Give the men and women of the Active Lifestyle Centre’s (ALC) woodshop a task, and they’ll attack it with zeal.
The latest undertaking by the woodshop folks is a project for next year’s International Plowing Match, which is coming to Chatham-Kent. They are building 250 benches to be used as rest stops all over the nearly 900 acres of land near Pain Court that will be used for the IPM next year.
Jane Lawton, IPM committee member, said the bench idea came up, and the committee wasn’t sure who to ask to get the job done.
“We were trying to think of different options of who could do this for us,” she said.
Enter the ALC.
“They came up with the prototype,” Lawton said of the sturdy spruce benches.
Linda Lucas, executive director of the ALC, said management and the board are thankful the woodshop crew accepted the bench-building challenge.
“We’re very proud of these guys.”
While the woodshop volunteers are churning out 20 benches a week, it’s not all business in there.
“When we came to see the first bench, they were so funny. They are enjoying themselves,” Lawton said. “This is a good first-time partnership.”
For the folks running the saws, putting together the benches is all in a day’s fun.
John Davis said the first few benches were the challenge, but once measurements were confirmed the work is a bit repetitive.
Dan Vandenbrorre said the work is “no big deal.”
Earlier this year, the woodshop crew was tasked, with the help of the Helping Hands group from Union Gas, with building a mini-golf course to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday.
The IPM benches should see a lot of use, Lawton said, given the size of the IPM’s location.
“It’s a lot of walking,” she said. “It’s also nice to just sit and people watch.”
Lawton said all the benches are available for sponsorship as well. Each will have a plaque acknowledging the local Plowman’s Association, as well as the ALC. There is room in the middle for the laser-etched plaque to be personalized for the bench’s sponsor.
Sponsorship price for a bench is $450, and some of that money will go to the ALC, Lawton said.
When the IPM is over, benches are returned to the sponsors.
Lawton said people can visit the IPM website, plowingmatch.org/ipm2018, to sponsor a bench. But if you want to see a bench, she suggests visiting the ALC, where one is on display in the lobby.
