O
n April 12, some residents from Dunrovin Park Lodge rode their bus to Kersley for lunch hosted by Kersley Community Association. Easter eggs and sprays of flowers graced each table.
After a delicious lunch of ham and scalloped potatoes, members of the Campfire Singers of the Seniors Centre provided entertainment with singing many of the old favourite songs bringing back memories of by gone days.
The Kersley Community Association (KCA) has held Koffee Klatch every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. until the end of April. Between 25 and 30 people come out every week. Carpet bowling has also been an on-going activity in the hall.
In the fourth week of June they are planning a community picnic with a barbeque and parade. Volunteers will take a break through the summer and get together for Halloween, Oct. 31, with a costume parade and large fire works display where spectators can watch from the bleachers.
In winter, Kersley residents look forward to ice skating and a skating party once a month with hot chocolate and hot dogs. At Christmas they hold a community potluck, a play by Roy Teed and sing carols. Volunteers fill goodie bags for the school and community centre. These same volunteers have just filled more than 300 plastic Easter eggs with goodies.
With the new addition to the hall, people now come each Wednesday for ceramics. The KCA hold their monthly meetings the third Sunday of every month. This is what makes Kersley such a vibrant friendly community.
A TALE OF TWO CENTRES
On April 10 at their monthly meeting of the OAPO in the Golden Centre, treasurer Sharon Kunkel read an article entitled ‘The Tale of Two Centres’. We don’t know who wrote it but is certainly worth passing on to a greater audience.
Some people are still confused about the difference between the Golden Centre at 401 Front Street and the Quesnel and District Community Centre at 461 Carson Street.
The Golden Centre has been operated by the OAPO branch 77 since the mid seventies to provide a place for drop-in lunch, cards, meetings and various forms of recreation. It has, and continues to be, a popular place to gather and serves the community very well.
Some years ago, it became more and more evident the lack of space and scheduling time in the hall was becoming a problem. With foresight, bingo money was set aside for this purpose.
A property committee of the OAPO found a house on Vaughan Street that they thought might be suitable when an addition was built on. Following purchase, however, it was discovered the soil was unsuitable for a larger building. The house was sold and this money went toward purchase of land on the site of the present Seniors’ Centre.
The committee of the OAPO was obliged to form a society because, at that time, the OAPO was not allowed to own property.
At countless meetings, they worked on plans, met with contractors and dealt with a multitude of headaches that such a large project entails. Because there was so much of our time, sweat, and tears, perhaps we took on a certain ownership. We found we had little time for both centres although for some time we had dual membership. A vote dictated that we now have separate membership but some of us continue to be members of both.
Each Centre is unique and serves a different purpose. They do not compete.
Both are needed to meet the demands of our community. In Prince George, there are four seniors’ centres and I imagine some feel more possessive about their own centre than another. It’s only human.
But wouldn’t it be great, in this year of the Older Person, we could come to some understanding of the workings of each other’s centre and have a better understand of each other.
Ruth Scoullar is a seniors’ advocated and regular Observer columnist