Gander Heritage Memorial Park

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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Message from the Chairman


Enthusiasm and support for The Gander Heritage Memorial Park is growing rapidly and I feel it’s time to update you on our progress to date.
  • We are meeting on a bi-weekly basis and are moving very quickly with some very important steps.
  • Application has been made to incorporate the Group as "Gander Heritage Memorial Park, Inc".
  • Our Architect has been working on a design for a large Billboard to be erected on the site of the park which will be unveiled on September 16th during ceremonies commemorating The Battle of Britain. Also at that time Mayor Elliott on behalf of The Town of Gander will conduct a ceremony to officially name the area as THE GANDER HERITAGE MEMORIAL PARK. Council has officially sanctioned the name in a public meeting a few weeks ago. The official dedication of the Park and the Winged Victory Monument and other monuments will take place in late summer of 2014. This will be a very formal ceremony and will be attended by many official dignitaries and members of the general public. Keep in touch with our website. Make your plans to attend!
  • We will add a photo of the billboard to our website as soon as it is unveiled in Gander. We will be coordinating this event with the Royal Canadian Legion, 9 Wing Gander and the Town Of Gander.
  • Donations are being received and we want to sincerely thank those people for their generosity and encourage the rest of you to do the same. Charitable donation receipts are being issued for all donations by The Town of Gander – remember this provides a tax credit to you! A donation of $200.00 will provide a tax credit (Federal & Provincial) of $45.00, thus your net cost will be $155.00. Donations exceeding $200.00 will provide a tax credit of approximately 42.3%. Thus the net cost on an extra $100.00 will be $57.70.
  • We will update our web-site periodically so you can see how we are reaching our goal. As well, we have commitments from several local service clubs for contributions – watch our website for these announcements!
  • Our Structural Design Engineers and a sub-committee are completing an Application for Funding for the repair and restoration of the current War Memorial/Cenotaph "Winged Victory" which was originally erected in 1962 and is really in need of this rejuvenation and relocation to a more prominent position in the park. You might be interested in the history of this monument as well as the Airmen’s Memorial, which will be another addition to the Park, by clicking here.
  • We are consulting with two renowned sculptors for the restoration of the current Cenotaph as well as the sculpting of Sgt. Gander and his soldier handler and are negotiating prices with them.
  • Site work at the park has commenced with drainage pipes and underground water hook-up installed "gratefully" by the Town of Gander, whose support, in many ways, is contributing to the progress to date.
  • We are negotiating with several levels of Federal and Provincial Governments and all indicators are very positive for financial assistance. We have received positive indications that a substantial contribution will be forthcoming that will be in the vicinity of 30% of our projected overall cost of $350,000.00. We will keep you updated.

We would really like to have your comments and/or suggestions, whether positive or negative and if you’d rather not post to the web-site, you may contact any Committee Member by e-mail as follows ...
   Member Name       Contact Info   
   Wilson Hoffe       whoffe@waltershoffe.com   
   Carol Walsh       carol.walsh@nf.sympatico.ca   
   Joy Janes       rajanes@nf.sympatico.ca   
   Clyde & Betty Burt       clyde.burt@bellaliant.net   
   Bill Kelly       bill.kelly@nl.rogers.com   
   Pat Brazil       patandleo.b@nl.rogers.com   
   Maxine Smith       maxine@briggsaero.com   
   Betty Ireland       709-256-4470   

We look forward to hearing from you and be sure to watch for more updates to our web-site in the coming weeks.
Wilson J Hoffe / July 20, 2012
Chairman


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Thank you. Gerard