Author: AGHS

Today's military post goes back to WW2 and a Royal Canadian Navy Petty Officer who got an unexpected taste of home. This story is from The Place Between Volume 2 1939-1970 and was written by Aldergrove resident & veteran Ben F Smith.

During World War II, I served with the Canadian Navy as an ERA (Petty Officer, Engine Room). While on the frigate HMCS Jonquiere, we were assigned to something called Western Approaches, where we operated out of Great Britain and were either on convoy duty or anti-submarine patrol.

I believe we were on our way to Iceland and I had just come off watch, all set to tuck into breakfast when I could hardly believe my eyes. There in front of me was a real egg. What a delicacy! We had been suffering with those ruddy powdered eggs which tasted like sawdust, and now here I was about to …

There's never a bad time to consider the safety of your home's electrical systems, especially with all of this warm weather and the extra draw on resources for air cooling.

#safetymatters

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Mr. Goldsmith's potatoes were award winners.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #supportfarmers #ourcommunity

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For those who haven't met him, Mr. Ben Greer was a force to be reckoned with in #ourcommunity. You can learn more about the Greer family by using the search function on this page.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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Events to get out and experience this weekend and in the coming week, along with advance notice of The Rolling Barrage 2025 schedule. Remember that your #communitymuseum is open Sunday afternoons, 12-4pm.

#makesomememories #takelotsofphotos #supportlocal

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Today we're visiting with Our Neighbour Mrs. Alice McKay.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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We had heard of the 'barb wire telephone' as it had been in use by farmers since the late 19th century, but not 'barb wire radio'. What interested us about the radio article was the farmers' use of alternate power sources. And then there's the price of beef....everything does indeed seem to come around again.

#storiesmatter

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The Township's bridges were in sad shape in the winter of 1951.

#localhistory #storiesmatter #ourcommunity

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We found a few Navy and retired Navy men amongst the Aldergrove Elks membership applications - there are probably more. These applications are such a wealth of information. We will be creating a names database that will be searchable for those conducting research; hopefully it will be done by year's end.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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Scanning of the Aldergrove Elks membership applications was completed yesterday (unless there are more to be found in another unopened box), and among them we found two belonging to long-time north County Line residents William McRae and William Twemlow. Document such as these help to add details and confirm facts in our heritage timeline.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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Road Trip! This is the 1939 Shell Oil Road Map. It's very interesting to see how many interior roads we take for granted these days didn't exist in 1939. There are also many towns that no longer exist as well as those that didn't yet exist. Kids today will never know the joy of trying to refold that map so that it fits neatly in the glove box.

To get the best view, it's recommended that you open the map image in a new tab, click the + to enlarge it and then download it to your device.

#highwayhistory #storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity #mapsarefun

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Baking cakes when ingredients were rationed during WW2. Here are some recipes that you can try, and if you do, let us know the result. =)

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity #WW2rationing

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Today we'll check in on the town gossip from September 1959.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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With the recent news about School District expenditures and expansions, we thought we'd look back at the 1920 estimates for school buildings. According to an inflation calculator, $63.500.00 in 1920 is equivalent to about $904,560.53 today.

#SD35 #ourcommunity #localhistory

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November 1915 - a Mr. JH Simpson opened a new general store at Aldergrove. Too bad the article didn't give the store's location. 😉

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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Happy Canada Day! Come out and visit with us at the @Royal Canadian Legion Branch #265, Aldergrove. We'll be there from 11am - 2pm along with lots of other great community groups and entertainment.

#CanadaDay2025 #makesomememories #ourcommunity

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Coghlan community in 1945. The Chinese Auction is an interesting bit - this fundraising activity is still in practice today, although it now goes by different names. The auction requires participants to buy a number of tickets, sometimes the type used in 50/50 draws, sometimes ones on which the participant puts his or her contact information, then places a ticket in a jar in front of the items they would like to win. The auction winners are then decided by ticket draw.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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The advancement of entertainment technology pre-WW2 and the invasion of what would, in current times, be referred to as "screen time". Did anyone else's Mom say "you'll end up with square eyes if you keep watching that thing." No? Just me?

#storiesmatter

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A 3 robbery crime wave in our commercial core, December 1952

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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Lots of great events coming up in #ourcommunity and many of them involve food. =)

#makesomememories #takelotsofphotos #storiesmatter

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From the front page of the New Westminster Pacific Canadian newspaper for 17 March 1894 comes news of the Otter Literary And Debating Society, which covered many of the controversial topics of the day, including Chinese immigration. As we see in the article, despite the enthusiasm of its members, the debates had to be put aside indefinitely ("sine die") due to people moving away and the start of planting season for the farms.

While community debate groups seem to have fallen by the wayside, debates are still prevalent in many educational institutions, which operate under the auspices of the Debate and Speech Association of BC.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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Checking in on the County Line and Jackman Road social circles to see what was going on in 1932.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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That time when George McAdam went hunting up at Harrison....luckily he made it back.

(there is a typo in the date on the photo - it should be 1959 not 1859)

#storiesmatter #localhistory #ourcommunity

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A small look at what (and who) was making the news in the early decades of the 20th century, along with a snippet from the Victoria Daily Times, whose reporter apparently did not know the distance between Langley and Aldergrove, although with all of the road construction, it can certainly feel like 70 miles. 😉

#localhistory #storiesmatter #ourcommunity

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