April 29, 2024

Hello Members and Friends,

Somehow, I missed doing a March newsletter – sorry about that.

After a lot of thought, our Directors decided at our last meeting to not pursue hosting of the BC Historical Federation’s convention for 2025. We do have an interest in hosting and sharing the wealth of our history with others. We need a person to head up the committee as we have lots of ideas for presenters, venues, refreshments, etc. We will keep considering being a host and keep searching for help. Thank you to all of you who volunteered your time for small tasks and all your good wishes.

Jo Ann and I drove over to Hall Printing in Trail to view the reprint of Report # 18. We liked what we saw, and the price was great, so we went ahead with our order. I drove over and picked them up and was able to show them to the Directors at our last meeting. Les Johnson was happy that the PDF he put together worked very well and Hall Printing were pleased to have their name mentioned on the 4th reprint. We will still sell this Report for $18.75 – $15.00 for members and wholesale. A good deal all around. We still have forty some copies of the 3rd reprint – will be selling them off first.

Members from the Boundary Woodworker’s Guild (Bob McTavish, Dick Jones, and John Walders) and BHS Director Ted Harrison travelled up to our Jewel Lake cabin on April 23rd to attach the railings to the fence poles. The work proceeded with alacrity and the men were finished in time for lunch. They were going to put the deer antlers up, but I did not get to stay around to see that happen.

The memorial bench for Al Donnelly looks wonderful – bet he would have liked it. We stored it in the cabin for now and the guys checked out what was needed to place the bench in front of the cabin’s front window. It will be attached to the cabin and taken in for winter to protect it from the elements. Huge thanks again to the Boundary Woodworkers Guild for their skill and artistry and their willingness to help us.

Keep in mind our annual picnic in August and that will also include a memorial for Al. Hoping his friends will attend with stories. We will be choosing a date at our next meeting and thinking about preparations. We will have the bench in place for the picnic/memorial.

Not sure why we are not getting our online copy of the BC Historical Federation magazine. I will have to make a phone call, but we want to congratulate member Vera Polonicoff on having her painting of a Doukhobor village featured on the cover of the Spring Issue. Lovely.

I have signed us up for Founders’ Days and the Rock Creek Fair as vendors.

Les Johnson is continuing to work on Al Donnelly’s two books – hoping we might have them for sale at Founder’s Days and our Report # 19 committee is still looking for stories for the next report. Now we better understand the big break between reports that existed earlier. It is time consuming and a search but so interesting.

We were excited to see the park sign for Lois Haggen Park go up but then quickly realized Haggen was misspelled. The City was quickly notified, and it rated a mention in the Gazette. Hopefully, it will be corrected soon. Barbara Ann’s Park sign is up and looks good. The City has done a nice job on signs – we are waiting for information about Mayor Sugimoto’s Park placement. Hopefully, we might be consulted.

Our next regular meeting is on Wednesday, May 22 2024 – 1 p.m. at either the Boundary Woodworkers Guild meeting room or City Park if the weather is good and the river is not up. I will send a brief note around once we know the location. (** this meeting is a week later than usual as I will be away at a grandson’s grad.)

In history,

Doreen Sorensen

Secretary