We wanted to make sure you have faces and a bit of background to put to the names we are seeing on signs throughout the neighbourhood.
We wanted to make sure you have faces and a bit of background to put to the names we are seeing on signs throughout the neighbourhood.
Head to central Lynn Valley for pumpkin fun for all ages Oct. 19! Lynn Valley Elementary School and Lynn Valley Parent Participation Preschool will be hosting their pumpkin patches to kick off the fall season.
Fall fun is returning to Lynn Valley Oct. 13! Lynn Valley Elementary School and Lynn Valley Parent Participation Preschool will be hosting their pumpkin patches to kick off the fall season.
A love of art and local forests – including Kirkstone Park and the beaches of the North Shore – have inspired author Darren Lebeuf to create his first book. The project so successful two more Vancouver-inspired books are in the works.
Photographer and artist Darren Lebeuf has a busy, globetrotting life along with his wife, a teacher, and their two young children. From bustling Hong Kong to the mountains of North Vancouver, from the canals and cafes of Amsterdam to the prairies of Alberta, but he is always drawn back outdoors. 
“I would take my daughter out for walks in the forest with my camera. When you try to photograph a forest it just looks like a bunch of trees that sort of blur together,” said Lebeuf. “So I had this idea – what of instead of one big photograph I instead took hundreds of photographs of the small details. That sparked an idea for an exhibit of hundreds of photographs the captured the forest in a different way.”
An exhibit which inspired Lebeuf to create a book that shared his point of view with children.
“It was capturing the different shades of green, the texture of bark, the shape of a leaf,” he said. “I don’t know what inspired the leap from this idea to a book but it mirrored what I was doing with my young daughter at the time.
“I try to get them outdoors and surrounded by nature when I can. Like yesterday, we went out to collect sticks and I brought some string to see what we could create. It’s not really intentional to make art – it’s to play.”
Lebeuf’s first children’s book, My Forest is Green, follows a young boy through the forest with a backpack full of art supplies. It chronicles his journey encountering all the details one can find in the forest if they choose to look. The beautiful illustrations created by Ashley Barron support Lebeuf’s words encouraging children to slow down and use all their senses to explore.
“I don’t think there is a distinction between learning time, art time or playtime,” he said. “I think at at young age you make sense of them and do what comes naturally at the time.”
You can find My Forest is Green at the North Vancouver District Public Library or local book stores.
With more ideas than can fit in one book, Lebeuf is working with his publisher, Kids Can Press, on two more books. Partnering again with Barron, My Ocean is Blue is planned for publication next year and My City Speaks – a story from the perspective of a visually impaired child – has moved into the illustration phase.
“They all are inspired by Vancouver,” said Lebeuf. “But I think they are also universal. It’s really exciting to see what will happen this book. It’s a union of art and nature, perspective and interpretation.”
Lebeuf has even more ideas – in between his work as a photographer he continues to write. His current inspiration leans towards humour – and food.
There’s always something fun and exciting happening in Lynn Valley. Check out our Community Events Calendar or learn more about Local Activities, Mountain Biking or Hiking and Walking Trails.
Lynn Valley’s North Shore Disability Resource Centre is back with its 5 for 5 Raffle. With proceeds going to a new mobile sensory van and ongoing advocacy work – you have until Sept. 17, 2019 to purchase tickets.
The (almost) annual raffle is a key fundraiser supporting resources and advocacy work undertaken by the NSDRC. This year it is looking to expand its community resources by adding another multi sensory room available for community use and this time making it mobile to serve even more people.
An example of a Snoezelen room.
Multi-sensory environments are safe spaces designed to stimulate senses, explained Kathleen Jessop, interim executive director for the North Shore Disability Resource Centre. They can soothe and calm the agitated, as well as engage the withdrawn, she said.
“We are purchasing sensory equipment and putting into a van to make it mobile,” said Jessop. “There is one multi sensory Snoezelen room on the North Shore and it’s booked all the time. Our plan is to make it mobile so we can take it to a person or to a school or to a seniors’ centre or even to a community event.”
With ambient and active visual, touch, sound and smell stimulation, the existing Snoezelen room is already an important resource for local families.
“We will be able to serve the people we already do with the room but we can also expand and serve others and it will raise awareness of us in the community as well as what multi sensory spaces are and what they are used for,” said Jessop.
The goal is to be up and running by April 2020 or when all the funds needed have been raised. The project has gotten a big boost being the beneficiary of this year’s North Shore Community Foundation’s Mayors’ Golf Tournament. That $50,000 is a huge step forward, said Jessop.
“We have some families whose children are so anxious they don’t want to leave their houses. If we can bring the room to their doorstep, we can get them from their threshold to the van it will be a huge step for them,” she said.
“You can imagine these families seeing the van pull up and having their children able to participate in something, to smiling and enjoying something – it could change lives,” added Bob McCormack, NSDRC past-president and board member.
Where else for the price of $5 can you support a dream project and possibly win a dream trip? Tickets are available for $5 at the NSDRC office at 3158 Mountain Hwy or by calling 604-985-5371. More information can found on its webpage. Tax receiptable donations (does not apply to raffle tickets) to the Snoezelen van or any of their projects can be made in person or online.
Prizes include:
1st prize: Trip for two, anywhere WestJet flies*
2nd prize: $180 BC Ferries voucher; two night stay Ocean Village Beach Resort in Tofino; $50 gift card to Shed Restaurant Tofino*
3rd prize: Harbour Air Panorama Tour & $150 gift card Pacific Centre
4th prize: Harrison Hot Springs Resort one night stay & breakfast for two*
5th prize: $250 gift card The Bay
*Some conditions apply, details on the NSDRC website.
There’s always something fun and exciting happening in Lynn Valley. Check out our Community Events Calendar or learn more about Local Activities, Mountain Biking or Hiking and Walking Trails.
An interesting speaker series is happening through February at the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre. One Earth.
Culture Days is an opportunity for people of all ages and abilities to try something new, experience something totally different, discover creative spaces in the community and meet the artists that work there.
The North Vancouver Community Arts Council is combining art and technology in an innovative project and you can support it.
A 105 years ago one of Lynn Valley’s most well known citizen’s life change forever.
The best ideas for summer fun for all ages