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10 West Vancouver Historical Society January 2004 Have I Used This Before? It may be that over the years the brain gets filled up and can’t accommodate much more. I’d rather think that than it’s getting warn out. Itoiti time to time we watch a video and wonder if we’ve seen it before. We’ve watched entire movies that we’d seen not too long previously. If things continue on like this we’ll be able to survive on just one video cassette. A good way to economize. Many years ago my wife’s grandmother and great-auntâ€"born in Forfar in 1856 and 1854 respectively, were making their annual Easter trip by plane to Vancouver Irom Cranbrook, where they lived with their niece, whose brother often mentioned a conversation the ladies once had in the dining room at the Sylvia Hotel. They had trouble remembering how they had travelled to Vancouver. “We didna come by bus.” “We didna come by car.” “No, we didna.” “We didna come by train.” “Cairtainly not.” “We must have come by boat.” “Aye” So what’s all this leading to? I have back items for the newsletter, and live in fear that I might repeat items you and I have seen before. I inherited from Anne Vernon (I think that’s who it was) a packet containing a whole array of contributions, some of which have been used, others not. The non-existent Thursday, November 26, 2003 will stay in my memory for a long time. Or will it? That Is If You Had the Money In 1931, at Robinson’s Grocery, 24“’ and Marine Drive, you could buy 2 lbs of rice for a 25-lb. sack of potatoes for 250 and a package of Shredded Wheat for 90. If you phoned Fiob (or was it his father?) at West 87, you got free delivery. Spuraway Christmas Party This year’s annual Christmas gather- ing at Spuraway was as successful as ever, though attendance was down, which was understandable; tbe weather was worse than hideous, as was the tlu. The highlight of the evening was the music. We were lucky again to wel- come both Pamela Rowe, soprano, and Harold Brown, her piano accompanist. Pamela is an experienced and talented singer and valued member of the Bach Choir. Harold is an extraordinary mu- sician and musicologist, who has been delighting Vancouver audiences for close to sixty-five years. (See the item “The Red Cross Concert on page 4.) While we were unable to have the prac- tised bartending hand of Alistair Duncan this time round, we were pleased to welcome his stand-in, retired and well-respected West Vancouver teacher John Healey. While he doesn’t claim to be a perfectionist, everything he puts his hand to is done to perfec- tion or the closest thing to it. The West Vancouver Historical Soci- ety can claim to have the best Santa Claus going. Waring Pentland has the voice, form and impeccably good na- ture that are given to very few. On the soccer field (this is going back a few years) he was consistently in moving form, one that was best to stay clear of, though you were usually warnedâ€" most audiblyâ€"ahead of collisions. Missing from the gathering was Norma (Minions) Hamilton, who was unable to attend owing to the ferry workers’ strike. I’he last we heard of her she was down on one of the Departure Bay pilings waving a fist at them as they strolled about in their sandwich boards. The gathering was attended by gener- ous donors to the food bank. The fol- lowing day we delivered close to sixty pounds of comestibles to the Harvest Project in North Van. Congratulations! Police Stage Surprise Clean-Up on Hollyburn Ridge Robert Caverly, the ridge inspector, with the co-operation of the West Vancouver police department, is keeping close watch on Hollyburn Ridge, and it is unlikely there will be a wholesale repetition of the unsavory events that occurred two years ago. In his report to the council this week, the inspector declared that “during the past month a systematic check-up of the cabins was made by Constable George Horton and myself. As a result, two persons appeared in Police Court before Magistrate Gordon Robson and were barred from the ridge. “Fifteen others, mainly juveniles, were taken to the police station and then turned over to their parents for punishment. Their parents were requested to keep them off the ridge. This surprise move has had the desired effect, and a very undesirable element has been permanently removed from the mountain.” (Lions Gate Times, Jan 16“', 1947) As far as we can determine, all of these juveniles had been current (or recently current) members of the W.V.H.S. student population. Some went on to occupy responsible positions in their community. We’d like to mention them here, but there’s always the risk of their grandchildren’s eyes straying to these pages. Re:Non-Existent Thursday, Nov 26th When 1 called Anita (Jay) Dadson she reminded me that her grandfather, Peter Hugo Johnson, had been a W.V ferry captain in the ‘thirties, and that he and his wife had come to West Van in 1911. (She, born in Peterborough, Ontario, March 27th, 1872, arrived in Vancouver in June, 1886.) They resided at 18th and Fulton, and had a remarkable phone number: West 8. Apart from the Royal Bank (West 1), few people had even two digit numbers and numbers free of up to six or eight others on the same line.