Looking back at Digby County history

From 1962

“Winds cause severe damage.” That was the headline over a story in an edition of the Digby Courier from January 1962. Among other things, the wind reportedly brought down a fish plant that was under construction in Mink Cove and levelled a barn in Sandy Cove. Wright’s – a Digby business – lost a large plate glass window at the height of the storm. Efforts to contact Norman Wright, the store’s owner, were complicated because of downed telephone wires.

A couple of weeks or so earlier, there had been an “unusual accident” involving an oil truck at the Nu-Way Market in Conway. Conditions were said to have been slippery with new-fallen snow at the time of the incident in which the driver of an oil truck turning into a yard “apparently misjudged his distance and backed into the Nu-Way building.” Three large plate glass windows were broken and some oil spilled into the store, the paper said. There was no damage to the truck and there were no reports of injuries.

Camille Gaudet, a contractor in Little Brook, had been re-elected president of that village’s volunteer fire department. Robert Doucet would continue as Little Brook’s fire chief. The department’s fundraising committee was looking at various ways to raise money to help the department with equipment purchases and the like. The Little Brook department was one of three fire departments in Clare at the time, the others being in Meteghan and Belliveau’s Cove.

People in the news in January 1962 included:

--Helen Anthony, deputy mayor of Digby, who was reappointed chair of the town’s board of school commissioners;

--George Humphrey, who was re-elected Digby fire chief;

--J.R. Nichols, who was reelected president of the Digby East Fish and Game Association.

In sports, a peewee goaltender in the Digby minor hockey system had strung together eight straight shutouts, but his streak was over. Greg Holdsworth, netminder with the Canadians – a Digby house league team – and with the Digby peewee all-stars, had posted six of his shutouts with his regular league club and two others with the all-stars. Those who had seen Holdsworth play were “impressed by his coolness and skill,” according to an item in the Courier.

What reportedly was one of the biggest vessels to call on the port of Digby was the Bella Dan, a Denmark-registered ship that was in Digby to take on a load of pulpwood destined for Italy. It docked just as another ship – the Marguerita (registered in Finland) – was leaving with a cargo of pulpwood that also was bound for Italy.

From 1973

Efforts to have a community swimming pool established in Digby had been underway for three years or so and the project – which had been led by a local committee of the town – was being handed over to the Digby Kiwanis Club. (The goal had been for a club or sponsoring body to take over the challenge.) The idea was to have an open pool first. Then, once finances permitted, the plan was to have an indoor facility. The pool committee’s assets would be turned over to the Kiwanis Club. The committee had not chosen a site for the proposed pool. The Kiwanis Club was said to be considering a number of ways to proceed in finding a location.

Another local service club was in the news. The Digby Kinsmen Club had decided to name their new park at the corner of Queen and Church streets in memory of Charles McBride, a Digby town councillor who had done much to assist them in getting the project started. A formal opening of the park was expected to take place in late spring or early summer.

The Town of Digby was planning to hold a plebiscite to see if ratepayers supported the town borrowing up to $50,000 to be used for the construction of a new fire hall. The plebiscite was scheduled for Feb. 1.

Work on a building extension at Weymouth Consolidated School was said to be coming along well, despite having been hampered a bit by snow.

Movies playing at Digby’s Little Cinema in January 1973 included The Candidate, starring Robert Redford, Peter Boyle and Melvyn Douglas.