Station caretakers have left the building

 In News

For 18 years anyone enjoying the hospitality of Station on the Green has Steve and Irene Davenport to thank for keeping it tidy.
Actually, it was Irene who first took the job as custodian when the new community centre opened in Creemore in 2002. She said she was hired to clean the building after construction was complete, before the grand opening. Afterwards, she asked Phil Stevenson, one of the original board members, who would cleaning the facility on a regular basis? There she was, agreeing to the contract. With a new facility and a new volunteer board there some glitches early on but the community worked together and now things run pretty smoothly.
When Steve retired in 2008 he began to help Irene with her duties, taking on more and more. Now, they are a team, dividing and conquering when the facility is busy with rentals.
Depending on the schedule, there can be a tight turnaround between bookings and it is the Davenports’ duty to adjust the moveable interior walls to meet the configuration requirements of the Station. They also clean the public washrooms and wash the floors, on top of a long list of other duties.
Renters are supposed to leave the facility as they found it but that doesn’t always happen. One perk is that they sometimes score some great leftovers.
“If you leave some food in [the fridge] I eat it, but she throws it away,” said Steve. They laugh remembering the time a huge untouched cake was left behind by a certain MP so they took it home and put it in their freezer.
The Davenports say they have met a lot of people over the years and have prepared the Station for countless weddings, celebration-of-lifes, and birthday parties for young and old.
Irene said she is turning 65 soon and she had been thinking about retiring from the job but felt some trepidation. After being off work for four months due to the facility’s closure during the pandemic, she kind of liked having the time off and realized it was time to retire. She has nine grandchildren, and now a great grandchild so, “it’s time,” said Irene.
Steve, who had been thinking it was time to scale back their work, said when the township-owned facility re-opens, there will be new standards of operation so it’s a good time for a new person to take it on.
The Davenports aren’t fully retiring, though. Irene will continue to clean for her private clientele and Steve will continue his custodial duties for the Creemore BIA and the library.

Recent Posts

Leave a Comment

0