WHAT'S MAKING NEWS – 2009

IN JUNE, Father Tom told of additional problems to maintain the aging church, most due to water leakage. He listed the new areas of concern – overflow from rainfall in the gutters on the east side, which may require additional down spouts to save the foundation. The front of church also needs additional concrete work to resolve foundation problems caused by water leakage there. The manse also was found to have leaks in walls and ceiling adding stress to that building's foundation which now also needs repair.

After church roof repair from earlier problems was completed, a line of fake owls (predator look-alikes) were stationed along its peak to discourage other birds from landing there and creating messes and further repair problems.

IN AUGUST, Father Tom once again announced that he will preside at session of his popular Reflections book club group – this time for three sessions starting November 17, 24 and December 1 and again taking place in the church hall from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m..

Subject matter for this year is Sue Monk Kidd's New York Times best-selling novel "The Secret Life of Bees" – a 2002 historical novel that was nominated for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. It was also adapted into a 2008 film by Gina Prince-Bythewood starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson.

The book is set in South Carolina in 1964, the year of the U. S.Civil Rights Act and intensifying racial unrests. It concerns Lily Owens, a 14 year-old girl haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and a troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters, Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping.

IN OCTOBER, parishioners noticed bright new copper sheathing had been placed on the box-shaped foundation of the church's steeple. Its sparkling colour and shiny finish contrast (for the present) with the subdued greenish-blue matte tones of the oxidized copper of the upper part of the steeple.

The reason for this construction (and the new sheathing) was that earlier this year the steeple's foundation and the roof beneath was found to be another source of water leakage. Fixing it necessitated not only repairing the box's sheathing, but getting inside to fix the roof. Father Tom said there were five separate places where leaks occurred there. The problem was particularly bad in winter when snow swirled in through gaps in the box's sheathing, banked up and gradually melted.

Of course, the new sheathing will eventually (perhaps in months, or a year or so) turn the same hue as the steeple proper.