Calling all EXPLORERS young and old; near and far…
The Ladysmith Maritime Society and Ladysmith & District Historical Society are releasing a family-fun Heritage Treasure Trail game on BC Family Day, February 15th at 10:00 am. Due to the snowy conditions, we are extending the time to complete the trail and then join us on Sunday, February 28th.
During the next 2 weeks pick up your free HERITAGE EXPLORER MAP, STICK-ON DECAL & TRAIL CLUES from the Ladysmith Museum, the Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce or the Community Marina or follow the clues and map posted online. Explorers are encouraged to take a photo or selfie at the site to share on social media #bcfamilyday and #heritageladysmith. There will be 33 plus features to find.
The trail starts at the Ladysmith Museum (721 First Avenue) and goes through the downtown core and to the Transfer Beach harbour area, where it ends at the Ladysmith Community Marina (611 Oyster Bay Drive). Participants are invited to complete as much of the map as they can during the next 2 weeks, and bring it with them on Sunday, February 28th to the Ladysmith Community Marina, where Explorers will receive a goodie bag and a free copy of the book “Ladysmith 100 years”.
Ladysmith Museum
Everyone can warm up with a hot beverage on the docks and see a display of heritage wooden boats restored by LMS volunteers. Heritage slide shows and videos will be available all week on both society’s Facebook and websites to entertain and educate. Put on your “EXPLORER” hat and join the fun!
For info call Ladysmith Museum at 250-245-0423.
To minimize risk and promote the continued safety of all, please wear your mask and practice social distancing at all times.
Quentin Goodbody, the President of the Ladysmith & District Historical Society and a Ph.D in Geology, has created a series of three videos on the History of Global Warming And Climate Change. These videos have been posted to the Ladysmith & District Historical Society YouTube channel.
In 2020, we have celebrated the 75th anniversary of the end of World War 2 in Europe and in the Pacific. To honour this anniversary, volunteers at the Ladysmith and District Historical Society interviewed a number of older Ladysmith residents and former residents, asking what it was like to live in Ladysmith during WW2. Here are some of their memories.
Most people we talked to remember black-out curtains, black-out drills and slit cloth covers for car headlights. Darrell Rogers remembers the local air raid precaution (ARP) warden coming to tell his mother that a light could be seen through the curtains of their house. Darrell remembers the slit cloth headlight covers weren’t very effective, and he used them as a basket for picking blackberries. Isabelle Ouelette remembers her father and brother going out during black-out drills to ensure no light could be seen from any building.
Several people could remember taking 25¢ to school each week to buy a War Savings Stamp (not a Victory Bond). When $4.00 of stamps was saved, the attached form was completed and the stamps and form sent to the government. The child received a $5 War Savings Certificate. The school kept track of the names of those students who bought stamps in the attendance records.
The rationing of food and gasoline was remembered by all. Isabelle Ouelette remembers people traded their ration coupons. Non-smokers and non-drinkers did particularly well in the coupon trade market.
The end of the war was well remembered. When Japan surrendered, Jim Williams was in Vancouver visiting his grandparents and to see the launch of a new ship. Every whistle and siren around went off, including those of the police cars. Darrell Rogers remembers walking past the Island Hotel and the smell of beer coming from it as people celebrated. This was a far cry from the end of WW1, when Ladysmith was under lockdown due to the Spanish Flu epidemic. The only public celebration was closure of all businesses followed by a victory parade through town, after which everyone was sent home.
Jim Williams remembered being taken outside of the North Oyster School to practice what to do if there was an air raid – lie flat on the ground and huff and puff vigorously. He saw the construction of Cassidy Airport. There were paratroop drills at the airport and Jim watched the troopers float down in their parachutes. Jim went home, took his mother’s umbrella, climbed on the roof of the chicken coop, and jumped using the umbrella as his parachute. The umbrella folded up and Jim had a very hard landing. He put the umbrella away and told no one what he had done. His mother went to use the umbrella and found it broken – Jim didn’t say a word. He joined the Air Cadets after they were started in 1942. He was taken on a flight in a big plane from Cassidy to Vancouver and back, sitting in a large bubble – probably a gun turret. Jim remembers “Bundles for Britain” – sending clothing and other non-military goods to Britain and weaving cords, which were sent in to be used in blankets.
Darrell Rogers told us how upset his grandmother, Annie Sharp, was when her youngest son, George (Lefty) Sharp, left for Britain with the Army. She had good reason to be upset. Her husband James had left for WW1 in 1916, and never returned. He remembers the difficulty his father, Jack Rogers, had getting goods for his store, the Ladysmith Trading Company. Everything seemed to be on back-order. However, goods did arrive, as they were needed by the essential workers.
Alec Johnson tells that that his home was one of the First Aid Stations around town. He remembers drills involving simulated accidents where the “victims” had simulated broke arms. Alec would collect cascara bark and sell it to Rolston’s Hardware for 5¢/pound. It was used to make medicine for the forces. He remembers people fishing for dogfish in the harbour to get livers to sell for making liver oil. Alec saw Lancaster bombers hedgehopping over the trees and down the harbour on their way to Patricia Bay airport. Once, when swimming with other boys, the military police (Provost Corps) came by and asked if they had seen three soldiers. The boys had not seen them. Several minutes later, the boys saw the men. When the police came back, the boys reported what they had seen. The men were apparently deserters from the army camp in Nanaimo.
Isabelle Ouelette remembered the alarm when a Japanese submarine shelled the Estevan Point lighthouse and the adjacent radio-direction-finding station, and when Japanese submarines released incendiary balloons over the island to start forest fires. There were steel rods driven into the sand on the beaches on the west coast to prevent airplanes from landing.
Walter (Buster) Ouellette, Isabel’s older brother, joined the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers in September 1944, and being issued a 3030 Winchester carbine for the grand sum of $5.00. Weekly classroom training occurred at what is now the In the Beantime Café. Training included the study of maps and firing practice with the rifle at a local gravel pit. All the training was associated with the shooting down of the incendiary balloons (known as “Japanese Killer Fire Balloons”). None were shot down in the vicinity of Ladysmith.
Our interviewees say that the war didn’t affect children as much as you might expect. Their lives were not very different. If you read the Ladysmith Chronicle from the war years, you will see that most of the reporting is about local events. News about the war was covered extensively by the daily newspapers, and the Chronicle could not compete in the reporting of war news. For high school students, almost every boy was in the air cadets. Alvin Thicke, the high school shop teacher, and Tom Bertram, local druggist, ran the Air Cadets. Being in the air cadets was a credit course. There were also a number of girls in the air cadets, though without uniforms.
-Compiled by John Sharp with help from Ladysmith Archives volunteers
Today is Remembrance Day. It is fitting we take a moment to remember those caught up in and killed in all wars, and think about the shattered lives and dreams of ordinary people just like ourselves.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
This is the 4th stanza of the poem “For the Fallen” composed by Laurence Binyon which was first printed in the September 21st 1914 edition of the Times newspaper in remembrance of casualties from the Battle of Mons early in Word War 1.
The tradition of wearing poppies stems from a poem written in 1915 by a Canadian doctor and soldier in WW1 – John McCrea – after the death of a close friend on the battlefields of Flanders. McCrea himself passed away from pneumonia and meningitis in January 1918.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Here is a new video on the Ladysmith & District Historical Society YouTube channel featuring Dr. Quentin Goodbody on the Causes and History of Climate Change – Climate Change And Global Warming, Part 1:
Would you like to leave a question or comment about anything on this post?
We are lucky to live in a community as caring as Ladysmith. Just how caring is reflected in a long history of philanthropic organizations in the town. To understand the origin of these organizations, we must understand the social context at the time they were formed.
Before the development of large-scale government and employer health insurance and other financial services in Canada which form the backbone of our social security system (prompted in part by the Great Depression in the 1930s), “‘Friendly Societies” played an important role in many people’s lives as membership provided support in times of unemployment, sickness and bereavement.
An early form of Friendly Societies in Europe were tradesmen’s Guilds set up in the Middle Ages (1100–1500s). Membership was restricted to persons qualified in and practising the particular activity relating to the guild (i.e., stonemasons involved in building the great cathedrals and castles, or coopers making barrels).
Expansion of Friendly and/or Benevolent Societies occurred in the 1700–1800s when the Industrial Revolution prompted large scale migration from rural areas to dense urban factory settings where poor housing, disease and hunger were contributing to significant social misery. Some of these societies were religion-based, while others were purely secular. Some were exclusive with regard to membership, while others were more open in their membership policies. In contrast to the very practical reasons for their existence, many had/have elaborate rites and costumes as a form of “branding,” celebrating their unique identity and providing a sense of belonging to the membership. Such societies formed the basis for a considerable number of Ladysmith’s philanthropic organizations.
On Vancouver Island in the late 1890s, when the focus of coal mining changed from Wellington to the Extension area and the settlement to be incorporated in 1904 as the City of Ladysmith came into existence, there were few state social safety nets in place. Workplace safety in the coal mines — the predominant employer in the town — was poor. Unions were weak and relatively unable to protect the workers. Accidents were common and, at times, disastrous. Early residents sought a measure of security and community through belonging to societies, many of which are still active in our community today; others have died out locally, but are still active elsewhere.
The Masons were an important society in early Ladysmith and continue to be so today. St. John’s Masonic Lodge No. 21 was formed in Wellington in 1893 and moved to Ladysmith in 1901. The Lodge is housed in the St John’s Masonic Temple located at 26 Gatacre Street in downtown Ladysmith. This handsome brick building was constructed in 1913 to replace an earlier wooden building, transferred in 1901 from Wellington, which burned down in 1912. The main principles of Freemasonry insist that each member show tolerance, respect and kindness in his actions toward others, practices charity and care for the community as a whole, and strives to achieve high moral standards in his own personal life. Membership of the Masons is restricted to men.
Also present in early Ladysmith was the Order of the Eastern Star, which female relatives of Master Masons could and still may join. Today this order is open to both women and men; boys may join the Order of DeMolay or the Order of the Builders; and girls may join the Order of Job’s Daughters or the Order of the Rainbow. The Ladysmith Museum holds a number of artifacts, which belonged to local members of the Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star.
The philanthropic arm of the Masons is the Shriners. All Shriners are Masons, but not all Masons are Shriners. To join the Shriners, Mason members must attain the degree of Master Mason. To date, research into the early history of the Shriners in Ladysmith has been unsuccessful. It is not known if a Shriners organization founded in Wellington transferred to Ladysmith along with the Masons or not. If there was no local club, prior to the Cowichan Valley Shrine Club No. 27 being formed in 1964 to which local Shriners now appear to belong, Shriners resident in Ladysmith were likely part of the Nanaimo Shrine Club No. 10.
Mid-Island Shrine Clubs belong to a wider Shriner organization founded in 1870, which provides health care for children via a network of twenty-two hospitals in the U.S., Mexico and Canada without regard to race, colour, creed, sex, sect, disability, national origin or ability of a patient or family to pay.
We in Ladysmith perhaps most readily recognize the Shriners by their wearing Fezes (Turkish style hats) and driving their iconic miniature cars during Ladysmith parades.
There are two organizations tied to the Shrine that are for women only: The Ladies’ Oriental Shrine and the Daughters of the Nile. They both support the Shriner Hospitals and promote sociability. Membership in either organization is open to any woman 18 years of age and older who is related to a Shriner or Master Mason by birth or marriage. The Daughters of the Nile were present in Ladysmith, but little has been found about them at time of submission of this article. Today there are Daughters of the Nile chapters connected to the Cowichan Valley Shrine Club No. 27 and the Nanaimo Shrine Club No. 10.
A society of significant importance in early Ladysmith was the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), the historic command of which is to “visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan.” Evolving from earlier Orders of Odd Fellows first founded in England during the 1700s, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political and non-sectarian co-ed international fraternal order founded in North America 1819. The Odd Fellows was, in 1851, the first fraternity in the US to include both men and women. The organization is also known as “The Three Link Fraternity,” referring to the Triple Links Logo – containing the letters F, L & T (Friendship, Love and Truth).
IOOF Harmony #6 Lodge was established in Wellington in 1883 and appears to have subsequently transferred to Ladysmith about 1901. The lodge was located on Roberts Street, in the upper story of the Opera House/Movie Theatre. This building burned down in 1932. The site today is occupied by the Telus building.
Initially designed as the female auxiliary of the IOOF, but now allowing both female and male members, The Rebekahs were also present in Ladysmith. Laurel Rebekah Lodge No. 9, IOOF, was instituted at Wellington on November 7, 1895; the charter was relocated to Ladysmith on June 12, 1901. The general duties of membership are “To live peaceably, do good unto all, as we have opportunity and especially to obey the Golden Rule: Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.”
An impressive OddFellow/Rebekah memorial in Ladysmith Cemetery was consecrated on August 9, 1953. The inscription etched in granite reads “To The Sacred Memory Of All ODDFELLOWS AND REBEKAHS: Erected by Harmony Lodge No. 6 and Laurel Rebekah Lodge No. 9, 1953.” The Oddfellow three ring symbol is at the top centre of the monument: on the north side the letters IOOF and on the south side the letters FLT (standing for Friendship, Love and Truth) are evident.
The Ladysmith Museum was recently gifted a medallion denoting a Rebekah past Grand Noble, but whether this belonged to someone from Ladysmith is not known.
Directly related to the coal mining history of our region is the Ladysmith Healthcare Auxiliary. In 1909 a group of ladies, possibly called “The Miners’ Ladies Auxiliary” gathered to donate their services – possibly to provide succor in the aftermath of the Extension Mine Disaster of October 5th of that year in which 32 men died. After construction of the Ladysmith General Hospital in 1911/12 (which was financed by and administered under the Miners Accident and Burial Fund) this group became “The Ladysmith Hospital Auxiliary.” Subsequent to the change from a full service hospital facility to a community health care centre, the auxiliary in 2006 changed its name to the current Ladysmith Healthcare Auxiliary (LHA).
The LHA makes significant donations of funding for medical equipment to island hospitals now serving Ladysmith citizens. Numerous other entities providing health care services to our community also benefit from LHA funding. In 2018 the organization donated more than $250k to support local healthcare facilities and health and wellness programs. The LHA operates the Thrift Store at the corner of 1st Avenue and French Street and a gift shop now located in the Healthcare Centre. Other LHA activities include Knitters & Crafts, Meals on Wheels, Youth Volunteers, maintenance of the Doris Gallagher Memorial Gardens located behind the Ladysmith Community Health Centre at 4th Avenue and Symonds, provision of High School Bursaries, Patient Comforts and a Senior’s Lifeline service in partnership with Philips Lifeline.
A regionally extant benevolent organization, which was present in early Ladysmith, but is no longer is the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire(IODE). The Order was founded in 1900 in Montreal at the time of the Second Boer War. Steeped in Empire and Patriotism, the IODE soon became an effective means of supplying comforts to the soldiers in the field.
The Order’s first great undertaking after the end of the Boer War was “the search for the graves of those brave Canadians who sleep on the veldts of Africa.” These graves they marked with fine headstones of Canadian grey granite, and the Order later started a fund to keep the graves green for all time.
Despite the connection between the IODE, the Boer War, the siege of Ladysmith and the naming of our town, it wasn’t until October 8, 1914, that an IODE chapter was formed in Ladysmith in response to the outbreak of the First World War. The 25 founding members chose the motto “strength and honour is Britain’s glory.” This chapter was one of many formed across Canada in a wave of patriotic fervour to aid with the war effort. In addition to assisting the Red Cross with provisioning, attention was focussed on supplying comfort kits containing knitted and sewn articles, jam, candies, cigarettes etc. to soldiers departing for and already in Europe.
Membership of the IODE crossed societal/racial boundaries. Noted in a November 1914 report on IODE activities since the declaration of war “Remarkable among the various groups of women united in this service are the Native Indian Women …. who have contributed the wool used, carded it themselves, and have sent large consignments towards the ‘Field Comforts.’ The Cowichan Indian Women and the Kuper Island Indian Women (who wove their tribal name into each sock) have all associated with this patriotic movement.”
The Ladysmith Museum houses a silver matchbox “presented by Ladysmith IODE for active service, 1919.”
Research to date has failed to come up with information on the later history of the local IODE chapter.
An organization that was in Ladysmith, but about which the author has found little local information, is the Ancient Order of Foresters (AOF). The Order continues to exist, but not locally.
The AOF is one of the oldest of the Friendly Societies. Founded in Yorkshire England in 1790, it was already unequivocally a benefit society by the early nineteenth century and probably was so from its earliest beginnings — stemming from medieval forester guilds. The Ancient Order of Foresters became a registered Friendly Society in 1834. In 1874 the American and Canadian Foresters seceded from the Ancient Order of Foresters and set up the Independent Order of Foresters, which today is based in Toronto and operates an insurance business under the brand name Foresters Financial.
The AOF flourished in the 19th century, engaging in general charity as well as providing financial support for its members. Initially restricted to men, in 1892 membership in the Order was opened to women with the formation of female courts (the word “court” is used instead of “lodge”). Both men and women were entitled to become members provided that they were in work, over the age of eighteen and that their application had been proposed and seconded by a member of the Order. Juvenile Foresters had to be between four and eighteen years of age.
Members paid a monthly contribution which was apportioned to various funds, chiefly the Sick & Funeral Fund, the Management Committee (the salaried administrative body) and the Benevolent Fund. Men who had families or other dependants, and were the main wage earners, could pay a level of contributions which ensured that their families would be supported if they should die or become sick or unemployed.
The presence of the AOF in Ladysmith is indicated by two artifacts in the Museum. A handsome axe, the head of which is painted with “AOF Court 9829” and a completed application form for William John Weaving , a 12-year-old resident of Ladysmith to join Court Quadra No. 4 AOF Juvenile Friendly & Benevolent Society in May 1923. More research is required to put both artifacts in the context of local “courts.” Somewhat enigmatic is that these artifacts refer to the “Ancient” Order, given that the North American Foresters had seceded from the “Ancient” and set up the “Independent” Order in 1874.
Secretive in its rituals and symbolism and somewhat exclusive in its membership policies, The Native Sons of British Columbia (NSBC) was founded in 1899 “for social and recreative [purposes] and for mutual help.” A copy of the constitution of the NSBC dating from 1928 states the organization “seeks to advance the interest and promote the welfare of British Columbia, Canada and the Empire … to assist the Native born in establishing themselves and bettering their conditions in their Native Land, to the end that they may successfully perform their inherited duty of carrying on the splendid work commenced by their forefathers; to encourage a greater respect and appreciation of the deeds performed by the discoverers and the pioneers of this Province, and to ensure the emulation of their fortitude and progress in vital questions of the present and future … this organization is not parochial in its endeavors. It seeks to benefit all and to encourage a co-operation and harmony, which will mean PROSPERITY FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA AND THE EMPIRE” (emphasis theirs). The society’s image suffered due to an anti Asian stance during the 1920s–40s.
The Ladysmith Douglas Post No.7 of the NSBC was formed in the 1920s and was active until 1942. After an hiatus of three years the post reopened, but later closed again — year unknown.
A sister organization with similar objectives, the Native Daughters of British Columbia (NDBC), was founded in 1919. NDBC Dunsmuir Post No. 7 was established in Ladysmith in February 6, 1931, and closed in 2010.
Apart from a focus on preservation and glorification of the pioneer history of the province, the twin societies (NSBC and NDBC) were involved in philanthropic activities, including funding bursaries, contributing to hospitals and other charities. The Daughters for many years held an annual New Years Eve Dance. They published a Centennial Cookbook in 2004. Their hall on First Avenue, purchased by the NSBC in 1931 and taken over by the NDBC in 1942, is now Eagles Hall, the building having been sold to the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1993.
The Museum contains quite a number of ceremonial artifacts relating to the NDBC.
Still very active in Ladysmith is the Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE). Founded in 1898 in Seattle, this is an international non-profit organization “uniting fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice, and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills and promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope.”
Within 10 years of its inception, the organization boasted more than 1,800 Aeries scattered throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, with a membership exceeding 350,000. Members received free medical attention for themselves and their families, weekly payments in case of sickness and a funeral benefit — all valuable services before the widespread availability of medical, disability and life insurance. The FOE Ladies’ Auxiliary was formed in 1926.
The Ladysmith Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) Aerie #686 was instituted on April 22, 1904, over a month before the Town was incorporated. Aerie #686 surrendered its Charter in 1922. Five years later, on May 2, 1927, Ladysmith Aerie #2101 was instituted with 90 Chartered Members. The Aerie motto is “people helping people.” The Ladies Auxiliary of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie #2101 was instituted August 25, 1949.
Former Aerie #686 and the present Aerie #2101 both met in the Odd Fellows Hall on Roberts Street until that building burned down in May 1932. Currently the Aerie is housed in the Eagles Hall at 921 1st Avenue — a building dating from 1901, with its own interesting heritage history.
The Fraternal Order Of Eagles (F.O.E.) Hall, 921 1st Avenue, Ladysmith, B.C.
The F.O.E Ladysmith #2101 continues to work hard to bring citizens together in the name of bettering communities and raising funds to assist friends and neighbours in need. The Aerie and Auxiliary donate thousands of dollars annually to local sports groups, festivals and celebrations, community support groups and High School bursaries.
The International Association of Lions was founded in 1917 with the main tenet being “unselfish service to others” and the motto “we serve.”
As of January 2020, the governing body known as Lions Clubs International, oversees 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (Lions & LEO) in more than 200 countries around the world.
Local Lions Club programs include sight conservation, hearing and speech conservation, diabetes awareness, youth outreach, international relations, environmental issues and many other programs. The discussion of politics and religion is forbidden. The LIONS acronym also stands for Liberty, Intelligence, Our Nations’ Safety.
Membership in the Lions Club is by “invitation only.” All member applicants need a sponsor who is an active member and of good standing in the club they intend to join. In 1987, the constitution of Lions Clubs International was amended to allow for women to become members. Since then many clubs have admitted women, but some all-male clubs still exist. In addition to adult Lions Clubs, the Lions family includes Lioness Clubs, Leo Clubs, Campus Lions Clubs and Lion Cubs.
The Ladysmith Lions Club(LLC) was founded in 1941 with the mission “To create and foster a spirit of understanding among all people for humanitarian needs by providing voluntary service through community involvement and international co-operation.”
The organization has been involved in the development of playing fields, ball grounds, starting the Senior’s Housing Society providing low-cost rental accommodation, supporting the hospital, restoring and managing the Aggie Hall, hosting the Home and Garden Show and currently supports a number of charitable activities in the town, such as Ladysmith Family and Friends (LaFF).
Kin Canada, founded in 1920, is the nation’s largest all-Canadian service club organization. Over 6000 members belong to Kinsmen, Kinette and Kin clubs across the country, working to better their communities, enhance the well-being of Canadians and improve the environment. The Association is dedicated to fostering life-long friendships while “serving the community’s greatest need.”
Kin Clubs perform a wide variety of local fundraising and service projects. Each club assesses their community’s greatest need to determine what projects to undertake and how to distribute funds raised within the local community. Certain national service projects are addressed as well, with current focus on the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in hopes of finding a cure or control for cystic fibrosis. Kin Canada is also involved in a bursary program designed to help students fund their dreams of post-secondary education, advocacy for Canadian Blood Service collecting blood donations, organ and tissue donation programs, management of a disaster relief fund and promotion of Kin Canada’s National Day of KINdness every February.
The Kinsmen Club of Ladysmith (KCL) received its charter on February 22, 1952. The club has a long list of contributions to the community, including purchase of an ambulance, construction of a Health Unit, building and rebuilding playgrounds at Root Street, Transfer Beach (playground and spray park) and Brown Drive Park, construction and expansion of the Festival of Lights building on Fourth, construction of over a dozen ramps to facilitate access for persons with disabilities (including a ramp to the Museum), provision of bursaries for local students and supporting dozens of youth sports teams and events. The Ladysmith Kinsmen are also the sponsors and organizers of both of the Town’s annual parades, Ladysmith Days, as well as the Festival of Lights’ Light Up Parade. A recent innovation is an annual Soap Box Derby. An initiative that the club has been trying to get off the ground is the construction of a public washroom in the downtown area.
The KCL stresses that all that it has done would not have been possible without support from ALL of the members of the Ladysmith community (clubs, businesses, individuals, Town, churches, professionals, etc.).
A Roman Catholic Church-based group, Santa Maria Council #4582 of the Knights of Columbus was established in Ladysmith in July 1957. This club was part of a wider organization founded in the U.S. in 1882. The Ladysmith club operated until December 1970. It then closed, but reopened in December 2001, focus being on support of the Roman Catholic churches in Ladysmith and Chemainus, the Ladysmith Resources Centre, the Boys & Girls Club of Ladysmith and other charities with particular emphasis on youth, providing bursaries and grants for education. The author has been unable to find evidence of activity since 2004.
Another well-known organization with continued presence in Ladysmith is the Rotary, which defines itself as a non-partisan, non-sectarian organization open to business and professional leaders aged 18 and upwards, with no regard to economic status. Its mission is to provide service to others, promote integrity and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through fellowship of business, professional and community leaders. Rotary is made up of three parts: Local Rotary clubs, Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation.
The first Rotary Club was formed in Chicago in 1905. Today there are 35,000+ member clubs worldwide; upwards of 1.2 million people have joined the Rotary organization. Until the 1980s, women were not allowed membership although Rotarian spouses were often members of the similar Inner Wheel Club founded in 1924 to unite wives and daughters of Rotarians. Rotaract clubs bring together people ages 18-30 in communities worldwide to organize service activities, develop leadership skills and socialize. Interact is Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 12 to 18. No two Rotary Clubs are the same as they focus not only on global programs, but also local community needs.
Rotary International supports Rotary clubs worldwide by coordinating global programs, which focus on preventing disease, providing clean water, supporting education, growing local economies, saving mothers and children and promoting peace. In 2018, the Rotary Foundation awarded in excess of US $86 million to fund these initiatives.
The Rotary Club of Ladysmith (RCL) was founded in 1970 (50th anniversary this year!). The club accepts new members by invitation or approved application. Very active within the community, past projects undertaken by the RCL include the clearing and construction of the Ladysmith Golf Course, building a public boat launch, Peace Garden, tot park and the Rotary Lookout. RCL continues to support Ladysmith Family & Friends (LaFF), the Ladysmith Secondary School lunch program, scholarships to graduates, the Food Bank, and the Ladysmith and District Arts Council amongst many other groups. In addition, the club is involved internationally by raising funds to support a Mayan community on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.
Major local projects currently underway include collective efforts with other service clubs to fundraise for building a fitness path around Forrest Field and to build the Rotary Gardens (the Leaving Garden) at Cowichan Hospice.
Recently the club has begun the sponsorship of Rotaract, a Vancouver Island University based Rotary club. There is also an Interact Club at Ladysmith Secondary. This group of students actively supports all Rotary projects, as well as their own. It is currently involved in fundraising to support the replenishment of emergency supplies for the community in the event of a disaster.
The Ladysmith Resources Centre Association (LRCA) came into being in 1992 at a time when social problems stemming from a prolonged period of economic downturn were evident. The intent was to form a group that, after an assessment of community needs, would centralize and optimize provision of social services. The LRCA vision is to be the centre of social change in Ladysmith through “enriching the lives of people in the community through advocacy, programs and partnerships.”
Currently housed in Spirit Square, at 630 2nd Avenue, the LRCA administers a wide variety of programs under the headings Community Wellness, Food Security and Shelter. “Community Wellness” incorporates Counselling, Family Support Services, Income Tax Preparation, Kids, Restorative Justice, Seniors Advocacy, Victim Services and Youth Support Services. “Food Security” incorporates the LRCA Food Bank, Food Recovery and the LRCA Soup Kitchen. “Shelter” encompasses Housing Support Services, the LRCA Cold Weather Shelter and the soon to be constructed LRCA Affordable Housing Project.
Last in this review and the youngest of the societies mentioned herein, Ladysmith Families and Friends (LaFF) started in 1993. It provides inclusive, interactive opportunities for the development of children, families and community. Programs include LaFF Mornings and LaFFternoons in the Aggie Hall and Family Frolics at the Frank Jameson Community Centre and Swimming Pool.
The above is a long list of benevolent organizations, past and present, in Ladysmith. Doubtless it is not complete: for example, additional research is required regarding the Knights of Pythias, which were in Ladysmith, and the Salvation Army, which may have been active in our town. If your group has been left out or you wish a more complete story to be recorded, you have the author’s apologies and invitation to send information on the history and activities of your organization to the Ladysmith & District Historical Society by sending an email to info@ladysmithhistoricalsociety.com.
Covid-19 has interrupted our everyday activities and many are feeling the strain financially, physically and mentally. It is heartwarming to know in these times of social distancing that our community, through its orders, societies and clubs, has a continuing history of really having “got it together” when it comes to looking after each other.
The Ladysmith and District Historical Society was incorporated as a not-for-profit society in 1999. Our mission is to promote awareness of Ladysmith’s history and to help preserve its heritage.
Individual: $15/year
Family: $20/year
Corporate: $30/year (includes a link to your webpage)
