If you’re passing by Sherbrooke West tomorrow morning (Thursday Sept 24th), keep en eye out for the descent of Mary and Jesus.
Dawson College announcedthat they will assemble two cranes in front of the CEGEP in order to remove the 17-foot statue and send it in for repairs and cleaning. That statue of the Mary and Jesus is over a century old, originally erected to watch over the Mother House of the Congrégation de NotreDame. It was rebuilt in 1946 after its head was knocked off by lightning. Dawson college inherited the statue when it took up residence inside the old Mother House in 1988.
During a routine light bulb change, it was recently discovered that Mary was cracked. My favourite part of the whole storyis that, according to the article, a routine light bulb change involves getting the phys ed teacher to scale the 170-foot building.
If all goes well, Mary and Jesus will rise again to their post atop the college before the first snow falls, but if the statue requires more extensive work it will be gone until Spring 2010. (If we have to wait until spring, can we please put it back up on Easter?)
3 comments
I was also puzzled by the fact that the PE teacher also does maintenance on the building! There must be more to this!
The PE teacher climbs the building during the Dawson open house. Actually it is usually a pair of them, husband and wife. It was probably during this that they noticed the crack, I would be surprised if they are made to go up on a regular basis to change lightbulbs.
First, She didn’t budge an inch today, she’s stuck! Tomorrow a special saw will be used to cut her free. They got her all wrapped up and protected for her trip down to earth, then nothing.
Second, these teachers are not FORCED to climb the building, it is something they do primarily for the open house. Changing the light bulbs is an added service. I’m sure they are rewarded for their service. and Alex is correct, they noticed the crack on one of their climbs to change the light bulbs.
If these 2 teachers didn’t change the bulbs, the college would need to hire a crane to do the work, this is much less expensive, and our teachers grt to practice their climbing. Everyone wins.