As promised in last month’s article, we now have a report on the Fall Fair of 1975. The weather was perfect and the Fair was a great success.
There were nail-hammering contests, a contest to see who could carve the best chair, with four legs, out of a round log using a chainsaw, and the usual competitions in baking, crafts, beer, vegetables, and fruit. The Pender Island Pony Club presented a demonstration of how to care for a horse, and a demonstration of how a retrieval dog is trained and works. The Pumpkin Puppeteers put on a show for the youngsters (and the not-so-young).
Pender Island Golf Club reported that they had the best season yet at the club. The Pender Island Fire Brigade reported that they had attended a brush fire at Boat Nook and also at the Road Department Barn on Port Washington and believed that cigarette butts were the cause. The Pender Post was asked to publish a notice requesting that people think about the consequences when disposing of lighted cigarettes.
The School Trustees reported that a portable classroom had arrived for the Grade 8 students and that they were hopeful that approval of the construction of a new three-room school would soon be received, although the site was not yet decided.
I can now confirm that the three 90-year-old residents that were mentioned in the previous article were not the nude sunbathers that caused so much consternation in my last article.
They were Mr. Victor Menzies, who reported that his long life was due to hard work, and his parents instilling a Christian lifestyle at an early age; Mr. William Lee, who credited a good mental outlook and not becoming too narrow in your outlook to his longevity; and Mr. William Brown, who credited a life of hard work followed by a more relaxing lifestyle on Pender as his recipe for long life.
As Nep Grimmer’s story about pioneer life on Pender had come to an end, the 1975 Pender Post started its own version of Pender Post Past and reported on a Golf Club meeting of 1948. Membership was $10 per year, green fees for non members was 50 cents. Mowing the course had cost $22 and several more mowings were needed over the season, so money should be put aside for that.
The golf club of 1948 also decided to leave tea and sugar available at the clubhouse so members could make themselves a cup of tea; milk would not be provided. The tea and sugar were free but those making it were charged with washing their dishes and cleaning up the clubhouse after themselves.
This earlier version of Pender Post Past was to continue, with reports of other clubs from the past promised.
We shall see what new stories we uncover in the 1975 version of the Pender Post Past.