Mary Twemlow began coming to Coghlan community hall in Aldergrove when she was 13, back in the 1940s.
“It was the gathering place for all the kids,” Twemlow said Sunday, as she waited for the Saint Patrick’s Day Céilí festivities to get underway.
“Every Wednesday night, everyone would go to the dance. The whole community would be down there.”
Twemlow said the event was funded by the Pro-Rec program, a community sport and recreation initiative provided by the provincial government. Created during the Great Depression, the program offered free classes in calisthenics, team sports, track and field events, dancing, and other recreational activities.
Coghlan Hall was perfect for dancing, with a sprung floor of wood over horsehair, just like the legendary Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, with the same springy feel that dancers love.
Twemlow, who lived just down the road from the hall, didn’t know how to dance when she started going to the community hall. But as it happened, a slightly older teen, named Bill Twemlow, did.
“That’s where I met my husband,” she smiled.
READ MORE: St. Patrick’s Day Céilí to help preserve Coghlan Hall
On Sunday, there was traditional Irish dancing, courtesy of the Maple Ridge-based Sionnaine Irish Dance Academy, a piper, and traditional tunes, performed by guitarist Shawn McKee.
Céilí organizer Bob Long, who is also a Langley Township councillor, said proceeds from the sold-out Céilí (about $1,000) will go to the Coghlan Hall Society, to help preserve the hall.
The community hall at 6795 256 St. in Langley was built in 1920.
It has added a few modern conveniences over the years, like a downstairs kitchen with an electric stove and refrigerators, but the most recent additions actually made it look like it built even earlier.
A movie crew wanted to make the hall look even older than it is for the western comedy Gunless, so they built a wall at one end to conceal the modern entrance and they covered over metal ceiling support beams to make them look like square-cut timbers for the film.
Set builders offered to remove the additions. But, Aldergrove Festival Days Society vice-president Mike Robinson explained, the volunteers who manage the hall liked the look so much, they asked the movie set builders to leave their additions.
.
_________________________________
Is there more to this story?
Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter
_________________________________
