I’m back from our visit to the U.K., and while we thoroughly enjoyed our time away, we are happy to be home again. There were some surprises waiting for us when we returned: some important, some not so for anyone but us. The biggest one was the disastrous flooding in Cache Creek, which completely floored us. A less important one was the fact that the tomato plants, which the pesky sparrows had completely stripped of every bit of green before we left, had re-grown quite a bit of foliage and were looking very healthy!
I have to thank Alice Durksen for taking over the reporting of the May business meeting in my absence—which took a weight off my mind!—and filling in for me so efficiently.
At our meeting on June 18 we tidied up some things that needed to be seen to before the Centre goes on its summer hiatus. It will be closed from June 26 until September 8 to allow members to enjoy their summer projects. Our first public appearance will be at the Fall Fair on Sunday, September 13, where some of our members will be explaining what we try to do during the year, as well as selling tickets for our Christmas Raffle.
The Centre’s current position is quite a healthy one, with some outlay still to be attended to, and we are thankful for Kathy’s wonderful efforts in the crafts area for helping us get there. All the members who attend our regular meetings and those who come to the Saturday Bingo should also take a bow for helping us to stay afloat: many thanks to you all! The regular enterprises are progressing nicely, and the sounds of happy laughter and competition can be heard regularly from our hall. There is still enough room for anyone else who would like to join us in the fall, however.
I’d like to tell you a story that the subject of this week’s thumbnail sketch told me about herself. I hope it gives you a chuckle!
“Joe the cook was a hardworking fellow, whom we all helped with his English. The staff had the top floor of the building: Joe was in the south end, and the chambermaids (I was one of them) were in the North end.
“I thought I’d play a prank on Joe when I changed the sheets on his bed, so I took his pillows and put them under his covers to look as if someone was in the bed. His hat was hanging on the bedpost, so I put it over the humanish shape that was under the covers. Then I returned to my room, quite pleased with myself and what I had done, and awaited developments.
“All of a sudden I heard yelling and shouting, and it wasn’t in English! Joe’s door flew open and a wide-eyed Joe came charging down the hall with a machete in his hand. I’m sure his feet didn’t touch the ground, but I didn’t stay around to find out!”
This lady and her husband are well known for their teasing and joyful chatter. Can you guess just who they are? The following is their story, just as it was told to me:
“I was born in Revelstoke, but my home was in Arrowhead B.C. (which was flooded when the High Arrow Dam was built). As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a teacher. I earned my teaching degree at the Normal School in Vancouver, then taught in Revelstoke. There I met again someone who had gone to school with me. He was a real tease and quite a pest, but in spite of that we fell in love and, and married in 1958.
“That year he had an accident at work—he had been helping a Cat operator change the angle of the blade when it accidentally fell on his foot—and was off work for seven months. I returned to teaching and continued to work until the first of our four children was born. We also cared for a little girl whom we adopted.
“In 1960 we moved to 100 Mile, as the company he worked for wanted him to stay with them. Meanwhile, I was kept busy with the children. In 1969, he and a friend started Northway Plumbing and Heating, where he worked until they later sold it. He then went to work for Ainsworth Lumber until he retired, when we moved to Ashcroft; and here we are today.”
Have you guessed who this happy couple is? Give yourself a gold star if you recognized Harold and Binky Nichol!
By the time you read this we will have celebrated Canada Day; the women’s World Cup tournament will be almost over; and the heat wave that is being predicted as I write will, I hope, have come and gone, with more moderate temperatures prevailing. We at the AshcroftCache Creek Seniors’ Centre wish you all a happy and fulfilling summer, with lots to enjoy and friends to share all its pleasures and delights with. We hope to see you out at our fall sessions beginning on Sept. 8—the day after Labour Day!—and at the first Bingo on Sept. 12. Until then, take care of yourselves, watch out for sunburn and mosquitoes, and take things easy!
Joyce West