Memories & Musings
August, 2020

Peggy Tugwell

By Susan Hulland

Gwendoline (Peggy) Tugwell bought land in Crawford Bay in 1971 and settled there in 1977.  By 1978, she worked running the Snack Bar (now Community Corners building) for Kokanee Springs and handing out tennis rackets to visitors.   

“I got on the Hall’s board of directors in the 1980’s at the time when the community Library was in three locked cupboards in the front of the little Hall. Charlotte Blanke started the Library, then Doreen Zaiss was involved, later still Doris O’Dine, Lucy Moore and myself were volunteers.  I think some improvements were done to the Hall that decade. The kitchen was long and narrow, a galley kitchen they were called then, and against the northeast outside wall. It was very hard to work in. The board held a competition for designing the new kitchen and it was won by Roswitha Strom.” 

“Mostly the school used the Hall during the daytime back then. We lived close to the Hall so we attended lots of evening meetings, card parties and fundraisers.  We played badminton there in the evenings, too, with some of the teachers.  Then there were dances several times a year, and especially for New Year’s Eve. The annual Fall Fairs were another highlight. (Actually that committee was one of only a few I never served on!)  

“There were always community fundraisers: for families whose homes burned down, for critical medical trips to Vancouver Children’s Hospital, to send Crawford Bay Scouts to the Canadian Scout Jamboree in Ontario in 1986 and for student scholarships to the Tipi Camp Wise Teen Programs. I know a lot about all the money that was raised at auctions and bake sales and such in our Hall because I served as the bookkeeper/treasurer on several community group committees back then.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years!! Many of the groups that either made money to stay afloat from their own fundraisers or who we allowed to use the space ‘rent free’ were ones you seldom think about: Crawford Bay’s Cemetery committee, organizers of the Red Cross Swim Lessons, the group led by the Kootenay Lake Community Church who collect, sort and deliver Christmas Food Hampers to 50-75 Eastshore households from Riondel to Boswell each year. They only need the Hall for two days a year, but its size and central location make it the perfect place to do this work.”

“When I left the Hall board John Edwards was the chairman but he served for over 25 years so I can’t recall exactly when that was. But I was part of one of the most successful fundraisers held back in the 1980’s, which I think of as the ‘environmental decade’. It was a Silent Auction held to support The Kootenay Lake Environmental Education Centre, The Tipi (Ecotourism) Camp, The Forest Council, The Wetlands Group and The Lockhart Creek Heritage Committee.  Environmentally-minded people from throughout the region came to support us and we made over $10,000 in three hours!”

“And the worst time I can recall while serving as a director on that board?  Well that would be when the School Board informed us that the old school would be closed down and torn down and a new school built nearby and that the Hall would be asked to vacate the property as we did not own the land under our building.  We immediately set up a committee under Donna Whitta to investigate moving the Hall to our Community Park. (It wasn’t financially feasible.)  But we didn’t need to panic as the new school didn’t open until 2009 the old one? It remained attached to our Hall until 2017.”

“The Hall Board had fundraisers for the Hall, itself, too.  The one I think was the most fun was the Dim Sum style dinner we put on.  We asked for ethnic and culturally diverse donations of appetizers, tapa-sized finger foods and desserts from community residents who knew how to cook old favorite family recipes.  We got everything from Chinese salad rolls, smoked (Kootenay Lake) trout, English shortbread and German plum dumplings. Oh and we had a local bellydancer, Liz Donnison, working the crowd for us too.”  

    “Lots of worthy projects started in the Hall, such as the School’s Hot Lunch Program. I worked at the school at that time but I sometimes just went to the Hall to buy a plate of food and visit with the students. Several community adults did this as a way of socializing in their community and  as far as I know members of the public’ can still buy lunch and mingle with students in the new school as well today.” 

“There have been hundreds of meetings in Crawford Bay’s Community Hall over 82 years. I recall ones where there was discord. We, the Hall Board started the process of asking to have  the downtown/primarily residential parts of the community the Hall Board) initiated having the Wildlife Service establish a ‘No Shooting’ zone in the central core of Crawford Bay. Some people liked the idea of being able to bag a deer in their own backyard each fall; others had concerns about their children being shot while waiting for the school bus stop. It took a few meetings to get that sorted out. I attended RDCK meetings, Fire Smart meetings, RCMP Rural Crime meetings, provincial and federal elections, Interior Health public meetings, music concerts, school concerts, funeral teas, tai chi classes, weddings, birthday parties, drama productions, dances and celebrations of life. In particular I remember Geoff Beley’s funeral, the room was ‘standing-against-the-walls-full’ and there were mourners outside under the Acacia trees.”

“In the time I lived in Crawford Bay I witnessed several periods when the Hall was not used much and it was hard to find directors to sit on the association’s board.  Then something changed, new people moved into the community, new events and programs were offered and use of the building picked up again. There will always be ups and downs for community organizations in small rural communities, especially ones that look after assets such as land and buildings. I hope Eastshore residents rally to help the Hall because one thing I have learned over my 94 years is that you often don’t know the value of something until it’s gone.”