City Hall clock tower to have fresh faces by end of summer as restoration underway

Gordon Edgar - Moose Jaw Express/MooseJawToday.com

City Hall is one of Moose Jaw’s most historic and significant pieces of architecture, and the clock tower at its “The clock’s 107 years old, so over time there’s been a lot of wear and tear,” said top is its crowning glory, which is why some true-to-heritage facelifts have been ordered and will be completed by the end of summer. Cory Oakes, the operations manager for the Parks and Recreation department. “Because it is a heritage building, it is a heritage mechanism … there is not really any room to modernize. We’re going with that same stainless glass, opalescent, same kind of marbling, everything that goes along with that.”

There are 97 separate pieces of glass making up the clock faces. Over the years, as those pieces have become damaged or broken, they’ve been replaced one by one with pieces of plexiglass — dull, not very resilient, and difficult to shine lights through for events like Christmas, when the tower goes red and green.

City Council and the Heritage Advisory Committee have approved a budget of $55,400 for the repair, which will also include the refurbishment of the clock’s hands, a pressure wash for the stone façade, and a transparent, shatter-proof ballistic coating to protect the restored glass of the faces from extreme weather and bird impacts.

“This is part of the history of Moose Jaw,” Oakes said. “We want to make sure we preserve it for future generations.”

“This is why we have the Heritage Committee, right?” said Craig Hemingway, the city’s communications manager. “We know how important it is to our residents to preserve our history. It’s a big priority for our residents, they want to see our history and heritage cared for, where possible, and this is a prime example of being able to accommodate that.”

The clock is believed to have been originally installed by Wilson and Maybee, Moose Javian watchmakers and jewellers. However, it was manufactured in England by Smith and Sons, now named Smith of Derby — a company that has made clocks for churches and public buildings all over the world since 1856.

A ledger entry dated October 24, 1913, shows the clock was shipped overseas on the SS Tunisian from Liverpool to Montreal, then transported by CP Rail to Moose Jaw. The 800-lb, art-inscribed bronze bell that sits above the clock arrived on the same shipment.

The clock needs to be hand-wound every 14 days, which is done by a local Heritage Committee-approved

23054SS0

23054SS1 expert/enthusiast. The clock mechanism was restored in 2014 and remains in excellent condition.

The bell was supplied by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough, Great Britain to Smith and Sons as part of the clock order. Despite the bell’s reported beauty and clarity, it hasn’t rung in decades. It hangs from the original timbers, and the only work in recent years has been for safety purposes.

Repairing the bell before the clock tower glass might have shattered the remaining original panes on the first ring. With the glass completed, the Heritage Committee can take a serious look at re-ringing the bell for special occasions, or at least making it easier to see and admire.

The building that is now City Hall was constructed between 1911 and 1914, designed by Chief Dominion Architect David Ewart. Ewart was responsible for many federal buildings constructed during that period, including the Connaught Building in Ottawa, various structures on the grounds of the Royal Military College of Canada, dozens of historic armouries across the country, and the Prince Edward Building in Regina.

Moose Jaw’s city hall was originally a post office, sister to the Ewart-designed Post Office Building at the Sinclair Centre in Vancouver, which also has a Smith and Sons clock.

The building saw various other uses over the past century, including by the RCMP at one point. In 1963, the City of Moose Jaw purchased it to use as City Hall.

Most friends of mine of more than a week will be able to confirm my long-time desire to add a dog to our household.

In fact I whined so much about wanting a puppy that a close friend was all set to make sure my Christmas wish came true. She was talked out of the gift by Housemate who convinced her, that while he too loved dogs, we were away from home too much to properly care for a puppy that would eventually become a larger dog.

Both of us had dogs while growing up: his on the farm, and mine in a small town where everyone’s dog was allowed to roam without fear of unhappy neighbours. In those days most dogs were outdoor dogs, except for one lady’s mean-tempered Pekingese that snarled anytime someone came near her mistress. I was scared stiff of that critter and hated visiting that home with my Mother.

The first dog I remember was Bingo, and although he lived in a kennel-style shelter in the garage, I have photos of him licking out the icing pot: kid inside with the door open and dog on the step with his nose in the dish. Not sure where Mom was, unless she was the one taking the photo. Hmmmm.

By Joyce Walter - Moose Jaw Express

My favourite canine friend was an American Water Spaniel that I named Scratch. She was the daughter of my Sister’s dog and she came to me as a pup, who got car sick on the trip from Cold Lake to Moose Jaw. Dad and I fixed her a lovely house in the garage despite my hopefulness that she might be allowed indoors. Not a chance, was the rule from Mom. But of course she knew we snuck Scratch indoors when she was away at her meetings.

Unfortunately, Scratch died an early death in a traffic accident at the end of our alley where she sat waiting for me to get home from school.

All of this preamble brings me to “Doggos,” an affectionate name given to pups and adult dogs by their humans. I thought I misunderstood the first time I heard this word. But no, my hearing was not defective.

There is some evidence to suggest the term has been around since the 19th century, used then in different form to urge someone to stay under the radar, or let sleeping doggos lie.

However, other research led me to information about a Facebook group, Dogspotting, which has 500,000 members and is popular in Australia. A bit more reading pro- vided details about a separate language or doggo lingo that has been adopted when one talks to and about the dogs and pups in the family.

I was lost after the reference to “doggos” being the term to evoke the image of a dependable, tail-wagging friend that will stay closer than a best friend. I knew that about Lassie and the Littlest Hobo and never were they referred to as “doggos.”

At this stage of our lives, having a dog is mostly out of the question. However, we have two dogs who in doggo talk would be considered our fur baby nieces (I think both are girls.) And the neighbour’s dog is protective of us when he senses an interloper in our yard. He lets us pet him until he tires of this activity and heads off to play with a more interesting doggie toy.

I had trouble learning French as a second language. Imagine me trying to learn the Doggo lingo at my age. I’ll stick with “Here Buddy” or “aren’t you a good girl.”

I wonder how Bingo and Scratch would have responded to “Doggo” as a term of endearment? That Pekingese would have snarled and barred her teeth. Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net

Gordon Edgar - Moose Jaw Express/MooseJawToday.com

Christine Racic is a therapist in Moose Jaw whose decades of counselling experience are now available, condensed and focused, in her debut book Designing Empowered Women.

Racic recently joined Nourish Health & Wellness as a mental health therapist. Her undergraduate degree is in education, and her graduate degree is in educational psychology.

Her book stems from her self-designed mastermind programs, targeted toward women. She updated the class after joining Nourish and found herself with more than enough material for a book.

“At that time, I was teaching mastermind programs, so I updated what I had for Designing Empowered Women,” Racic explained. “After 20 years-plus of therapy, walking alongside individuals, specific again to women, I just started compiling research.

“At the same time, I was working on my doctorate in clinical psychology. And voila, I compiled all the research to put together a mastermind program and then got approached to publish.”

Health issues have temporarily derailed Racic’s doctoral studies, but she’s still on the path.

“It’s not a requirement by any stretch of the imagination,” she said, “but I am a huge cheerleader of education specific for women. It just opens up opportunities.”

Designing Empowered Women allows Racic to reach further with her mastermind program. To keep classes vulnerable, authentic, and effective, she only allows ten women per program session. The first chapters help readers become aware of some of the harms that society imposes on women without them ever knowing it.

“The first seven chapters literally are walking alongside women, removing detrimental thoughts are behaviours. And they’re socially conditioned, and they’re culturally conditioned. And we have to take our time in really examining what that looks like for our personal experience.”

Once readers have started on the journey of confronting unhelpful thoughts and behaviours, Racic starts guiding them to a more fulfilling way of being.

“So, what it looks like, instead of comparative suffering, comparing ourselves to other women, what women walking alongside women really can look like.

“That’s the power of mentoring and how important our tribe is for our growth and development.”

The book concludes by emphasizing what Racic feels are two vital points: Activating divinely given gifts, and understanding the importance of self-authored commitment rather than following societies expectations.

“We are created for connection, but that’s spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, socially, physically, all the areas of holistic health,” Racic said. “For me, I affirm that those giftings that we have, those talents that we have, they’re given just to you, uniquely.

“And then, all those external expectations, like ‘you must be this kind of mother, you must parent this way, you must be this kind of spouse,’ right? Versus, what does it look like for you, with your unique gifts, to live each day with intention that will create and balance a holistic lifestyle?”

Racic emphasizes her research background and the importance of education while also affirming a belief that many people neglect their spirituality, which she said is essential to being healthy. She believes women of all backgrounds need to have access to that part of themselves.

“For myself, I would affirm that I am a Christian, I believe in a triune God, I have a relationship with Christ, for sure,” she said. “I do speak to my belief system, and then I invite women to ask, ‘what does spiritual connectedness look like for you?

“Because, again, this is such a forgotten component in the five holistic health components, and each component is equally important.”

Christine Racic’s Designing Empowered Women, from Saskatchewan publisher DriverWorks Ink, is available for purchase from Nourish Health and Wellness and at the ShadesofJay boutique.