The year is coming to an end, and with it FlamboroughToday has been taking a look back at our favourite stories this year.
FlamboroughToday opened in early February of this year, and since then this reporter has filed hundreds of articles, from community bake sales and ongoing road infrastructure projects, to features on local historic sites and upcoming developments.
When I sat down to choose my top five stories of the year, for some reason I thought it would be easy. But when faced with the sheer number of stories I have published in the past 10 months, I realized I could make all sorts of lists. Stories I found most important, stories that were the most challenging to write, stories that mattered most to readers, stories I think people should take a second look at...
But out of all of those articles, these are five that stand out as my most memorable to work on.
5. Nature doesn't plant a polite garden - and neither does Ann Martin
Ann Martin is the coolest. (This is an opinion piece, so I am sharing my opinion.)
Ann took me on a tour of her natural garden, which have been recognized with a handful of awards over the years, in early September.
At first glance, her garden looked unruly compared to the nicely cut lawns all around it. But once she began explaining the different plants, their purposes, how they fit into Canada's ecosystem, and the sheer amount of wildlife her one little patch of land supports, it was eye-opening for me.
In Waterdown and Flamborough, people care a lot about natural land and the environment. A huge sticking point for a lot of people is housing developments encroaching on natural land or farmland.
But what can we do with the land that is still there once a home is built?
Ann's garden might not be for everyone, but there are pieces of advice she gave me while we toured the garden that I think would be useful to anyone trying to think a little bit more about supporting wildlife through their own yards.
"People plant polite little gardens,” Ann told me. “Nature doesn’t plant them that way."
After the recorder turns off for a story, sometimes I end up talking to people for a while after. Usually these parts of the conversation don't end up in the article, but sometimes they are the part of an interview that sticks with me.
When I finished asking questions about her garden, Ann and I stood on the sidewalk for a while as a late summer thunderstorm rolled in, talking about how much we both love camping, being in Northern Ontario, and how peaceful it is to hear nothing around but crickets and the wind.
4. 'Very, very painful' goodbye for owner of historic Waterdown home
Waterdown loves its own history. And why wouldn't it?
It's an old village, in one of the oldest regions in Canada, and many of its original buildings are still here and in use.
I love writing about historic buildings. I love seeing comparisons between Waterdown of today and a hundred years ago. There is no shortage of these kinds of stories in the area - so much so that we run regular columns by Lyn Lunsted just on archival photos and stories from the past.
But one story about a historic home stands out to me from this year — the story about Eager House.
I found out about Eager House in the first few weeks that FlamboroughToday was open.
Originally, editor Brenda and I were struck by the REMAX photos inside the home. Everything was so bright and colourful, and you could see the owner, Lorna Somers, had a beautiful collection of artwork from years of travelling for work. We reached out for a story on the artwork, but at the time Lorna was moving her collections and was too busy for a feature, so the story went on the back burner.
That was until the home itself went up for a historic designation.
Eager House is 153 years old, but has only been owned by two families. I think what I found so interesting about this is how much change Waterdown has seen in the 153 years this home has sat on the other side of the Dundas Street East bridge, all while being looked after by only two different families.
What I found interesting about this story was Lorna herself. She had been living in Eager House for four decades and felt responsible as a caretaker of the home. But when I asked her about potential new owners changing the inside of the house, which was for the better part the way it has been since it was build a century and a half ago, her answer surprised me.
"These things have meaning in a world that is very disposable. Throw away this, buy it tomorrow, throw it away the next day. That's not the way these houses were built and that's not sustainable,” she said.
3. H-Bomb tests were 'horrifying,' says Waterdown veteran
It isn't every day you get to talk to someone who has seen a weapon of mass destruction detonate.
Well, Joe Benn didn't really see it — when he was a witness to atomic bomb tests in the 1950s, he was told to turn the other way, put goggles on and cover his hands with his eyes.
“But we still saw the blast,” he told me, adding the explosion was like a flash of light.
Joe's story was incredible. He is in his 80s now and was just 16 when he witnessed the blast while on tour in the South Pacific with the British Navy. It took decades for the British Navy to award him the Nuclear Test Medal, and they had to find him in Waterdown to give it to him.
He spent years of his life being monitored for side effects from being so close to the blast, but by the time he was awarded, he said it seemed like the blast was from another lifetime.
I met Joe at the Waterdown Legion for a photo for the article and we chatted about his time in the British Navy, his life in Waterdown, his kids and his grandkids. I asked him to hold up a photo of himself from around the time he saw the blast and I think it's a good reminder of how much things have changed since he was asked to do this.
For younger people, the past can seem abstract, and it's good to remember there are still people with us who were there during the major events that seemed to happen in a different lifetime. And those people are in our communities, even small ones like Waterdown.
2. Eighteen years ago, a woman was driven to a Flamborough farm and never seen again
Nuseiba Hasan was only 26 years old when a family member picked her up from downtown Hamilton and brought her to the family farm in on 8th Concession West.
She was never seen again.
It has been just over 18 years since she was last heard from and Hamilton Police believe someone in the family has information and needs to come forward.
When FlamboroughToday was getting ready to luanch in January 2024, the editor-in-chief of Village Media, Michael Friscolanti, brought Nuseiba's story to my attention.
It took me the better part of the year to read through documents about Nuseiba's life and disappearance, interview her daughter and the Hamilton Police detective working on her case, and chip away at a story that seemed to grow longer the more I worked on it.
The story ended up being split into two parts — you can read Part Two here.
Something that was important to me when working on this story was to have an idea in mind of who Nuseiba was, outside of being a missing and likely murdered woman.
In court documents that described Nuseiba's life, she seemed like your average 20-something living in Hamilton, trying to finish college while being a young parent. I have had quite a few friends in this exact spot, and I know having your family there to support you is crucial.
The impression I had was that Nuseiba did her best to care for her child, but she had no support system. She was struggling with an abusive relationship and needed and wanted the love and support of her family.
The investigation remains open and Hamilton Police cannot speculate on what happened while the investigation is ongoing, but police believe a family member brought Nuseiba to the farm in Flamborough, that she was likely the victim of a homicide and that a family member has information about what happened.
1. 'I miss him': Wayne Miller's family searches for answers 3 years after his hit-and-run death
Wayne Miller was out for an evening walk in September 2021 when he was hit and killed — and the person responsible has never come forward.
Just before the third anniversary of his death, I asked Wayne's brother Jim if I could interview him.
Jim later told me he debated with himself on whether he wanted to do the interview. He gets requests every year around the time of his brother's death, and it's a painful subject, but he said yes anyway.
Jim asked to meet at the Grace Anglican Church on Mill Street North. I didn't realize until I pulled up to the church that there is a small cemetery on the property.
We met at a tree planted in memory of Wayne Miller and his wife Dianne, who passed away in the 1990s. The church and the memorial tree made for a neutral place to meet, but I asked if Wayne was in the cemetery and together we visited him.
I am sure many of us understand the feeling of visiting someone's grave. It can be a deeply personal experience, and I felt very appreciative that Jim shared this with me. It's one thing to interview a family member who has endured trauma and grief — it's another to speak to that person in the only place they have left to be with their family member.
After the interview, Jim led the way to Sealey Park, to speak more about Wayne's life and the things he loved — being a Cub Scout leader, adventuring with his younger brothers when they were boys, being a Hamilton Ticat, his love of dogs...
By the time I left, I felt an understanding of Jim, his own kindness and welcoming and the strength it takes for him to advocate for Wayne.
“Wayne always said, 'When there is loss, life has to go on,'" Jim told me. "I live it every day. I miss him."
