It’s time to find this year’s Good Neighbour!

If you’re tired of reading bad news in the headlines, you’ll love our third annual Good Neighbour Award!

Each year we put out the call for nominations, and every year you send us wonderful stories of the people around you who help the world in ways large and small. We hear about casserole-makers and cookie-bakers; charity organizers and cheerful helpers; faithful housesitters, handyman husbands, animal lovers and more. There is, of course, no way to choose from amongst all these marvellous folks to pick just ONE Good Neighbour of the Year, so we draw one name to represent ALL the good neighbours of Lynn Valley.

Last year, we were proud to present the LynnValleyLife Good Neighbour plaque and a basket of local prizes to Gord Trousdell, who inspired many people on his street with his kindness to all. The year previous, our Good Neighbour award went to Rosemary Postlethwaite of Lynn Valley United Church. Now who will be the LynnValleyLife Good Neighbour for 2014? We’re looking forward to finding out!

Please send us your story about the person in our community who you would love to see recognized for their good-heartedness (it doesn’t have to be one of your next-door neighbours, but it does have to be a Lynn Valley resident!) In the weeks before Christmas, we will share our favourite stories on the website and draw from amongst them the recipient of the 2014 Good Neighbour Award.

While quantities last, everyone who takes the time to nominate a good citizen of Lynn Valley will receive a copy of Wintertide, a collection of stories, memories, recipes and photos celebrating Christmas on the North Shore. It makes for lovely holiday reading – and a great gift!

As always the winner will receive a special plaque and a gift basket of local treats. We always find something to reward the person who nominated them, too!

Please send your story (just a paragraph or two will do, doesn’t have to be fancy) to [email protected]. (Don’t wait too long, either – we hate to say it, but Christmas will be here before you know it!) All entries are due by Friday, December 19. Please include your name and contact information, as well as that of the person you are nominating.

The announcement will be made at a community event in the weeks just preceding Christmas. We look forward to reading your stories over the weeks to come, and learning more about our neighbourhood angels-in-action!

Make good in the ‘hood – join the LV Services Society!

Last time LynnValleyLife put out the call for board members for the LV Services Society, we’re glad to say that at least one of our readers stepped up to add their voice and vision to shaping our neighbourhood. The LVSS has asked us to spread the word again, so if you missed the boat last time, here’s your chance! Here are the details, as provided by the LVSS:

LV Services Society logoThe Lynn Valley Services Society (LVSS) is looking for additional board members.   The LVSS provides social and recreational programming to the community of Lynn Valley and beyond.  It also has a mandate for facility management in Lynn Valley.  Their primary facility is Mollie Nye House, a heritage community building managed for the District of North Vancouver.  LVSS has determined that they will expand their target group, area and range of services within the next two years.

We are looking for board members who:

  • Are enthusiastic and collaborative, with experience in the non-profit sector.
  • Have experience in Multicultural and Diversity concerns, Management, Executive, IT, Finance/Bookkeeping, HR Grant Writing, Volunteer management, Program coordination, Youth Counselling, ESL, social media or website building/maintenance.
  • Can diversify the representation on our board.  We encourage participation from minority groups who are seeking services in Lynn Valley.

Time Commitment: monthly board meeting of 2-3 hours; an additional 6 hours per month following through on action items or working with specific committees of the Board.

Position Term:  Two years

For more information or to apply, please send an email briefly summarising your interest to [email protected]  before Friday, October 17th, 2014. Be sure to include a phone number where we can contact you during the evening and one of our current board members will be in touch.

 

Online project offers glimpse into Draycott’s war years

Some current-day citizens of Lynn Valley knew Walter Draycott when he was alive. Most of us, however, know Walter as the man sitting on the bench, immortalized in bronze, in Pioneer Park on the corner of Lynn Valley Road and Mountain Highway. Others know him best from the pages of his excellent community history, Early Days in Lynn Valley, a must-have book usually available for purchase at the Community History Centre in the old Lynn Valley school.

Now, however, there is another, more intimate way to get to know him: from the pages of his own diary, in an online chronicle of his years spent as a military sketch artist in World War One. The unique project will unfold, one day at a time, each diary entry posted exactly 100 years after it was written. The North Vancouver Museum and Archives sent out the following press release today, and for a wonderful short video description of the project, click here.

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Walter DraycoOn September 13, 2014, the North Vancouver Museum & Archives launched a unique online project documenting and contextualizing one man’s experience of World War I. In commemoration of the centenary of the War, each of Walter Draycott’s war-time diary entries is being posted 100 years from the day it was written. The project, entitled “Walter Draycott’s Great War Chronicle” spans the four years of the War between 1914 and 1918. It will be updated daily between 2014 and 2018, with personal photographs, battlefield drawings, and other materials, complementing Walter’s terse diary entries.

An early settler in Lynn Valley,  Walter Draycott answered the call for men at the start of World War I. By the end of 1914 he was thrust into combat on the Western Front as part of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

Years later, upon his death at the age of 102, Walter left his entire life-time’s set of diaries (1907-1985) to the North Vancouver Museum and Archives (NVMA). According to Archivist Janet Turner, “NVMA staff has long been intrigued with Walter’s life, the documents he left behind, and in particular, the tiny volumes that recorded his years as a soldier and military topographer.”

“The 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War this year provides a perfect opportunity to share these unique materials with Canadians and the world,” Turner explains. “Walter Draycott’s personal records are significant because they provide an entry point into the momentous changes that were taking place at the time.”

Throughout the website, audio, essays, photographs, and other resources help connect Walter’s words to a rapidly shifting political, economic, and cultural landscape. Many of the significant diary entries are brought to life with voice-over readings by North Vancouver actor Gordon Roberts, veteran of the musical Billy Bishop Goes to War.

Yearly essays by BC military historian, David Borys, link Walter’s personal experience as a self-described ‘pawn’ to the unfolding global conflict. Photo albums help visitors envision Walter’s world with personal portraits, battlefield drawings, and images from his original handwritten diaries.

Walter Draycott Statue, Lynn Valley

Walter Draycott’s Great War Chronicle” is presented by the North Vancouver Museum 

& Archives with funding from Veterans Affairs Canada, City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, Friends of the North Vancouver Museum & Archives Society, and the Canada Summer Jobs program. The interactive website can be found at:  greatwarchronicle.ca

Don’t miss Friday Night Live season opener!

We’re super excited that Friday Night Live will soon be back, with its weekly run of musical and comedy improv starting up again on September 26. It’s always good for a laugh – well, many laughs – and FNL’s variety of guest artists gives regular audience members an unparalleled opportunity to experience an amazing cross-section of both seasoned and new Vancouver-area performers from different genres. It’s a cheap, easy and FUN way to get off the couch on a Friday night and expose your kids (and yourself!) to local culture!

AlanAndrewInterviewOct2013-150x150There are free refreshments included with your $10 ticket, and often a no-host wine bar for pre and post-show socializing, so be sure to get there when doors open at 7 for the 7:30 p.m. show. The performance takes place in Lynn Valley United Church at 3201 Mountain Hwy.

The season opener will be a real treat with a Shakespearian twist. Here’s what the Friday Night Live website has to say about it:

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We are going to open this season of FNL with an amazing show!  Fresh off their run at Bard on the Beach, the Grand Theft Impro Players will be celebrating Culture Days with FNL, performing their fantastic brand of musical improv – with a Shakespearian twist!  Spin the Wheel of Will to choose the inspiration for the show!

WHEEL-OF-WILL-300x300Ever wondered what it would have been like if William Shakespeare had written Broadway musicals? Well, If the Bard had had the chance to meet Rodgers and Hammerstein, Frank Loesser, or Stephen Sondheim this is the show they would have written!   What you’ll see on September 26th will be performers from Grand Theft Impro creating a completely improvised, never been done before and never to be done again, musical theatre play based on the plots and language of William Shakespeare. A Fringe Festival hit in 2012, running in early September at Bard on the Beach for a limited run, and September 26th at Friday Night Live!

Come celebrate BC Culture Days on September 26th at Friday Night Live for William Shakespeare’s Improv Musical!  Celebrate the journey of being in the moment!   As always, all ages are invited and welcome!

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So if you’re looking for a fun night out, a chance to laugh and be socialize, a treat for your Friday night dinner guests, or a place to invite that new neighbour who moved in down the street, Friday Night Live is for you. See you there on the 26th!

Family-babysitter match-making service offered

The uncertainty about the ongoing teachers’ strike has had many Lynn Valley families chewing their nails over potential looming childcare challenges.

But we know that it’s not just during a crisis that a good babysitter can be hard to find. To that end, we asked our Facebook followers if they would like LynnValleyLife to consider providing some form of assistance in matching up families with sitters or other caregivers. And you said YES, PLEASE!!

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So we’re happy to help where we can. We obviously aren’t a child-care agency (regardless of how silly Jim and Kelly may be acting in some of our photos!) That being the case, we need you to bring your own sense of due diligence the process. But we are happy to maintain a list of people in the Lynn Valley neighbourhood offering babysitting or other childcare services.

If you are a sitter, please send us your name, year of birth, address and HOME telephone number along with any important info such as first-aid or childminding qualifications.  The list given to potential employers will NOT include your address. We ask for your home telephone number, not your cell, because it is our expectation that if you are a minor, your parents will get looped into the decision as to whether or not you accept any job offers you may receive. Please email [email protected].

If you are a parent looking for a sitter, we ask that you become a member of our LynnValleyLife Network so that we have your name and address on file. Then we’ll be happy to send you our list of babysitters, which will hopefully grow as word spreads.

We hope you find your perfect match!

Shop local – with online convenience!

From the desk of Peggy Trendell-Jensen, editor:

Oftentimes the convenience of online shopping translates to an unfortunate flagging of support for the bricks-and-mortar shops that are so much the heart of a healthy community. Fortunately, Save-on-Food’s new online shopping service doesn’t put us in that moral dilemma – we can support this Lynn Valley Day Diamond Sponsor while still kicking back with our laptop on the couch!

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Childcare options offered for shaky school start

Update September 1, 2014: School will definitely not be in session tomorrow (sigh). Parents wishing to apply for the $40/day subsidy for school-aged children 12 and younger can click here to register. Have your school district (#44 in North Van) and your child’s PEN number, found on their report card, on hand.

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Original Post:

Well, Vince Ready left the bargaining table on Saturday afternoon, with no plans to schedule further talks until the teachers’ union and the government are willing to start moving closer together. So we’ll pass along any day camp or childcare news that comes our way in case there’s no resolution by Tuesday; for even more timely publication we invite companies or babysitters to post directly on our LynnValleyLife Facebook page, where their posts will appear in a column to the left of our main news feed.

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Added September 14/14: All-day art classes at Lynn Valley’s Doodlebug Art Studio, with local resident Jeri Engen, look fantastic. Check them out on her Classes page!

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Does your young person want to use this time to get off the couch and into shape? Athletes and non-athletes alike are invited to day camps at Twist Conditioning. Twist is located near the Winter Club at 12-1225 East Keith Rd, North Van; call  604-904-6556:

Kids & Youth Sport Camps – Grade 3 and Up

Drop off between 8:30-9am & pick up between 3-4pm

$299/week (or $60/day)

Hockey Specific Camps

Includes 4 hours/week of skill development (shooting & puck handling & hockey specific training)

$299/week (or $60/day)

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GameReady

Game Ready will be offering Strike Day Camps in September for 6-12 year olds. Registrations will begin Monday, August 25th. Registrations can be done by contacting Joe Yankanna @ 604.961.1176 or email: [email protected]. A registration form is attached.

Camp costs will be $30/day.  They will run from 8:30am-4:30pm. Game Ready will offer full refunds in the event school starts on time in September. Spaces are limited.

Programs will range from arts and crafts, games, educational, physical activities and many more. Please make sure your child(ren) comes with a lunch and snacks for the day. A full schedule of events will be out on August 29th.                                                                              

Address: Game Ready Centre Unit #108B-245 Fell Avenue, North Vancouver

Local has a blast with the Ice Bucket Challenge!

With the help of the Lynn Valley firefighters, one local teen was able to – literally – have a blast with his Ice Bucket Challenge, as seen on this video he posted to our Facebook page on August 22. This freeze-frame might make you feel frozen indeed!

Sam Ice Bucket Challenge

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has gone viral and then some this summer, raising over $22 million in funding for the ALS Association. ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Participants in the challenge, which entails dumping a bucket of ice water on one’s head and challenging others to do the same and/or donate $100 to the association, have ranged from average people of all ages to wellknown celebrities and politicians.

In this made-in-Lynn Valley version, Sam enlisted the help of the obliging Lynn Valley fire crew, who met him at the park and blasted him nearly off his feet in the name of a good cause. Sam – who challenged a couple of his high school friends, along with DNV Mayor Richard Walton to do their own Ice Bucket event – survived the hosing off, and had many thanks for the firefighters who took part. Hats off, too, to young passerby Cole Diemart, for suiting up in fire chief gear and leading the blast-off!

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Cairn dedication marks Canada’s entry to WWI

The Lynn Valley Legion invites residents to mark the historic occasion of the centenary of Canada entering World War One by witnessing the dedication ceremony of a memorial cairn on Monday, August 4:

YOU ARE INVITED: MONDAY, AUGUST 4 at 11:00 A.M.
THE CAIRN AT WHEY-AH-WICHEN/CATES PARK

 

PLEASE JOIN US AT THE DEDICATION CEREMONY OF WHAT WILL BE A HISTORIC DAY IN WHEY-AH-WICHEN /CATES PARK IN NORTH VANCOUVER.

Exactly 100 years prior Canada became involved in the First World War. Branch #114 is spearheading this memorial cairn dedication ceremony.

This will likely be your only chance in life to witness a cairn dedication and it’s also a great opportunity to pay tribute to those who laid down their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today.

‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.’

Witness a part of history as a unique carved jade stone memorial is unveiled; a monument constructed to honour those who’ve given their lives for our freedom.

 

Experience the Colour Parade, as flags of our nation are marched in tribute. You will hear guest speakers immortalize those who have served by dedicating this sculpture to their memory.

 

The service will be accompanied music; songs of tribute by a soloist and a North Shore choir.

 

A light reception will be held outdoors after the ceremony.

 

Our thanks to the Federal Government, Tsleil-Waututh Nation and District of North Vancouver for their support in making the monument and Dedication Ceremony possible

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Calder, President

 

Dog only hero in Lynn Valley forest saga

This “lost-in-the-woods” story has become my mother’s favourite, and she pushes me to tell it to people at parties ALL THE TIME. If I demur (having told it a zillion times already), she just launches in and tells it herself. But she gets all the details wrong, which bugs me, so of course I end up telling it all over again. So, in honour of my mother, Chris, (who is glad I made it home), and as a cautionary tale to others who might be going for  a wander, here is my story…

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It was high summer (not autumn, Mom), and my neighbour’s brother, David, had just knocked on the door to return a borrowed cooking pot. He was just on his way up the street to take a walk in the woods off the top of Hoskins, as he wanted to see if he could locate an unauthorized biking trail he’d heard about (this being a number of years ago, when mountain biking was at the ‘wild west’ stage in its development).

Suddenly joining him seemed like a brilliant idea. Not because I was interested in illicit trails, but because my dogs were long, LONG overdue for an outing and the thought of company made putting down my book a bit more palatable (Please note that I am not famously athletic in my leanings.)

shoe

Exhibit A: Footwear

Not wanting to keep David waiting, I quickly leashed the dogs, shouted up to my boys that I was heading into to the woods with David, and was out the door in 15 seconds. Of course I didn’t change my footwear, because my comfortable slip-ons were perfectly fine for the half-hour walk I envisioned ahead of us.

We accessed the Baden Powell trail from the the top of Hoskins Road, David, the dogs and I chugging steadily up through the familiar woods. Shortly before reaching the old Mountain Highway, though, David plunged off the well-worn track and headed north in search of the reported biking trail. (Please note that throughout this tale I use “north” to mean “up” the mountain,  which does not necessarily mean I am actually travelling north. Or it might; I wouldn’t know. “South” means “down.” My admittedly underdeveloped sense of geographic awareness may explain some of what follows.)

I followed David 40 or 50 feet into the woods, where he was examining a trail that snaked up further “north.” Excellent, I thought. We found it. Time to go home.

David, however, was determined to trace its upward path, and investigate what planks, jumps or teeter totters might have been erected along the way to tempt bikers into risking their necks. I was not at all enthusiastic (see previous note regarding lack of athletic leanings), but thought that as I had invited myself along on HIS adventure, it was only fair that I play along.

This selfless philosophy did not last long. After only a few minutes of hauling myself over logs, untangling leashes from branches, and retrieving my slip-OFF shoes from under ferns, I was beyond noble sentiment. Some whining about going home may have taken place (my memory is not clear on this point). David’s enthusiasm, however, remained undimmed.

I could have turned back. I could have been sensible; remembered my footwear, my domestic responsibilities, and the fact that I had little patience for these kind of tramps through the forest. But the meek little acquiescent part of me that “goes along” so as not to be a nuisance held sway. (Note to my husband, should he be reading this: Yes, I DO have a part like that, it is often just deeply hidden.)

Caution: Actual mountain not as it appears in diagram

Caution: Actual mountain not as it appears in diagram

I grumbled a little, but carried on, travelling “north.” When I turned around again a few minutes later, all familiar landmarks had long disappeared.  Mountains, which in my head are all structured like a child’s line drawing with two straight, 45-degree angles meeting at a right-angled summit, are not nearly that simple when you’re standing on the side of them as opposed to looking at them in the distance from your living room window.

That hillside that looks smooth from afar contains trenches, knolls, and other unexpected landforms that make “north” and “south” far less obvious than one would imagine. At least that was the case on this particular hillside, and I was soon not sure that I could have found my way back to the trail even had I decided to rebel against my companion (or I realized later, if he had turned an ankle and I needed to fetch help).

We carried on – him curious, me cranky – until I finally did get more assertive in my complaining. Constantly struggling over logs and dogs had not made me a sanguine traveller, and whatever amazing/alarming mountain bike constructions he had hoped to find were long passed. To his credit, longtime pal David recognized that She Who Must Be Obeyed was making an appearance – but, he assured me, it would likely be faster and easier to get back to the proper trail by continuing our climb rather than by retracing our steps. So we carried on, struggling through undergrowth and downed branches.

Natural features can all look mesmerizingly alike when you're lost.

Natural features can all look mesmerizingly alike when you’re lost.

I’m not sure what adjectives I would employ to describe the next FOUR HOURS in the forest, but “faster” and “easier” are certainly not among them. “Exhausting,” “anxious,” and “panicky” do pop to mind fairly readily, however. I was worried about the boys left at home on their own, wondering where the heck I was, but with all the aforementioned furrows and gullies on the mountain, it was difficult to find a cell signal. A single signal-strength bar finally materialized on my phone screen, and I was finally able to let them know that I was OK and with David – but that was about all I could tell them. David later got a call out to his brother-in-law who knows the woods reasonably well, and who (if I recall) kept encouraging the go “north” approach. (Not particularly welcome advice, when every muscle in your body is screaming “turn south!”)

 

 

 

North Shore Rescue: I prefer my close-ups in parades...

North Shore Rescue: I prefer my close-ups in parades…

I had visions of North Shore Rescue being dispatched to find us, and knew that my acquaintance on the team would never, ever let me live it down if he found me deep in the woods so spectacularly ill-shod and ill-prepared. I further imagined having to curl up with the dogs for warmth if we were lost overnight, and wondered who would get to sleep with Genny, the massively furred Bernese mountain dog, and who would be stuck with Toby, the eight-pound shih tzu.

I scrambled along as best I could, nearly weeping with vexation when a clearing we had thought from a distance was Mountain Highway turned out to be a dry creekbed. Total gloom soon turned to exhilaration, however, when the gravel road did blessedly appear not long afterward. We staggered out of the forest (I may have kissed the roadbed, I’m not sure) and discovered that we were up above the seventh switchback, several kilometres above the paved end of Mountain Highway. We had left home shortly after noon; it was now about 5:30.

We telephoned our loved ones and told them to stop selling our stuff as we were coming home after all. Tired but buoyed by survivors’ giddiness, we set off down (down – what a wonderful word!) the crooked gravel road towards home.

The self-congratulations and shoulder punches only lasted a few more minutes, though, before one of us looked around and asked “Where’s Toby?” Where, indeed. After sticking with us through thick and thin, his poor four-inch legs struggling over one obstacle after another, Toby had emerged onto the road and then seemingly vanished when our back was turned. We retraced steps, calling, but to no avail. Genny the Bernese, who had always been a tad jealous of Toby the Younger Interloper, may have known something, but she wasn’t letting on.

Whatever else I remember about David from that day, what I remember best is this: that, ever the gentleman, he insisted I go home, while he stayed on the mountain and looked for the dog. Too tired to argue, and thinking about my waiting children, I gratefully agreed, and made my way down Mountain Highway, arriving home in another 45 minutes or so.

Happiness at the homecoming was, of course, tempered by worry about Toby, who didn’t return with David, either. His plucky little coyote-snack-sized self was out there navigating uncharted territories. We quickly put up posters at trailheads, and my sister and others headed out for a look. Later that evening, she learned he’d been spotted on one of the trails, but hadn’t allowed anyone to approach. We went to bed, sadly aware of him alone out in the dark beyond our windows.

Toby the Plucky

Toby the Plucky

It was midnight when a daughter of the house arrived home, and she popped her head into our bedroom. “Why’s Toby sitting on the front lawn?” she asked us, unaware of all the earlier drama. Toby – what a champ! He had indeed found his way home, despite having been kilometres out of his usual territory. After drinking about half a litre of water and accepting our fond congratulations, he settled into his usual spot in preparation for a good night’s sleep.

We followed his example. I awoke the next morning with aching legs, a newfound resolve NOT to do things just because your friends are doing them, and plenty of gratitude that events turned out as well as they did.

As we all know, stories in these woods don’t always have happy endings. So, take it from me – you really can get lost after just a few minutes of off-trail bush-whacking, even in an otherwise familiar environment.* All that safety stuff that North Shore Rescue talks about? It isn’t just for extreme hikers or “other folks.” It’s for everyone who wants to get home in one piece.

Enjoy your summer treks, readers!

– Peggy Trendell-Jensen, LynnValleyLife editor

 * P.S. If you run into David, and he says “Oh, we weren’t REALLY lost – I was pretty sure I knew where we were going,” DO NOT BELIEVE HIM.

Genny, who survived this walk and many more besides. RIP, GennyDog..

Genny, who survived this walk and many more besides. RIP, GennyDog..