Welcome to the first issue of a new quarterly publication dedicated to the residents in our community, published by the Hunt Club Community Organization. This is a revival of a newsletter that our community had twenty years ago. I am your editor.
We'll provide a venue for the voices in our community. We'll talk about who we are, our interests, concerns, and dreams. We'll describe how we see our community within the City of Ottawa and within Canada. We'll aim to inform and to invite all residents to join in conversations that will help us understand each other and our neighbourhood, celebrate our accomplishments and work together on common projects.
Our community includes fascinating people from many cultures, ages, talents, and walks of life. We can all contribute our unique perspectives to enrich our community. Hunt Club is our home. Let's get to know each other.
The Hunt Club Community Organization is our focus for community events. Please visit our website at http://hunt-club.ncf.ca and attend monthly meetings to be part of our community.
We hope you enjoy this newsletter.
Christine Johnson
When first settled about 1793, our area was known as the Uplands. In 1876, a local landowner, William Upton, noted in his diary that the Ottawa Hunt was active in his area. The Hunt was hunting foxes on horseback in the English tradition.
In 1907, The Ottawa Hunt Ltd. bought most of Upton's land. After the war ended, few members
remained interested in fox hunting. The club switched first to motor expeditions, then to golf
where its interest remains today.
The road that ran along the south edge of the club lands soon became known as the Hunt Club Road. At that time it ran from Riverside Drive (then called Hogs Back Road) to Bank Street (then called the Metcalfe Road). It will extend to Highway 417 summer 2013, keeping the Hunt Club name.
When the Sheflin Bridge was built over the Rideau River, the road to the west was named West Hunt Club Road. Our numbers begin at the Rideau River and run east; West Hunt Club Road numbers start at the River and run west.
Today's Ottawa International Airport was first known, as early as 1919, as the Hunt Club Field.
Now the name Hunt Club is well established in the name of our community and of numerous
local businesses.
As Member of Parliament for Ottawa South, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations on the release of this inaugural issue of the revived Hunt Club Community Organization newsletter.
I believe that grassroots involvement is the backbone of a healthy community and I am honoured to represent such an active, diverse, and vibrant riding. The Hunt Club Community Organization is a wonderful example of the kind of sharing of information and behind-the-scenes heavy lifting that keep a community involved, informed and empowered.
I am pleased to let you know that we are entering the ninth year of my Volunteer Appreciation initiative. A letter and form will be sent out early in 2013, so that volunteerism recognition certificates can be requested of my office. If I am available to present the certificates to your volunteers, I would be honoured to do so.
My office deals with Federal matters and if you have a question or concern, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 613-990-8640 or by email at david.mcguinty@parl.gc.ca. If you have a general question and you are not sure who to contact, feel free to call my office and we will do our best to assist you.
Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
Have you ever heard this statement and wondered what it means? For me it means taking care of my Hunt Club neighbourhood and my city, and thereby becoming a good global citizen. Ecology Ottawa (ecologyottawa.ca) can help.
Ecology Ottawa is a volunteer run organization that focuses on acting locally, but keeps in mind that we are part of a big, beautiful and fragile world. Ecology Ottawa invites citizens of all levels of interest and ability to join together to help Ottawa become the Green Capital of Canada. We will all be better off.
Ecology Ottawa empowers us individually and as a group to deal with the reality that global warming is here. To lessen its impact, Ecology Ottawa is encouraging City Hall in its efforts for responsible municipal governance.
We all need a clean Ottawa River. We all need clean air. Ottawa needs a plan to deal with global warming. How can we in our neighbourhood help? Come volunteer with me at Ecology Ottawa!
The closest Ottawa Public Library branch from our community by car is Alta Vista. By bus it's Greenboro: take #146 or #87 to South Keys, then #114 to Greenboro Center.
A Bookmobile visits on Wednesdays, at the Hunt Club Centre (Metro plaza) from 10:30 am to noon, and at Bayview School from 3 to 4:30 pm and 5:30 to 8:30 pm. You can order a book there from anywhere and have it on the bookmobile the next week.
In our Community Centre (on Paul Anka Drive at McCarthy), there are computers just inside the entrance where you can access the library catalogue and reserve books, DVDs, CDs and other materials on line. You can then pick these items up at any library branch, from the Community Centre for 3½ hours on Saturdays from 1pm and on Mondays from 4pm, or from the bookmobile.
Our Community Centre also has a library kiosk, where you can drop off materials being returned and borrow from a limited selection of books and videos. Online services now include many eBooks, at biblioottawalibrary.ca
The community and Councillor McRae had to lobby hard for all these services, for which we are grateful.
Yet, our area remains underserved by the Ottawa Public Library. Our Community Centre could deliver other library services. For instance we could:
If you travel east on Hunt Club Road from Riverside Drive, turn left on Paul Anka Drive, right on Lillico, then right again, you'll be on Erin Crescent.
In 1979 Tartan Homes commenced construction of homes on Erin Crescent. Tartan was the architect of the homes and RJ Nichols was contracted to do the construction. They were to be completed in four phases. Four models were offered: the Aylmer ($58,500), the Cummings ($57,500), the Billings ($54,500), and the Drummond ($52,900). Model homes were built first at 26, 28, 30, and 32. A fifth phase was also built on Uplands Drive at 3372.
A Drive-in Theater was located south of Hunt Club Road (which was only two lanes then). A miniature golf was also located south of Hunt Club close to Paul Anka Drive.
We have raised our family over the last 31 years as residents in this pleasant neighbourhood of Erin Crescent.
"My community." Webster's dictionary has numerous definitions for the word community, such as "all the people living in a particular district, city, etc." or "a group of people living together as a smaller social unit within a larger one, and having interests, work, etc. in common". These descriptions are rather bland until you add a personal element to them and then "my community" takes on a special meaning. "My community" becomes an important part of our life.
In upcoming issues of Hunt Club: My Community, we will explore how to make our community matter more to us, through our personal involvement. As individuals or as families, we can all help to create an even better community. Do you have ideas for how to do this?
Let's talk about them.
In October 2012 the adoption of Paul Landry Park by the HCCO was approved just in time for
the fall cleanup. It was a cold wet day but a hardy group of volunteers cleared a huge pile of trash
one Sunday afternoon.
The park consists of a large grassy area facing Uplands Drive with a small sandlot, benches and play structure with a hard pad. Behind this is a much bigger woodlot with some trails. The woods and trails end at a smaller grassy area with a pathway that connects Twyford to the mall.
Most of the rubbish was either along the edge of the woods or in two areas of the woods used as hangouts or for bush parties. The trails and some parts of the park are obviously well used but the hangouts result in a lot of rubbish and bush parties can be intimidating.
The HCCO wants to hear from you! How can the park be improved? What would help to serve the needs of the surrounding residents? Improve the path through the woods? Add lighting to the path? Add to or change the play structures? Add trees to the grassy area at Uplands Drive?
We hope to gather ideas now so that we can come up with a plan to present to the City by next spring. We'll be organizing our next cleanup then and will welcome the participation of more volunteers. Watch for the announcement of the date and time in the April issue of Hunt Club: My Community.
If you have an article that you would like to submit for our April issue, please send it to us. The next deadline to receive articles will be February 28, 2013. We welcome your ideas for future issues; please submit them to us or come to our monthly meetings to discuss them. We need more volunteers to distribute our paper in January, April, August and November.
Our volunteer neighbourhood distributors are Bill Atkinson, the Auzins family, Sylva, Martin, Mindy & Chloe Baroody, Jerry Beausoleil, Debbie Danson, John Davies, May Douba, Linda Dubois, Peter Foulger, Del Groulx, Earl Hammond, Val Harrison, Christine Johnson, Marilyn Koch, Candy Kroeger, Gisèle Loiselle, Christine McLaughlin, Margaret Nemeth, Brian & Gail Nocon, Andy & Leslie Porowski, Don Raymond, Sophie Reussner-Pazur, John Sankey, Anita Saxena, Iva Stonebridge, Myra Wells.
We thank our sponsors who help make Hunt Club: My Community possible.
