Eighty Years Ago
December 8, 1938
• A well-attended Langley Agricultural Association banquet honoured the junior farmers clubs. Langley had more junior clubs than any other district in the province. In attendance was Deputy Minister of Agriculture Munro, who expressed surprise upon hearing that Langley had not received financial assistance from the province that year.
Seventy Years Ago
December 9, 1948
• Aldergrove’s winter fair was deemed a huge success, despite stormy weather. It was the first fair in the eastern part of the municipality since Aldergrove had joined Langley in putting on a single fair between them in 1930.
• A committee was struck to produce plans to develop the local airfield.
Sixty Years Ago
December 4, 1958
• Langley city council and school board representatives were all returned to office without opposition. Re-elected by acclamation were Mayor E.E. Sendall, Aldermen Alf Penzer and John Conder, and Trustee John Beales.
• In the Township, and eight-way race shaped up for three available council seats, while Joe Breier was unopposed in his bid to replace retiring Trustee Peter Ferguson.
Fifty Years Ago
December 5, 1968
• Firefighters were at a loss to explain why the huge Delbert Worrell barn had not burned to the ground. The building suffered only $100 in damages, while fire destroyed 1,500 bales of hay stored inside. The $100 bill included damage to firefighters’ axes.
• Philip Hope of Fort Langley was elected president of the local Progressive Conservative Association.
Forty Years Ago
December 6, 1978
• Langley Secondary School debaters Mari-Ann Armstrong and Margaret Douglas, coached by teachers Ken Novakowski and J.A. Pashak, won the Lower Mainland Viking trophy.
• Langley school trustees wanted the provincial government to declare education an essential service, to preclude the possibility of a local CUPE strike.
Thirty Years Ago
December 7, 1988
• Ninety per cent of the Langley Teachers Association voted 82 per cent in favour of a strike.
• Langley City and Township directors were to be sworn in for the first time at a Greater Vancouver Regional District inaugural meeting, after the local municipalities had shifted themselves out of the Central Fraser Valley Regional District.
Twenty Years Ago
December 8, 1998
• A shortage in numbers and quality of Christmas trees coming up through the American export market spelled good news for Langley growers.
• Nearly 1,000 needy families had already approached Langley Christmas Bureau in hopes of getting a helping hand through the holiday season.
• The counter-petition aimed at stopping a deal between Langley Township council and Canlan to privatize operations at Langley Civic Centre and Aldergrove arena was only a “few hundred” signatures from success, according to organizers.
• After 43 years in business, Leaney Jewellers in downtown Langley City was closing shop.
• Educator and historian Norm Sherritt was named Langley’s H.D. Stafford Good Citizen of the Year.