One of the main objectives of the newly established—in 1924—Galiano Club was “to build a public hall”, the first such structure for the island. Planning began at the Club’s first Annual General Meeting, held on January 24th, 1925 with 25 members attending. A donation from Mr. Stanley Page of one acre of land located near to the Georgeson Bay Road/Porlier Pass Road junction was accepted. The decision was also made to begin work immediately on an all-wood building to consist of a main hall with a raised stage area and three rooms, one at each side of the stage area (the Ladies’ Room and the Men’s Room) and a kitchen. Named simply “Galiano Hall”, it was ready for occupancy by early 1926 though construction work continued for many years to come. (Not until 1937 would the Club be able to announce that the Hall was “finished, inside and out”.) A visit to the is land by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, His Honour Randolph Bruce, on May 29th, 1929, provided the occasion for an “official opening” with the Club sponsoring a formal dance that evening in the new Hall. (A photo of the event taken by one of the Club’s founders, Mr. Donald New, has been enlarged and framed and now hangs inside the Hall.)
The Galiano Hall easily became the venue for island events of every kind: dances and parties, political meetings, religious services, wedding receptions, musical concerts, club meetings, art shows, craft markets, agricultural fairs, memorials, and theatrical events of all types, including the showing, in 1934, of a “moving picture”, the first on the island. Many of the events were organized by the Club itself. In the 1930s and the 1940s the Hall was also a place for sport: indoor badminton. (When the Hall’s fir wood floor was replaced in 2017 two layers of older floor levels were dis covered. The lowest layer continued to display the painted lines of… a badminton court.)
In 1934 a lending library was established in the Men’s Room using the large number of books which had been donated to the Club. Though fulfilling yet another of the Club’s founding objectives, “to form a public library”, this first “Galiano Library” lasted for just a couple of decades. (Not until 2000 did another island library get established, a project of the Galiano Library Society whose formation had been sponsored by… the Galiano Club.)
An “electric light plant” was installed in 1942, and the old wood-burning stove which had been providing heat to the main hall for several decades was replaced by a gas powered one two years later. Electricity came full time to the Hall in the early 1950s, thanks to the creation of the Galiano Power and Light Co. which brought better lighting and heating to all of the Hall rooms. A well was drilled on the grounds in 1958 (a BC Centennial project) bringing a steadier supply of water to the adjacent Hall and an eventual redesigning of the kitchen to meet commercial-use standards (a 1967 Canadian Centennial project). A BC Tel connection was completed in 1973.
In the mid 1970s the Galiano Club Board began to refer to the building as the “Galiano Community Hall”. In 1976 a sign board stating this was mounted over the Hall’s main entrance way. It remains there to this day.
By end of the 1980s the Hall’s continued existence was being questioned. The building was showing its age, and the construction of two other community halls on the island had reduced its usefulness.
Since 1972 the Galiano Club had been discussing the possibility of a new addition. This discussion eventually developed into a plan for the entire building to be razed, to be replaced by a more modern version. An architectural drawing was approved, a scale model was built, fundraising to cover construction costs began. However, efforts to raise the necessary funds failed and after a couple of years the Club Board decided instead to embark on a program of better care and use of the Hall building that al ready existed followed by expansion if necessary. A long period of improvement began to both the Hall and grounds a program which continues to this day.
To start, in the early 1990s, the Hall’s stage was enlarged and the rear end of the building extended. The expansion not only created more stage area but also an office space for the Galiano Club (a first). A section of the basement was excavated to create a “Teen Centre” which later became a place for preschoolers to play and learn. Two washrooms were added along with an outdoor access ramp. The kitchen was reconfigured and enlarged.
In the 2000s, both the interior and the exterior were completely repainted in new, more complimentary colour schemes. Inside, the old fir wood floor was removed, levelled, and new boards put in. The building was rewired, a complete new lighting system put in place throughout.
In this last decade the major drive has been to make the elderly Hall more energy efficient, more environmentally friendly. All the windows were re placed with double-paned ones (while keeping the old, historic wood frames), solar panels went on to the roof, a cost-saving heat pump was in stalled in the main Hall. Skylights that open were put into the kitchen ceil ing.
Outdoors, the grounds were planted and landscaped (1992), a watering system installed and the vehicle parking area improved. A kids play area was created (2009) in the lower grounds complete with swings and slides all set in a large pit of soft wood chips. A bike rack/repair station was in stalled (2017), an Info Kiosk too.
It has all worked. The almost century-old Galiano Community Hall is now, in 2019, in better shape and being used more, and in a more environmentally responsible way, than ever before.
The creation in 2009 of the Club’s “Galiano Food Program” added a whole new dimension to the Hall’s purpose, resulting in enhanced kitchen facilities and regular public food events: the springtime NettleFest, the autumn Blackberry Festival, the winter Solstice Dinner, the year-round Monday Soup and Bread Lunch.
Sport too has returned to the Hall with weekly Ping Pong games, a Board Games Night.
Steady rentals see the Hall regularly used as a performance space: the Galiano Concert Society and Coro Galiano for musical entertainments, the Galiano Players for theatrical productions.
In 2005 a most unusual away-from-Ottawa ceremony took place in the Hall when famed islander and novelist Jane Rule received the Order of Canada. The ceremony was led by Her Honour, Galiano-born Iona Campagnolo, then BC’s Lieutenant Governor, deputizing for the Governor General.
Now also known as the “South Hall”—since the creation in the 1980s of the North Galiano Community Hall in a converted 1920s schoolhouse — the Galiano Community Hall remains a most “happening place”. When one hears an islander say of an event, “it’s at the Hall”, the location is more of ten than not the small, cozy, versatile and historic … Galiano Community Hall.
