Tuesday 14 August 2007

YesBut what's the local news?

From the Chronicle Herald, published in Halifax, Nova Scotia:

Gone fishin’:

No girls allowed. 9-year-old wants to join boys-only outdoor day camp, but girls offered only day at the spa. -

Nine-year-old Lydia Houck was looking forward to a day of fishing, hiking and golfing when she browsed through a list of summer day camps offered near her Nova Scotia home, but the only option that fit her interests was just for boys.


In contrast, the only all-girl camp, dubbed Glamorous Girls, offers jewelry-making and a trip to the spa for manicures and pedicures for girls aged five to 12. Lydia says she’d rather be fishing.

"It was really frustrating that they were being discriminatory and they were saying that boys should look forward to doing this and that girls shouldn’t do this," Lydia, who will be entering Grade 4 in the fall, said in an interview from her home in Windsor. "My brother and I go fishing a lot and I enjoy going outside a lot, and this camp seemed to fit that description and it was pretty much the only day camp that did."

The Municipality of the District of West Hants offers three other day camps that are co-ed — a trip to an amusement park, a day at the waterslides and a pirate-themed excursion into Halifax — but Lydia said none of them sounded as fun as the camp for boys.


The municipality says the idea for next Monday’s spa day came from similar all-girl day camps elsewhere in Nova Scotia, with at least one Halifax-area community staging its own spa event for young girls this summer.
West Hants recreation director Kathy Kehoe denied the camp lineup is discriminatory and said there are no plans to reverse the decision before the event for boys takes place on Tuesday.

From the Milton -Ulladulla Times, New South Wales, Australia.

Shed 'inappropriate'

A MEN'S Shed, planned for the grounds of the Milton-Ulladulla Baptist Church, is inappropriate according to neighbouring residents.


Opponents of the workshop support the need for such a facility in the district, but believe it would be better suited to an industrial or commercial area, rather than a residential estate in Narrawallee.


The Men's Shed is planned for a site on the corner of Matron Porter Drive and Leo Drive adjacent to the existing church building.


The project is part of the national Men's Shed network and will provide an opportunity for local men to work on timber and metal projects for local charities and community groups, while fostering men's health and providing a meeting place seven days a week.


I have only one question: What about the girls and women?

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