Collingwood’s Bugle Boy will be celebrating his 100th birthday on Aug. 5.
The Collingwood cenotaph was officially unveiled on the train station grounds on Aug. 5, 1923, where it still stands today. On Aug. 5, starting at 11 a.m., the Collingwood Legion will hold a service at the cenotaph to commemorate the occasion.
Ken Templeman, the Legion’s sergeant-at-arms and the event organizer, hopes attendees will bring birthday balloons in celebration of the milestone.
“I think it’s important we recognize he’s been standing there for 100 years,” Templeman told CollingwoodToday.
“These are community icons. For 100 years, the Bugle Boy has stood there in all kinds of temperatures ... through the Second World War, the Korean conflict, Afghanistan, and people have gathered there every year to pay our respects to those who have brought us the lifestyle that is envied by most in the world.”
The unveiling ceremony in 1923 was attended by returned soldiers and nursing sisters. There was a wreath-laying ceremony and Charles Brindley played the Last Post.
The memorial was created by Charles Macdonald, a Collingwood resident who joined the army in August 1914 and was overseas by Sept. 18 of that year. He was wounded and captured in April 1915, and remained a prisoner of war for three years.
He used his brother, Fred, to model the bugler for the monument. Fred Macdonald joined the army at the same time as his brother and was also wounded at Langemark. He escaped and returned to battle later.
SEE MORE: Thievery, physical threats: Collingwood’s cenotaph had a controversial journey to its final home
The Aug. 5 festivities will include a wreath laying, pipers, a poetry reading and a speech from a representative of Charles Macdonald’s family.
The Collingwood Museum will also unveil a display about the history of the cenotaph.
“The interest in the community is what floored me. When I started (planning) a couple of months ago, there was no interest. Now, people want to go. I’m tickled by it,” said Templeman.
“It’s a birthday party,” he said with a laugh.
The event will start at 11 a.m. at the cenotaph.
