It’s warming up outside - most days. Even the calendar says its spring.

So we know that the long awaited end of winter is just around the corner.

Just as they have every year for years and years, the Russell Happy Helpers 4-H Club held their annual spring St. Patrick’s Day fundraising tea at the Park Manor on the north end of Main Street.

Along with setting up and serving during the afternoon tea, each of the 11 members of the club supplied a dessert for the afternoon as well as sold raffle tickets for gift baskets as prizes.

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By the 1970’s parts of the rest of Canada were beginning to wake up to the true facts about our Canadian history and the involvement of many of our descendants in the killing of Metis involved in the North-West Resistance.

Meanwhile, in 1974 in Russell, we were still erecting plaques in honor of Major Charles Boulton. Historian Tyla Betke who is a PHD candidate and an instructor in History at the Carleton University in Ottawa was more than a little shocked when she found that the long held stories of the heroics of Major Charles Boulton that she’d grown up with here in Russell, were not entirely true.

Despite the fact that this particular issue is not the subject of her doctorate, the more she learned about the untruths in the story our monuments and our verbal history have told, the more Tyla Betke was drawn to bring the real history of the founder of our town to a public forum.

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For close to a decade - nine years in fact - the annual Stick It To Cancer fundraising hockey game has been part of life as a student of Major Pratt.

For the Major Pratt Trojans and their opponents - who more often than not have been the Roblin Raiders - they’re wearing shocking pink hockey jerseys.

Their hockey socks are pink and so are most of their skate laces too. In fact, many of the Roblin Raiders had their sticks taped with pink hockey tape and pink laces in their skates too. The concourse of the Russell Regional Multiplex was awash in pink too as the generosity of the communities surrounding Russell (and the 13 communities who are under the umbrella of the Expanding Community Cancer Care project) shone bright with the donations to the rainbow and silent auction.

As he has for every Stick It To Cancer game, Bruce Hutton of Art Farm produced the jersey’s, the tuques and the hoodies, all on sale for the cause.

Check out all the details in this week's Russell Banner!

With Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin managed to merge jazz and classical music - drawing praise from the lovers of both genres.

Over his lifetime, Scott Joplin composed over 40 original pieces, one ragtime ballet and two operas, earning him the moniker of King of Ragtime.

Austrian Joseph Haydn is considered the father of the classical symphony and string quartet, and an innovator in the composition of piano sonatas and trios. On the frigid last Saturday of January, the beautiful sanctuary of Knox United Church was awash with the creative genius of these composers and many others thanks to the talent of Ian Elliott. The cold certainly didn’t keep music lovers away.

The pews were full as long-time friends and music devotees came out to enjoy Ian’s skill. This concert was the culmination of Ian’s 28 years at a piano keyboard. “I began playing when I was in Grade 1 when we were living in Humboldt, taking lessons with a woman named Allison Sarauer for four years”, Ian said. “After we moved to Russell, I took lessons from Arlene Baschuk for two years.”

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Two Parkland WWII heroes were among the many honored at a ceremony marking the presentation of Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals in Brandon last week.

Shown above are Manitoba’s Premier Heather Stefanson and (extreme right) MLA Rick Wowchuk from the Dauphin riding presenting the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals to Mr. Keith Fulford from Swan River (seated) and Mr. Jack Widdicombe from Russell. Both men are 101 years young and are active members of their respective Royal Canadian Legions.

Mr. Fulford’s nephew Keith Fulford was also in attendance. Congratulations also go out to Karen Batson, Connie McKay, Elder Thomas Nepinak, Cam Mateika, Lorna Munro, Bob Cross, Shirley Kalyniuk, and Elder Jim Cote (who was unable to attend) other residents of this riding who were honored as recipients of this prestigious award.

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During the first week of 2023, Darryl Fuz, General Manager of the Paterson Grain terminal in Binscarth presented a cheque for $10,000 to Abbey Vorelick, Care Team Manager for the Russell Health Centre.

The donation is from the Paterson Family Foundation. The Paterson Family Foundation is a private, charitable foundation incorporated under the laws of the Province of Manitoba.

It is composed of a Board of Directors that meets twice a year to make decisions on applications received and to deal with other Foundation business. The Paterson Family Foundation was started in 2018 to follow in the footsteps of dedicated philanthropist Senator Norman McLeod Paterson.

Since then, the foundation has been a devoted supporter of community organizations in the Prairie Regions of Canada. Grants are made to charitable, non-profit organizations with the major emphasis on projects and programs in the areas of education, health care, religion, social welfare and youth. The Foundation’s prime areas of interest are in the Prairie Region of Canada.

“This is the fourth year in a row that the Paterson Family Foundation has chosen to make a $10,000 donation to the Russell Health Centre,” Fuz said after the presentation. “And that’s because of all the great work that everyone sees is being done here.” The funds are to be utilized for the 2023 year towards emergency care and services provided by the Russell Health Centre.

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We hope each and everyone of you celebrated a wonderful holiday season.

Every year we take a look back at what we talked about over the year prior. So here goes.....

In January we told you about the Red Mailbox program. Initiated by Jen Klimack the program helps deal with ‘period poverty’ supplying free feminine hygiene product in a safe and confidential manner to be picked up from a red mailbox tacked onto the back entrance of the Anglican Church in Russell. A year later, the program is still running. Binscarth native Cody McLeod, his wife Jessica and girls Peyton and Emma were on hand as the AHL Iowa Wild honored their captain as he played the 1,000th game of his impressive 16 years in professional hockey. Early in January, the crew from Take a Year Off Lottery gathered together all the benefactors of the 2021 draw that had been made the previous November. That year 1,976 tickets were sold, just short of the 2,000 - tickets needed to sell out. 

Read the full year recap in this week's Russell Banner!