Galiano Club Blog

By Allan Forget

A second framed ‘historic’ photo hangs in the Galiano Community Hall kitchen and is therefore less visible, less  known. It contains no date, no notes, and seems to record a public meeting–a good number of men and women seated on wood chairs–in the main Hall. From the dress of the individuals it was guessed the time period to be the 1950s. It has also been assumed that this is another photo by islander, Donald New.

Mr. New (1895-1988) was an amateur island photographer. His photo collection contains many depicting Galiano Club events, activities in the Community Hall.  Mr. New was a founding member of the Club, served as its President several times &, was made an Honorary Member in 1987 along with wife, Nan.

The lore attached to the acquisition of this photo by the Galiano Club, by the Hall, is that it was ‘discovered’ by Alan Buttery in the 1980s rolled-up and in the Community Hall basement. With the permission of longtime Club member, Elizabeth Scoones Steward, Alan removed the photo and had it framed for hanging in his Sturdies Bay business office. Eventually the photo was returned to the Hall and someone then attached a note: ‘Galiano Club AGM, 1950s’. It has hung in the kitchen area for the last decade or so.

During the summer of 2019 the Club was having new skylights installed in the Hall kitchen ceiling. Roofer & former islander, Al Sater, took note of the photo and commented that Islander Bob Bambrick had a copy, that Bob’s mother, Peggy, had been an Island historian. He suggested the Club might look there for more info and so, the Club did. It was discovered that Bob did indeed have a copy of the exact same photo. Amazingly, attached to it was a hand-drawn diagram by his mother that included the identities of most of the persons shown. Mrs. Bambrick had entitled her diagram ‘MacMillan & Bloedel Tree Farm Meeting      Galiano Hall’. But, no date. Hmmm…

The Club asked Islander genealogist/researcher Helen Russell to investigate further. Using Mrs. Bambrick’s notes & her own Galiano persons file, Helen was able to identify most everyone shown in the photo.  As to the purpose of the gathering,  further research revealed that during much of the early to mid 1900s many tree farms–privately owned forest land managed for timber production–existed on Galiano with most being rented by the Powell River Lumber Co. In 1951 this company was merged with the newly-created MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. During the following decade Mac-Blo arranged for the transfer of these farms to their own management. It is assumed therefore that the gathering shown in this photo was a public meeting held in the Community Hall to discuss this transfer of the Galiano tree farm lands. So, yes, the 1950s date does fit, photo identity mystery sort of solved.

The photo has recently been reframed, a copy of Peggy’s & of Helen’s documentation attached to the back &, continues to hang in the Hall kitchen.

An index of names —- numbered in the photograph —- is below (the known year of death follows):

1 *Janet Georgeson 1983
2 Mr William Bond 1960
3 Mr Arthur Lord 1962
4 Mr James Hume 1974 (buried in Galiano Cemetery)
5 Nancy Hume 1985 (buried in Galiano Cemetery)
6 Shirley Steward 1956 (buried in Galiano Cemetery)
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14 Ethel Clarkson 1987
15 Mrs R Patterson 1964 (Peggy Bambrick’s mother)
16 Mrs Ragna Fredrickson 1991
17 Mr Carl Fredrickson 1969
18 Mrs Gammon
19 John Robinson 1970
20 Frank Dempster 1978
21 Mrs V (Gladys) Zala 1982
22 Ross Parminter 1987
23 Phyllis Parminter 1996
24 Mr Frank Pochin1977
25 Mr Alfred Bennet Hodges 1956
26 Josephine Steward
27 Irine Lee 1975
28 Tom Head 1979 (buried in Galiano Cemetery)
29 (son) Head
30 Mr Robert Heryet 1973
31 Kay Lorenz 1981
32 Mrs S (Dolly) Page 1985
33 Sadie Atkinson 2015
34 Harry Atkinson 1982
35 Harry Anderson 1972
36 Eddie Bambrick 1986 (buried in Galiano Cemetery)
37 Peggy Bambrick 2008 (buried in Galiano Cemetery)
38 Mrs Edna Wormald 1987
39 Mrs Clara Bell 1995 (buried in Galiano Cemetery)
40 Mrs Janet Good 1962
41 Mr Charles Wormald 1978
42 Mr Lancelot Good 1969
43 Mr Frank Graham 1982
44 Bruce Good 2001
45 Tony Bell 1963 (buried in Galiano Cemetery)
46 Mrs Jeanie Bayfield 1961
47 Caroline Bayfield 1961

by Allan Forget

The founding (1925) Constitution of the Galiano Club contained the objective, “to build a public hall”. Such a bldg began to be constructed that same year, was mostly complete & being occupied by 1927, had an ‘official’ opening in May,1929 during a visit by BC’s Lieutenant Governor. The Club, islanders, referred to the bldg as the ‘Galiano Hall’ for decades to come. In such a small-numbered community no external markings identifying it as the island’s public hall was ever deemed necessary. In the mid-1970s The Galiano Club’s Board of Trustees (now termed the Board of Directors) unofficially started calling the organization the ‘Galiano Community Club’. This lasted for just a few years. During that period a former Trustee, Betty Fairbank, offered to create a name board for the hall that read ‘Galiano Community Hall’. The offer was accepted, the board produced —- on a yellow cedar plank —- & was duly erected in October, 1976. This same board remains over the main entrance door to the Hall. It was removed once in the 1990s for a refinishing by Jordan Hartman. In 2018 the letters were highlighted with black paint by Heather Cruickshank.

At the same time Betty created a wood Bulletin Board which was also attached to the front of the Hall bldg. This lasted in place until a repainting of the Hall’s exterior in the late 1990s when it was removed. About 10 yrs later, then Club President, Don Anderson, built two new Bulletin Boards & these were attached to the Hall bldg where they exist to this day (April, 2020).

Betty Fairbank, a US citizen by birth, came to live on Galiano in the mid- 1970s. An artist in many mediums but specializing in photography, Betty opened a small ‘art & gift shop’ @ Sturdies Bay which happily operated for several years. Among other community involvements Betty served as a Trustee with the Galiano Club for many years. Betty had been involved with the feminist movement in Vancouver prior to her island residency. Her success on Galiano encouraged other Vancouver-based women to make the move. Two of those who did were the writer Jane Rule & her partner, the educator, Helen Sonthoff. Betty Fairbank died in May, 2016 , at the age of 93 yrs.