General Meeting ~ May 13th 2010

The Royal City Men's Club met at Trinity United Church Gymnasium on the above date. There were 42 members present. President Tom Beale rang the ceremonial bell at 9:55 a.m. He welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that there were no guests present. Ron Usborne reminded members that on the death of a member, the RCMC donates their initiation fee to a charity of the family's choice. He then read out a card from Pat Lawrie thanking the RCMC for the donation in memory of her husband, member Michael Lawrie. Tom Beale reminded members to record in the Health of Members Book if they knew of any member that was ill so the Club could send a card. Bruce Folkard advised that the GWMC has invited RCMC members to participate in their golf tournament on June 16 and a bus trip to a Blue Jays baseball game on August 12. Len Johnstone informed members that the car rally has been postponed to the Fall. He said he would call those that had signed up to make sure they didn't show up expecting a rally on Saturday. He also reminded anyone interested in the Night at the Races to sign up so he can advise the race track how many will be coming. All this was a prelude to his telling the Joke of the Day. Rob Scouller noted that there was a sign-up sheet for the June 24 Waste Management Facility tour, and that there will be an indemnity sheet for each participant to sign at the next meeting. He then introduced speaker Fred Dahms. Fred is a founding member, now retired, of the University of Guelph Geography Department and long-time member of the now defunct Planning Advisory Committee for the City of Guelph. He spoke about the development of Wellington County, from 1800 to the present, using beautiful photos of buildings, landscapes and physical geography to illustrate his presentation. The following list is some of the points he shared. Much more information and beautiful photos can be found in his book, Wellington County, published by Boston Mills Press in 2008. In 1800 there were 63 commercial centers in Wellington County. Today there are 16. Factors contributing to this decline included rural mail delivery starting in 1911, prohibition shutting down the pubs, improvements in county roads during the 1930s and changes in agricultural practices. Successful towns were ones with great entrepreneurial activity and planning, such as Guelph. Resort, Retirement and Amenity communities have been established around significant buildings such as the Aberfoyle and Elora Mills, George Ferguson's house (Breadalbane Inn) in Fergus. Caves and giant potholes in the Rockwood Conservation Area a re a significant attraction for Rockwood, and performing arts at the Theatre in Drayton and the Elora Festival are significant drivers of the economies of these centers. Dams created to control flooding as a result of removing trees and draining swamps have created lakes that generate lots of recreational and economic activity along with maintaining minimum flows for sewage flushing in the summer. Potential problems included Puslinch Lake silted in and polluted with nutrients from septic systems and farm fields, gravel pits that could pollute groundwater and lower the water table, farming not doing very well economically, and projected population exceeding groundwater supply. Fred indicated that sound groundwater surveys showed the natural recharge of groundwater in Guelph would support a population of 100,000 people. He suggested that a few consecutive dry years (3 to 5) would create very serious water shortages in Guelph. Rob Scouller thanked Fred and presented him with a book on the life of John McCrae as a token of appreciation on behalf of the RCMC. President Beale advised that Aidan Ware from the MacDonald-Stewart Art Centre would be speaking at the next meeting on June 10, and that this would also be the RCMC Annual General Meeting. He encouraged members to come to elect their new executive. Tom then presented a little ditty before adjourning the meeting at 11:05 a.m. Gordon Framst Secretary