milton historical society

New Years Levee a Huge Success!

Mike Cluett

In what was described by Regional Councillor Colin Best as the highest attended levee, hundreds of people flowed into Milton’s Town Hall to be entertained by some amazing performances and served coffee, tea, and cupcakes by Milton’s Town Councillors.

You remember back in October, councillors were elected to serve the people of Milton…many didn’t think it was so literal.

Nine out of the eleven councillors (two couldn’t make it unfortunately being out of town on family holidays) did their very best in hosting this years Mayor’s New Years Levee at Town Hall.  This event has always been put on by the Milton Historical Society and they did enjoy being on the other side of the event this year.  Many people were amazed at how us councillors were able to serve up these great snacks.

I can tell you from personal experience, although tiring, everyone of us enjoyed doing it.  I was even joking with the other councillors that we could almost form a company and set up a side business in catering 🙂 (Yes we ARE kidding)

It was great to see so many faces, young and old, at the levee (quite a few from Ward 6 as well) and answering questions and exchanging some holiday cheer.  In the Milton Room (the West Wing of Town Hall) there was a presentation on upcoming projects that the town is involved with.  I know for certain Councillors Colin Best and Cindy Lunau were quite busy getting people up to speed on how Milton will change in the coming years.

There was no shortage of entertainment in the lobby as well.  The Milton Seniors “Song Spinners” were a huge hit with the crowd with holiday songs and many in attendance sang along.  “A Capella Showcase” started off the afternoon with renditions of some traditional carols and it was a great way to celebrate a fantastic day.

This event couldn’t have been pulled off without the efforts of Councillor Cindy Lunau.  Many thanks goes to her for coming up with the idea and getting us all organized and ready to serve.  Other thanks goes to our gracious sponsors (I hope I get them all) Troy’s Diner, Tim Horton’s, Flour Girls – great cupcakes – & La Rose Bakery for their treats.

I can honestly say that council members are really looking forward to doing this again.  It definitely adds a personal touch and really exemplifies what a levee is all about…meeting members of council and socializing with fellow residents.

Happy New Year everyone and thanks for coming out.

Anthony with Mayor Gord Krantz
Join us in a song?

What to do for New Years?

Mike Cluett

As 2010 draws to a close and 2011 is rushing quickly towards us, I wanted to point out a couple of fun events happening at the Town of Milton on both New Years Eve and New Years Day!

Join Mayor Gord Krantz, Milton Historical Society and members of town council at Victoria Park to “SING OUT THE OLD & RING IN THE NEW” for an old fashioned New Years Eve celebration.  Bundle up and bring your voices and instruments to sing carols and some holiday cheer.  The Mayor and a special citizen will ring in the New Year at midnight.  We will be gathering around 1130PM on Friday December 31st in Victoria Park which is right beside Milton Town Hall.

If you cant make it that late, you can join us the next day at Milton Town Hall for the Annual New Years Levee.  Join the Mayor and members of council from 2PM to 4PM for some refreshments (courtesy of Troy’s Diner, Tim Horton’s and La Rose Bakery) while the Milton Seniors SONG SPINNERS entertains the crowd with seasonal numbers.

For more information you can email me, contact any member of council or call (519) 853-3772

There are a lot of things to do in Milton this holiday season so please join us in celebrating 2010 and looking forward to a great, prosperous and healthy 2011!

Milton Historical Society All Candidates

Mike Cluett

Ward 6 Council Candidate Mike Cluett addresses the full house on Tuesday night for the All Candidates Meeting held by the Milton Historical Society

This past Tuesday evening at the Milton Fairgrounds, the Historical Society of Milton held the first of many all candidates meetings.  There were a lot of interested people filling the seats which was close to an open house.  At the front of the room sat over 25 candidates for office in Milton for the upcoming election, including yours truly.

On most peoples minds was the fate of St Pauls United Church, located in downtown Milton.  There have been many news articles on the situation at St Pauls and it weighed heavily in the room.  Designate or demolish?  When someone thinks of the demolition of St Pauls, an image of a large piece of machinery sitting in Main Street with a large cement ball comes to mind.  This isn’t the type of demolition that is being looked for by the congregation of St Pauls.

What do we do with other properties in Milton to protect them from similar fates?  As a town, how do we help owners of heritage properties in order to preserve Milton’s historical integrity?

As I and many other candidates from the newer area of Milton talked about the importance of protecting and preserving our history and heritage properties, the candidates from the local area were called upon for questions ranging from the obvious topic of St Paul’s to the restoration of downtown Milton, the affects of the Conservation Halton legislation on the flood plains among others.

It was a good chance to see some of the other first time candidates in action and to see if they understood the importance of the issues or if they still have something to learn.  The answers arent always easy and in some cases its not what people wanted to hear.

Here is a link to the recap of the meeting from Christina Commisso from the Milton Canadian Champion.

All in all I thought it was a productive meeting with much needed discussion about what to do.  It shouldn’t take an election campaign for the town, the councillors and the parties involved to get working on a solution to move forward.

A quick campaign update for you.  Over the last few days I have been working hard at talking to the residents of Ward 6 as well as keep up with the what seems to be the ever increasing demand for lawn signs.  If you would like to show your support for Mike Cluett in this election, send me an email mike@mikecluett.ca or click on my CONTACT page to call me and I will have one put up as quickly as possible.

Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Ring In 2010 Town of Milton Style

Mike Cluett

From www.milton.ca Milton residents and visitors are invited to help Mayor Gord Krantz ring in 2010. An informal gathering will take place around the historic bell in Victoria Park on New Years Eve!

Bruce Carlin of the Milton Historic Society has been chosen to ring the bell to bring in 2010. As you will see by the information below, the honour of ringing the bell has been given to some great Miltonians.

As well, the very next day at the New Years Levee, the town of Milton will be honouring the next 7 inductee’s into Miltons WALK OF FAME.

They include the following.

Matthew Banks, Actor (HINT: You might know him from the BLUE MAN GROUP!)

Gail Brown, Scottish Bag Pipe Player

Father Mark Curtis, Musician

Dr. Clarkson Freeman, Surgeon

 Bob Izumi, Professional Angler and Author

Peter “Hard Rock” McMullen, Professional Wrestler

Dr WM Edgar Robertson, Missionary Doctor

Milton Walk of Fame Grand Opening

Mike Cluett

From www.milton.ca

The Walk of Fame honours Miltonian’s past and present who have earned significant national and international recognition through their enduring achievements.  Each Walk of Fame inductee is recognized in the glass corridor linking Town Hall west and Town Hall east.  The first 27 inductees will be recognized at this event.

Event to be held on Thursday October 29th at 7pm at Milton Town Hall

Was it really that long ago?  It seems like forever when the 150th Anniversary master committee started back in 2006 to come up with some ideas to commemorate Milton’s 150th anniversary.  I was honoured to be part of that committee and throughout 2007 there were a number of events to promote the town and celebrate such a substantial achievement as being 150 years old.

During that year we had the first street festival in the summer, which has now grown into an annual event.  There was also Milton’s Amazing Race, an idea born from and organized by the committee chair Karin Muller which received rave reviews as dozens of teams raced across Milton to answer questions, pick up clues and win prizes.

One of the definite highlights of my time on that committee was being part of the creation of the Milton Walk of Fame.  With the help of the Milton Historical Society and countless volunteers, we came up with a list of 27 people from Milton, who through the years reached a high level or national and or international success in their fields.  Many people are unaware that there are many famous Miltonians in different fields and the cream rose to the top with our first class in the Walk of Fame.

You can see the full list of inductees here .  Many of these people are well known, but their connection to Milton came as  a shock to many.  Mr Dressup,  Ernie Coombs was a big surprise to quite a few people along with Dr John Wallace, one of the cofounders of Blue Cross.  There are many Milton favourites such as Lt. Col. Chris Hadfield, PL Robertson, John Tonelli, Peter McDuffe and international wrestling icons Tiger Jeet Singh and his son Tiger Ali Singh.

These great Miltonians were announced at the Canada Day Celebrations of 2007  to quite the bit of fan fare in a day I wont soon forget.  Here is the brochure from the Canada Day event that lists each inductee and their bio of what made them the first members of Milton’s Walk of Fame.