Each year, the Town of Saugeen Shores recognizes a local resident with the Heritage Conservation Award and, this year’s 2024 municipal award winner is Sheila Latham of Southampton.
As Chair of the Municipal Heritage Committee, Councillor Cheryl Grace, said that the award recognizes Latham’s leadership in preserving and enhancing the cultural and built heritage of Saugeen Shores through a variety of initiatives. “She and her husband David own a heritage landmark home in Southampton which they restored and successfully had provincially designated through Council approval. Her efforts have been instrumental in assisting with the designation process for buildings throughout Saugeen Shores … her meticulous research and presentations have supported property owners with recent designation applications for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Southampton, 697 Market Street in Port Elgin, the Southampton Lawn Bowling Club and 117 Huron Street south in Southampton.”
Grace pointed out that Latham’s research has uncovered stories and facts that “… bring to light the community’s history and its significance and she also created a designation template for public use on the Town’s website to aid the designation process.”
She was also a founding member of the Southampton Cultural Heritage Conservancy (SCHC), edits its newsletter and maintains its facebook page. Latham also organized the ‘History in my Attic: Love Letters in My Eaves’, where 11 residents shared anecdotes of historical artefacts found in Southampton homes to animate the community’s cultural history.
“Her leadership and commitment to the heritage of Saugeen Shores make her an ideal candidate for the 2024 Saugeen Shores Conservancy Award.”
Latham said the award demonstrates that Saugeen Shores values and appreciates the importance of heritage for the future of the town. “The ideals of heritage uplift our lives by maintaining our connections with the best hopes and dreams pursued by generations from the past and the promise they hold for the future. These connections enable us to develop a socially engaged community.”
Latham also referred to the works of poet, painter, decorative designer and the founder of the first preservation society in 1877, William Morris. “This is now known the world over as the National Trust. He felt the need to respect the artistry of our ancestors.”
“Thus, and thus only, can we protect our historic buildings and hand them down instructive and venerable to those who come after us.” … William Morris
“We all know how a strip of generic drive-thrus can destroy the independent shops on High Street but, here, rather than a shopping mall, we are fortuate to have the Southampton Market in a former furniture factory. Respecting the artistry of our ancestors, preserving the simplicity and authenticity of historic homes for their instructive and venerable for future generations, these ideals of heritage conservation, to which Morris referred, are richly represented in Southampton by the number of heritage artefacts by the Saugeen Ojibway Nation showcased in the Museum as well as the number of well-preserved pre-confederation homes.”
“Recognizing our heritage is so much more difficult when the tangible objects in the places where people lived, worked, played, prayed and died are lost,” said Latham.
To listen to Sheila Latham’s complete thank-you speech, CLICK HERE> at 7:51
