It was the time when the Soviet Union was falling, the Berlin Wall was crumbling and apartheid was ending.
Important events that changed the world.
Closer to home, however, all newly engaged couple Colleen McMasters and Mark Frobisher want to do is plan a simple wedding.
They soon find out that nothing is simple when two completely different sets of parents get involved. Add some bridesmaids who are girls who just want to have fun, a cast of other eccentric characters, the unexpected appearance of an old girlfriend, set it to the soundtrack of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s and you have the makings of a pretty good musical comedy.
The version of Altar Egos, presented Nov. 28-30 by Davidson’s Kinsmen Club and Davidson Community Performers, was made great by the comedic and musical talents of the community’s performers.
From the band that played the music, the choir that provided the beautiful voices, to the actors on the stage, all turned in exceptional performances. Some gave memorable ones. Everyone in town now knows who Cory Dean is.
Mandy Tichit, delivered a Melissa McCarthy worthy performance as bridesmaid Maxine.
Appropriately big-haired Kelly Allan, as Colleen, conveyed the stress felt by many a bride-to-be who was foolish enough to have not eloped, despite her father’s (played by Peter Sarich) $20,000 incentive. Jason Low, as Mark, whose idea it was to have a simple wedding in the first place, quickly learns that nothing is simple when it comes to planning nuptials.
The audiences were appreciative of performers’ efforts and those of director Arlene Low, co-director Karen Reich and musical director Tracy Hodgins.
It took a lot of work, countless hours of preparation by cast and crew. In return, audiences received an evening of excellent entertainment and the opportunity to see yet another side, this one tie-dyed, of Jim Cross.

The Davidson United Church is trying something new in order to build the spiritual well being of the community and the individuals within it.

Mary Smillie, a leader with the multi-faith Rural Spirit Study project initiated by the Davidson United Church, said they are going to be installing “around $10,000” worth of audio-visual equipment in the church, so they can use the resources of the Internet to start content-driven conversations among community members. She said this would be phase two of the three-phase $30,000 research project that is funded by the United Church of Canada and is being conducted by the church and the Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry (CiRCLe M) in Saskatoon.

“We saw, ourselves as a congregation, the need to understand better what it is that makes people’s spirit tick,” said Smillie about the purpose of the Rural Spirit Study. As “a church we’re supposed to exist for that, but as everybody can see in Canada and North America church populations are generally dwindling. That doesn’t mean people don’t still have a spirit that they want to nurture and we as a church need to change how we approach people from a spiritual point of view. We can’t do that unless we understand what it is that makes people’s spirit tick.”

Smillie said the word spirit is representative of things such as wonder, awe, and a person’s purpose, meaning, and connectivity in the world. She said religion is “not essential” in the steps they are taking to nurture the spirit of the community and individuals in the community.

“The end goal would be to take what generations before us built in terms of this church and this structure and this space…and continue to have it evolve and expand in what it does to be more relevant to more people in this community,” she said, noting they are not trying to get more people to attend United Church services with this project.

Cam Harder, executive director of CiRCLe M, said phase one of the study identified a number of factors through focus group research that resulted in a sense of spiritual well being in a person. He said one of these factors is the importance of having a place where people can have a content rich conversation about things that are important to them and that is something the church can provide using some of the funds from the scholarship.

“People felt that having these conversations was a really rich experience, so we thought what if we set up a space where we can for example Skype somebody in on a large screen TV from anywhere in the world really who could share something really interesting with us and we could have a back-and-forth with them,” said Harder, noting they could also show the self-development video TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talks or YouTube videos and then have conversations about them. “We could (also) have the young people come in and they could share their favourite content piece from the Web…and it would allow for some intergenerational sharing of resources. It would allow for some content rich conversations.”

To read more please see the December 2 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The community will gather Dec. 11 to celebrate the inaugural lighting of Davidson’s Memory Bulb Tree.
Davidson’s public works department, with the aid of the town’s bucket truck, was perched high in the sky last Wednesday, stringing lights atop the tall evergreen tree beside Davidson’s town hall.
At 7 p.m. next Wednesday, the memory bulbs will be lit and the names of the people for whom the bulbs were purchased will be read aloud. After this, everyone is invited into the town hall to enjoy fellowship, Christmas music and refreshments of coffee, hot chocolate and cookies.
The aim is to have a simple festive gathering where people may gather and share the community spirit, says Erin Gust, of Davidson’s Communities in Bloom committee.
People may purchase a bulb on the string of lights as a tribute to someone. Some bulbs are being bought in memory of a loved one or friend who has passed away. Others are being bought to signify an individual who is special or important in someone’s life.
The memory bulb tree is a joint fund-raiser for Communities in Bloom and the new swimming pool fund.
Davidson’s Communities in Bloom committee borrowed the idea from Dundurn where last year more than 900 light bulbs were purchased, setting the town’s spruce tree aglow and helping raise $20,000 towards building a new fire hall.
Davidson hopes its tree will similarly light up the night sky as people consider buying a bulb for a loved one this Christmas
There is still time to buy a memory bulb. They are available for purchase at the town office, local businesses and from members of Communities in Bloom and the swimming pool facility committee.

Upwards of 150 people joined together at Town Hall last Monday to show their gratitude for the sacrifices of Canada’s brave men and women who have given so much for our freedom.

Alfred Stulberg, a veteran of the Second World War and longtime member of the Davidson branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, said he was touched by the amount of effort that went into the annual Royal Canadian Legion branch #51 and Davidson Inter-Church Association (DICA) Remembrance Day Service Nov. 11 at the Davidson Auditorium.

“Somebody went to an awful lot of work and it sure showed,” said Stulberg, who served with the Infantry Armoured Core Division from 1942 to 1945. During the war he spent one-and-a-half years overseas and seven-and-a-half months of this time as a prisoner of war. “The service seems to be getting better every year. People are more interested than what they were a few years ago.”

Gord McRae, president of the Davidson branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, said he was “surprised” by the large number of people both young and old who attended the commemoration. He said Rev. Diane Eurig did a great job emceeing the service that featured guest speaker Claude Weil delivering a stirring speech on why it is important to fight for one’s values.

“A lot of people were just ‘wow’ and really overcome by him,” said McRae, noting he has already started planning next year’s service. “It was very interesting for anybody that was there. A lot of people were amazed by his history, where he’d come from and what he did. Then they say ‘well we live in a great country. We think it’s tough, but compared to what he did (it’s not).'”

During his speech, Weil first spoke about his experiences serving as an Israeli combat soldier stationed in the Sinai Desert with a field tank company during a time of heavy tension between Israel and Egypt during the mid-1970s. He then moved on to his main topic of ‘what is the right fight’ where he described how we are all soldiers whether we are members of the military or not and for that reason we all must fight for what we believe in.

At the end of Weil’s speech he presented a definition of ‘what is the right fight’ when he said a fight is right if it is meant to directly protect the most vulnerable citizens of a country, province and community.

Weil said he chose the topic of ‘what is the right fight’ because it demonstrates how we all can fight the “little challenges” we encounter every day to make a difference. He said there are very few professional soldiers out there and they cannot solve all the world’s problems by themselves.

To read more please see the November 18 print edition of The Davidson Leader.