The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

Clarenville High school's award winning Robotics team has added boat building and driving to their repertoire of engineered capabilities. Despite this is the first year CHS has taken part in the competition, the 8 student team rocketed their way through the zig-zag course at Memorial University's Marine Institute with their winning entrant - the E.S. Minno (Electric Ship!)

On October 8, 2013 Clarenville's new Town Council was sworn in at a public ceremony held in the Clarenville Events Centre.  Outgoing mayor Fred Best officiated the event.  Please click the video to start. Council Sub-Committees Community Development and Communications Tilley/Avery/Monk Finance and Administration Smith/Tilley/Avery Public Works Bailey/Harris/Smith Recreation Harris/Monk/Bailey

Ever wonder what Clarenville looks like from the air? Here's a bird's-eye-view that gives you an idea of just how great we look and how much we're growing. Thanks to Newfoundland Helicopters!

Looking to help out in Clarenville?  There are plenty of volunteer opportunities that can help you get to know people and help you in your career. One such opportunity is a program called COMPUTERS FOR SENIORS.   This initiative is run by the  Random Age-Friendly Communities group and the goal is to train seniors in the use of computers.  Over the past number of years Computer training volunteers have instructed over 150 seniors of Clarenville and the surrounding communities in basic computer usage.   Random Aged Friendly and its partner, College of the North Atlantic, is currently recruiting resource persons to assist in the delivery of our next class which will run from October 22 to November 21 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7 – 9 p.m. at Clarenville campus. The training to be offered to seniors will be very fundamental, so it is not necessary for resource persons to have extensive training in or instructional experience with computers.  As a resource person, you sh

“Help Wanted” signs adorn our town.   If you're a teenager, and looking for a job, odds are you’ll be in luck. What’s good for youth and for people looking for retail type jobs however is not so good for the businesses that are busy trying to recruit for them.   Last week’s edition of THE PACKET told the story of how a shortage of retail labour in Clarenville is challenging some businesses, and how one business has taken advantage of the Foreign Worker Program to hire staff from the Philippines ( Local businesses recruit foreigners to fill the gaps Sept 26)  .   This situation is not unique to Clarenville.  In Happy Valley-Goose Bay over 200 foreign workers are employed in the fast-food/retail industry.  These stories come as a prelude to the Province launching a Discussion  road-show to discuss the challenges being faced by communities and business as baby boomers retire/die while and fewer young people enter the workforce/communities to replace them.( See :  http://www.g

Over 100 residents came out to the Clarenville Chamber of Commerce sponsored Candidate Forum on Tuesday, September 17.   10 of the 11 candidates for council spoke for 7 minutes each on what her/she could contribute to the leadership of Clarenville over the next four years. Frazer Russell has been acclaimed the Town’s new mayor, and he was also in attendance. Forum Chair: Susan Hollett Timer: Adrian Power Photo/Video: Harrison Tille Representing the Chamber:   Richard Power The Candidates: Candidates were assigned their turn in the order by draw  Jill Russell-Monk      David Harris Rod Nicholl Heber Smith Ashling O’Mahony Avery  Bill Bailey Paul Tilley Brian Smith Graham Bursey Add caption  John Pickett Candidate Jeff Bursey was unable to attend the forum Election Day is Tuesday, September 24 – P

It was a nice presentation that demonstrated the the potential impact of the next generation of oil developments on our east coast.  There was lots of information, but no audience. Very few people came to the AMEC sponsored information session held Wednesday evening at Clarenville inn to see and hear it and voice their comments. Here are some background links Open House Session Information  Press Release - Article in The Packet Here's a virtual tour of what they had to present.