Post-Ceremony: Haliwards

Posted by Alex on Apr 18, 2010 in Blog, Featured Articles | Comments

Ah the morning after. Some would say it’s not the best time to write a follow up post to an event but that’s what I’m doing, so if parts don’t make sense, that’s because I’m tired! Where to begin.. Well we kicked off shortly after 7:30. Surprisingly there were a handful of free seats due to some organisations buying large numbers and then not using them, but it didn’t really affect us. It’s a shame though because I know lots of you wanted to come but we were pleased that we had half a dozen or so pay on the door.

The ceremony kicked off with the Nova Scotia Mass Choir who were extremely impressive. They started the ceremony with “We are Family”, a very fitting song. By the time the choir has reached their acapella chorus the audience was clapping along. It was a great atmosphere. Once they had made their way to the upper seating on the balcony I welcomed our guests and award winners and we were on our way.

First up was our first artist. Jenny Macdonald. Her performance had a certain rustic feel to it which was very fresh and entertaining. Sadly Jenny didn’t get to hang around as she headed off to another gig.

Our first award went to Lindsay Allain who has been fundraising for the IWK. In 2005 Lindsay’s sister was diagnosed with HSP which developed into Berger’s Disease. While her sister Anika spent time in the IWK, the two of them would play in the crafts rooms and Lindsay noticed that the rooms were a little bare and this was the beginning of ‘Crafts for Kids’. Lindsay has been fundraising for the crafts rooms for five years. This year she raised $4000. Thanks to Tillie Cox, of the Child Life team at the IWK for sharing a few words.

Our second award went to Irvine Carvery. Irvine has been living in Halifax for 58 years. He is currently the President of the Africville Genealogy Scoiety, Chair of the Halifax Regional School Board and a community basketball coach. Irvine said some very kind words about me at the ceremony and I am very thankful for that. Irvine is one amazing man.

The third award went to Q104 for their fundraising efforts and commitment to their community. Most recently they were raising money for Haiti disaster. We were lucky enough to have Dan Bedell come say a few words. Dan is the Director of Public Affairs for Atlantic Canadian Red Cross. My joke about our researches getting distracted by Q104’s thong of the day gallery went down quite well too.

Then we moved on to Adriana Afford, owner of the Argyle Fine Art. Adriana is your community super star. The gallery as she describes it is a gallery by day and a community hall by night. She embraces all types of visual arts at the gallery. Examples of this are the many music nights, wine events, hair shows, book launches, weddings and obviously art collections.

Four awards down, we took a short break. During the interval the guests wondered the lower galleries looking at the museum’s collections. We also ran some photographs on the projector from previous projects that were accompanied by random facts about our previous award ceremonies.

After the break the Nova Scotia Mass Choir moved back in to share their next song with us, “Love Train” It was another truly awesome performance. You should certainly check it out. This was quickly followed by a performance from our Second Artist, Kristina Trites. She was singing one of her new creations which was titled “Nova Scotia”. Very fitting!

Then it was on to our final 3 awards. We began with the IWK and the QE2 for their awesome work in organising Bust a Move. Bill Bean head of the QE2 foundation shared some great words with the guests. For those of you who don’t know, Bust a Move for Breast Health was a massive project undertaken by both foundations. On January 30th over 750 participants took part in a huge fitness fundraiser at the Halifax Metro Center led by some local celebs and Richard Simmons.

—and finally on to our last two which had an overlap. We received a nomination for four students at Halifax West High School. I could write about Alanna Langille, Patrick O’Connor, Morgan Patzelt & Chan Kim all day. They students are incredible. They raised thousands for the cancer society at Run for a Cure and 15k more at their recent “Head for a Cure” event which I was able to attend this week. There is much more to these students so check out the ceremony video for full details.

We then presented an award to Sandra who is the teacher who has guided these four amazing students and she is just as amazing. Sandra Starratt runs the school government at Halifax West. The government has 13 sub committees and the students we have been talking about make up the volunteerism committee. We had speeches from Lyn Moulton, Vice Principal at the West and a representative from Run for a Cure. As you can see it was a packed night.. but it wasn’t over just yet. Our Third artists of the evening Mary Stewart brought the ceremony to a beautiful close. She is extremely gifted and has such a unique quality to her voice. I was very thankful she was able to join us.

Then it was time for some serious points to be made. I shared my disappointment with City Hall and their lack of support. We never asked for money, all we wanted was a thumbs up from the City to show they supported us. I also expressed my hope that they will be less hesitant about my work in the future. At some stage soon we will be posting that speech so you can all watch it.

—and while we are on the subject, I encourage you all to check out the video and photographs of the ceremony. You can pre-order your copy on the Haliwards website.

I would like to express my thanks to everyone who attended the ceremony, the staff and to our award winners. You guys know who you are!

The Haliwards is where the Somerset County Awards was several years ago. This project was far from perfect. Not only was it a new angle for me, it was new territory. I feel that we have created the foundations we need to make this an annual project that one day everyone in HRM will know of. It feels appropriate to end with the lines that I used at the ceremony last night.

“Ladies and gentleman, alas we are out of time, and apparently out of words. It’s been a pleasure. Goodnight.” PS. Thanks for the standing ovation.