THORNTON NEWS
by Cathie Miller

Catherine Alksnis of Thornton gets her hair cut by Marta Lutkiewicz from A Beautiful Thing Hair Salon in Cookstown. Her ponytail was donated to 'Angel Hair for Kids,'who make and donate wigs to children who need them. submitted photos

You may know Catherine Alksnis, she maybe your paper carrier, she's a Grade 6 student at Cookstown Public School, and a she's a competitive dancer. She is one of the many good kids that live in our village. On January 2nd, Catherine went to 'A Beautiful Thing' Hair Salon in Cookstown, where stylist Marta Lutkiewicz cut and styled her hair. Catherine had her beautiful long hair cut into a ponytail to generously donate to "Angel Hair for Kids." To make a hair donation you have to have enough hair to make it into a ponytail at least 10" long. Catherine's donated ponytail was exactly 10" long. On January 5th, Catherine delivered her hair donation in person to the Mississauga office of 'Angel Hair for Kids' and presented it to Lynda Archibald, Development Coordinator. Lynda said that 'Angel Hair for Kids' has provided 120 wigs to children in the past three years at no cost to the children and their families. 'Angel Hair for Kids' is part of the Canadian Organization "A Child's Voice Foundation" and is recognized by the Canadian Cancer Society. It takes 12 hair donations to make one wig. These wigs are given to children who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments, burns, scalp injuries and alopecia. It costs approximately $800 to make a wig after the hair has been donated. Catherine wrote her speech for school this year about her experience donating her hair and was asked to present her speech to the rest of the school during an assembly. It is Catherine's hope that she will inspire others to do the same and grow their hair to make a donation. To find out more about making a hair donation or to make a donation to help make a wig to donate to a child visit www.achildsvoice foundation. com .

The Thornton Skating Club is very proud and excited to announce the results of their skaters who just participated in the Huronia Funskate Competition in Midand on January 27 and 28. Eleven medals were awarded to six skaters! Congratulations and well done! The results were:

Kristin Allington, 1st place, Canskate Solo Freeskate Event

Nikita Nimz, 1st place, Preliminary Solo Freeskate Event

Katie Allington, 2nd place, Introductory Solo Freeskate Event

Alicia Mirtsos, 2nd place, Introductory Solo Freeskate Event

Kirsten Noonan, 3rd place, Junior Bronze Solo Dance Event

Kristin Allington, 2nd place, Canskate Team Elements Event

Olivia Gionet, 2nd place, Canskate Team Elements Event

Nikita Nimz, 2nd place, Preliminary Team Elements Event

Kirsten Noonan, 2nd place, Preliminary Team Elements Event

Katie Allington, 3rd place, Pre-Preliminary Team Elements Event

Alicia Mirtsos, 3rd place, Pre-Preliminary Team Elements Event

Tomorrow, Thursday, February 8th, is the next Barrie Thornton Old Time Fiddlers Night. It will be held at the Lions Hall and the admission price is $3 per adult and children are free. The doors open at 6 p.m. and the music starts at 7 p.m. sharp. All fiddlers, singers, callers, dancers and listeners are welcome. Call Cec Denney for more information at 458-9996.

Saturday, February 10th is approaching fast. Do you have you tickets to the Valentine's Dance sponsored by The Thornton Area Action Committee? It will be held upstairs at the Thornton Community Arena starting at 8 p.m. For just $12.50 per person you can dance the night away to the sounds of DJ "Keep Them Dancing." There will be spot dances and door prizes and a full lunch served at 11 a.m. For tickets and information you can call Terry at 458-9054 or me at 458-0869.

Registration begins on February 12 for another Storytime at the library.

Storytime will be held on Monday and Tuesday mornings, starting February 26, from 10 - 11 a.m.

The cost is just $2.00 per child, for a four-week session. Join the Essa Public Library Storytime today for fun, stories, games, crafts and socializing for children, 3 - 5 years old.

To keep up to date on what's happening at Essa Public Library. Subscribe to their 'What's New @EPL' and get library news delivered directly to your email address. Send them an email at essalib@essa .libray.on.ca and they'll add you to their mailing list. You can also visit the library site at www.essa.library .on.ca. Just stop by the library and get you user name and password to access all the information on their site. On a blustery winter day it's a good place to renew your books.

Also at the library you can purchase County of Simcoe garbage bag tags for $10 for a sheet of five and you can purchase your yearly dog tags for $20 per dog. You must bring proof of rabies vaccination when purchasing a dog tag.

The Literacy Council of South Simcoe is dedicated to promoting and providing literacy skills in the community. They are offering, confidential tutoring to adults in reading, writing, math and computer basics. For more information call (705) 435- 5624 or email lcss@bellnet. ca.

A Job Fair hosted by CONTACT will be held at the Alliston Arena on Tuesday, February 20 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. If you are interested in finding employment in South Simcoe, this maybe a good place to look. Some of the local businesses that will be there include Shoppers Drug Mart, McDonald's, Adecco, the Canadian Armed Forces and many more. For more information call CONTACT at (705) 435-4900 or visit their website at www.cont a c t s o u t h s i m c o e . c a .

As always, if you have any news, meetings, anniversaries or special occasions, I'd be happy to write about them. You can email me at thorntonnews@ rogers.com or call me at (705) 458-0869 or drop it off at 25 Robert Street. Bye for now…..