Love and Commitment Beats All

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Best is Yet To Come":

The seating capacity of Brevik Hall for a concert is 150. That doesn't sound like a "ridiculous" number does it?

Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 24 December 2014 at 21:35

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Merry Christmas to you and thank you for the information on seating capacity of the space 
 referenced as Brevik Hall in Church Street School. 

I am familiar with the building. Two  of my children took drawing classes there many,many years ago. 

The facility had been leased to Remington Rand as a training centre for some years.The lease was not renewed and the town provided the space to various community groups to offer their programs.

Mabel Pearson,a talented young housewife and mother who lived in Jasper Drive set up drawing classes. Mabel and Cathan Schonicker  a neighbour in Sunray Place had started the Aurora Art Show.

Ernie Batson Arena Manager/Recreation Director provided  advice, support and space to get the
Project going.

Aurora had a list of accomplished artists . The pottery group got going in 1971 with opportunity
for a kiln in  what was the Old Waterworks building that  became the police station that became the
town's first museum  when a Regional Police Department was established in the early seventies.

It is now Park Place Manor.

The  new Community Centre Auditorium lent itself admirably. to  the function of an Art Show and so it became a top professional adjudicated Ontario Show in no time.

It never needed treasury funding. It went  from strength to strength. Artists from Aurora and elsewhere are beholden to the  community for encouragement and support long before advent of the  free-loading Culture Centre Board.

I was also familiar with the old school when it housed York County Board of Education headquarters.

I reported board  business for a couple of years. At the time when rural schools had to be closed and children bussed in the dark of early morning and brought home in the dark of early evening

Classroom space referred to as Brevik Hall was the board room.

Two classrooms  were made versatile by a movable partition. Always a feature.

The board  renovated  to suit its purpose. False ceilings  were installed to maintain a comfort level of heating,

After the  Board vacated,  the Historical Society  took over the second floor and created a museum. The town provided a grant and a curator was appointed.

The building was  shared  with the Senior's Friendship Circle. Big Brothers  and Scouts of Canada
rented office space also.

Later Historical Society board members devoted thousands of volunteer hours gutting renovations to  bring rooms back to original walls and smoke- stained tin tile ceilings .

When the task was completed , I had an opportunity to see it empty and returned to the condition it was when the last student left. I joined a number of last students on that occasion.

I saw  it again after  $3 million dollars had been expended to create a state of the art heritage and culture centre.

I spent some time this morning trying to discover  seating capacity of  Aurora Factory Theatre.

I'm almost certain it exceeds 150. The facility has a stage, sound system, control room ,flys, lights and curtains.

Seats  are comfortable theatre chairs properly graded for viewing pleasure.

A foyer provides a  cheerful reception area for gathering during intermission.

Except for the cinder block building, Aurora theatre group of several generations, entirely volunteer, created ,by the fruits of their labour, love and commitment, a theatre for enjoyment and satisfaction of all without ever tapping the town  treasury.

Thank you, yes,  I am familiar with Church Street School and  its  environs.

Seating capacity for 150 on small,hard,folding or stacking chairs  in an old classroom with ceilings far beyond normal  height,  is not my idea of an appropriate venue  for enjoyment of a  stellar concert performance.

We can do better.

We have been doing a hell of a lot better, for a lot less, during  the past sixty years without any help from our  free-loading friends of the Culture Centre Board.