Guelph Youth Music Centre Announces 2017 Wall of Fame Award

By Josephine Horton & Sally Wismer

Guelph Youth Music Centre (GYMC) is pleased to announce that retired elementary school teacher-librarian Beverly Matson has been named the 2017 addition to the Centre's Wall of Fame. The Wall exists to honour individuals with links to the Guelph area whose activities have added significantly to the arts experiences of young people in the community.

Beve has been described as "a tiny whirlwind of enthusiasm." She came to Guelph in 1967, and since that time has directed her love of drama and her boundless energy to working with children and youth in this community. Over the past fifty years, she has been involved in virtually every aspect of young people's theatre - as director, producer, costumer, wardrobe mistress, playwright, as well as teacher and mentor.

Beve was teacher-librarian at Ottawa Crescent Public School in Guelph where she set up special noon-hour and after-school programs and helped present two Gilbert and Sullivan student productions as well as many Reader's Theatre productions that she created from literary stories. Involving every child in the classroom, she often used string games and origami figures to illustrate these stories, or as one former student commented, she made "words ... spring to life from pages of the books."

When Beve retired in 1995, she turned some of her energy and enthusiasm to performing, directing and teaching puppetry, once again using string and origami to bring shows to life. Puppets Elora, Rainbow Day Camp and Camp Quality for children with cancer all benefited from her efforts. She also became involved in the Guelph Guild of Storytellers, performing in many venues over the years and using her drama talents and experience in yet another community endeavour.

Beverly Matson will be presented with the Wall of Fame Award Friday, August 25, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. at the Enabling Gardens at Riverside Park, Guelph, the summer location of the Guelph Guild of Storytellers. Following the induction, the storytelling session will happen as usual; the invited storyteller will be Beve Matson. There will be refreshments after the event.

The entire list of GYMC Wall of Fame honorees, beginning with Canadian operatic tenor Edward Johnson in 2002, can be found on the GYMC website at http://gymc.ca/aboutus/#walloffame

For more information contact Josephine Horton 519 821 0975