Diane Moreau Hemmings: first-class volunteer and friend page 8 notllocal.com AUGUST 11, 2021 Volume 3 • Issue 32 Controversial Queenston Mile subject of second planning appeal Penny Coles able to disclose the nature of The Local the discussion, that council Laura Howarth of Bay would be deciding how to Berry Lane has a back Queenston Mile Vine- proceed. deck overlooking the yard, the subject of contro- “We’ll be looking at our conservation area that versy since it initially sought next steps,” she said. has been cleared. zoning from the town to op- “I suppose if they (the new She’s unhappy that erate as an estate winery, is in owners) carry on with LPAT, some dead ash trees the process of being acquired we’ll have to carry on,” she remain too close to her by Diamond Estates Wine added. “I don’t know what deck and garden. (Mike and Spirits, with an expected their plans are.” Balsom) date of completion of the sale Disero said she wasn’t in September. surprised the winery had There has already been been sold. “They weren’t qui- one Local Planning Appeal et about wanting to sell,” she Tribunal decision between said. the town and the winery The outstanding issue owners — the tribunal ruled with Queenston Mile, a con- in favour of Queenston Mile tinued sore spot with some — and now there is a second councillors, had been the appeal filed by the winery. installation of commercial Councillors were dis- kitchen equipment, and the cussing the issue in a closed winery’s intentions of how session Monday night. Lord they’re going to use it. Mayor Betty Disero said be- fore the meeting, while not Continued on page 4 Neighbours dissatisfied with NPCA tree-clearing Mike Balsom any leaves. end up causing damage to lights and a bird house, and Manitoba maple trees that dead trees still looming and Special to The Local “When you stand up their yards, and potentially my fencing came out.” are not native to Niagara. the equipment gone. on my deck, you can see their homes. The activity in the area A reforestation of the area, “I got a hold of Dan Laura Howarth stands the height,” she says. “They On the morning of July was part of a forest and with native tree plantings, is (Drennan, NPCA forest- in her Bay Berry Lane back- grow this way, toward the 22, Howarth’s garden was in stream rehabilitation effort planned for spring, 2022. er and forest conservation yard bordering on the ravine sun. All these trees grow this a state of disarray. begun by the Niagara Penin- By the time Howarth bylaw officer),” Howarth that leads to the Two Mile way. And those are dead as “The tops had come off sula Conservation Author- had arrived home after at- says. “He said they never Creek near Butler’s Burial doornails, those two. And the ash trees and they were ity (NPCA) on July 5. The tending some appointments intended to take these trees Ground. The life-long Ni- there’s two more right there. all over my garden, two feet forested floodplain is owned later the same day, the crews down. He said he stood agara-on-the-Lake resident They are tall enough.” from my deck. And I had and managed by the NPCA. from third party Aecon below where the dead ash points to a pair of ash trees Tall enough to wreak just put a new deck in. In June, the NPCA dis- Six Nations had removed trees were and felt that they poking up from the valley, havoc, she fears. There were large branch- tributed letters to nearby all of the heavy machinery would not reach my home.” standing ominously behind Howarth and other Bay es, about 20 feet, that did residents describing the used to tear down the trees Howarth then called the residential homes. Their Berry Lane residents are the damage. “I had to throw planned removal of ash trees and mulch the trunks and NPCA director of land op- tops have been removed and concerned that the dead them down (into the ra- affected by the emerald ash branches. Howarth was they are totally devoid of trees may eventually fall and vine). It knocked out solar borer infestation, as well as miffed when she saw the Continued on page 3 2 August 11, 2021 THE NOTLLocal notllocal.com Sherlock opens much-anticipated indoor Shaw performances Mike Balsom the country as an expert di- Special to The Local rector of mysteries. During the pandemic, Vertigo shift- Sherlock Holmes is back ed to offer Vertigo Mystery at the Shaw, right where he Radio, a ticketed online belongs, on the indoor stage podcast in the style of classic at the Festival Theatre. radio dramas. Reprising the role he Opening night for Sher- played in 2018, Damien At- lock Holmes and the Raven’s kins walked the floorboards Curse, written by R. Ham- in front of a sold-out au- ilton Wright, had been re- dience Saturday night for peatedly pushed back until Sherlock Holmes and the the province moved into the Raven’s Curse. It marked the current step of its Roadmap return to indoor theatre at to Recovery. For Hall, whose Shaw for the first time since other commitments pulled 2019. him back to Western Cana- Director Craig Hall is ec- da a week ago, that meant he static. had to miss the debut per- “It’s an absolute relief,” he formance. says on the phone from Vic- “Originally, I was meant toria, where he is preparing to be in Niagara until about for the fall season of his Cal- the 15th of July,” Hall tells gary-based Vertigo Theatre. The Local. “It’s tough. I al- “It’s fantastic. We are the ways say directors don’t only show at the Festival this finish, we kind of abandon Damien Atkins as Sherlock Holmes and Katherine Gauthier as Alice Rogers onstage at the Shaw Festival Theatre in Sherlock year where we rehearsed our babies. Very often by Holmes and The Raven’s Curse. (Photos by Lauren Garbutt) outside, but we always in- the time I’m done, I’ve seen tended to start onstage. It is it two dozen times, and I’m there’s also a common lan- a pure joy.” kind of ready to let it go. guage there.” Hall, who also directed With this one, I feel like I “Damien is a playwright 2018’s Sherlock Holmes and left before I was ready to go, himself,” Hall continues, the Hound of the Baskervilles but not before the show was “and in the short time that at Shaw, says without the re- ready to go.” he’s been doing Sherlock turn to the indoor setting, Hall feels he has left the Holmes, he’s become a bit of this year’s mystery may not show in incredibly capable a Sherlock Holmes fanatic. have happened. hands. He has a deep, deep knowl- “I’m not sure we could Atkins, who also ap- edge of Conan Doyle and have adapted this show,” he pears in The Devil’s Disci- the Sherlock canon. I have admits. “The mystery genre ple at Shaw this summer, is a lot of faith in what they needs, most of all, darkness. back in the lead role of the need from the piece, and You need to be able to have much-loved detective. Also they kind of become de fac- secret spaces. You need to be reprising their 2018 roles to leaders in the ensemble.” able to hide certain things. are Shaw veterans Ric Reid Though the characters And the nature of this piece, as Dr. Watson, and Claire themselves are iconic, the it travels from the streets Julien as Mrs. Hudson. The story is an original, created of London, to Baker Street, remainder of the ensemble by playwright Wright. Hall onto a train, to the Isle of is largely composed of Shaw describes the play as “Sher- Skye. It would have been a regulars. lock Holmes meets Down- Damien Atkins as Sherlock Holmes and Ric Reid as Dr. John Watson are back on the Shaw tough one to do outside.” “Damien, Ric and Claire ton Abbey,” and says it will Festival stage in Sherlock Holmes and The Raven’s Curse. Hall knows what it takes and I all have this short- appeal to fans of both fran- to mount a successful mys- hand, having done one of chises. terious death of his favourite lost cousins, including one says. “It gives a shorthand to tery production. His Vertigo these before,” explains Hall. In The Raven’s Curse, uncle, and to uncover the who might be withholding marketing, to the audiences Theatre company exclusive- “You do sort of build off of Sherlock Holmes is sum- truth about an ancient fam- a dark secret. Holmes and who get to see the continued ly produces mystery plays. what was built before. It’s moned to his childhood ily curse. Along the way he Watson must race against adventures. There’s not a lot He’s become known across also the same playwright, so home to investigate the mys- is reunited with some long- time to get to the bottom of of that happening anymore this mystery before the Ra- in the theatre world.” ven’s Curse claims another Meanwhile, the return to life. an indoor setting in front of “Wright has done a mas- an audience is exciting for terful job of honouring the Hall and the cast, many of canon,” Hall says, “but yet whom had to turn to online expanding the characters, performances during the and maybe humanizing pandemic.