Sandra English

Let me begin with just a few of the adjectives to describe this person:

• sensitive to the needs of others, sincere

• definitely artistic

• notable but normal

• debonair,

• the real deal

• accountable, accredited, agreeable.

This person has been a diligent worker in our TCA and market since its inception in 2002. She has been the treasurer for all funds connected with our organization, producing monthly reports of the revenue taken in and expenses taken out. Each year she has spent hours along with Jean Burgess filing papers to acquire grants for various projects. They have been very successful! She attends meetings for both the TCA building committee and market and has chaired some of the TCA meetings. Her easy going and humorous nature maker her very easy to work with. She is a great cook and always brings delectable ample food to any of our suppers or events. At market she demonstrates her craftiness with her sewing ability, always producing unique items like her Taymite dolls, framed sewn pictures, table cloths etc. She loves listening to stories, especially if they are about our community history. She is a wonderful writer and poet and appreciates music of all genres. She is an “all around” person and definitely a “keeper.”

From the beginning this person has been a very loyal and dedicated volunteer holding the job as Treasurer. Some may say oh she is the Treasurer but do they really stop to think what all this job entails? Considering all the construction projects that have taken place over the past 10 years she has had to account for every penny that has come in and gone out. This means many hours of paper work filling out forms for grants from the government, and preparing monthly statements. Every summer when we have students this always means extra work for her. Every event that takes place at the TCC there has to be one or more cash floats which means she has to make 2 trips to the Credit Union. She has often said "I can't do the leg work anymore" but she sure does make up for it in other ways.

This person always has a positive attitude when someone comes up with a good idea she always says “I would like to think we can make it happen". When I have to phone this person, which is often, she always answers with the most cheerful voice that makes you feel like you are her best friend. And when I go to their home both she and her husband are so welcoming that I usually stay much longer than planned  because it turns into a friendly neighbourly visit which is very enjoyable.

This person’s love for her community and its history is displayed through her creations that she sells at Market. I think Saturday morning markets have become one of her favorite places as she has said to me "I just love seeing the people in the community".  Her love for sewing was instrumental in starting up the annual Quilt Fair which has been a huge success. And her love of writing, shared with others , contributed to the start up of to the Taymouth Writers Guild.

This person and her husband are great supporters of the TCC and include their grandchildren when they are visiting. This person has done a wonderful job as Treasurer and I hope today everyone realizes and appreciates just how much time and effort she puts into this Volunteer Job.

This person is very easy to talk to. She is very forthcoming, very responsive, and thoughtful at the same time. Her comments are full of common sense. She is easy to discuss issues with. She listens as well as she gives advice. You can tell her something and ask what she thinks. She leaves space for you talk, very much, so conversations are also relaxed and fun. If she has an opinion she is quite firm about it, which is good. However she is not opinionated. She states her opinion in such a way that it is easy to understand, and she considers other opinions or asks for them.  She is open to new and different ideas or ways of doing things, risking trying something different. She will say “Oh I never thought of that but that might work”. Instead of “oh no, we can’t do that.” If there is a criticism it is always constructive. She laughs easily, and makes people feel comfortable. She is easy to get along with and easy to work with. She is always willing to help if she can, and often volunteers her husband. So one way or another it gets done. This person is very appreciative of the arts, visual, musical, literature. And she herself does artistic work very well. She is very observant and is able to convey what she is seeing, whether in her writing or speaking or fabric art. I’m always impressed with all the numbers and money she works with. Just thinking about it makes me crazy. The number crunching she is able to do and keep it all straight is amazing.

This person cares deeply for her family, especially her Grandchildren, her friends and her community. Her wonderful sense of humour keeps us all laughing and her quick wit keeps everyone on their toes. She is a great friend and confidant and has a way of putting a positive spin on every situation. She is an intellectual but maintains her small town charm when addressing situations intelligently and in a soft spoken and articulate way. This person is a writer of wonderful poems and stories and has shared a few of her poems in the TCG newsletter. She also has written many reviews of TCA concerts and events for the newsletter and website. She never misses anyone in her thank yous and the reader enjoys a trip down memory lane or if they didn’t attend will enjoy the event through her eyes. The (TCA) Taymouth Writer’s Guild was formed when this person took Peter deMarsh up on his idea at a New Year’s Day Levee 2011 to create this small group that meets once a week. It’s here in these intimate and safe surroundings that she shares her most personal writings. For those of us who share this group with her, it’s an honour to be included in this part of her life. This person is responsible for the creation of the (TCA) Taymouth Theatre Group (along with Marcy Emberger) and has produced two productions in a one evening event and is currently working on another production. She is also the founder and organizer of the Taymouth Quilt show which has become an annual event which everyone enjoys. This person works very hard at her home based business “Stitch & Brush Home Décor” and loves to work with fabric. Her “fabric art” creations that she brings to the Taymouth Market attract inquisitive customers and produce great conversations of where she found each piece of fabric artistically placed in her display.

When I first proposed that the TCA start a coffeehouse musical venue, this person was not only enthused and supportive, but suggested that we go a step further and have a sort of full-fledged dinner theatre.  Thus was born the Purple Piano Café, which has now become a popular institution bringing many local musicians to the TCA, and making a real contribution to the quality of life in our community. For the first show this person and others shopped for material, created tablecloths, gathered attractive candles, dinner service items and decorations.  People were just ‘wowed’ at the debut, and high quality has become the expected norm for the Café. This person, of course, provided the financial and accounting services for the Café, but just as often she took tickets at the door and helped with the setup of the auditorium.  But her efforts didn’t end at the end of the show. She also became the de facto reviewer of the shows for the Taymouth Gazette. She used her excellent writing skills to portray the Café in a manner that made readers feel as if they were there.  (Disclaimer: She has written such nice things about me that I clip them out and send them to friends and relatives in the States.) I know that this person is involved in many other aspects of the TCA, but to me she is someone who is at the heart of the arts and entertainment scene in Taymouth, and I appreciate her continuing and unflagging efforts.

I first met this person at the Taymouth market and as we were chatting, I mentioned that I had done student theatre in the States. She immediately suggested that we begin a theatre group.  Now, it did not happen right away as she also began working with Jim and I on the coffee house idea – which had us going to the fabric store and concentrating on picking out just the right fabric for tablecloths – I think we were both amazed that we found such amazing material and decorations for our first café.  Of course, she also helped me find just the right paint to brighten up our wonderful old piano – and when we finally returned to the theatre idea we went through draft after draft – through winter snows that had us rescheduling and rescheduling rehearsals – Our show featured a wonderful cast of characters – she even dressed Gary as a wonderful headless sleigh driver – ah, the screams as he came from behind the screen where he was hiding!  Such fun!

Another of my favorite times with this person was the day we did a  ‘cleansing on the stage’ might sound strange, but it just was such a great much needed transformation. This person does so much to make Taymouth the wonderful community it is – her steadfastness, kindness, and dedication are qualities that make Taymouth a wonderful place to live.

This person has a powerful vision, a powerful understanding of community. She rejoices in each moment of connection that she sees the mutual enjoyment of grandparents and grandchildren, encounters of school mates old and new, seniors sharing memories, new neighbors finding a place with us, offering their talents. This person is wise, with the wisdom of life experience, combined with attention to her intuitive insights. This person loves to celebrate life with her family and community. This person’s creativity is rooted in her love and attention to our valley home, our valley family. This person has a most magic, singing way with words.

We need to say thanks to this person for many reasons:

1. for serving her community;

2. for her participation in events;

3. for her organizational skills;

4.  for her understanding during our highs and lows as a community centre;

5. and, most of all, for the books: keeping us on track, looking after the dollars and cents for so long

!! Treasurer for life!!

Every organization has jobs no one wants to do, and yet are really essential. Reliable, up to date financial records is one of those jobs. When we think about this job, many of us suddenly feel really tired, in the head. It is work that takes a huge amount of time, and requires very close attention to a mass of detail. Everyone has heard stories of organizations when this job has been neglected and knows what kind of strife, stress and confusion results. When we look at the TCA annual financial statement, so easily understood because of the breakdown of all the figures, we realize running the TCA is like running a small business. We really appreciate the fact that every year at our AGM, we receive a detailed, thorough report. And then we go on our way, not thinking about TCA financial accounting until the next Building Committee meeting or the next AGM. And yet, financial accounting is absolutely vital to our success and our survival. Like any small business, we can’t operate without good reliable book keeping. The work done by this person in keeping accurate, detailed, up to date financial reports throughout the year frees the rest of us to think about and discuss our future plans with ease and comfort, because we know where our finances stand. Because the person who looks after our books has a detailed and historical grasp of our finances, they also provide crucial input to our planning and grant application work, and so they end up getting to do a lot of that work too. Each year over the past ten, the TCA has been able to get one or more government grants for improving our building and ball field, and hiring summer students. The rest of us are very pleased with the success we have had in our ongoing partnership with several government agencies. We easily forget the countless hours of work that goes into preparing the applications, and writing the reports when the work is done. Sandra English has been our Treasurer for ten years. Sandra, we can’t thank you enough for all you have done.