eels The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 25, 1998 - BI TERRACE STANDARD | COMMUNITY EVENTS B2 INSIDE OMMUNITY-2: SECTION B - AT THE LIBRARY. SHEELAGH MEIKLEM Oh Danny boy ARCH IS the manth we wait for: spring begins to seem possible, faint traces of new grass can be discemed, crocus bloom on sunny . slopes and Irish people everywhere celebrate St.Patrick’s Day. ‘ And there are Irish people everywhere. One small island ‘‘a little bit of heaven’’ has sent emissaries to all corners of the world. Nine of the fifty-six signors of the Decla- ration of Independence were Irish, Nineteen presidents of the Uniled States were of Irish heritage. Thus the old saying, God invented whiskey to prevent the Jrish from ruling the’ world! Actually, the Irish invented whis- key, just one of many contributions they have made to civilization. Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, W.B.Yeats, J.M.Synge,, Brendan Behan, Bram Stoker: the list is long and diverse. The Dictionary of Irish Literature edited by Robert Hogan is a very useful guide, in- cluding an introduction that attempts to ex- plain why Ireland has produced such a. large number of extraordinary writers, Per- haps the climate is instrumental. The com- bination of never-ending ‘‘soft days’’ with- sudden unexpected bursts of glorious sunshine have given rise to a corresponding manic depression in the Irish nature, a dark- ness briefly lit by moments of pure joy. Violence is an integra! part of Ireland and has been for centuries, A fascinating look at how this affects the people has been com- piled by oral historian Tony Parker in his book May God in his mercy be kind to Bel- fast. This contains 60 interviews with IRA activists, British army soldiers, relatives of viclims and schoolboys who all talk freely about their lives, hopes and fears. Another engrossing book that captures the essence of Belfast and the Irish experience is Gerry Adams’ autobiography Before the Dawn, He was one of ten children who lived in a two bedroom house in a Catholic housing estate and thought themselves lucky. He grew up to become an MP and the president of Sinn Fein. William Trevor is the quintessential Irish storyteller. His new collection of short stories, After Rain, is about ordinary people living ordinary lives hut seeming to be powerless against the vagaries of that or- dinariness. Without drama; they leave a slow trail of sadness, A more upbeat author, Bartholomew Gill, has a new novel The Death of an Irish Tinker. This is (he thirteenth in a series that fea- tures Chief Superintendent Peter McGarr, ’ head of Ireland’s Murder Squad. These books are full of the sights and sounds of Dublin and the surrounding country. A similar crime series has been written by John Brady, a former Terrace resident. His protagonist is Matt Minogue, also of Dublins’ Garda Murder Squad. Reading these books is the next best thing to being there. In case you decide to make the trip, Frommer’s Dubtin is an excellent travel guide that covers almost every pos- sible aspect of the cily and also gives a cap- sule history of Ireland. Fodor’s Jreland 97 is also very useful as a guide to the whole country and includes a small chapter at the back of the book on Belfast and Northern Ireland. The Irish are famous for their hospilality: *‘cead mile failte,’”’ or ‘a hundred thousand welcomes’ is a standard grecting. There are no sirangers in Ireland, only friends we haven’t met, G.K.Chesterton said of the Irish, ‘‘All their wars are merry and all their songs are sad,”’ I can attest to that, growing up with a mother who loved to sing the songs of her childhood, ‘‘The Spinning Wheel, Ill take you home again Kathleen, and Oh Danny Boy.” All sad songs that rang out from our kitchen on a Canadian mountainside and imbued us with a love and a nostaigia for a home we had never seen but felt deep within our bones,’ Creative cooking challenge IMAGINE having the in- gredients for a meal placed in front of you — minus any recipes. You have just over four hours to create the per- fect dinner for seven very demanding diners. That’s the situation two cooking students fom Northwest Community Col- lege will face thls Saturday. Vicki Lanprip and Jodi Trombley were chosen by the college’s head chef Nick Garcia to lake part in the provincial Skills Canada cooking competition in Vic- toria on March 28, He describes them as dedi- caled, hard working and well-organized, the key to being a top-notch chef, It’s the first time students from the college will com- pele in Skills Canada and it’s a goal Garcia has been working towards for three years, “It’s more for the experi- ence,”’ says Garcia. He’s nol expecting his two stu- dents to win, since the com- petition is geared at testing the skills of cooks in their third year of training, The professional cooks training course at the college is just a year long, and Lanprip and Trombley just started in September. Bul that doesn’t mean Garcia and the students aren’! going to give the competition a goad try. Competitors will be given a mystery basket packed with food the day of the competition. They have to create two appetizers, a main course and a dessert to feed seven diners. And they have to use each of the foods in the baskel. “L's very never wrack- ing,’ says Garcia. He's taken part in similar compe- - titions, but this is the first time his students will com- pete. In order to train Garcia is making sure Lanprip and . Trombley have a good grasp of basic recipes, such as how to make a Bavarian cream pie. Though they’re not al- lowed to bring cookboaks into the competition, the students are allowed a notebook with key basic recipes jolted down. This week during the final preparations Garcia will have the students attempt to create the four courses in the time they'll have allotted to them at the event. “We'll just do aur best —- go there and have fun.”’ He thinks the competition “t FANCY FLIPPING — Jodi Trombley is one of two students from NWGC chosen to take part in a Skills Canada provincial cooking competition in Victoria this Sat- urday. She and Vicki Lanprip, both first-year cooks, will be competing against © third-year apprentices. will be a valuable learning experience. Garcia isn’t wasting the remainder of the - weekend down south. He also plans to take the stu- dents to a large food show. in Vancouver, and they'll probably try out a few inter- esting restaurants while they’re in Vancouver. Dry grad organizers halfway there PARENT organizers of Caledonia’s second an- nual dry grad party are halfway to their goal of raising $10,000 for the event. If $10,000 sounds like a lot to spend on a teen’s party, organizer Giselle Birch points out that Kitimat spends $40,000 on its dry grad. The event will be held June 26, after gradu- ation ceremonies. Like last year grade 12 stu- dents will be bussed from the REM Lee theatre to the arena for (he party. Birch says there’s been great input from parents this year in planning events to keep the grads occupied all night long. The theme this year is “‘the sky’s the limit’ and it was chosen by the grade 12 class. There are about 300 grade 12 students at Caledonia and all are invited, even if they won't be able to graduate. Birch doesn’t want to give away details on too many of the activities, because she wants the event to be a surprise. However, she does say that students are going to have a huge range of activities to choose from. Parents wan to show students they dow t have to be dunk to have a goad time. “It’s a farewell surprise party from parents and the community to the grads,"” says Birch, Organizers are reating a. wide range of fun things [or students to do, such as two hot tubs, a big screen TV, karaoke machine, and arcade games. Parents are getting innovative in raising the money. For example, right now there’s cookic dough campaign, with volunteer bakers selling tubs of dough, There’s also a native art raffle coming up and a huge garage sale planned for April 4. That’s an event which the whole community can help wilh, says Birch, Donations for the ga- rage sale will be accepted April 3, from 6-9 p.m. al Caledonia’s gym, As grad night draws near Birch says organizers will solicit more donations from lo- cal businesses for door prizes and give-always. But she’s aware that the local economy is still depressed, and doesn’t want to push businesses too hard. Another need is going to be for volunteers to help decorate the arena and pull together the various activities. There’s about 25 active volunteers now, bul Birch says many more will be needed, She estimates it will take about three - days to do the preparatory work. And extra help will be nceded that night for the various booths. “We have to keep those kids active through- out the night,”? she says. If you want to heip with any part of the dry grad preparations, you can call Giselle Birch at 635-9446. Or try Sonya at 635-9456 or Isobel at 635-3736. VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR Helping others brings them joy THE 4th annual Volunteer of the Year contest is un- derway with five nomina- tions in last weck for two people. Crispina Cote was reluc- tant fo accept her nomina- tion, preferring her behind- the-scene work remain just that. However, this isn’t an honour volunleers can refuse, Betty Campbell nominated Cote, commenting on how she even takes holidays from work to fit voluntecr- ing into her busy schedule, Cote is a long-time nurse at Mills Memorial hospital. She became an active Volunicer about cight years ago, when her children left home. Before that, as a single mother wanting lo give her children as much as possible, Cote didn’t have time for volunteering. “T always said when the Crispina Cote ‘ kids are grown then I'll do my part to thank the com- munity,’” said Cote. Since they left home she’s spent about cight years ac- tively involved with the Pa- cific NW Music Festival and is currently the coor- dinator. The job is much like her paid position at the hospital, she said, as she has to organize ithe making sure there are enough volunteers al each venue, that the adjudicators are looked after and that the children enjoy the festival, Both her daughters were involved in the festival and Cote thinks it offers a wonderful opportunily to teach children discipline. Cote was also instrumen- tal in getting the Miss Ter- race Pageant started, She became involved for much the same reasons, wanting to give young people direc- tion and help. She made ‘sure thal cach participant in the pageant received a bur- sary so they all {elt like win- ners. And Cote also helped start the Terrace Volunteer Bureau and was an aclive board member for four years, ‘Everybody can make a difference,” she said. Our other ~—- volunteer nominated this weck is 89- year-old) Jcan = Liwms. Though no longer active as a volunicer, she was dedi- cated to the Happy Gang festival, Centre for 18 years. Liums was nominaled by Beatrice Thain-Kinkead, Deanna Thain, Stan Kinkead and Florence Spen- cer, “Jean is a very special lady,’” wrote Kinkead. ‘She has worked so hard at being a bright ray of suushine in many. lives at the Happy Gang Centre. Thain also commented on how much Liwms had con- tributed to the Happy Gang Ceatre, adding ‘‘she always puis other people first, not hesself.’* ; Liums became oobi Jean Li involved ums with the Happy Gang Centre when she moved io Terrace in 1973 from Kitimat. Back then members of the Old Age Pensioners met in the arena. Liums remembers having to prepare soups and pies at home and bringing them to the arena for the seniors. Once she even ended up with a pie in the back of her head when the driver of the car she was in stumped on , the brakes a litte too hard, Lium’s best memories of those days are meeling some of the cily's plonecrs and having the chanee-to talk with them. When the seniors relo- cated to the volunteer-built Happy Gang Centre Liums took charge of the kitchen. She worked there two days a week, and oversaw the other kitchen volunteers and kept the shelves stocked with food. *T helped make sure it all ran smoothly,”’ said Lium. She was famous for her desserts — particularly but- ter tarts on Friday aftemoons, Although she can’t valunteer anymore due to personal commitments, she slill whips up the occasional batch of tarts to placate fans af her cooking. "Jean is a lady of one ina thousand,’ wrote Thain- Kinkead on her nomination form. If you’d like to nominate a volunteer you'll find a form on page ALO of this weck's paper or drop by the Volunteer Bureau. Remember, there’s a sepa- rate category for special ser- vices volunteers. All those nominated will be invited to the Volunteer Bureau’s an- nual luncheon. And the grand winner — Volunteer of the Year — will be .treated to dinner for two at the Bavarian Inn restaurant. The contest closes April 10 at noon. It's sponsored by The Terrace Standard and Overwaitea.