Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter James Goldie has been combing through old newspapers with the assistance of the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives so we can jog your memory, give you that nostalgic feeling, or just a chuckle, as we take a look at what was making headlines this week around Cowichan Lake in years gone by.
This week around the Cowichan Lake…
10 years:
Lake Cowichan town council is showing its support for the saving of J.H. Boyd School, which School District 79 has on its list of properties up for sale.
John Savage of the Lake Cowichan Ratepayers Association gave council an impassioned presentation.
“It would be a mistake… to assume that the people of Lake Cowichan are opposed to continued public ownership of this property. We are not,” he said.
Savage went on to say that through discussions with hundreds of residents in recent months, it is “very apparent that retention of the property by and for the public is strongly supported. We believe that School District 79 should retain ownership of this property for educational purposes.”
Councillor Kristine Sandhu, who is also a school trustee, said putting the school up for sale was a government decision. “It’s barely affordable to keep small schools open. The government won’t give us the funding.”
Sandhu abstained for the vote.
25 years:
The Kiwanis Club wants to spearhead the building of an indoor swimming pool in Lake Cowichan. Dalton Smith confirmed that a committee has been formed to look into the matter
“We are exploring the possibility of building a pool here,” Smith told the Lake News. “If we become satisfied that people want it, we’ll go for it.”
Although this is the club’s first time researching the feasibility of a swimming pool, they do have a history of getting other projects off the ground such as the camp for disabled children adjacent to Lakeview Park (now the CLEC) and the creation of a mobile float for the Lady of the Lake, which has won prizes around the Island.
Is the past, proposals to build a swimming pool in Lake Cowichan have been rejected because operating costs were deemed to be too high.
Smith said for now the club “doesn’t want to say too much until we get all the facts.”
40 years:
The Kinsmen Club of Lake Cowichan has decided to spend $10,000 for construction of a new foot bridge across the Cowichan River. The club had earlier committed $2,000 in temporary funds to get the project going when it became clear the town did not have sufficient funds to start the project.
Last year the old bridge was declared unsafe, which prompted town council to commission preliminary engineering drawings of new bridge — this one made of concrete and laminate wood beams — which will cost an estimated $70,000.
It has since been discovered the pilings that supported the old bridge are still serviceable and could be used for the new project.
The Kinsmen said they became involved “there was a real need for it in the community… The project needed doing now, not sometime next year.”
Compiled by James Goldie, Gazette