The local Bentley Museum is very proud of another project they have completed. After countless numbers of volunteer hours, they have information that is now part of the World Wide Web!
The project the Bentley Museum chose to research, compile and submit is titled, Bentley and Area Schools.
There were many rural area schools before the centralization of schools in Alberta and 14 local ones are documented including Bentley (Oxford), Stephenson, Sunset, Durham, Carritt, Aspelund, Gull Lake, Centreview, Forshee High School, Outlet, Calkins Valley, Chapel, Boyle and the Bentley Hutterite School.
Also included are many photos of bygone school days and artifacts, as well as reminiscences of Fred Peterson who tells some stories about attending a rural school.
The project was many months in the making. First, the museum had to submit a proposal. After it was accepted the research, interviews and compilation followed. A draft copy was submitted in August and ideas for changes were recommended. In early October the final report was put on a CD, sent, and finally accepted, and now is available on line.
Funding was made available by Canadian Heritage Information Network. The funding helped the local museum purchase a new computer and a digital camera necessary for such a project.
Most of the work was done by Bentley Museum volunteers Clara Waddell and Cora Knutson, with some assistance from others.
Many people and organizations shared their pictures, stories and memories to make it all possible.
“As Bentley and our country schools are part of the Bentley Museum’s mandate, this is a piece of our history that we felt had to be compiled. We are so thrilled it has been launched,” stated Cora Knutson.
Check out the Virtual Museum of Canada site. To view the Bentley Museum project, go to www.virtualmuseum.ca then click on Community Memories and search for the Bentley and Area Schools project. An incredible amount of historical information awaits there.
Congratulations go the Bentley Museum volunteers for having a part of Bentley ‘s history available on the World Wide Web.
Volunteers work at the museum most Wednesday mornings from 9 a.m. until almost noon and people are welcome to stop by for a visit.
Bentley’s Dickens of a Christmas concert
The annual Bentley Elementary School Christmas concert took place on Dec. 10 in the high school gymnasium that was draped with red and white streamers. Attendees were seated almost to the back of the gym with some standing along the wall.
The hour and a quarter long performance opened with elementary school music teacher Mr. Dale Yost introducing the program.
First on stage was the Grade 6 band that played a variety of many short selections.
The ECS (Kindergarten) students then presented a number of songs that were Christmas spin-offs of old familiar tunes.
Then it was on to the major musical performance, A Dickens of a Christmas - a musical based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It had the traditional characters - Ebenezer Scrooge; the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future; the Cratchits and Tiny Tim; Jacob Marley; and many more.
All of the Grade 1s through 5s were involved in one way or another.
One of the most well received segments was when the Grade 1s and 2s did a bit of square dancing on stage to a western style selection.
Students from Grades 3, 4, and 5 showed their enthusiasm and joy while performing a number of choral selections throughout, and Grade 5G pupils were the cast members.
It was another fine performance, under the direction of Mr. Dale Yost, with every Bentley elementary school student able to be involved.
Donations to the Food Bank were collected at the door.
School cross-country running wrap up
The Bentley School cross-country running teams had commendable seasons once again this year.
Students from Grades 4 through 12 trained three times per week in preparation for their races and did themselves, their family, and their school proud by way of effort and results.
Top elementary students were Ilona Snoeijer, Becca Forrester, Jayde Rehbein, Taylor Hand, Alyssa Hyink, Ian Lush, Davin Vig, and Kai Poffenroth who capped off his season with a first place finish at CWAJHAA’s in Rocky Mountain House.
Bentley school’s junior high students had a fine year earning a first place team finish at the Wolf Creek Meet held at Lacombe Junior High. The team went on to a second place finish at CWAJHAA’s.
The junior high team was lead and inspired by a couple of great competitors. Erin Seater, a Grade 8 girl, finished first in every race she competed in this year. Trent Grutterink, a boy in Grade 9, won his Wolf Creek race. Other runners who consistently finished near the top in their respective races included Breanna Laplante, Hayley Lush, Stephanie Lenz, Shelby Duncan, Jessie Cadman, Dennis Snoeijer, Kolton Hueppelsheuser, Allan Hutchison, Jesse Rehbein, Andy Boettger and Kyle Turnbull.
On the high school cross-country course, the Panther Team was lead by Jessica Abt, Amy Hawkings, Stephen Mcphee, Kyle Lenz, Darren Smith, Colin Sanders and Chance Abbott. They performed well at the Central Zone race held in Wetaskiwin and three of them advanced to Provincials in Canmore.
A dreary, drizzly, overcast day did not dampen the spirits or the accomplishments of the Bentley Panther runners at Provincials. Darren Smith ran a challenging 6 km course in a time of 25:01 finishing 52nd out of 108 runners in the senior boy’s category.
Chance Abbott narrowly missed a top ten finish in the intermediate boys 5 km race by placing 13th with a time of 18:43 in a tough field of 103 of the best cross-country runners from across the province. Colin Sanders finished well too by being near the middle of the pack in the same race.
Next year if Abbott can finish in the top ten at Provincials, he would get his picture in the ASAA yearbook where the top 10 cross-country runners from the province are featured.
All of the Bentley school cross-country competitors are looking forward to continued success next season.