Greater Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Mandi Hargrave
Rainbow District School launched the Joan Mantle Music Trust Thursday morning as Councillor Doug Craig declared Nov. 24 to 30 as Music Appreciation Week in the City of Greater Sudbury.
The week will culminate with Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School’s Swing Soirée Dinner and Dance on Saturday, Nov. 29. This year’s event will celebrate long-time educator Joan Mantle with the inauguration of the trust being named in her honour.
“The Joan Mantle Music Trust has been established to help refresh, modernize and revitalize music programs in the Rainbow District School Board,” said school board chair Judy Hunda.
“The trust will enable us to replace, where necessary, musical instruments that have given such great pleasure beyond their serviceable life. In order to go beyond the current level of excellence, supplemental funding is essential to support and expand the inventory of instruments.”
Citizens are invited to donate to the trust in the form of bequests, cash and/or cheques or new musical instruments. The board will issue receipts for income tax purposes.
Mantle was the founding music teacher at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School some 40 years ago.
Students at the school spearheaded the creation of the trust and will be the first to benefit from it.
As the trust grows, other Rainbow schools will also reap the rewards of Sudbury's generosity. The trust will allocate funds to secondary school music programs throughout the school board, one school at a time.
“I taught music for 17 years and I loved every minute of it,” said Mantle. “You don't do it thinking you're going to be honoured when you're old and feeble, but certainly I'm very honoured.”
