LOCAL NEWS: TOWN PREPARES FOR DROUGHT ▼ A3
Times
Thursday, August 13, 2015 ▼ Volume 51 No. 33 ▼ www.clearwatertimes.com ▼ $1.35 Includes GST
THE
NORTH THOMPSON
STAR MAN:
2014
CCNA BLUE RIBBON
Bill Burnyeat talks about astronomy. See A3 inside.
First Place Best All Round Newspaper & Best Editorial Page Second Place Best Front Page All of Canada <1,250 circulation 2014 First Place General Excellence B.C. and Yukon <2,000 circulation 2014
Birch Island celebrates 100-year anniversary Robyn Rexin
The year 2015 marks the 100th birthday of Birch Island. The town celebrated the anniversary on Aug. 8 and 9 at the Birch Island Community Park. The park used to be the school grounds. A large number of people attended. Historical pictures were placed on the side of the concession booth and on the fence, across from the registration table. There was also a map of the old Birch Island. The map was divided into sections and numbers were placed throughout. On the table beside the
Participants in Birch Island's 100-year anniversary celebration last weekend get interviewed by Times correspondent Robyn Rexin. Pictured are (l-r) Solveig Graffunder, Chuck Dee, Diana (Dee) Martin and Robyn Rexin. Martin was born in Birch Island but left as a child and now lives in Nanaimo. Photo by Keith McNeill
map there was a paper with the numbers on it. The names of residents, businesses, the church, post office,
hotel, etc., were placed beside them. There were blanks and people were asked to fill them in if they knew
what the numbers stood for. Work on the map was done by Linda Moss. Throughout the day
there was a slideshow of early pictures found and put together by Norman Treseng. He added music and put the names of Birch Island and its former buildings to the music. There were pictures of tombstones, the old school, the church, early residents, and many more. There was also a video about the Birch Island homecoming of 1991, done by Debbie Hay. The anniversary held a silent auction with 16 items to vote on. These included an original Birch Island ball uniform, a painting of the Birch Island church done by Mrs. Oxenham (a Birch Island resident), and a photo of an ice jam
at the bridge, taken by Margie Johnson. The morning was spent in socializing and getting caught up with those who had returned to Birch Island for the anniversary. Lunch was available. The concession was run by the Clearwater Vavenby Lions. After lunch, master of ceremonies Erna Stassen welcomed everyone to the anniversary. She immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1999 and has not lived long in Birch Island. She has found it interesting to go into the history of the town a bit and to hear some of the residents’ stories. She was sure she’d heard
only a fraction of the stories and invited people with any more to come up and share them. Stassen also told everybody about the forms at the registration desk that they could write their stories on. There was a box provided to drop the forms in or they could be given to Linda Moss, who is writing a book on the history of the town. Next, Stassen introduced Hazel Wadlegger, who gave greetings from Thompson Nicola Regional District Area A director Carol Schaffer. Continued on page A9
Green thumb basics
Young artists at work
(L-r) Kennan Crawford, Connor Desjarlais, Autumn Deuling and Amy Deuling take part in a scavenger hunt held as part of the grand opening of the community garden in Blue River on Sunday. For more about the opening, see page A9 inside. Photo by Keith McNeill
Mom Sylvia Miller gives pointers on how to work with play-dough to Sarah (l) and Laura while baby Christina looks on. They were taking part in the Children's Art Festival at Dutch Lake Community Centre on Aug. 5. For more about the festival, see page A9 inside. Photo by Keith McNeill
Highway 5 Little Fort, BC 250-677-4441
Highway 5 Clearwater, BC 250-674-3148
Located on Highway 5