A 7-year-old from Whitby is standing up for kids who get left out

Readers of the Ajax News Advertiser voted Lakeridge Gardens the best nursing home and long-term care centre in this year's Readers' Choice awards, out of thousands of nominations and votes. If you're the one helping a parent choose a home right now, that's worth knowing.

Have a look at this video ⬇️

Source: Lakeridge Health • Long Term Care - Lakeridge Gardens

The Sunderland Lions Community Youth Theatre has six shows at Sunderland Town Hall: Fri Nov 13 at 7pm, Sat Nov 14 at 2pm, Sun Nov 15 at 2pm, Fri Nov 20 at 7pm, Sat Nov 21 at 2pm and Sun Nov 22 at 2pm. Tickets are $20 for adults, and $17 for ages 17 and under and for every balcony seat. Seats are reserved, so if you want your crew sitting together, book early.

This video will bring back memories I’m sure… ⬇️

Source: Star Ticketing · The Standard

The Grade 7 French Immersion class at St. Joseph CES in Bowmanville made its first visit to Clarington Place Retirement Residence, and they'll be back every month for the rest of the year. Teacher Mikaela Beattie leads it. The kids came with questions they'd written in advance, and the morning turned into conversation and card games. If you've got a kid that age, there's your dinner-table question tonight: what would you ask?

Source: PVNC Catholic District School Board

The City says more than 100 animals went home during Oshawa Animal Services' three National Adoption Weeks this year, run with PetSmart Canada in March, July and October. The last one wrapped Oct 25. If you missed it, you don't have to wait for the next one: the shelter at 919 Farewell St. is open Monday to Saturday, 10 to 4, and you can start an application online.

Source: City of Oshawa · Adoption Week

If you walk past Pinegrove, Glengrove or Bay Ridges Kinsmen Park this fall and see a fence, it's for a good reason. Pinegrove is getting new senior playground equipment and accessible ramps into both play areas, back around Nov 27. Glengrove gets new equipment and fresh safety surfacing, also around Nov 27. Bay Ridges Kinsmen gets new equipment on rubberized surfacing plus new swings, and it's due back first, on Nov 11. The City says the dates could shift with weather and materials.

Source: City of Pickering · Durham Post

Sat Nov 21 at Scugog Arena: doors at 4:30pm, puck drop at 6. Darcy Tucker is confirmed to play. Last year sold out and raised $106,000 for Oak Ridges Hospice, Durham's only residential hospice, where care is free for families. This year's goal is $130,000. Tickets are $35, VIP is $150, and kids under 10 get in free, so bring yours. Scugog council waived the ice and facility fees.

Source: Oak Ridges Hospice tickets · The Standard

If you grew up in Uxbridge, you probably know at least one of them. On Oct 15, the Uxbridge Kinsmen inducted the class of 2026 at the Seniors' Centre: Olympic equestrian Jessica Phoenix; the No-Faults midget baseball team of 1991 to 1995, 1992 OBA champions; Pat Higgins, the first recipient of the Order of Uxbridge and the man behind the Huck Finn fishing days; Jim Campbell, a Kinsman for more than 50 years who came up with the Wall in the first place; Cosmos photographer John Cavers; and hockey builder Jack Ballinger, an International Hockey Hall of Famer since 1994.

Source: The Uxbridge Cosmos · The Standard

It started with about 84,000 kids. Jayden won his group final and is now a quarter-finalist in Stan Lee's Super Kid competition, which puts him in the top one per cent. What he's really in it for, his mom says, is getting other kids to stand up for anyone who's bullied or left out, because kindness and courage are superpowers anybody can build. He's a big reader too. His catchphrase: "Reading is knowledge, and knowledge is power!" The winner stars in their own Stan Lee Universe comic and takes home $25,000. Voting for the semi-finals closes Thu Nov 5 at 10pm our time, and you can vote on his page.

Source: Jayden's Super Kid page · Daily Durham

🎃 Saturday, Oct 31, noon to 3pm: Downtown Whitby Trick or Treat. Free. The shops hand out treats, and you'll run into the Toronto Ghostbusters, Spider-Man and La Catrina, plus a scavenger hunt, a photo booth, balloon twisting and a fire truck with local firefighters and police.

Source: Downtown Whitby BIA

👻 Friday and Saturday: ghost walks at Pickering Museum Village. Lantern-lit walks through the old village at 3550 Greenwood Rd., and this weekend is the last of the season. Call 905-683-8401 to grab a spot. On Halloween itself the museum is also pouring a Victorian Gothic Tea.

Source: Pickering Museum Village

💡 Fri to Sun, Oct 30 to Nov 1: Spooktacular Light Show, Ajax. A drive-through route of more than two million lights at 462 Kingston Rd. E. Book a 30-minute time slot online, one ticket per car. You can do this one in your pyjamas.

Source: Spooktacular Light Show

🌲 Thickson's Woods in Whitby is protected for good. Ontario Nature announced today that it has bought the forest, the last old-growth white pine stand on Lake Ontario's north shore, and made it its 27th nature reserve. It's 24.86 acres with 400 m of shoreline on the Waterfront Trail, and it's home to 75 rare species, 20 of them at risk. Local naturalists first saved it from logging back in 1983, and the Durham Region Field Naturalists stay on as stewards. If you've never walked it, the trails are free and you can get there by transit.

Source: Ontario Nature

🐕 Durham Police have a new search dog, and his name is True. He's a German Shorthaired Pointer, born in Germany on June 29, 2025, and he's joining a brand-new search-and-rescue program. His job is finding missing kids and lost or vulnerable seniors. When he finds someone, he stays right beside them and barks until his handler gets there. Off duty, he's into hiking and his ball.

▶️ Watch True: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EKf3HYSZF/

Source: Durham Regional Police • DRPS Facebook

🕐 Clocks fall back at 2am Sunday, and Nov 1 to 7 is Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week. While you're changing the clocks, change the batteries in your smoke and CO alarms too. Since January, Ontario requires a CO alarm on every storey of any home with a fuel-burning appliance, fireplace or attached garage, plus one outside every sleeping area. Test them monthly and replace any alarm older than 10 years. A CO alarm doesn't sound like a smoke alarm, so make sure everyone at home knows the difference. If yours goes off and anyone feels headachy, dizzy or sick, get outside first, then call 9-1-1.

Source: City of Oshawa

🚆 Heading downtown this weekend? Lakeshore East GO trains run hourly between Durham College Oshawa GO and Union on Sat Oct 31 and Sun Nov 1, then it's back to normal Monday. If you're connecting on GO bus route 88 at Oshawa, expect about a 45-minute wait.

Source: Durham Post

🌾 If you farm, or you know someone who does, there's money for planting trees. Durham Region and its five conservation authorities have launched the Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program, which covers up to 100% of eligible projects like tree planting, wetland and grassland restoration, and pollinator strips. You'll need an Environmental Farm Plan, and CLOCA's Roy Mosher (365-633-0499) can walk you through it.

Source: CLOCA