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St. Columban Project Update - Fergus_Keyes - 07-20-2007
St. Columban Project Update
Although activities have been quiet on the web page over the last summer months, some efforts do continue?..
THE MONUMENT
In the last month; Mr. Pieter Sijkes, a professor of architecture at McGill University and one of his students, Yan Claprood, have been working on the project . (Pieter has volunteered his time; and we are paying Yan as a summer student for his hours). They have visited the cemetery; looked at different monument possibilities and have arrived back at the conclusion that a wall with the broken tombstones inserted into it, is still the best idea. The height; materials to use; and the location in the cemetery; the need for maintenance etc.; are all points that they have considered.
So, I would like to set up a meeting of for anyone interested in more details from these architects for either Saturday, August 4th or Sat. Aug. 11th. If you would like to attend, please let me know if either, or both, of these dates are available for you. We could have this meeting at my home in Point St. Charles around 10am, and both Pieter & Yan could make a presentation about the monument from an architect?s point of view. So, if you can attend, please e-mail me at Fergus@panamsec.com and let me know which date is best for you. I?ll then let everyone know the final details for this meeting.
STORING THE BROKEN TOMSBSTONES
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond his control, Michael Kennedy has had to withdraw his offer to store the broken stones on his property over the winter. So, if anyone has another suggestion on where to store these broken tombstones and protect them until next spring, please let me know. If we can find a location, I would guess that we would try to move them in September or early October. We would like to have everything in place to start the monument in Spring 2008, so they would only have to be stored for six months or so?If you have any ideas, please contact me.
THE DVD FROM OUR EVENT IN JANUARY
We did have a little flurry of DVD sales early on ? but, unfortunately, the orders for this DVD are now flat So to recover at least our costs of producing this DVD, please do promote it to your friends and relatives.
ADDITIONAL FUNDRAISING IDEAS.
We will likely have to raise a little more funding over the Winter to complete the monument and make the plaques for the individuals that don?t have tombstones etc. We really want it to be special and built to last for the next 100 years or more. So again, if anyone has any ideas on possible last fundraising efforts, please do let me know.
So that?s the update for now ? if you can attend the meeting with the Architects; have an idea of where to store the broken tombstones; would like to order some DVD?s or have some fundraising ideas, please let me know?.
Fergus Keyes
Fergus@panamsec.com
514-935-3769
Meeting on Saturday - August 4th at 10am - - Fergus_Keyes - 07-24-2007
Hi Everyone
It would appear that the majority of people that would like to attend the next meeting for The Cemetery Restoration are available on Saturday, August 4th 2007.So we will be having this meeting on this date at my place which is at [b]523 rue Charon, ?in Montreal (Point St. Charles), We will start at 10am and it should only be an hour or two. Pieter and Yan (architects) will give us some of their views on the project overall, and their suggestions for the monument.
If you are planning on attending, please let me know either by e-mail or by calling me at 514-935-3769.
If you are not familiar with The Point, there are many ways to get to my home. The easiest (not necessarily the fastest) is to get to Peel St., Downtown and then head south (away from downtown). At the end of Peel Street, you meet Wellington St. and on Wellington, you turn right. You stay on Wellington until about the 3rd or 4th Stop light and you will be at Charon St. ? On Charon, you turn left, and my place is about ? of the way down the block on your left?
Kelley has also kindly offered to allow us to move the broken tombstones to her house in Baie D?Urfe where she can work on cleaning them etc., over the Winter. This would seem to be a good idea although we would likely have to rent a large truck to move them (unless someone has access to a truck that could move about 25 stones or so.)
We can also discuss this possibility at our meeting on the 4th?
And Jeff will be rearranging our front page of the web site to promote both DVD sales and, we hope, some additional donations to the project?.
Meeting - August 4 2007 - Report - Fergus_Keyes - 08-05-2007
There was a meeting yesterday, (Saturday, August 4th 2007), with both Pieter & Yan (Architects), to discuss our effort of building a monument in St. Columban.
Unfortunately only Ken Neil and I were in attendance from our group to be presented with the alternatives that the architects have been investigating over the last month or so.
We did discuss various designs; materials; heights; size, needs for maintenance; and location etc. for this monument to our St. Columban ancestors. As well we tried to determine a ball park cost for building the monument ? using different materials etc.
It would appear that in the end, everyone agrees that a wall type structure, which would include all fragments of the broken stones & plaques to the ancestors where we cannot find any tombstone or other markers.
It would also seem that a curved wall, rather than a straight wall would be a better option, and would provide more stability; be longer lasting and likely more vandal resistant. The ideal design would be to incorporate both the wall memorial along with landscaping and benches, in some form of Celtic design. There is also the possibility or perhaps engraving the names of those individuals without markers, directly into the stone of the monument.
The architects have also investigated the possibility of having both the local materials and perhaps the experienced installation labor, used locally from areas around St. Columban. There would appear to be a number of companies in the area that could certainly furnish the local stones and or other material.
The next logical step would seem to be to try to meet with the ?Fabrique? (Church Wardens) from the Parish of St. Columban to get their agreement on both the location and area where we would like to consider installing this monument. I will try to contact them next week and see if we can present our ideas to them at either their next scheduled meeting; or at a special meeting of the Fabrique to specifically discuss this item.
In the meantime, I am very pleased to report that Kelley O?Rourke, during this past week,(at her own cost and labour expenses), was able to remove all the broken stones from the bush, and from the cemetery and relocate them to her property in Baie D?Urfe. ? This is another fantastic contribution by Kelley. At least it would appear that these broken stones are protected from further damage until we are ready to build the monument ? hopefully in the Spring of 2008. Thanks Kelley !!