Peterborough Blogs
Lakefield Entrepreneur Featured On Tyra Banks' FABLife Show
/Michelle Moore's designs have sold in 46 countries already
Read MoreManon Rheaume Speaking In Peterborough January 6th
/Manon Rheaume—the first (and only) female to play pro hockey—will be speaking to the WBN in Peterborough January 6th at the Holiday Inn.
As a member of Team Canada, Manon helped lead her team to a Silver Medal in the 1998 Nagano Games. She backstopped Team Canada to Gold Medals at the 1992 and 1994 World Hockey Championships.
Rheaume signed a contract to play goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992, and no woman has signed a professional hockey contract in North America since.
A Peterborough Man Just Completed An Epic 21 Year Restoration On His 1971 SAAB 96 V4
/Through amazing perservance, dedication—and help from others—Peterborough's Matt Stimpson might just have undertaken one of the longest (and furthest) car restorations in history.
Matt's Saab story begins in 1989 as an 18-year-old in Abingdon, Oxfordshire in the UK, when his father, Allan, bought him a 1971 SAAB 96 V4 in Tyrol Green colour.
Matt Stimpson as a teenager with his new Saab in Abingdon, Oxfordshire
"It was my first car—my father was a Motor Trader and found it for me," Matt tells PTBOCanada. "I drove it through my college years in the UK before rust got the better of it (they did suffer badly from underside rust), so the SAAB finally came off the road in 1994."
Stimpson as a teen behind the wheel with his father, Allan
The car was stored away for a number of years there, and Matt started to slowly take it apart. He then began the arduous task of collecting hard-to-get parts to put it back together.
"Ebay was great for getting all sorts of parts," Matt tells PTBOCanada. "Ironically, the hub caps came from a Canadian whilst the car was still in the UK." Other parts came from all over the world—Sweden, Holland, Germany, Hungary, UK, and the US.
The beautiful restored car pictured with the garage Matt built to house it
When Matt emigrated to Canada in 2005, he looked into how to get the car here. The Saab ended up being shipped in the rolling shell in the same container as their personal effects.
"The house we bought here in Peterborough on Weller St. didn’t have a garage so I had to build a 'new home' for it, so I could finish off the restoration," says Matt. "The house also needed a fair amount of work, so the Saab had to take a back seat whilst we knocked the house apart."
"The steering wheel was a 'barn find', Matt tells PTBOCanada, "a Les Leston Stirling Moss, extremely rare find. Someone offered me $1,000 for it a few years ago!"
But despite the life stages adulthood brings—marriage, work, home, kids, etc.—Matt stuck with it over the years and slowly but surely the Saab began the transformation into its original self. A re-birth, if you will.
Matt tells PTBOCanada: "Every nut and bolt has come off this car—the body stripped down to bare metal and everything has been powder-coated, painted or replated."
The beautiful restored engine
Help came from all over in Peterborough to realize Matt's dream of restoring his childhood car.
"CCS Industrials and Part Source have been great at finding some of the more obscure nuts and bolts for it," Matt tells PTBOCanada. "Jack’s Autobody on Erskine St. painted the panels and did a fantastic job on the colour match. A friend who is an expert in historic rallying helped get the engine (a German Ford V4) fired back into life—after sitting for two decades."
The Saab's Headliner was remade by the very talented Leslie Menagh and the seat foam—Saabs are known for their super comfy seats—came from Restwell. "They were very helpful in getting the correct density foam so the seats feel 'original'," Matt says.
Matt just recently ran his restored Saab (an extremely rare find in Canada these days) for the first time on the road after 21 years—"it was a quick run around the block to make sure everything works," he says.
Nonetheless, it was a great ride. A historic ride. With his son. Everything has come full circle. And next up? Well, he's going to retire it to the garage for winter before getting it back on the road in the Spring—and becoming a regular at Bridgenorth Cruise Night.
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Help Find Missing Woman Catherine Davies
/[UPDATE: Missing Person Catherine Davies was located on December 10th safe and sound.]
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The Peterborough Police Service is asking for the public’s assistance in locating missing person, 65-year-old Catherine Davies.
Davies was last seen in Peterborough the afternoon of November 28th, 2015. She is described as Caucasian, approximately 5’2”, 160lbs with chocolate coloured hair and speaks English, French and Russian.
Anyone with any information related to this case is asked to call the Peterborough Police Service at 705-876-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com.
UPDATE: A Peterborough Woman Desperately Needs Her Mobile Phone Back
/UPDATE (December 3rd): After a tip came into our PTBOCanada Facebook page, the phone has been found at Galaxy Cinemas. Thanks to the community for your help!
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Priscilla Topsy lost her BlackBerry at Galaxy Cinemas in Peterborough Tuesday night (December 1st) while on a movie date with her husband Tom, and they are desperately trying to retrieve it. Her son Hoban was stillborn earlier this year, and the phone has memories of him stored on it that Priscilla wants back.
Supplied photo of Priscilla with her BlackBerry
With Priscilla's permission, her friend Mandy Nadeau has reached out to PTBOCanada and asked us to share this information.
Here is the important information from Priscilla's Facebook post in the screengrab below, and a more legible direct link can be found here.
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Missy Knott's New Video "Letters To You" Filmed In Curve Lake First Nation
/Missy Knott has released a brand new video "Letters To You"—an emotional story of summer romance with everything that lingers behind.
"The entire video was shot in Curve Lake First Nation where I spent my summer in 2014," Missy tells PTBOCanada. "My sister Tiffany shot, directed and edited it like a home video and incorporated aspects of our summer there that she remembered and knew were close to my heart."
Still from Missy's music video "Letters To You"
This is the first video produced out of Wild Rice Productions, a new video production house run by Missy.
Watch the video below...
You can purchase the song on iTunes.
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Meet An Awesome Omemee Makeup FX Artist Who Does Work For Films
/Omemee's Rhonda Causton is a super talented makeup FX artist—her business is Reel Twisted FX—who does work for film and TV, and teaches her artform at Fleming College as part of their Continuing Education program.
Rhonda working her magic on set
"There is a lot more to it than just the makeup that goes on the skin," she tells PTBOCanada of her art. "I do life casting, and I sculpt, mold, cast and apply Prosthetic appliances to change the actor's appearance. I also make props such as severed body parts and puppets, for film and TV."
Rhonda on set doing makeup
Since childhood, Rhonda has had a keen interest in being creative and exploring art. "I was always sculpting, drawing, writing," she tells PTBOCanada. "Most of my work depicted monsters of some sort. Being a big fan of sci-fi and horror movies, I was never short of inspiration."
Rhonda on set
As an adult, Rhonda continued to fuel her passion for art by creating sculptures—which she sold on eBay and at shows. But she knew she hadn't yet found her true calling. That all changed when she did some acting in a couple of low budget horror films.
"I met two young makeup FX artists whom I spent most of my time with on set—gazing over their shoulder, watching them work," she tells PTBOCanada. "They told me I should go to school to learn this profession, since I was clearly mesmerized by their creations!"
Rhonda's handy work on Peterborough's Steve Delaire
In 2010, after losing her job, Rhonda decided this might be her last chance to go back to school and do what she's always felt she was meant to do. So she enrolled at S.O.M.A (School of Makeup Art) in Toronto.
Transforming Michelle Ferreri for a Halloween blog shoot Michelle did
"Towards the end of my schooling in Toronto, I asked my teacher whether he knew of any Makeup FX artists in need of shop help, so that I could gain some industry experience," says Rhonda. "I went for an interview with FX artist Paul Jones who was working on the movie Silent HIll: Revelation at the time. He hired me the day I graduated."
More of her amazing FX work pictured above and below
Silent Hill: Revelation was Rhonda's first Makeup FX gig. She was blessed to have had the opportunity to not only meet, but work alongside such amazing talent at PJFX studio—and work with some of the biggest names in Toronto's makeup FX industry.
In 2012, Rhonda officially started her own FX business, Reel Twisted FX. She has done makeup FX work on 16 productions—ranging from music videos to short films to feature films to TV.
Rhonda was also hired at Fleming College to teach a Makeup FX intro course in their Continuing Education program. Since then, she has started to teach two additonal makeup FX related courses there.
Rhonda will be doing a makeup FX demo at the Fleming College Open House Saturday, November 21st. To learn more about her, visit her Facebook page and check out her IMDB credits. You can contact her by email here.
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7-Year-Old Peterborough Twins Start #Bracelet4Peace Message To World
/Share your messages at #Bracelet4Peace
Read MoreA Bridgenorth Man Devised "The Bacon Experiment" To Lose Weight
/Bridgenorth father Dan Quibell, 42, has struggled with his weight since he was a kid—and was old enough to go to the store and fill up on pop and chips every day.
"Me at age 5 when I was the skinny kid and the fastest runner in kindergarten." —Dan
"Me at age 13 when my doctor told me I was 'obese' when I was eating a big bag of chips, a cholesterol bar and a large pop for lunch every day." —Dan
Dan tried working out in high school and eating better, but that didn't help much at all. He kept gaining weight into adulthood—until he hit 260 pounds.
"That's my wife and myself at near my heaviest weight. At about 250 lbs. from a couple years ago." —Dan
Dan a year ago before he started The Bacon Experiment
"In the past 20 years, I have tried weight watchers, low fat diets, vegetarianism, fruitarian diet and a vegan diet," Dan tells PTBOCanada. "Every crazy thing I came across that seemed to make sense I tried—smoothies, juicing and the list goes on. Some things worked better than others but I always lost muscle and the weight came back FAST."
A year ago, that all changed when Dan says he found a podcast called "The Fat Burning Man" that talked about eating fat to burn fat and get lean.
Dan at the doctor's office the day before he started The Bacon Experiment
The podcast got his attention, and he devised something he calls "The Bacon Experiment", a clever name he came up with.
"I learned as much as I could and started eating bacon and eggs and sausages, and the pounds started melting away," he tells PTBOCanada. "I weighed about 240 lbs when I started, and a year later I was down to 212 lbs. I felt great and had energy to spare so I found myself going to the gym 3 times a week, playing with my kids more at the park and going for walks listening to hundreds of hours of podcasts and audio books."
"I did low carb for a year," Dan adds. "And I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast for most days during that time. But I did bacon only—30 pieces a day—for 30 days straight, from October 1st to October 30th of this year." That pushed Dan's weight down a further 20 pounds, to 193 pounds.
For his experiment, Dan says he used local pastured bacon free of GMOs and free of antibiotics. He avoided processed meats.
Dan the day after his bacon experiment ended
Dan believes bacon can change someone's life if they eat it with the purpose of not eating wheat and sugar. "I ate only bacon for 30 days—60 pounds worth—and lost about 20 lbs of fat and lowered my blood pressure by 30 points. I ate bacon to help others lose weight and regain their health. I ate bacon to make a difference! Am I crazy? Or am I into something here?"
Dan tells PTBOCanada some of his friends have started doing the low carb thing themselves after seeing his results. "Three of them started in the first week of November. All three are down 12-15 lbs each."
picture via The Bacon Experiment Facebook page
Dan is getting more and more interest and inquiries about his Bacon Experiment—he has appeared on The Wolf 101.5 radio in Peterborough to talk about it—and plans to write an E-book about it to share with others.
What do you think about his experiment? Tell us on our Facebook page. (You can contact Dan here.)
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