Mr. Desmond Vaughan met with an unfortunate accident on Sunday afternoon while tobogganing on Sadler’s Hill. He and Mrs. Vaughan, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Roy Morrow drove out to the new slide on Sunday afternoon. The four went down the hill without any difficulty. On the next run about 3.30 p.m. the two men went down together.
Des was on the back of the toboggan and cannot clearly recall what happened. The slide was hard-packed with a crust and he said they seemed to travel at a great speed. It is though t that with the lighter load, the toboggan slewed. He was pitched off and landed on his back, suffering a break in his backbone about the waist-line.
With the help of other men who were present, he was placed on the toboggan and Dr. JR. K. Bach was called. He was brought to the R. 4 Hospital by Comba’s ambulance, still on the toboggan. He suffered considerable pain for several days but is more comfortable now. It is expected that a walking cast will be adjusted on Friday. Des was employed at the Cities Service Station and expects to be able to perform light duties in a short time.
Almonte Gazette
Morning, I am full of Covid and saw this post, so while laying under my blanket I thought I’d share this story.
I believe the year was 1978-1979, I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. It was a beautiful winter day, the sun was shining, air brisk, crunchy snow on the ground, mid December. My Nanny, Stella Meehan and her sister Margaret Anne Scott lived together on Colbourne Street in Almonte, across from St. Mary’s school (a parking lot now). It was probably a Saturday or a Sunday, many times all of the Aunts, Uncles and cousins would gather at Nanny’s for a visit. The children would be told to go play on the “hill”, Springbush Hill or Gemmill Park, behind the arena.
On this day we were all excited as someone had brought a huge tractor tire inner tube, to go sliding with! Well, I believe there were about 8 or 9 of us cousins that day. Ranging in ages, me the youngest, oldest maybe 14 or 15 years old. On this fine morning I had decided to wear my amazing long tail toque, which in hindsight probably was not the smartest. We all climbed on to huge tube, lots of fun runs happened and then; With rosy cheeks, runny noses, eyes watering from the cold but not even close to wanting to leave we did one more run.
My cousins said, “Lizzie get on the front!” I always did what I was told, and I climbed on the front looking lke the Grinch’s dog, all excited for the adventure. We started out at a good speed, and we were laughing with glee. The inevitable finally happened, the long tail from my toque went forward, caught under the front of the tube, and there goes Lizzie. (Remember, toques were tied nice and tight under our chins in the 1980’s, probably double knotted.) I remember being run over with the huge tube with my cousins all laughing, then me with a bloody nose left to scream and rock on the hill that I was dying.
Looking down to the bottom of the hill, my wonderful family were all bent over in laughter. I think one of my cousins came and checked to see if any teeth were missing, and said just wipe the blood off with some snow and quit being a baby. Well, I stomped off, back to the safety of my Nanny’s, where I knew my Mom would fix everything. I walked in, nobody even noticed I was there, I went into the living room and watched some cartoon on Nanny’s little tv. So warm, cozy and thinking about the next time I would go sliding. I swore I’d never wear that toque again. So thankful for cousins and best memories, I’m tough to this day! Lizzie Brunton
Here are some pictures of lifetime resident of Almonte, Joanna Meehan & her family.
lindaseccaspina 