The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

THE FIRST WEST VANCOUVER MAY DAY 1930 How did it all begin? We are told that, in 1930, a parental feeling that something should be done locally for children resulted in a joint meeting of the Hollyburn and Pauline Johnson P.T.A.'s at the Fortune cup Inn. Who called the meeting, and who attended, the Society does not know. That there was such a meeting is borne out by a comment in the West Vancuver News of 29 May 1931, to the effect that, at the May Day Ball of 1931, flowers were presented to Mrs. H.G. Selwood, chairman of the P.T.A., under whose auspices the first May Day had been held. That it was a joint meeting, and which branch Mrs. Selwood belonged to remains unclear. =Perhaps'some reader can supply the information. What past did result was a decision to hold a "Children a certain age will remember the old chant: s Day" on Victoria Day. Any one "The twenty-fourth of May is the Queen's birthday. If we don't get a holiday, we'll all run away." In those days, the twenty-fourth of May meant 24 May, the "convenience" of the closest Monday not having occurred to anybody. It is a reasonable choice - held on a holiday, the children did not have to miss school, and it was the last general holiday before the summer break. In 1930, it did not really matter as the perpetual calendar tells us that the holiday fell on a Saturday. Some reader will have to explain why, in this first year, it was decided to choose a "Miss West Vancouver" to preside over the festivities, and why that title was bestowed on young Mavis Whipple - and she was young, only six years of age. It is interesting that the appropriate issues of the "North Shore News", the only paper the West Vancouver Memorial Library has on microfiche, treat the May Day celebrations in North Vancouver in great detail, but say not a word about the West Vancouver event. It may well be that the paper relied on copy submitted by the organizations concerned, but it is more likely that the few reporters available were assigned to the larger and more established procedures in the larger community. The West Vancouver News of 30 May 1930 is more informative. From it we learn that the May day began in the morning with a long distance relay race, won by Pauline Johnson in a time of 25 minutes, 20 2/5 seconds over Hollyburn and the High School. (In later years we learn that the High School was handicapped, either in time or in distance.) In the afternoon there was a parade, led by the General Gordon School Band -there was to be no West Vancouver School Band until 1931. The parade spread over three blocks and featured Miss West Vancouver and her court, attendants Diana Chapman of Dundarave, Pat Hodgson of Pauline Johnson, and Bunny Whipple of Hollyburn. There were three flower girls - Eileen Russell, Jean McLeod, and Doreen Kearns. Companies 1 and 2 of the Girl Guides formed the guard of honour. Decorated cars occupied by the reeve and the counciImen led a section of decorated bicycles, and there followed children, "a wonderful array of motley garbed children" and hundreds of others not in costume. At Ambleside, "0 Canada" was sung, and then Reeve Leyland, in a short speech promised that this would be an annual affair. A committee of three. Dr. E.A.Henry, Mrs. F. Ealoch, and Mrs. W.B. Small judged the costumes. Mavis Whipple (Rose) and Diana Chapman (Daisy) received special mention. It would seem that the Miss West Vancouver group each represented a different flower. For the rest of the children there were prizes for the best boy and the best girl in a number of categories : patriotic, original, comic, best couple, special, and best decorated bicycle. Mr. Gamage, Chairman of the School Board, introduced Mrs. J.B. Leyland who presented cups to the winners.