Eighty Years Ago
January 26, 1939
• The Library Board reported that 3,700 – slightly more than half of Langley residents – were library users. There were 21,111 card holders in the region. The library held 247,000 books, an increase of 15,000 over the previous year.
• Magistrate D.W. Poppy reported that he had held 102 court sessions in 1938, and had handled 264 cases: 135 under the Motor Vehicle Act, 25 under the Criminal Code, 26 under the Trade Licence Bylaw, 22 under the Liquor Act, 17 under Highways Regulations, and the rest concerning “minor infractions.”
Seventy Years Ago
January 27, 1949
• Langley Co-operative Society cast out any chance of amalgamation with the Aldergrove Co-operative Association.
• The Langley Amateur Athletics Association reported a loss of $224.65 from April 24 to Dec. 31, leaving a balance of $21.27 in hand.
Sixty Years Ago
January 22, 1959
• City Council proposed that the Board of Trade spearhead a community centre project for the area. A curling arena was suggested. Alderman Alf Penzer envisioned such projects covering all of the Athletic Park in a few years, while Ald. John Conder warned against pricing “some of these things” out of the reach of ordinary people.
Fifty Years Ago
January 23, 1969
• Hotel operator Vic Rockson was returned to the helm of the Fort Langley and District Board of Trade. He and vice-president Bob McCord were sworn in by Mayor Bill Poppy.
• Marshal Molesky was installed as president of the Langley Interact Club by Rev. Roger Meggs, a member of the club’s sponsor, the Langley Rotary Club.
Forty Years Ago
January 24, 1979
• An “orderly crowd” of 300 people met at West Langley Community Hall to hear about rapid transit, water and sewer connections, and expansions for the proposed Walnut Grove development.
• A study of learning conditions in Langley School District was ordered by the B.C. Teachers Federation. The local school board rejected the Langley Teachers’ Association’s invitation to appoint one member of the three-person commission.
Thirty Years Ago
January 25, 1989
• The Fort Mall was ravaged by fire, destroying eight businesses, including the liquor store and a veterinary clinic, and causing a million dollars in damages. Two cats and a dog were killed, and five firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation.
• Langley Township council called for a provincial inquiry into the feasibility of amalgamation with the City, but City council saw no reason to pursue it.
• Langley teachers started a paperwork strike, refusing to take attendance or work on report cards.
Twenty Years Ago
January 26, 1999
• A team of federal Liberal cabinet ministers, including Raymond Chan, Herb Dahliwal, Hedy Fry, and Senator Ray Perrault toured the Lower Mainland, spending a day in Langley.
• Langley City wasn’t planning on paying a $500,000 share of renovations to W.C. Blair Recreation Centre. City Mayor Marlene Grinnell noted that the Township had not included the City in the decisions or discussions of the renovation plans for the jointly owned facility, and therefore did not feel obligated to share in the costs.
• Nine years after her involvement in a kidnapping plot in Brazil, Christine Lamont’s family in Langley was hopeful that she would soon be released from jail. Her fiance and co-conspirator David Spencer had been paroled, and a decision on Christine was pending. The two had spent eight years in jail in Brazil before being transferred to prison in Canada.