On Sept. 13, I had the pleasure of attending the official opening of the new outdoor pavilion in Navan. Besides giving me the opportunity to renew acquaintances with a lot of old friends, the event proved to me once again that Navan is one of the most generous communities in Ottawa, the province of Ontario and quite possibly the entire country.

In the case of the pavilion, the local com-munity contributed more than $700,000 to the $1.1 million project. Keep in mind the entire population of Navan is less than 2,500 people.

Navan’s giving nature goes back to when the village’s first arena was built in 1955 with funds raised entirely by the community

Then when the second arena was condemned in 1982, the community stepped up once again and to help fund a new building.

Navanites also reached into their pockets to help build the Navan Curling Club in 1990, and again in 2010 during a fundraising campaign for the new cenotaph.

In between, they contributed more than $200,000 to help pay down the debt of the 2001 International Plowing Match which was held near the village on the Rivington Farm.

Unfortunately, the plowing match, which normally attracts tens of thousands of people from across North America, was held from Sept. 18-22, one week after 9/11 had occurred. As a result of the terrorist attack on the twin towers and the immediate impact it had on tourism, the plowing match lost over a million dollars.

An organized effort was launched in the aftermath of the plowing match to raise the necessary funds to cover the debt. In response, J.T. Bradley’s Country Convenience Store owner John Bradley held a series of street dances to help raise over $100,000 for the effort.

Other successful fundraising campaigns include the St. Mary’s Church renovation project during which more that $500,000 was raised.

Every time the residents of Navan have been asked to give, they’ve answered the bell time and again, which is a tribute to the generosity of this small community and the legacy of giving that has been created by successful generations of Navanites.

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It’s been a wonderful past few weeks for Canadian sports.

Between the World Track and Field Championships in Japan and the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, Canadian sports fans have had a lot to cheer about.

It started with Evan Dunfee’s win in the 35km race walk on the opening day of the World Track and Field Championships and continued with the double gold medals won by the hammer throwing duo of Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzburg and Marco Arop’s thrilling silver medal performance in the men’s 800 metres. But that was only a warm up to the accomplishments of Canada’s women’s rugby team.

After winning all three of the their games in their pool at the World Cup, the team easily dispatched Australia in the quarterfinals to set to an epic semi-final against the defending champions from New Zealand.

The Black Ferns had won six of the last seven World Cup tournaments including the the last two in 2017 and 2021 and they have an 82 percent winning record in test match rugby.

But was supposed to be a highly competi-tive semi-final turned into a rout as Canada scored the first three tries of the game and roared to a 17-0 in the first 25 minutes.

The Canadian women would add another try before halftime and by the break they would enjoy a 24-7 lead. After the intermission they scored a fifth try on their opening possession of the second half and then held on for the 31-19 win.

Canada will face the host team from England in the final this Saturday. The Red Roses are the number one ranked team in the world and they will have the advantage of playing in front of a home crowd.

The task facing the Canadians is a difficult one, but in reality they’ve already won the hearts of a nation.

I must admit that I’m not normally a big fan of women’s team sports, but this team has turned me into a huge fan of women’s rugby and I plan to tune into my TV at 11 a.m. this Saturday to cheer them on. I hope you will too.

(If you wish to comment on this or any other View Point column please write to Fred Sherwin at fsherwin@orleansstar.ca)