Did you know
that the original name for what we now call "The Corkery Community Association"
was "The Upper Huntley Community Association"? Although the name Corkery
Community Association had been commonly used in the area and with the City of
Ottawa for a number of years, this name was only formerly adopted by Association
members at a formal meeting of members September 21, 2004. Shortly afterwards,
our Incorporated name was changed to reflect this as
well.
A determined
group of Manion Road and area residents decided that they wanted some local
recreational facilities for their young children right about the same time that
West Carleton Township performed a recreational needs study (Sesquaig Report)
validating this desire as a need.
Upper Huntley had in excess of 40% of Huntley’s total population but had virtually
no facilities to call their own.
Resident Gerry
Pingitore remembered his neighbour John Burke telling him that John’s father
(Joseph Burke) and John’s uncle (Austin Burke) had given a parcel of land to the
Township to facilitate the initial development of the Burke Manion
subdivision. This parcel was to be
used for a Fire Station or a park.
When Gerry contacted the Township recreation director, Carol Davis
Jamieson, he was told that Upper
Huntley had not expressed any interest to
them directly or through the Huntley Community Association with regard to
utilizing this land for recreational purposes. Immediate action sprung from this
mobilizing statement. A Steering
Committee comprised of Gerry Pingitore, Andrea Tiessen, Wayne McKnight, Laura
Murray and Mel Scott was formed.
Since it
appeared that Upper Huntley was more likely to gain local recreational
facilities by forming its own association rather than working through the
Huntley Association in Carp, the Steering Committee drew up a questionnaire to
elicit input from area residents.
The questionnaire introduced this idea by stating clearly that they
desired to compliment the Huntley Association rather than to compete with them
but that future funding required some sort of organized association be linked
with development. In the summer of
1989, residents of 600 households were asked if they felt the need for a more
local recreational association, would they participate in association
activities, to prioritize activities offered, if and how they would assist in
the operation of the association as well as the ages and number of children in
their household. The survey
confirmed local interest in forming their own Community Association and laid out
the order in which facilities should be built at the site. Residents wanted a soccer field as a
definite first step, then a baseball diamond. The original goal of the park initiators
was a simple play structure for their young children. However, survey respondents ranked this
play structure as the third priority.
So the Steering Committee had to form an association to obtain funding to
build a soccer field and a baseball diamond in order to get their original goal
of a play structure.
Gerry made a
presentation to Council requesting that the Township (Mayor was Eric Craig at
the time) to welcome a seventh community association. Interim executive consisted of Gerry
Pingitore as President, Mel Scott as Vice-president, Dorine Wynen as Treasurer,
Margherita Conti as Secretary, Wendy Coniam, Pierre Gravel, Wayne McKnight,
Laura Murray and Andrea Tiessen as Directors. The Upper Huntley Community Association
was formally recognized February 1990 and held its first Annual General Meeting
March 6th at St. Michaels’ School Corkery. Gerry Pingitore was honoured to become
the first president of The Upper Huntley Community Association. The first UHCA Board of Directors
consisted of Mel Scott as Vice-president, Dorine Wynen as Treasurer, Margherita
Conti as Secretary with Debbie O’Keefe, Wayne McKnight, Thomas Ford, Sally
Bradley and Hildegarde Anderson rounding out the executive list.
1990 was a busy
and exciting year for UHCA members and the community served by the newest West
Carleton Community Association.
Membership in a community association was required for registration in
recreational programs so UHCA encouraged local residents to put the required fee
back into their community and their building efforts by joining UHCA. Membership fee was $15.00. Member Wendy O’Keefe designed the logo
used by UHCA on its advertising, letterhead and on the regular newsletter which
informed residents of the association’s initiatives, projects of other local
groups and items of general interest.
This newsletter outlined the successes of the young organization. During
their first year of operation, UHCA produced their constitution, obtained
Incorporated status, pursued and obtained re-zoning for the future park
(November 20, 1990) and developed the site plan for the parcel of land adjacent
to the firehall on Old Almonte
Road. All of this was done by volunteers and
without funding. In the same year,
UHCA also sponsored a Neighbourhood Watch information seminar, the founding of
local Beaver, Sparks and Brownie
Packs and organized a family skating party. Fundraising efforts included trying to
establish a monthly Bingo, raffle of a side of beef, bakes sales, concession
booth at the Carp Farmers’ Market.
One of UHCA’s executive, Hildegarde Anderson, was the founder of this new
market which grew in leaps and bounds becoming one of the largest rural Farmers’
Markets in the OttawaValley in its
first season. First season market
sales were estimated to be over $50,000.00 with UHCA raising over $3000.00 sales
at their booth alone. In the early
years, projects were generally funded 50% by the province, 25% by the Township
and 25% by the Community Association.
Every dollar raised by UHCA was precious.
UHCA celebrated
winter with its first Icicle Picnic January 27, 1991. Beans baked over an
open fire, hot dogs, hot chocolate, coffee, skating on an outdoor rink,
specially made snow slides for the younger children, horse drawn sleigh rides
and tethered hot air balloon rides brought area residents together. Plans for the future facility were
available for public viewing at the Picnic.
The 1991 AGM
scheduled March 4th had to be postponed until March 18th
due to poor weather conditions. New
members elected to the Board were Shirley Douglas, Lorraine Sutton and Donald
Lafleur. When minor softball and
soccer registration was held at the 1991 AGM, keen interest was expressed in
T-ball. As a result the first ever
Upper Huntley T-ball teams were formed. T-ball was played at St. Michael’s
School baseball facility. A Bike
Rodeo was held in June and the first Upper Huntley Canada Day Celebration
undertaken. Firefighters from
Station 5 set off the fireworks for the community party. During 1991 UHCA also organized a swim
program with transportation to the Arnprior pool, sponsored a street proofing
program, held a joint raffle with the West Carleton Ringette Association (prize
a trip to Florida!) and joined
the Corkery Firefighters in their annual fundraising Christmas tree sale. Trees back then sold for
$25.00.
An October 1991
newsletter tells of the determination of proposed park site elevations, and the
readiness of the final site development plan. The site plan and detailed project
proposal outlining all facilities required over the next 3-5 years was to be
presented to the Municipal Recreational Committee in late October. After this presentation, final approval
from Council would be required in order to start the first phase. This phase included the development of a
soccer field and parking lot.
Application for a provincial capital grant (Ministry of Tourism and
Recreation) was made and it was hoped that construction of the first phase could
begin in April of 1992.
March 9th
was the date for the 1992 AGM. The
number of executive members permitted was increased from 9 to a maximum of 15
recognizing that Upper Huntley has many qualified residents with varied skills to offer
the Association and the increased number would help share the work load of the
expanding Association. The 1992
Executive lists as follows: Gerry Pingitore as President, Mel Scott as
Vice-President, Margherita Conti as Secretary and Sally Bradley as Treasurer and
with members Shirley Douglas, Thomas Ford, Donald Lafleur, Dario Mancuso,
Michael Mulcahy and Debbie O’Keefe.
UHCA
President, Gerry Pingitore, writes in fall 1992 newsletter the following:
“Well, we did it! The first phase of the
park development plan which included the construction of a soccer field and
parking lot has been realized! These
past years have seen a lot of hard work, on our volunteers’ part, to establish
some facilities for your use. I would
like to thank all members of the Board of Directors both past and present and
in particular, I would like to thank Michael Mulcahy, Mel Scott and Margherita
Conti for their tremendous efforts in making the dream become a reality! Top marks go to Dave Read and the rest of the
crew at Thomas Cavanagh Construction Limited for their excellent work!” The next newsletter mentions that this same
soccer field had been graded and seeded with thanks going to James Landscaping
Ltd.
T-ball had
another successful year with four teams playing out of St. Michael’s School.
1992 was the first year that Upper Huntley was represented by its own soccer teams and these
teams were eager to really play “at home” the following season as they did now
have their own soccer field.
1993 saw a
change in UHCA president. Tom Ford took
over this position due to Provincial ruling that limited the number of years
someone can be a member of the executive.
Gerry would stay for the year as Past President. Drew Fullerton stepped in as Vice-President
with Sally Bradley as Secretary, Shirley Douglas as Treasurer, Mary Anne
O’Keefe in charge of Memberships, Pat Lachansky and John Kroetch taking charge
of Special Events, Mike Mulcahy -- Park Development, Karen Taylor and Drew
Fullerton-- Park Management and Debbie O’Keefe, Nancy Ames, working with Gerry
Pingitore and Sally Bradley on Fundraising/Market, Scott Murchison –Newsletter
and Thomas Ford and Dave Read covering Sports
At the
March 1993 AGM, agreement was made in principle to proceed with Phase 2 (the
Ball Diamond and Play structure) in 1993.
Cedar post and rail fencing was agreed upon for the soccer pitch.