new design train model

    Pictured from left to right are Frances South, Jean South, Tommy South, Godfrey South and James South. The entire South family have been keeping our canteen going for the past year, and their efforts are deeply appreciated!

    The WMRC has been blessed with many volunteers, and it's time to honour the hard working crew that keeps our canteen going at our monthly meeting and at our open house.

    The canteen is a relatively new enterprise in our long history. It was started when the club moved its meeting place to Christ Anglican Church on Corydon Avenue in 1999. Former President Chuck Huard saw that there was a kitchen, and he suggested that we start a canteen to sell pop, coffee and chips. Chuck and his wife Lise, along with Ken and Roberta Anderson, ran the canteen for many years. Chuck and Ken also cooked hot dogs and burgers for us at the the club's Great Canadian Train Shows, which were held every fall at the Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute.

    Running the canteen is often a thankless job. The crew not only has to operate the concession stand, but they have to purchase all of the goods, deliver all of the supplies to the meeting, make the coffee, and store the coffee maker and any unsold items at their own own place. They also have to clean up the kitchen after the meeting.

   In 2006, the club started their "annual hot dog dinner" for their December meeting, which wouldn't have been able to have existed at all without the canteen staff.

    After many years of service, the canteen duties were then taken over by Dennis and LuElla Rietze, followed by Andrea leader, and then by the South family.

    The South family are recent arrival from the United Kingdom. They have been very dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers since they joined the club, and we are all very thankful for all of their efforts!



  

    Pictured from left to right are Jean South, Andrea Leader and Frances South, who worked so hard at our December meeting making hot dogs and serving donuts, chip, pop and coffee for our annual "Christmas Dinner".

    The unsung heroes of our club have to be the volunteers we had had working at our canteen at every meeting. It's often a thankless job which not only involves serving the food, it also involves purchasing and delivering the food, as well as making the coffee and cleaning and storing the coffee maker.

     The canteen was started in 1999 when we moved to Christ Anglican Church. At our previous venues, there was always a soda machine, and after the business meeting we'd have a "Coke break". Seeing there was no vending machines in the church, Chuck Huard, our enterprising former President, started a canteen in the kitchen of the church's basement. This was an ingenious move on Chuck's part, as it also provided a revenue source for the club.

   Chuck and his wife Lise were the first proprietors of the canteen. They were joined by their friends, Ken and Roberta Anderson, who later took over for the Huards. These canteen volunteers also provided snacks at our annual spring open houses and the WMRC's Great Canadian Train Shows. Chuck and Ken would always be barbecuing hot dogs and burgers outside of the Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, sometime in some rather inclement weather!

   LuElla Rietze took over from the Andersons, and she served us faithfully for several years. Then Andrea Leader took over the job. She was joined this year by Jean South. Jean's daughter Frances often helps her mom and Andrea in the kitchen.

     The WMRC wishes to thank Jean, Andrea, Frances and all of the past volunteers we've had in the canteen over the past 15 years. We deeply appreciate all of the time and the effort you've all put intomaking the canteen a success!