NEWS

We received this sad message from Gary Duggan ... his brother Bob passed away on Saturday December 15, 2007.

Bob Duggan was an alumnus of De La Salle Drum and Bugle Corps, of its predecessor De La Salle Blue and Gold Band and its successor, Oakland Crusaders Drum Corps. In that regard, he stands alone.

In 1953, as a student at De La Salle College 'Oaklands', Bob joined the De La Salle Blue and Gold Band. He was a member of the Blue and Gold through 1957. When the Band reorganized to become a drum and bugle corps in 1958, Bob was a member of the original De La Salle Drum Corps . He rejoined Del in 1966 as an instructor with the horn line and as a Drum Major.
In the early '70's Bob became corps Director of the Etobicoke Crusaders. He held that position in 1975 when Del and the Crusaders merged. Bob was the original Corps Director of the Oakland Crusaders.

Arrangements are as follows

• Visitation: on Wednesday December 19 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
• Service: on Thursday at 1:00 PM.
• Both will be at the McEachnie Funeral Home (905-428-8488), 28 Old Kingston Rd in Ajax (Pickering Village).

A notice is to be in the Tuesday Toronto Star.

John Longstreet of the Toronto Signals passed away on parade in Georgetown Saturday evening. This was sudden and quite unexpected. At the time of his passing, he was out front, leading the band as Acting Drum Major.

John first joined SIGs in 1952! He was second-generation SIGs (his father was a founder), a former member of Canada's Marching Ambassadors and an alumnus of the Western Tech Trumpet Band. These connections have made him widely known in Canadian senior band and Drum Corps circles. John will be sadly missed by all who knew him!

Funeral arrangements are as follows:

Turner and Porter 'Peel' Chapel
2180 Hurontario Street
Mississauga Ontario
The funeral home is on Hwy #10 just north of the QEW on the West side.

Visitation: on Tuesday November 13, 2007 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm and from 7:00 until 9:00 pm

Service: Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 1:00 pm (cremation)

Reception: will follow the service. It will be held at:

2542 Argyle Rd. (downstairs reception room)
Mississauga Ontario

Note: At this time it is unknown if there will be a special band tribute. Marilyn will be talking with her Mother and will advise us. We will keep everyone informed when we have more information.

• Since we had too few people running in the elections we were left with a vacancy. Under the terms of the constitution our Board of Directors has appointed Jim Dwyer as Director at Large.
• In recognition of the excellent job he did last year Jim has once again been appointed as Business Manager.

I'm sad to report that Brian Hogan has resigned from the corps. Brian was a charter member of the Optimists Alumni. We know that it was a very difficult decision for Brian to make and we want him to know that he'll be missed.

Sunday September 23, 2007 was our Annual General Meeting. As part of this meeting votes were to be cast for two amendments to our Constitution and elections were to be held for the two contested positions on our Board.

After some discussion we learned that the corps plans on applying for a Trillium Grant and the Trillium Foundation prefers a larger board of directors. As a result of this discussion both of the proposed amendments to the constitution were withdrawn by the individuals who had suggested them.

Peter Burton and Ron Chong were elected by acclaim as 'Directors at Large'. Voting was held for the two contested positions. Len Perrin was re-elected as president and Henry Beben was elected as Secretary. There is still a vacant position on the board (Director At Large) since there were not enough candidates to run for all positions. The new board will review the constitution and decide a suitable method for filling this position. Our new Executive consists of:

• Len Perrin, President
• Bill Kane, Executive Vice President
• Henry Beben, Secretary
• Brian Byrne, Treasurer
• Peter Burton, Director at Large
• Ron Chong, Director at Large

Many thanks to the members of the previous Board for all of their work over the last year. Congratulations to Len Perrin and Henry Beben who were elected and many thanks to Carol Munro and Ric Brown who, while unsuccessful, expressed their willingness to serve and their commitment to the corps by choosing to run in these elections.