{"id":12218,"date":"2019-08-20T20:06:07","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T23:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=12218"},"modified":"2019-08-20T20:06:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T23:06:07","slug":"waverley-museum-in-jeopardy-of-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=12218","title":{"rendered":"Waverley Museum in jeopardy of closing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WAVERLEY: <\/strong>Annie\n Blois Smith lived in Waverley for her entire life, and she was deeply \npassionate about its past. She founded the Waverley Heritage Museum to \npreserve its history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, a shortage of volunteers means the museum that Smith so dearly loved is in danger of closing its doors forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA\n museum isn\u2019t an attic for storing old stuff. It is a trusted gathering \nplace. It tells stories that connect visitors with others, both people \nof the past and neighbours here today,\u201d said Waverley Heritage Society \nchairperson Pat Clahane. \u201cIf the museum closes, Waverley will lose a \nvaluable link to its unique identity, which would be a shame.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The museum is operated by the Heritage Society, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\n have milestones to celebrate but it\u2019s also bitter-sweet. Our leadership\n is about to retire and there is no one to carry on their \nresponsibilities,\u201d said Clahane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Society has a\n small board of directors and the majority can\u2019t renew their terms again\n this spring. To continue operating the museum, new members are needed. \nIf new officers aren\u2019t found, the board of directors will be forced to \nstop the museum\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housed in the \nformer St. John Anglican Church building, which was built in 1862 and \nnow belongs to the Waverley Community Association, the Waverley Heritage\n Museum contain a collection of artifacts and stories of the village\u2019s \nrole in the industrial age. Over the years the collection has grown, and\n today it contains hundreds of items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Museum \ntells the story of the first settlers who lived on farms along the \nshores of Lake Charles and Lake William, how Charles. P. Allen named his\n property after the Waverley<\/em> novels by Sir Walter Scott, and \nhow the community transformed after gold mining began in 1861. And lots \nof stories remain to be told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Waverley \nHeritage Museum brings the community\u2019s history to life, and the \ncommunity is richer with its presence,\u201d said Heritage Society secretary \nJudy Mallett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small community museums serve a \nvaluable purpose, allowing residents and visitors to learn about events \nthat have influenced and shaped the area and what makes the community \nunique. Being able to touch and interact with artifacts is a much more \nmeaningful experience than simply reading about the past in books or \nonline, said Mallett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outgoing board has \ntried for several years to recruit new volunteers to lead the museum \ninto the future. The need is now critical for new board members to take \noffice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf fresh board members don\u2019t take office\n and implement a plan for managing operations in 2020, the current board\n will be forced to wind-up the museum.\u201d said Clahane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone\n interested in keeping this important institution open by becoming a \nmember of the board, please email the museum at waverleymuseum@gmail.com\n by September 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WAVERLEY: Annie Blois Smith lived in Waverley for her entire life, and she was deeply passionate about its past. She founded the Waverley Heritage Museum to preserve its history. Now, a shortage of volunteers means the museum that Smith so dearly loved is in danger of closing its doors forever. \u201cA museum isn\u2019t an attic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[695,2,121,16,232],"class_list":["post-12218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-annie-blois-smith","tag-fall-river","tag-hrm","tag-waverley","tag-waverley-museum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}