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wednesday
september 5 2012 www.newwestnewsleader.com there’s lots to be encouraged about as the high school football season gets underway for the new westminster hyacks. see page A11
More students expected this year in New West Grant Granger
ggranger @newwestnewsleader.com
Contributed photo
sandra walton with her award-winning 1982 camaro indy pace car in front of new westminster city hall.
She’s just one of the boys at Cruise-In Kristyl Clark black press
While the majority of participants at classic car shows are typically male, Sandra Walton proves the Langley Good Times Cruise-In is not just another boys’ club. The 66-year-old New Westminster woman will be steering the wheel of her own classic vehicle to the annual event—a haven for hot rod and classic car buffs of all ages and genders. “I guess you could call me a bit of a tomboy,” joked the retired administrative assistant, who has been bringing her baby Annie, a
1982 Camaro Indy Pace Car—to the Cruise-In since it first started back in 1997. Declared one of the most aerodynamic cars ever made when it was released, her pride and joy was voted Motor Trend magazine’s car of the year. Just last month, Annie won first place in the 1980s restored and/or original category out of 455 cars at Westcoasters Daze Show ‘n’ Shine in White Rock. Walton has maintained the car’s original silver and blue paint scheme, special four-colour lower body striping, Indy 500 door
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decals, special blue cloth/silver vinyl interior and red pinstripes on its aluminum wheels. Fellow car buffs are often surprised to learn that Annie belongs to Walton and not her husband or boyfriend, she said. “Most of the women at the Cruise-In are there with their spouses, I’m one of the very few single ladies who show up alone. I get asked all the time whether it’s my car.” But that doesn’t mean she is the odd woman out. “I fit right in,” said Walton
matter-of-factly. “I’ve met so many great people there over the years. If they want to treat me like one of the boys, well that’s just fine with me.” Walton was raised on a farm in Truro, N.S., where she became a fan of cars at a young age. “I was likely to be found playing with toy cars, rather than dolls,” she said. “My cousins and I would spend hours just sitting around and naming all the cars that drove by on the farm roads: the Chevys, the Fords and the Chryslers—by grade school I knew almost every car on the road.” please see Cruise-in, A9
There should be a few more students walking through the doors of New Westminster schools this week. The district is projecting its kindergarten to Grade 12 total enrollment to be 5,977, giving New West an increase of about 50 students from September 2011. New Westminster and Surrey are two districts with increasing enrolment which bucks the trend of declining student population in much of the rest of the province. District figures project enrolment at 2,974 for elementary, which is up 106 from September 2011. It’s expected 874 will be in New West’s middle schools, Glenbrook and Queensborough, which is 30 more than last year. New Westminster secondary and other district secondary programs are projected to have 2,129 students. please see City, A3