LOCAL HEADLINES

The Tavistock Royals begin the 2025-2026 Ontario Elite Hockey League (OEHL) regular season on Oct. 4, but the team officially started the season with the resumption of the Oxford Cup.

Anyone who is in Shakespeare mid-morning and sees a group of seniors – or almost seniors – swinging bats at the ballpark will have spotted the Shakespeare Swans, the community’s co-ed seniors’ slow pitch team.

Last week was a big day for young athletes in Shakespeare who spent the summer playing the sports they love.

The board of directors of Tavistock Community Health Inc. (TCHI) has been working tirelessly to bring the community’s medical clinic and property up to the standards residents expect. On Monday evening, the Tavistock Men’s Club stepped up to help.

The Ontario government made changes to the law through Bill 98, the Better Schools and Outcomes Act, 2023, holding school board members more accountable for attendance and participation in committees of the whole meetings.

The Wilmot Agricultural Society held its annual Education Day last week at the Hogendoorn dairy farm near St. Agatha, welcoming Grade 4 students from across Wilmot Township.

Grades 3 and 4 students from schools in Wellesley Township, along with local homeschool groups, took part in a hands-on dairy education program recently.

The Township of Wellesley will likely approve the installation of a permanent camera system at the Wellesley Recreation Complex for the livestreaming of Wellesley Applejacks games after a streaming deal was reached between the Applejacks, the Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) and NBC Sportsengine last year.

Just east of Tavistock, along Line 29, is the Stone Pillar Farm Stand, a small roadside stop run by the Lapointe family.

Though they don’t talk about it much, the amount of work that goes into planning the annual Poppy Campaign and Remembrance Day ceremony for Wilmot Township by volunteers at the New Hamburg Legion is above and beyond what one might think.

Residents of Janelle Drive in Tavistock will soon have an official walking/maintenance trail behind their properties.

Every fall, Canadians wear a poppy close to their hearts as a small symbol that carries enormous meaning.

Grassroots Response to the Ukrainian Crisis hosted a Ukrainian-Canadian Unity event in New Hamburg on Saturday, Sept. 20.

The Community Players of New Hamburg are back for their winter season with the classic, A Christmas Carol, managed by artistic director Brooke Gamble, director Ryan Dunham and assistant director Rachel Conway.

Corbin Tan is a 19-year-old entrepreneur based in Baden. After completing his first year in university with straight As in biology, Tan felt there was something different he was meant to pursue, which led him toward a new career in entrepreneurship.

Ambulance response times are increasing in the county, and Oxford County is considering how best to respond to the growing demand.

Wellesley won its second-straight Doherty Division game thanks to a 3-2 overtime victory in Tavistock on Friday night.

The ever-popular Wellesley Lions Club Duck Race drew a large crowd again this year, with 1,500 toy rubber ducks released past the dam on a sunny, late-summer afternoon.

Close to 300 hungry chicken wing fans turned out for the Tavistock Optimist Club’s annual Wing Stag last week, held under sunny skies.

The council for the Township of Wellesley is looking to disband local recreation service boards in communities across the township in favour of establishing a single recreation advisory committee that, if approved, would advise council on all things related to recreation and leisure services.