Shovels in the ground at Avoca community centre

Residents in the small community of Avoca are thrilled that the construction of their new community centre is officially underway.

The footings are now in place and work on the foundation is expected to begin this week, according to local resident Shirley Young.

"It's a real community effort, and the building committee has been fantastic," she told The Review. "We're hopefully getting the building up in August. We have a contractor coming to do that, and despite the construction holiday, we're hoping that we'll actually see something coming out of the ground."

The former community centre burned last August, in what investigators later determined was an act of arson. The historical building had served the community as a schoolhouse from the late 1800s until 1956, before becoming a community centre for the people of Avoca and Grenville-sur-la-Rouge.

"There's a lot of historical value, it's been a focal point of the Avoca community," explained Art Currie, a director with the community centre association and the chair of the building committee. "That's where all the local receptions, celebrations and dances have taken place and there's a very strong feeling for it here."

To that effect, four generations of residents gathered at the site on Wednesday, June 15 for the official groundbreaking ceremony of the new building. They were joined by neighbours and a few council members from the Grenville-sur-la-Rouge municipality.

"Most of our committee members and neighbours were there," said Young. "It was a beautiful, sunny day, everyone was enthusiastic, and we've had great response from the council. They've bent over backwards with permits, the mayor's been very hands-on with this, so we can't say enough good things about that."

She added that donations have been coming in "fast and furious," something that speaks volumes about how excited people are about using the building again.

"It's definitely been missed, and the fact that it was a heritage building made the loss very sad," Young said. "The cost of a new building is phenomenal but everything is done locally, and we've gotten private donations and insurance money."

The estimated cost of rebuilding the new community centre is $160,000 to $180,000, according to Currie, which left about $50,000 to $60,000 to be collected by the fundraising committee. The total sum would allow for the building's construction, installing heating and electricity in the autumn months, and interior furnishings.

Grenville-sur-la-Rouge Mayor John Saywell, who was present at the ceremony last month, told The Review that the community centre is important for the identity and survival of traditional anglophone communities such as Avoca.

He said the council has recently identified a number of "traditional communities" in the municipality, including Avoca, Kilmar, Calumet and Carling Lake, all of which are communities that have existed for a long time.

"As they group together and get mobilized, and the fact that they want to take on initiatives, we're right behind them," said Saywell. "In the case of Kilmar and Avoca, they're English communities, and for their language and their survival, it's important that we keep our roots."

The mayor said there is presently an urban-planning process being examined by council to "encourage more development around or within these communities," as opposed to having the territory spread out across Grenville-sur-la-Rouge.

"We're looking at the Avoca community, and some of the older folks can remember a time when it was a more vibrant community," he said. "We're trying to imagine how to do that, from a planning perspective."

One such idea is to designate Avoca Road as a local collector road, meaning that it would get a higher priority for rebuilding. Other plans are to seek out grant money for projects, which most recently has allowed the municipality to install playground equipment in Calumet - and there are plans install another set in Pointe-au-Chene.

"We want to make sure our communities are connected," said Saywell. "And any initiatives they have, we'd like to work with them."

Those interested in donating funds to the campaign should contact Shirley Young at 819-242-3943, or send a donation to Avoca Community Centre, c/o Fundraising Committee, 224 Avoca Road, Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, Québec, J0V 1B0.