Armouries officially transferred to Globe Productions

On Monday night Council officially transferred the ownership of the historic Armoury building to Georgetown Globe Musical Productions. This is a wonderful win- win for the Town and for the theatre group.

The Armoury building was given to the Town when it was replaced with the new Col. John R. Barber Armoury on Todd Road. Since that time it has been used by community groups particularly by the Georgetown Agricultural Society for display space at their annual fall fair.

Almost 2 years ago staff recommended to Council that the building was is need of major repairs and since it was not in use for Town purposes that it should be disposed of. The recommendation was to have it demolished since the space under it could be utilized as part of the Fairgrounds Park.

Council was not comfortable with this recommendation and thought that an effort should be made to find a local group that could take over the building. Although the building is not particularly attractive it has a long and storied history for the military dating back to the war of 1812 and many people were justifiably upset at the thought of losing another piece of our heritage. With that in mind staff was directed to put a tarp on the roof and hold off on the demolition.

Fortunately, Globe Productions had been saving up their money in the hopes of one day having a permanent home and found that the old armoury building would be a terrific opportunity to make their dream a reality. Under the leadership of Lois Fraser a proposal was put together and presented to the town. The proposal was accepted in principle and Globe was immediately at work to secure the roof. They hired a heritage architect and invested in an entirely new roof that sits above the old one. It is well insulated and is clad in a lovely green metal pictured above.

The building is now the responsibility of Globe Productions. Their plan is to use it for rehearsal space and storage. In addition they will permit further community use as is practical.

This is a wonderful outcome for the whole community. Many thanks to Globe for seeing the potential and showing the leadership to make it happen.