1958

CASTLEGAR NEWS, Thursday, Sept. 11,

WALDIE EMPLOYEE'S PICNIC AT DEER PARK, 1926

Robson Kecreation Society Story

A history of the Robson Re- tce for the purpose of creating a

creation Society really must start
with a history of the Robson
Gemmunity Hall.: Sometime
around 1890 a hotel was built
at Robson by Louis Leveque to
accomodate lumberjacks and was
then used during the days of the
railroad construction,

‘When the work crews pulled
out the hotel was closed down.
Over the years it was i

Robson Recreation Society and
arranging for this purchase was
elected consisting of R, A. Fowl-
er, George Magwood, James
Leamy, Mrs. W. T. Waldie and
Mrs, R. Berry.

This committee found it nec-|
essary to have the Robson Re-
crention Society incorporated
and registered to permit it to
hold

‘by various families working here.
or while looking for a place to’
build their home.

w. T.

This was done in 1950 and ar-
rangements made through the
Bank of Montreal to borrow the

at Robson, purchased the ho-
tel in the 1920's and gave em-
ployment to local residents
building on a hall where dan-
ces, concerts, ctc, were held..
‘When Mr. Wickham sold the
store to Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy
he also sold them the hotel and
hall. When the Kennedy’s were
thinking of selling the hotel a
number of citizens got together

and called a public meeting in
the Robson Church Hall on
March 2, 1950.

At this meeting the

money on a first mort-
gage with a number of those in-
terested personally underwriting
the loan,

The society. then renovated
two upstairs apartments and the
rent from these and income from
card parties, dances and turkey
suppers paid off this mortgage in
slightly over two- years,

A banquet was held.in the
hall on April 11, 1953, celebrat-
ing the burning of this mortgage.
The hall was then kept busy
with handicraft groups, badmin-

ity of Robson decided to pur-|

chase the Robson Hotel to use
Halt, A it.

ton, guides,
cubs, scouts, play school, a li-

I

However, as time went on
the hall began to need many
repairs. The roof needed new
shingles and then the founda-
tions began to give away. Af-
ter many meetings, estimates,
Blans, ete., it was decided at a
general meeting in 1954 to pull
down the old hotel and leave
the hall to be added to.

The next two years passed
getting bids on tearing down the
hotel part ‘and on putting on a
new hall,

The hotel part was torn
down and then at a special meet-
ing on Nov. 3, 1956, it was decid-
ed to. borrow money sufficient
to allow for new foundations un-
der the hall, new roof, new floor,
and the end boarded up..

Under the capable manage-
ment of the new president, Mrs.
A. W. Thorpe, this was done and
the hail was back in operation
for the 1956 Christmas concert
and has been in constant use
ever since,

‘The people are now planning
for a new kitchen and indoor
toilet facilities, It is hoped this
will be an faot by

brary and many other

as a Cs all.

_ too to mention,

MAKE CANCER DRESSINGS

By MRS. ROSE JOHNSON
In 1952 a group of Eastern
Star ladies decided it was time
to have an Eastern Star chapter
in Castlegar.
We got together and decided
to meet monthly and have card
parties and social evenings to
raise money to start a chapter.
These gatherings were held at a
different home cach month in
either Robson, Kinnaird or Cas-
tlegar.
We worked for two years to
raise cnough money to get.
started, -Our thanks are ex-
tended to Mrs. May Adle who
did all the writing to the grand
chapter in Vancouver to get us,
started.

At these meetings we had to
decide on a name for our chap-
ter. At that time the Minto was
taken off the lake — the ladies
thought Minto would be a good
name for our chapter so we call-
ed-it that.

The captain of the Minto was
pleased to hear we were calling
our chapter after the Minto and
he presented us with two tall
glasses off the boat. We used
these glasses as flower vases,
The ladies who worked to-
gether for two years are Mrs,
Clara Saunders, Ivy Couch, May
Adie, Marian Sutherland, Lil Me-
Kenzie, Jessie Smibert, Rose
Johnson, Gladys Askew, Celia
Spence, Ella Davis, Jane Deans,
Agnes Groutage, Marion Grum-
mett, Mary Townsend (now liy-
ding in Vancouver,) and Eva
Burnham (since passed away).
On March 27, 1954, our chap-
ter was instituted when the,
Twin Rivers Hall was packed
with visitors from

Trail, Nelson, Rossland, North-
port, Kettle Falls and other
US. points.

the end of next year.

There are about 45 charter

Eastern Star Held Teas,
Parties, fo Get Started

@ Gancer Tea for Cancer Research
@ Minto Drinking Glasses Make Vases

members and Mrs, Clara Saun-
ders was installed as the first
Worty Matron and Garnet Cou-
skey, the first Worthy Patron,

- After working for six months
under dispensation we were con-
stituted and received our charter.
The date was Nov. 12, 1954.

We mect twice a month on
the first and third Tuesdays. A
social meeting is held afler a
short business mecting on the
third Tuesday.

Our project is cancer dress-
ings and we mect every first
and third Fridays in the Twin
Rivers Wall to prepare them,
Our thanks are extended to.
the Iwin Rivers Holding Co.
for letting us have the hall
rent free for the cancer dress-
ing station.

‘The dressings are of different
styles and sizes and are free to
any person needing them. Any,
person in the District can have|
these dressings by getting in
touch with the convenor, Mrs.
Milda Oswald in Castlegar or
the Worthy Matron, Mrs. Rose
Johnson in Robson.

Each year a cancer tea and
Twin Rivers Hell. All proceeds
dréssing display is held in the
from the tea are turned over for
cancer research,

(continued from page one)

paign put on by the branch was
a dance in the old hall under
the direction of J. Waldie and R.
Berry. It raised the sum of $52,

Last year the branch's radio
bingo realized over $1,000 for
District projects, Both were
outstanding successes for their
time.

From a small group of about
a dozen men the branch has
gtown to its present member:
ship of 210.-

LEGION HAS HELPED THE WHOLE DISTRICT

A careful study of the min-
utes of Legion meetings through
the years will show, that it has
worked actively and untiringly
in assisting veterans and their
families,

‘What lies ahead for Branch
No, 170? With over'200 members
all working together it will con-
tinue to discharge its recognized
responsibilities to veterans and
at the same time assume an ac-
tive role in the life of the com-
munity,

BOX 205

DEFOE'S TRANSFER

BULLDOZING — LOADING — HAULING
Castlegar,

B.C,

PHONE 2101

PAYS TRIBUTE
To The
OLDTIMERS
THE PROVINCE
And
THE FALL FAIR

IN THIS CENTENNIAL YEAR
1858 — 1958

i.

sour publicity with’ “Dennis the

AFTERNOON REFLECTIONS -- by Gladys Collinson

@ An Expired Licence and the RCMP

© Peoplo Unconscious of Each Cther

@ ‘Your Hair, it iz Beautiful’

@ T-shirts, Sacks, and 100 Years | -

Folk

Dear Friends and Hi

tween and Nelson, I

"Tis but a century since I
left you all, and during the lapse
of a hundred years so very much
has happened that I would like
to tell you about it,

_ As most of you probably
know we are now residents of
‘Vancouver, and as I gaze over
this vast city twinkling with a
million lights our thoughts and
memories span the miles to
those we left behind,

Whether, by becoming a res-
ident of Vancouver I gain
greater prestige as a columnist,
remalns to bo seen, According
to our dearly beloved Castle
gar News, people “either Iove|
my column or hate St.”

Bo that as it may, I did)
feel that the editor was a
little prejudiced because, right!
under the heading “Collinson’s
‘go to Vancouver” he neatly
printed a picture of Dennis the
Menace with the caption “Ev-

 erybody likes a change of
place.”

i. In fact I alznost expected to
find the usual quotation, “Any
similarity to persons.or pic-
tures in this story is purely in-

* tentional.”
. ‘There are, no doubt, some of
our friends who will feel’ that
the opinion of the editor was
perhaps a little harsh, then again
there may be others who will
heartily agree that any existing
similarity was justified.

Despite any miffed feelings
I may have harboured in sharing

Menace, I can assure you that
they were dispelled as we slid
into first base on the welcome
mat of Vancouver.

When 3 think back on the

incident now I wonder how we|'

ever managed to get off first
base. Yon see our first wel-
; coming committee happened to
* be a couple of’highway patrol
men, who insisted very politely
but firmly that I produce my
drivers Ucence for. inspection,
and as I have been producing

saw no reason why £ shouldn't
produce it again.

The result of this somewhat
boring but routine procedure was

‘startling, After the first casual

glance, the officer squinted up
his eyes, moved closer into the
beam of my headlights and took
another good look, "Madam," he
growled, this time squinting di-
rectly at me, “do you realize
that this licence expired two
years ago?" At first I thought he
must be kidding, but as the
scowl only deepened, the horrible
truth of the situation began to
slowly dawn on me.

Sure enougn, truth is some-
times stranger than fiction and
as a lot of my friends will no
doubt agree, this sort of thing
could happen only to me. In all
innocence I assused the officer
that I really was unaware of
the expiration.

I knew by the look on his
face that this sounded pretty
feeble, but, and the happy
thought struck me, hadn’t I been
showing my licence regularly
for the past few years, and not
one of the bright boys on the
side of the law and order had
even noticed the time lapse un-
til now. .

This bit of information
thrown cannily into the spokes
of justice slowed him down a
bit and I could see that he
was wavering between the idea
of handing me a summons
which would net the city about
$25, or walve the. summons

which would do the city out of
§25 but perhaps save {ace for a
good many officers of the law.

Policemen hate a woman in
court who just could be a blab-
ber-mouth.

Another thing that intrigues
me with city life is that the
people one mingles with day in
and day out, on the street, in
buses, in stores, are entirely
unconstious of each other, in
fact upon looking more closely
at some of them I am not so
sure that they are ‘not just un-
conscious period.

One sees extremes in every
type, from the teen-ager in tight
pants and pony tail, engrossed
entirely in a rock and roll world
of ‘thelr own to the teen-ager
who is the first one in the bus
to get up and offer one his seat,

As a newcomer to Vancou-
ver, I am perhaps more aware
of the behavior of the people
then had I lived here all my life.
For instance, a visit to a hair
dressing salon proved to be quite
an experience. -

Not being acquainted per-
sonally or impersonally either for
that matter with any hair dress-

ers, I merely ran my fingers
down ‘the names in the phone
book and chose one at random,

Here again, no one else but

me would ever have had the
ill fortune to choose the tem-
peramentul, egotistical, inspired
-with-his-own-art male that I
did,. merely to have my hair
cut and styled.

To begin with, I arrived right
on time only to be ignored ‘by at
least five attendants, finally one
girl approached me and with
complete abstraction, took my
name, address, phone number,
have in no way dampened my

it regularly for the last year
or 80 every timo I travelled be-

age, color, sey, ete.

I failed to see what alt this
had to do with cutting my hair,
but decided to act just as ab-
stract as the rest of them. This
proved a mistake.

I was completely at their
mercy, one girl whisked the bob-
by pins out of my hair, picked
up a strand or two clucking in
a very disapproving manner as
she did so. Another girl then took
over, she looked unhappy too,
muttered something under her
breath which sounded like “sotw-
barb, stewbarb.” Later I dis-
covered she meant “too bad,"
only just what was too bad I
am not quite sure.

Probably this was just one
of their own private signals, be-
cause the next moment the great
styHst himself approached me
warily, surrounded by mirrors I
watched him gazing intently at
the back of my head, then he
backed off for a side attack, fin-
ally stroking his beard fondly, he
moved to the rear again,

Evidently, this time his mind
was made up, he began ‘styling
my hair’ in earnest, subtly at
first, then with mounting en-
thusiasm.

I tried several times to tell
him all I wanted was to have
my hair a bit shorter than it
had been when I entered. At
the best of times I am seclssor
shy and believe me this was no
ordinary barber, Every strand
was measured and clipped,|
snipped and trimmed,

Audrey Hepburn would have
nothing on me by the time I got!
out. It was my turn to Jook un-
happy. I kept my eyes closed
as long as possible, I knew I'd
have to face it sooner or later.

The ‘snipping finally stopped
and I opened my eyes slowly. The
eyes I met in the mirror were
glazed slightly but shining. “It
iz a picture, madam, it iz art,
your hair has never looked so
beautiful.” Glancing quickly at
the hair on the floor all around
me I was inclined to agree with
him, it looked so lovely lying
there.

I refrained from cying out
loud, pressed a bill into his
moist and trembling palm and
departed, It was my own choice
after all,

Experiences. such as these
ardour to -become a citizen of

time ‘no doubt, become adept,

at sprinting for buses, getting off
at the right stops and driving
through green lights instead of
red ones.

The citizens themselves, the
consclous ones I mean, have
all been very helpful and pa-
tient. The police at the corn-
ers of the strecta (who have
no interest in my expired
drivers Hcence) have drawn
Uttle ;maps ‘for me and the
street car do calk

THE CASTLEGAR BELL RINGERS

out the next stop, if you listen
carefully the garbled lingo be-
comes an intelligent word and
what sounded like graveland-
broccoli suddenly becomes
Granville and Broadway.

A hundred years is such a
little time and yet it is a century.
Customs and times have changed
almost beyond recognition, but
under it all people are essentially
the same, they live and love and
laugh, some cry, some die, but
time goes on relentlessly.

One laughs at tthe styles of
a hundred years ago, the store
windows are full of old time mer-
chandise, one stops to gaze at
high-top button boots and bustles,
high silk hats and heavy gold
watch chains,

I cant help wondering just
how my great great grandchild-
Ten will respond to the brevity of
our customs today, No one could
blame them for rolling in the
aisles when the old family al-
bum is brought out and their
great great grandmother appears
in pedal pushers and a T-shirt
with her hair cut like a small
boy who has spent the day fish-
ing.

As We Stand On The

‘Threshold Of The Future,
We Pause To Honor Those

Who Came Before.

CASTLEGAR TRANSFER

PHONE 6091

Don’t
Be Old Fashioned

Fava HEATING EQUIPMENT

Times have changed over the past
hundred years, bringing the residents
of. this province the very latest in
heating fuel for modern day conven-

SERVICE | . i > as
60 HAND IN HAND o : z = = ee ay er ; 7; y: : _ ient living. .
ania, Cen fe SWITCH TO GAS or Olt

For comfort and cenvenience this

You can depend-on both at the
CASTLE MOTORS IN CASTLEGAR

NERVE CENTRE FOR
B.C. COMMUNICATIONS

Columbis. High atop the building itself, the last
of the chain of microwave towers extonding from
the Atlantic to the Fasifle will flash long distance

winter — Let us give you an estimate

This is a time to celebrate and

at the same time pause to re-

member the pioneors Sad this
"great land,

on your installation now!

SMITH’S

Plumbing & eating

409 FRONT ST.

2 AS, y}

se SS

WSS

When the twelve-storey addition to the William . SS
Farrell Building in: downtown Vancouver is Mp Nh MM k Se
completed, the building will be, in a very real 2
sense, the ner tre for B.C. i fephone calls and teievisi
the continent ut the speed of light. And in the
building’s I centre, televis
programmes received from the East or the South
will be monitored for clarity of sound and
picture, then passed along to the local TV station
for transmission to thousands of B.C. homes,

“Whatever a man sovreth
That shall he reap.’
THE HARD WORK AND ALL THE PLANNNG PUT FORTH BY THE

EARLY DAY SETTLERS OF THiS PROVINCE HAS BROUGHT RICH
RETURNS FOR ALL. NO MATTER: WHAT THEIR CHOSEN PROFESSION.

: To The and The

across

Here will be housed intricate telephone equip-
ment enabling 192 Long Distance operators to
dial direct to numbers in distant cities, without
the agsistance of an operator in the other city.
Here will be the network centre for the radio
relay chains linking many points in British

CASTLE MOTORS LTD.

JiMMY LAMONT, Manager
CASTLEGAR, B.C.

Greetings Province Fair

___Elk Drive-In Theatre

BRITISH COLUMBIA TELEPHONE COMPANY PHONE 3401

. “Canada's Second Largest Telephone System"

CASTLEGAR, B.C.

vue