At the Harbourview Training Centre, a modern building specially designed for mentally handicapped persons, pre-employment and employment programs are carried on. There is a manager here with five full- time staff persons. Up to 20 persons at a time can be ac- commodated in the two programs. Furniture repair and finishing. a bakery, photocopying services, and a luncheon restaurant, are among the ongoing activities of the Centre which are useful not only in training workers but in meeting needs of the community at large.
A newly opened group home for handicapped adults, Maclntyre House, is a complementary facility to the Har- bourview Training Centre. Seven residents are housed here in addition to the group parents, Max and Dorothy MacLeod. There is also a relief staff to cover the two days a week the MacLeods have off. The house is built in the upper part of the town, and provides a new use for the handsome old home built by Dr. Peter Maclntyre, a former Member of Parliament and Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island.
The Canadian Red Cross Society has one field worker in Souris, working part time out of the Regional Services Centre to organize blood donor clinics, distribute Red Cross supplies, administer the Red Cross loan cup- board, and schedule swimming'courses and arrange for instructors.
Government Services
The Eastern King’s Regional Services Centre was opened in Souris in 1975. With others of its kind in key communities throughout the province it represents an in- novative approach to community development in that it decentralizes government departments and brings their services and programs close to the people.
Not only are various government departments present in the Centre, but brochures, application forms, and general information on all federal and provincial govern- ment programs are made available to the general public, and made easy to use by a friendly and knowledgable staff.
The Centre also offers non-profit community groups the use of boardroom facilities and audio-visual equip- ment, free of charge.
Provincial health and social services, public health nursing, and residential facilities for senior citizens are also available in Souris, and federal government depart- ments, such as the Post Office, and Agriculture and Fisheries, have offices and representatives in the area.
Sports and Recreation
Souris, like many Prince Edward Island towns and villages, is a sports minded community. Most people either take part in, or follow team games, especially
3%,
in
hockey, which has been "king" for a long time. In the summer baseball has always attracted a following, with softball dominant in recent years.
Souris got its first hockey rink in the early 19305. Teams wearing Souris colours usually did well in the hockey wars, and provincial and maritime cham- pionships have been won by them. In the 1930s and 1940s the outstanding players included Henry Woolridge, Lowell Simpson, Buddy McCormack, Billy Acorn, Jimmy Brennan, Billy Pierce, Red Russell, Mel Gallant, Ed Cheverie, Omar Cheverie, Roddie and Jimmy Maclntyre, Mel and Alton MacKenzie, Francis Lewis and Buddy MacDonald. The succeeding two decades were dominated by the likes of Eugene Dugas, Jimmy Cheverie, Claude, Reggie and Carl Peters, Rollie Jenkins, Bert Paquet, Bubby Doucette, and Aldie Jarvis.
In the early 19705 Souris teams did not do well in hockey competition, but the Souris Boathaulers of the 1977-78 season, coached by Clem Campbell, won first place in the Eastern King’s Hockey League. They lost to Murray Harbour in the playoffs. The next year they finished second but won the championship in the post- season play. A new coach, Brow Maclntyre, led the Boathaulers to first place again in 1979-80, but they were defeated in the finals by Murray Harbour.
Talent for the senior teams is developed in high school competition. The last four years the provincial high school champions have been Souris High School Spartans, coached by Eugene MacDonald. Last year they came back from a three games to one deficit to defeat Kensington High School in a best of seven final.
These teams play in the Eastern King’s Arena, a modern rink with artificial ice, built two years ago.
For many years Souris baseball teams were handicap- ped by lack of a league to play in, and games had to be arranged on an individual basis. Nevertheless, the town managed to produce outstanding players whose names are remembered today, men like Ivan and Warren Cheverie, Ducky Paquet, Earl MacLean, Gene, Wayne and Eddy MacDonald, Francis St. John, Harold Lavie, and Ike Cheverie. In the 19605 the Souris Town Baseball League produced highly skilled players like Gussie, Ter- ry and Gerald Clinton, Maynard Paquet, Danny Mahar, John McQuaid, Allan, Mike and Angie McCormack, Keith Jennings and Westie MacPhee, who shone in the King’s County Baseball League as well as in the local competition. Three Island titles came to Souris — ban— tam in 1962, and Little League and midget in 1963.
Perhaps the best Souris baseball team of all time was the St. Mary’s team of the late 19505 and early 19605. Its lineup included Stanley and Bert Paquet, Sonny, Butch and Jimmy Cheverie, Leo Gallant, Stewart MacAuley, Eugene Dugas, Jim Cox, Charlie Craig and Father Pius Murnaghan.
Baseball competition came to an end in 1968, but in the 1970s softball came to the fore as a Souris aggrega-
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