On Saturday, August 4, Rob Franklin, Manager of Planning Services for the Town of Cobourg performed a play about James Cockburn in front of Victoria Hall. James Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn) is an important historical figure since he was a father of Confederation and a resident of Cobourg and this would be the eleventh year that Rob has played the part of James Cockburn in a play.  However, the official James Cockburn day is Monday so the performance was repeated at the Sifton Cook centre on Monday. About 25 people showed up in the heat to watch the play –  it was a new one first performed last year. Another change this year is that the James Cockburn Society will now be… Read complete articleJames Cockburn Day – 2018

Each year Marie Dressler Foundation awards bursaries of $1500 each to four students finishing high school in Northumberland and planning to go into tertiary education to prepare for a career in the arts.  Today, in a presentation inside the recently rebuilt Marie Dressler Museum, the winning students were presented with their cheques as well as a framed certificate (and a bouquet of flowers). The video below shows the presentation by Rick Miller (chair of the Foundation) and other board members.  The first winner in the video is Graham Beer – many will note that he is generally on the other side of the camera.  Witnessing the event were Foundation board members, parents of recipients, the media and a couple of… Read complete articleFour Exceptional Students Win Bursaries

At Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on June 25, Council went into closed session to select the Steering committee for the Cultural Master Plan (see list below) and later approved awarding the contract for a consultant to MDB Insight for $64,890 (+HST).  The RFP for the plan is now available (see link below) so now we can get a good idea of what to expect.  Dean Hustwick said that there were 34 applications to sit on the steering committee which tells us that there is a lot of interest in the subject.  At least three key decisions have been deferred pending this plan: 1) What to do about the Park Theatre, if anything, 2) what to do with Dressler… Read complete articleCultural Plan finally gets going

Because the Victoria Hall Volunteers didn’t like the picture of Marie Dressler in their meeting place, the Mayor had it removed from the Citizen’s Forum.  But Rick Miller, chair of the Marie Dressler Foundation, thinks that “as a part of Cobourg’s history, Marie Dressler should be honoured with a photograph in the Town’s national historic building”.  After all, the building belongs to the Town and its citizens and pictures should reflect the Town’s history and heritage.  One group should not have a veto over what is displayed.  On Monday night, Rick made a presentation to Council on this point.  What if he as a citizen didn’t particularly like the portrait of Lenah Fisher?  Would it then be removed?  Why then… Read complete articleWhere has Marie Dressler’s picture gone