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| THE WORK CREWS & SITE PREPARATION
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| My memories of this past Clinton, are, as ususal, full of nostalga and good feelings. This year, however, we said goodbye to two very dear friends. We lost Sir Geoffrey to an auto accident and dear Jeffrey McLean (Wilson) we lost this past June. A very heart felt gathering took place at the castle, for all to share their grief and tell stories and loving words for their fallen friend.
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| For a select few close friends, Jeffrey's wife, Patti, invited us to spread his ashes at the memorial stump. It was very lovingly done and we all took a part of Jeffrey home with us; some in forms of handprints on breasts and bums (he'd have loved to have done that in person), others in form of photographs and all of us took him home in our hearts and memories.
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| Because of all the work that must be done in preparation of the war, I tend to arrive on site early and set up in anticipation. This year Adam and I arrived and had a nice quiet few days to our selves with the horses. Roly came and took them away as people arrived and the mayhem began. To our sheer delight, Malcolm (Raymond) of Lamont arrived. He had told us last year would be his final Clinton - we were overjoyed he contradicted himself. Then came Nan & Ongus, and the flow began. Boy, we sure have some great people in our gang.
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| The work began in earnest a few days before the work weekend, where a review of the site, damages and plans were conducted. When the work weekend was called to order there was a nice collective of egar people, ready to be put to task. As the weekend wore on the crew grew. During the following week the masses began to expand and more hands were put to work. An amazing job was done by so many.
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| We happily report the site was in good general condition and not much work was needed to repair damages. A new pit was dug for the biffies by the play yard, and the new construction shifted over. We hope that will be suitable for a few more years to come, at least.
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| Of special note, this year Adam took over as Construction head, and a most magnanamous donation was gifted the site by Sam & Loreli. They donated the materials to rebuild the tavern bridge, which became a feat of engineering marvel. We don't expect to have to deal with it again for many years to come. If fact, all the upper bridges were the primary focus this year.
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| The Chasm Mill again donated a pile of lumber to us, through the able direction of Darrel of the Clinton Pines, who also works at the mill. We wrote a letter of thanks and expressed our gratitude in a letter to the editor of the Clinton Lariat. Everyone is so giving to us and we are very caring of our friends in the town. Some of whom have even begun to join us for the event each year. yea!
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| We did have difficulty with the upper drainage ditch, after a magnificent diversion culvert was created. Regrettably the aquafir did not fill in time to get the spring running. To the rescue came two of Clinton's own participants, who helped us prime generators and pumps and borrowed fire hose to get water up to the baths. We apologise for the noise the pumps necessity made. We appreciate everyone's understanding. The baths and showers were successfully filled, used and cleaned - in turn. Hazzah to all who made that happen.
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| Jodan, Ysabeau and Goode put their hands to decorating the Queen's bath, which we hear she enjoyed tremendously, to the point of bestowing them her favour in court. There are plans being made by these ladies for another bath transformation. Keep your eyes open.
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| The castle roof got finished and the walls were painted. it's looking very spectacular.
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| Pony swings have been designed to put in the Kids play yard. We ran out of time during the event prep, but have the design. if anyone wants to cut a pony swing in advance and bring it up to Clinton 2007, please email jodan for the pattern and directions: [jodan@whistlerbc.net]
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| All in all, it was a very successful preparatory work party and everyone should be very proud of their accomplishments. Repainting of poems, sayings and grafitti is needed where the biffies were whitewashed. Please bring your paints and ideas for next year. If you'd like to take on a bath, you'll need to reserve one. Please contact jodan (noted above).
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| We'll leave the describing the War to others, since we were resting our soles and soals, after the hard weeks before. Suffice it to say, once everyone left, the site was in realatively good condition. We would ask that people take a bit more time to scour their camp sites for small non-biodegradable articles. We found lots aftewards. It is a horse field, after all, and we don't want to be responsible for causing illness or worse - to a horse, that is!
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| If anyone is interested in becoming a member of the Clinton Engineers group, please email Adam at [adamdropkin@shaw.ca]
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| We hope to see everyone again next year, with gloves, shovels and if someone has a chain saw, that would come in very handy. Thanks again for allowing us all to be a part of such a wonderful experience. Thanks Pam & Neil for your generosity.
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| Thanks Everyone.
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| jodan -
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