Gardens and Parks

Location______

Located beside the Belgrave Community Centre and Arena, the park includes ball diamonds, sports court and children's play area.

Distance 3 km loop Difficulty

Level 2-moderate, wear comfortable, sturdy shoes

Trail Use Walking, Skiing, Pets on leash Trail Hazards Poison ivy along the creek and river. Trail west of Nature Centre, bridge out November-May Trail Surface Natural surface, some boardwalks Cost for Trail Use None Driving Directions County Rd. #4 (London Rd.) North of Blyth to Nature Centre Road, turn left (west). About 7 km on right. 38854 Nature Centre Road.

Highway 4, north of Blyth.

Scenic picnic rest stop along highway 4 between Belgrave and Blyth.

Drummond Street East. Blyth

Memory Garden Annual Service is 3rd Sunday of September at 2pm. This garden was created by the Blyth Communities in Bloom Committee in ______. Contact Bev Elliott 519-523-4323.

273 Josephine Street, Wingham

Situated next to the North Huron Museum. A self-guided walking tour of points of interest in the town of Wingham relating to Alice Munro is now available - inquire at the North Huron Town Hall.

360 Josephine St. Wingham

This park is dedicated to Doc Cruickshank, radio pioneer and founder of CKNX which put Wingham on the map s the Radio and Television Town if Canada.

In 1926 Wingham's native son Wilford Thomas (Doc) Cruickshank built a primitive radio transmitter based on instructions he found in a Popular Mechanics Magazine. Some of his neighbours heard his transmission on their Crystal sets to his surprise. This was enough to set Doc on a life-long mission to bring radio to the region. The Radio station, which he called J.O.K.E. was later licensed with its first official call letters 10BP. It subsequently became CKNX Radio in 1935.

Twenty years later, in 1955, Doc founded CKNX Television. Both Radio and TV became important sources of entertainment and information for Midwestern Ontario residents and those visiting the region. Upon returning from service to Canada in the Second World War, Doc's son Gerald (Bud) and Doc's brother, John both joined the stations. All three men helped to expand CKNX's service to Huron County and far beyond. They employed scores of area residents and many of their employees went on to successful international careers in broadcasting. All three Cruickshank broadcasters remained from their birth, residents of Huron County and proud supporters of the region. Apart from serving the region with daily local news, entertainment, and agricultural information, Doc was active in developing his community in other ways.

In 1942 he was the driving force for promoting local sports in western Ontario through the formation of the Western Ontario Athletic Association (W.O.A.A.) Doc also served on many boards and operated other area business ventures.

In 1937 the CKNX Barn Dance went on the air as a weekly radio broadcast presented live from various towns in the region. The Barn Dance was broadcast for over 25 years and is recognized as the longest-lived radio broadcast of its kind in Canadian Radio.

In 1986 Doc was posthumously elected to the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in Ottawa and in 1987 he was also inducted into Ontario's Agriculture Hall of Fame in Milton. Shortly after Doc died in 1971, the town of Wingham dedicated a park in the heart of downtown to Doc and named it Cruickshank Park.