Current News

Get active getting to school

The streets and local schools will soon be buzzing with small, medium and large feet.

This is a great time to think about how your children are getting to school. Studies show that students who are able to have some physical activity before class are more mentally prepared to learn, have better physical fitness and moods, and improved safety from less cars on the road.

The North Vancouver School District is encouraging students and parents to leave the car behind.

Argyle Secondary

Students come from all over North Vancouver to attend Argyle Secondary – whether for the French Immersion program, special sports academies or its unique education programs. While much of the school population does live within walking distance, there are plenty of commuters that need to make their way school.  

With construction vehicles and congestion from the school’s new build, consider SD44’s Transit/Carpool/Drive-to-Five campaign: ​If students cannot walk, cycle or roll to school, then public transit, carpooling and ‘drive-to-five’ are the next best options. These options reduce congestion around schools, which is much safer for students (and much less stressful for parents). Public transit and carpooling are also better options for environmental preservation than driving individual cars to and from school. Drive-to-five gives students an additional five minutes of physical activity twice a day, which has both physical and mental health benefits for students. Both carpooling and drive-to-five also create community connections with other families.

With Lynn Valley Centre a five minute walk away – it’s the perfect place to take a bus.

Elementary Schools

There are plenty of active ways to get to school and school district has partnered with the District of North Vancouver to publicize the safest active transportation routes to neighbourhood schools. The Transit/Carpool/Drive-to-Five campaign also can work for older elementary students and all-round will make the streets safer for all students by reducing traffic around the congested school areas.

SD44, the North Vancouver RCMP, ICBC, the City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver, offer these tips for planning and practicing your active routes to school:

  • PLAN & PRACTICE! Plan your walk or cycle route in advance, and then practice it and adjust as needed. HUB has also created a cycling routes map of North Vancouver.
  • LOOK! Always look left-right-left and shoulder check before crossing.
  • LOOK! Pay attention to where you are going and do not use your phone or device while walking/rolling.
  • LISTEN! Remove your headphones so you can hear approaching traffic.
  • BE SEEN! Wear reflective materials or bright clothes and use lights after dark.

VISIT! Visit the Active and Safe Routes to School website section on the North Vancouver School District website for more walking and rolling tips.

Looking for more?

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.

August 30, 2018 in Blog, Current News, School News Comments (0)

Eye (heart) Lynn Valley

We love Lynn Valley – our unique mountain-side home, our convenient doorstep with easy access to the city and the forest even closer. We love the people that make our neighbourhood unique. We love the businesses that make it thrive.

Contest time!

LynnValleyLife.com is launching a community-wide contest. Do you love LV as much as we do? We know you love the big defining parts of Lynn Valley but what about the details?

Our Eye ? Lynn Valley FaceBook contest. For the next several weeks we will be posting some images of what makes Lynn Valley unique. It is up to you to guess what you are seeing.

  1. Like us on Facebook.
  2. Make you guess by A) sending us a PM and B) commenting on the post that you have pm’d/sent as us a message. We don’t want your entries lost in our inbox. One guess per post.
  3. We will enter the name of the first five people to correctly identify the photo in a draw.

Keep your eyes peeled for our posts – you never know when they will pop up. You might see businesses, art, buildings or landmarks – everything Eye ? about Lynn Valley.

 

If you don’t want to miss a post – change your Facebook “Following” settings to “See First.”

*Participants can only win once for the duration of the contest.

Keep your eyes peeled for ? like this

  • Living Lounge Screen at Lynn Valley Village
  • Veteran's Plaza

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors!

[ed-logo id=’16569′]

If you would like to be a sponsor please contact us here!

June 1, 2018 in Blog, Community Events, Current News

Lynn Valley man saddles up for Cops for Cancer

North Vancouver RCMP Staff Sergeant Philip Yong is fulfilling a dream nearly two decades in the making. The father of four has decided that this is his year to take part in the annual Cops for Cancer fundraiser – and as the only North Vancouver RCMP Member to be saddling up for the full 2018 tour, he wants to put his best foot forward when he and approximately 40 other cyclists push off on September 19.

Over the week that follows, the 2018 Cops for Cancer Tour de Coast will traverse more than 800 hilly kilometres through Greater Vancouver and beyond, from Maple Ridge to Richmond, the North Shore, the Sunshine Coast and the Sea to Sky Corridor and back. Says Philip: “As a first-time rider, I am excited to be representing the North Vancouver RCMP Detachment.  As part of the ride, I have committed to raising over $6,000 in support pediatric cancer research and Camp Goodtimes in Maple Ridge.” 

Camp Goodtimes is a medically-supervised summer camp that allows kids and their families living with cancer to enjoy the great outdoors as kids – not as patients. Each year almost 600 young people and family members are able to have a holiday getaway together thanks to the hard work of camp and medical volunteers and the generous support of donors. 

Philip expects to find cycling up some of the long hills tough – but everyone involved in the Cops for Cancer event is well aware of the far more daunting hardships faced by young cancer patients and their families. Its goal this year is to raise over $500,000; currently the total stands at about $150,000. Philip is asking LynnValleyLife readers to please consider donating toward his goal at this link, or to take part in one of the event’s upcoming general fundraisers.

All four North Vancouver Save-on-Foods stores will be hosting a Cops for Cancer BBQ on Saturday, June 2, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Philip will be at the Park and Tilford event with his enthusiastic family supporters, and states that all proceeds will go directly to Cops for Cancer. “I am hoping we get a lot of community support from this event,” he says. “See you there!”

Cops for Cancer is a fundraiser of the Canadian Cancer Society.

May 23, 2018 in Blog, Community Events, Current News, Notable Neighbours, Uncategorized

Support local refugees at upcoming concert, auction

Over the past number of years, the plight of refugees has become increasingly real to those of us in North Vancouver, as news photos have brought home the desperate circumstances of men, women and children trying to find safety… and those who perish trying. Lynn Valley folk are among the many in Canada who have stepped up to provide a safe place to land.

Various individuals, organizations and churches have tirelessly raised funds to bring refugees to the Lower Mainland – and waited, often months, to finally get the call saying that their chosen person or family will be arriving at the Vancouver airport within days. From then on it is a full-on press to secure inexpensive housing (!) and donated furniture, and to swing into action providing English language practice, orientation to riding transit and other aspects of a totally unfamiliar culture, school registration, visits to doctors and dentists, instructions on how to shop for food, and simple companionship.

REST is the Regional Ecumenical Sponsorship Team – a group of North Vancouver Anglican, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches (and friends) that over the last three years has successfully sponsored a number of Somalian and Syrian refugees to Canada. REST, which includes St. Clement’s Anglican Church in Lynn Valley, is now preparing to sponsor seven more refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran and Syria.

A major event at St. Clement’s on June 2, 2018 (6 to 9 p.m.) will help raise part of the necessary $27,000. The REST FEST will feature live music from a variety of talented musicians, as well as a silent auction and bake sale. Items to be auctioned include meals catered for a group at your home – a Syrian dinner or a gourmet waffle brunch, for example – personal fitness training, beautifully sewn quilts and afghans, gorgeous gift baskets, and much more. A table of locally crafted pottery will also be for sale. The bake sale at the intermission will keep people happily snacking during the rest of the concert, which will feature a number of local musicians.

The REST FEST would like to make sure this is a sell-out event, as 100 per cent of the proceeds will be used to settle the refugees into their new life. Tickets are available online at this link, and further details (such as how you might donate a silent auction item!) are to be found here on the St. Clement’s website. St. Clement’s is located at 3400 Institute Road, opposite Lynn Valley Park.

May 18, 2018 in Blog, Community Events, Current News

Remembering 25 years ago: Lynn Valley Little League at the World Series

In 1993 a team of 14 boys from Lynn Valley – just ages 12 and 13 – made their way to Williamsport, Pennsylvania to represent Canada at the Little League World Championship.

A milestone 25 years later

This is was a first for a North Shore team and has not been matched since. It was also a first in Little League history because it was first team helmed by a woman to qualify – a moment so important Coach Kathy Barnard’s Canada hat hangs in the Little League Museum.

The run has been documented in an engaging post by North Vancouver’s Len Corben to celebrate the 20th anniversary. Today, for the 25th anniversary we caught up with player Scott Carlson.

“It was a once in a lifetime sort of thing,” said Carlson, now a investment advisor. “We were playing in Lynn Valley and then provincials and then a couple of weeks later grown men were asking for our 12-year-olds’ autographs in Williamsport. I didn’t even know there was a world series until after nationals.”

The 1993 Lynn Valley Little League all-star team at the Little League World Series. Scott Carlson is back row, second from left.

Local and international history

It was a whirlwind summer for those selected as 11/12 all-stars. They had to win regionals, provincials, turn 12 and 13, head out to Nova Scotia for nationals and after a hard-fought victory head down to Pennsylvania – just three days later – for the World Series.

“Personally I found the Canadian championships more stressful – we were playing to be the best in our country,” said Carlson. “The world series was extremely fun – and extremely competitive. But we got to spend a lot time with the other teams. There was lots of fun to be had. It wasn’t just ballpark – hotel – ballpark.”

The team from LV received special attention from media upon their arrival. Coach Barnard’s glass ceiling-breaking achievement created quite a buzz around the tournament.

“She was the coach of [my regular-season team] the Pirates and her son Spencer was my best friend. They lived three doors up from me,” said Carlson. “She was always there – a great coach.”

Memory of a lifetime

Scott Carlson

Barnard’s milestone, along with the entire team’s journey wasn’t something that hit home until later years later.

“I don’t think I realized how big it was until I was in my 20s when ESPN and TSN started showing all the [Little League World Series] games on TV,” said Carlson.

Now a North Shore dad in his own right, Carlson looks a back – a bit astonished that it has been 25 years.

“It doesn’t feel like yesterday, but it is the most vivid memories I have. It is really hard to reach that level of play – the world championship. It was such a unique experience,” he said. “It is great to sit back and think about it – and to dream of being on of the boys of summer again – just playing baseball.”

April 10, 2018 in Blog, Current News, Looking Back