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A Halifax woman with terminal cancer is stepping up to help Ottawa seniors pay for their pottery studio classes, after the city jacked up class fees by more than double.

Linda Taggart, who lives with Stage 4 breast cancer, says she’ll pay up to $1,000 to seniors who take pottery classes at the Nepean Visual Arts Centre.

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This newspaper reported the city is increasing the class fee to over $450, compared to the $149 currently charged to seniors.

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READ MORE: Seniors ‘hit between the eyes’ with skyrocketing pottery class fees

Myrna Lightman told this newspaper she had been attending pottery classes at the Nepean Visual Arts Centre for over 20 years, forging life-long friendships with a group of devoted potters. Many in the group are newcomers or retirees living on fixed incomes, but they all bond over their shared love of pottery.

“Many people are living alone, they’re widowed, or their husbands have Alzheimer’s disease,” Lightman said. “This is their break from reality, to get into the studio to decompress.”

That resonated with Taggart, who discovered pottery after her cancer diagnosis in 2020. She says it fills her days between regular scans and blood tests.

Taggart thought the city’s increased fee for the pottery studio class, which is geared for experienced potters and doesn’t have an instructor, was “crazy.”

“You’d hate to see somebody not be able to go,” she said in an interview.

Like Lightman, Taggart is a hand-builder, shaping clay into bowls, mugs and more with just her hands. No wheel required.

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“I can’t even begin to explain the calm that it brings to my life,” Taggart said. “I’ve set up a little studio at home, and I go in there and I get lost in time. I have a clock in my studio, and I don’t have it set, because there is no time when it comes to pottery.”

Taggart meets with five women each week. to glaze and fire her projects. “We’ve become the closest group of friends,” she said. “And that’s what drew me to what Myrna has to say, that they’ve been together for so long. Pottery is the glue that cements us together, but out of that comes these beautiful friendships, and we share the good times and bad times.”

Those friendships are especially important as people age, Taggart says. She retired early from her career as an accountant after her cancer diagnosis.

“There’s the shared love of pottery, but also the social aspect of it. And it is important as we get older, because we don’t get out as much. We’re not out in the workforce, going out and doing things.”

Plus, as a cancer patient, “it’s important to stay active,” she said, adding her oncologist believes her pottery habit, along with walking her dog Annie, has “given me extra time.”

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The City of Ottawa previously told this newspaper the $450 increase would be phased in over four years. For the 2024 spring session, the price is $330 for 10 three-hour sessions.

In an emailed statement, Dan Chenier, manager of the city’s recreation, cultural and family services, said the city has seen “exponential growth” in people taking its pottery classes over the last decade. “The expense of pottery supplies, including chemicals, specialized equipment and kiln repairs and parts, have increased significantly over time, while increases to the recovery fees have been minimal in comparison.”

Studios also require the expertise of a technician to fire the pieces, which adds a “significant but necessary cost to the service,” Chenier said, adding that the current fee “only minimally covers the ongoing operational costs.”

He added access to pottery facilities “is not intended to be a core subsidized municipal service, and there is no tax funding dedicated to offset the cost of client access.”

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