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When Patti Black signed four of her children up for piano lessons, she wanted only wanted them to be able to play music. But the mother of 10 could never envisioned this: packing fiddles, a piano, guitars, mandolins, accordions and even an Irish drum in a trailer behind their van and traveling all over southern Ontario playing 80 shows a

They’re still talking. Mayor Kevin Marriott says Enniskillen has made a counter offer to Petrolia to bring down water rates in the rural area. The negotiations started after Enniskillen began talking with officials from the Lambton Area Water Supply System about the possibility of buying water from LAWSS instead of Petrolia. LAWSS has offered to provide water to the community

Marianne VanderSpek Photo The summer may have been filled with unusual weather, but it doesn’t seem to have harmed the local grain crop. Across Central Lambton, farmers are beginning to take off their soybean crops and Enniskillen farmer Kevin Marriott says most are “pleasantly surprised” by what they’re finding. “There is the odd field off and they’re looking promising,” says

Nicky Beatty and Chris Burdett will go just about anywhere to find a BMX bike park to try, but the Wyoming teens would rather stay at home. The pair, who travel to Sarnia, Watford and as far away as Toronto to bike, was among the crowd of 18 teens and pre-teens – and a handful of adults – who came

When Amanda learned she was expecting her second child, she started looking for help. The mother of a 19-month old already, Amanda was worried her parenting skills were not that good. “My husband and I don’t have any family members,” she says. “I was very scared and I was worried that I wasn’t doing it right. My first child had

Plympton-Wyoming Council is looking at opening the community for business during holidays. A public meeting will be held tonight to talk about allowing businesses to voluntarily open on Family Day, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day and Thanksgiving Day. Mayor Lonny Napper says a local winery asked for the exemption for its tourists. “Alton Farm Estate Winery asked for the

Gary May couldn’t pass up an opportunity to tell the history of Petrolia from a more personal perspective. The former London Free Press reporter has written extensively on the history of the oil industry including Hard Oiler and Groundbreaker. Now, he is examining life in Petrolia after the oil boom in the family history “A Hard Oiler LoveStory.” The book

The Lambton Young Theatre Players made Petrolia Discovery come alive with stories from the past recently. The joint fundraiser featured plays throughout the Discovery, including the funeral of Sparky McCracken who turned out not to be dead at all, just drunk. Rain dampened attendance to the weekend event but Artistic Director Nancy Keys says the actors loved performing in the

Petrolia Councilor Liz Welsh would like to bring town council to soon-to-be voters. The week of Oct. 20 is local government week and Welsh wants town staff to look into the possibility of changing a council regular evening meeting to the day to allow elementary school students to attend and find out what local government is all about. “Let’s investigate

Petrolia Discovery will come alive with history as the Lambton Young Theatre Players bring to life fictional stories of the Boom Town Days. The theatre group’s artistic director, Nancy Keys, came up with the Boom Town Series. In past two years, the young people have put on two events featuring characters of the past, Bad Guys in Boom Town and

Danielle Warwick is proud to walk as a survivor with they people who inspired her during a battle with cancer. The Oil Springs woman was one of the people who formed the Chain of Hope – a red-shirted line of cancer survivors – at Petrolia’s Terry Fox Run. Beside her were her grandparents, Mary Katherine and Jim Winder, also cancer

The story of Hard Oilers opening up the oil fields of the world is about to hit the worldwide web. The Oil Museum of Canada has received a $35,000 grant to the federal Virtual Museum of Canada Investment Program to produce a virtual exhibit called The Untold Story of Canada’s International Oil Drillers: The Canadians are Coming! The virtual exhibit,