You should always be willing to make the time and effort to honour those who helped pave the way.
That happened yesterday in Belleville, as dignitaries gathered to officially reveal the new CN Yardmen Monument located outside of the west entrance of what we now call the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre.
For years, starting in the 1990’s we called it the Yardmen Arena before the departure of one team, the arrival of another and the associated naming rights that are (understandably) part of the business.
Taking the name Yardmen Arena off as part of that process didn’t sit well with many, but I am very glad to see we have once again restored the recognition to a group that so richly deserves it.
While people working on railroads literally built this country, the local group of Yardmen built that facility.
The monument honours their vision, their diligence, and the generosity that saw them give more than three million dollars towards the initial project back in the 1970’s.
Without that vision, OHL and later AHL hockey may never have come to Belleville. The structure they helped build also laid the foundation for the expansion that would see additional ice surfaces, an acquatic facility and so much more.
Everyone who watches hockey there or takes their family there to work, play and get fit owes a debt of gratitude to the Yardmen. Belleville wouldn’t be the same without the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre, and that facility may not have existed without a group of people who helped to build it, and the nation we love so dearly.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.
(PAUL MARTIN)
