The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

It's often a challenge to show people the potential impact of mixing booze and driving.   Over the past few years, some innovative approaches have been taken in the form of mock disasters.   Such a disaster took place in Clarenville today.     First Responders from Clarenville held such a Mock Disaster Drill Thursday, November 29, 2012 in front of the Clarenville Middle and High school complex.   Members of Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD), the RCMP, the Clarenville Volunteer Fire Departments, & Fewers Ambulance Service extricated volunteer “victims” out of two smashed cars.    About 600 students, teachers and parents looked on as a very real rescue and recovery played out.

On November 25, the Kiwanis Club of Clarenville held a fundraiser at the Clarenville Events Centre that will contribute towards supplying Tetanus drugs to underdeveloped parts of the world. Here's a sample of the artists:

It’s a cool Saturday morning as I write this in Clarenville. The temperature is hovering at the 5 degree mark.   At this hour, on Harbour Drive, crews from a paving company are in the process of repaving damaged parts of the road. This “scratching and patching” as it is known, started Thursday morning.  Numerous pieces of equipment and numerous people swarmed over the road at the Huntley Drive intersection – at 8:30am.  10’s of vehicles, including school buses full of children were lined up to get in the single entrance way to Riverside school and 10’s of vehicles were lined up trying to get out. It was, for anyone caught in it, anarchy. Exactly one week before Council crews were busy doing a similar road repair in the middle of the intersection of Memorial and Manitoba Drives – again at 8:30 am at the height of morning traffic, causing further traffic anarchy and making a dangerous situation for Council crews. Arguably these jobs are nec...

Hebron just recently published their human resource requirements for the GBS build at Bull Arm on their website.   Needless to say, a lot of skilled people will be required to build that platform and, with a clear strategy, Clarenville could benefit greatly during the construction phase and beyond.   The first table gives the best indication on the types of jobs and the damand for each of these jobs through the project (Measured in Employment Hours).  No doubt we're in for a couple or three busy years!    CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT SOURCE:  www.hebronproject.com

To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. From: In Flanders Fields   John McCrae It's Remembrance Day in Clarenville. It was cold and crisp. Just the type of day that makes you appreciate the things we have - that things that make our lives more enjoyable and more comfortable. Based on the number of people at today's ceremony here in Clarenville, I am more convinced than ever that the significance of this day is certainly NOT being lost on a generation or two who have had no to limited experience of war. As we loose our veterans to the "failing hands" of age, I am glad to see so many young people catching their torch and holding it high. See photos of today's Ceremony on our OUR TOWN CLARENVILLE page HERE Stan Rogers wrote what I consider to be on of Canada's best songs dedicated to veterans - Sailors Rest... Dave Sullivan is an educator and a writer...this is a powerful piece from his book about S...

What a Difference Seven Years Makes in Clarenville.   Today we climbed to Scholar John's lookout at the top of Lion's Face in Shoal Harbour.  It's just a 15 minute walk from the parking lot of Riverside school and yields a breathtaking view of the Shoal Harbour Valley looking out Ramdom Sound.  I took a picture from the same spot in the fall of 2005.  Compare the two photos and spot the differences. I'd encourage you to take the trail up to the lookout to see for yourself.   Click either photo to enlarge it and the right left arrow to toggle and compare the two Shoal Harbour Valley November 2012     Shoal Harbour Valley November 2005

We LOVE WINTER in Clarenville! Our community owned White Hills Resort has had some great improvements over the summer that will make your winter that much better. Thanks in part to a significant investment by the Federal Government through ACOA ,  $441,000 has been invested into upgrading two critical parts of the visitor experience in the 2012-2013 seasons.  First, improvements have been made to the interior of the day lodge and an extension has been added to the ski rental shop.  These changes will improve customer flow and reduce wait times. Second, there is a new point of sale booking system installed for 2012-2013 that will allow for a speedier and more efficient processing of skier registrations.  Through it, the resort will be able to book ski rentals and other equipment in advance, reducing congestion at the rental kiosks during peak periods. Our White Hills Resort offers winter  enthusiasts access to 18 ski runs and over ...

For the past several weeks Clarenville campus’ Enactus team has been planning Trick-or-Eat. It’s a cross-Canada program of the Meal Exchange that has people collect non-perishable food for food banks in their local area on Halloween. Last Evening, our campuses Enactus team, coupled with a committed gang of Clarenville High School student volunteers, broke into seven groups to canvass Clarenville, Trinity and Burgoynes Cove in support of Trick-or-East . Thanks to the support of VOCM, THE PACKET and a social media blitz, many of the homes we went to already had their bags of food or their monetary donation ready. We collected hundreds of food items (in excess of 2500lbs and counting...) thanks to the generosity of people and organizations in Clarenville, Burgoynes Cove and the Trinity area. Owing to time constraints, we certainly missed some areas, however our collection is ongoing. If you want to help us help the food bank, please drop ...