NEWS

Local news in and around Aylmer and Elgin County

Father and child killed in crash northeast of St. Thomas

October 8, 2015 | 0 Comments

A four-month-old boy and later his father have died as a result of a two-vehicle crash northeast of St. Thomas on Wednesday night, Oct. 7. The driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash, a 68-year-old Malahide man, has been charged with several dangerous driving and criminal negligence causing death and bodily harm-related offences.…

Aylmer Library decision: lease now, build later

October 6, 2015 | 0 Comments

“Did you not get the memo that you lost the last election?” asked Councillor Ted McDonald of former mayor Jack Couckuyt at the Monday, Oct. 5 council meeting. Cr. McDonald tore into Mr. Counckuyt after his presentation to council in support of building a new downtown library. While mayor, Mr. Couckuyt failed to get enough…

Learning about the forest

October 6, 2015 | 0 Comments

Assumption Catholic Elementary School Grade 7 pupils got ready to make like Monarch butterflies at the Monarch Migration Madness station during the Carolinian Forest Festival at Springwater Conservation Area on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Over 500 London District Catholic School Board Grade 6 and 7 pupils visited Springwater on that day and the next for the annual…

Fairgrounds a ghoulish haunt until Halloween

October 4, 2015 | 0 Comments

A masked maniac with a crowbar and the “surgeon murder clown” are two of the scary characters awaiting those who brave the Aylmer Fair Haunted House in the old curling club building at the Aylmer Fairgrounds. The Haunted House continues each Friday and Saturday night from 7-9 p.m. during October including on Halloween night (Saturday,…

Care 2 Cycle benefits near and far

October 3, 2015 | 0 Comments

Rylee Peters, 7, navigated the “Rabbit Rodeo” course on her bicycle in the Immanuel Christian School parking lot on Saturday morning, Oct. 3 before groups of other cyclists took off for the Care 2 Cycle rides from the Aylmer school. The event, which involved 10-kilometre, 30 km and 50 km cycling rides, raised money for…

Wet sponges fly at McGregor PS to celebrate love of reading

October 2, 2015 | 0 Comments

McGregor Public School Principal Charlotte Wall, right, got ready to take a swing at a wet sponge thrown by pupil Ryan Penner, left, with Aylmer Old Town Hall Library assistant Mary Wiebe looking on Thursday, Oct. 1 during a celebration of the pupils at the Aylmer school helping to surpass the library’s Summer Reading Club…

Planet Shrimp coming to Innovation Centre

October 2, 2015 | 0 Comments

A large warehouse at the Elgin Innovation Centre (EIC) in the former Imperial Tobacco Canada plant is about to be transformed into a state-of-the-art shrimp farm. EIC Chief Executive Officer Jack Baribeau said the first set of municipal building permits had been issued on Friday, Oct. 2 for the renovation work at the warehouse located…

Honouring Terry Fox at Straffordville PS

October 2, 2015 | 0 Comments

Katie Millard, left, Connor Palmer, Mindy Epp and Elia Parker were among the pupils participating in a Terry Fox Run at Straffordville Public School in cool weather on Thursday, Oct. 1. Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to cancer research.

Protesters get Straffordville hall sale deferred

October 2, 2015 | 0 Comments

About 50 local residents gathered outside the municipal office in Straffordville before the Thursday, Oct. 1 Bayham council meeting to show their opposition of the sale of nearby Community Centre to Straffordville Evangelical Mennonite Church. A “citizens group” had collected 577 signatures on a petition stating they opposed the sale of the hall and one…

Aylmer Express debate packs Old Town Hall

September 29, 2015 | 3 Comments

Aylmer Express President and Publisher John Hueston, left, moderated a federal election all-candidates meeting at Aylmer Old Town Hall Theatre on Monday evening, Sept. 28. The gallery was packed full of local residents who listened to the candidates vying to become the next member of parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London answer questions posed to them from the…

Port Stanley harbour dredging contract awarded

September 28, 2015 | 0 Comments

Central Elgin councillors on Monday, Sept. 28, voted unanimously to award a contract to dredge Port Stanley Harbour and create with reclaimed soil a new piece of land for a park to Huron District Contracting of Goderich, which had the low tender at $2.987-million, just slightly higher than the engineer’s estimate for the work. But…

Hepburn farm plan scotched

September 28, 2015 | 0 Comments

Central Elgin councillors, following a secret session on Monday night, Sept. 28, formally killed a proposal to purchase the 89-acre Hepburn farm on the southwest corner of Fairview Road and Southdale Line for conversion into fields for soccer and other sports. Mayor David Marr said he was disappointed to report the St. Thomas, which was…