history

British Columbia: An Untold History features Langley’s Forsythe explaining the gold rush trail in B.C., the province’s forest history, and the first world war. (Langley Advance Times Files)

Langley’s Mark Forsythe featured in a web series on B.C.’s history

He said the film should be part of school curriculum

 

MV Sea Lion, which was built in 1905 and was B.C.'s oldest wooden tugboat, is being scrapped at a shipyard in Nanaimo. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)

B.C.’s oldest wooden tugboat being scrapped at shipyard in Nanaimo

MV Sea Lion, built in 1905, had a part in 1914 SS Komagata Maru incident

 

Photo of Henry Louis Norwest – Photo taken while as a member of 3rd Canadian Mounted Rifles, 1915. (CANADIAN VIRTUAL WAR MEMORIAL)

KPU Remembers: Students reconstruct Canadian solider’s experience in First World War

Senior university students published videos telling the story of Canadian veterans

 

Blair family members Sonya Klemm, John Blair, Anne Blair, Doug Blair, and Alan Gregson attended the donation presentation Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (Joti Grewal/Langley Advance Times)

VIDEO: Blair family adds $10,000 donation to Langley’s farm museum coffers

Help Load the Wagon campaign raising money to expand Fort Langley facility

  • Nov 8, 2021
Blair family members Sonya Klemm, John Blair, Anne Blair, Doug Blair, and Alan Gregson attended the donation presentation Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (Joti Grewal/Langley Advance Times)
A date for the launch of the family heritage group has not been announced. Those interested are encouraged to check with the Alder Grove Heritage Society Facebook page for updates. (Dan Ferguson/Black Press Media)

Discovering our history

There are multiple free websites and tools available to help build a family tree

  • Nov 4, 2021
A date for the launch of the family heritage group has not been announced. Those interested are encouraged to check with the Alder Grove Heritage Society Facebook page for updates. (Dan Ferguson/Black Press Media)
Tyler Seib and Calum Farquhar from All in One Productions are filming Wheels of Time in Fort Langley, a short film about the village’s history and that of the CNR train station. The production features the works of local actors and historians. (Special to Langley Advance Times)

Reflections on the rails

Play-turned-short-film captures Fort Langley and historic train station dating back to 1910

Tyler Seib and Calum Farquhar from All in One Productions are filming Wheels of Time in Fort Langley, a short film about the village’s history and that of the CNR train station. The production features the works of local actors and historians. (Special to Langley Advance Times)
Edwin Campbell at a pre-COVID Remembrance Day service. A portrait of him as a young flight officer and bomber tail-gunner is inset. This year, the long-time Langley resident will wait outside his residence to hear the sound of propellers as aircraft do a fly-past on Nov. 11. (Special to Langley Advance Times)

Memories of war still haunt a Langley City veteran

A few years ago, Edwin Campbell shared some of what he saw during the Second World War

Edwin Campbell at a pre-COVID Remembrance Day service. A portrait of him as a young flight officer and bomber tail-gunner is inset. This year, the long-time Langley resident will wait outside his residence to hear the sound of propellers as aircraft do a fly-past on Nov. 11. (Special to Langley Advance Times)
Camas flowers in full bloom. (Devon Bidal/News Staff)

Vancouver Island camas meadows reveal agricultural impact of B.C. colonialism

Lekwungen food expert Cheryl Bryce looks to raise awareness of traditional food systems

  • Sep 30, 2021
Camas flowers in full bloom. (Devon Bidal/News Staff)
Petrina Arnason (left) with volunteer Teresa Spring, read a decades-old article about her mother then-alderman Muriel Arnason on Saturday, Sept. 25, at the Alder Grove Heritage Society museum, as part of Community Heritage Day. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times) (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)

VIDEO: More than just telephones: Alder Grove Heritage Society museum marks Community Heritage Day

New additions to archives include newspaper articles and photos from the Aldergrove Star

Petrina Arnason (left) with volunteer Teresa Spring, read a decades-old article about her mother then-alderman Muriel Arnason on Saturday, Sept. 25, at the Alder Grove Heritage Society museum, as part of Community Heritage Day. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times) (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)
An unidentified photo that was donated to the Alder Grove Heritage Society. People are invited to look at local heritage photos and provide any details they may have. (Alder Grove Heritage Society/Special to The Star)

Alder Grove Heritage Society looks to locals to ID those in historic photos

This years’ Community Heritage Day will be on Saturday, Sept.25

An unidentified photo that was donated to the Alder Grove Heritage Society. People are invited to look at local heritage photos and provide any details they may have. (Alder Grove Heritage Society/Special to The Star)
Vernon summer resident Julie McCann (née Holland) set an unofficial world record Monday, Aug. 9, at Greater Vernon Athletic Park, becoming the fastest woman to run 100 metres on all fours with a clocking of 22.99 seconds. (Christine Castrucow photo)

100 metre dash – on all fours: Vernon woman breaks unofficial Guinness record

Vernon resident Julie McCann sets unofficial Guinness mark as fastest woman to cover 100 metres on all fours

Vernon summer resident Julie McCann (née Holland) set an unofficial world record Monday, Aug. 9, at Greater Vernon Athletic Park, becoming the fastest woman to run 100 metres on all fours with a clocking of 22.99 seconds. (Christine Castrucow photo)
Geoff Goodship was contacted earlier this year by a man who had acquired his father’s First World War soldier’s uniform. Submitted photo

Vancouver Island man to be reunited with father’s 104-year-old First World War uniform

Geoff Goodship got a call out of the blue from an amateur historian who had acquired the outfit

Geoff Goodship was contacted earlier this year by a man who had acquired his father’s First World War soldier’s uniform. Submitted photo
Murrayville’s John Swityk (L) turned 100 on Aug. 3, surrounded by family and friends and memories. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)

VIDEO: Langley veteran turns 100

John Swityk, who fought in the Second World War, was surrounded by family, friends and memories

Murrayville’s John Swityk (L) turned 100 on Aug. 3, surrounded by family and friends and memories. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)
Bill Merilees, a retired B.C. Parks regional information officer, collected mollusk shells from B.C. and Washington state coastlines for 50 years and has donated his 140,000-specimen collection to University of British Columbia’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)

VIDEO: B.C. man donates 140,000 mollusk specimens to biodiversity museum

UBC’s Beaty museum grateful for Bill Merilees’s historical record of B.C. marine biodiversity

Bill Merilees, a retired B.C. Parks regional information officer, collected mollusk shells from B.C. and Washington state coastlines for 50 years and has donated his 140,000-specimen collection to University of British Columbia’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)
AGHS president Tami Quiring and Kurt Langmann showing off his recent donation. (Scott White/Special to The Star)

Former Star editor donates decades worth of microfilm to Alder Grove Heritage Society

President Tami Quiring said Kurt Langmann’s donation will aid in research and community preservation

AGHS president Tami Quiring and Kurt Langmann showing off his recent donation. (Scott White/Special to The Star)
Captain James Cook statue splashes into Victoria’s Inner Harbour, after being removed from its upper causeway pedestal on July 1. (@CJusticeVic/Twitter)

Cast in bronze, then into Victoria’s Inner Harbour: So who was James Cook?

Likeness of British maritime explorer commissioned in 1976, forcibly removed on July 1

Captain James Cook statue splashes into Victoria’s Inner Harbour, after being removed from its upper causeway pedestal on July 1. (@CJusticeVic/Twitter)
Gwen Spencer Hethey with her uncle and mentor Major Frederick Richardson. (Courtesy of Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame)

‘She was a killer’: The B.C. woman who pioneered female sharpshooting

Gwen Spencer Hethey made military men ‘look like turkeys’ says her son

Gwen Spencer Hethey with her uncle and mentor Major Frederick Richardson. (Courtesy of Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame)
(Courtesy Photo | Frank Zmuda)

Beaver secretion found as part of ancient throwing dart in Yukon

Researchers saying it’s earliest known evidence of Indigenous peoples using the substance

(Courtesy Photo | Frank Zmuda)
Aman Johal interpreter at the National Historic Site in Fort Langley earned an Inspiration Award for his work. (Special to The Star)

Fort Langley interpreter and Alder Grove heritage president recipients of inspiration award

B.C. Historical Federation gave awards through recent virtual conference

Aman Johal interpreter at the National Historic Site in Fort Langley earned an Inspiration Award for his work. (Special to The Star)
A protester swings a hammer in an attempt to remove the head of the Egerton Ryerson statue in Toronto on Sunday June 6, 2021. A much-maligned statue of Egerton Ryerson was toppled in Toronto on Sunday. The statue, prominently displayed on the campus of Ryerson University, has come under renewed scrutiny after the discovery in Kamloops, B.C., of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Beheaded statue of Egerton Ryerson, toppled Sunday in Toronto, won’t be replaced

Ryerson is credited as one of the architects of Canada’s residential school system

A protester swings a hammer in an attempt to remove the head of the Egerton Ryerson statue in Toronto on Sunday June 6, 2021. A much-maligned statue of Egerton Ryerson was toppled in Toronto on Sunday. The statue, prominently displayed on the campus of Ryerson University, has come under renewed scrutiny after the discovery in Kamloops, B.C., of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young