grounds, high above the Town. The Sea Gull played a prominent part in our education. I remember the first of the year we were told who to interview and out we went into Town to interview. My year 1959 Sea Gull was dedicated to Capt. Angus Walters, Captain of the original Bluenose. Carolyn Tanner Chenhall ’59 and I were Co-Editors so we made several visits to the Lunenburg Dairy where Capt. Angus spun stories and fed us chocolate milk. Terry Conrad ’72 had the idea to digitize copies as they contained history of Lunenburg and surrounding areas. They now appear on our website, www.lunenburgacademyfoundation.com, where you can tap into memories of former schooldays. We are pleased to have a new Board, composed of members with different backgrounds of expertise. Our main goal is the preservation of the Academy. A capital campaign will be launched in the New Year. For those of you who contributed in the past, we look forward to your support in the future. We need your support to ensure we live up to our motto, “We’ll never let the old school down.” ALUMNI NEWS manager, and retired as the Nova Scotia regional chief of EI (Bold indicates alumnus) adjudication. Following retirement, he volunteered for 20 years on a part time basis with his local parish, raising 1953 Gilbert Berringer visited Lunenburg to show off his funds for various initiatives. At age 80, Lorne is fully hometown to his youngest daughter and her family, retired. Lorne and wife Sheila enjoy travelling, which including two grandsons. They enjoyed Gibby’s walk down includes visits to family and vacations to southern Portugal memory land, all his own haunts and the seafood. and Florida. Their daughter is an oil refinery chemical 1955 Nancy Zinck Court is proud of her grandchildren’s engineer unit supervisor and their son is a school board accomplishments. Her son Michael’s eldest daughter, mathematics consultant. Laura, was coxswain for U23 Canadian rowing heavy 1958 Anthony Cook was determined to follow a career in Women’s Canadian 8 team for the past two years. They science so he enrolled at Acadia University and graduated won gold in Bulgaria, where they not only captured the with a BSc in Physics. Brother Jeffery ’51, an architectural World Championship but also set a world record. They professor at the University of Arizona, suggested that he then added a World Championship in Poland. Laura, who enroll at the new Architectural School opening at Nova graduates this year, was voted female Athlete of the Year Scotia Technical College.