Florence Johnston and Lois Miller of Big Valley Historical Society have been very busy working in their south green baggage car putting on display another 265 sets of salt and pepper shakers. This adds to their existing collection to bring the total to approximately 1500 sets. This newest addition is from Cecile Atkinson of Sherwood Park who visited Big Valley a couple of years ago and was so impressed with the society's wonderful collection that she generously donated her own collection. It has taken awhile to make the new display cases for them, but now they are finally on display. This salt and pepper shaker collection began in 1990 when the Historical Society received 285 sets from Mrs. Roche Randon. This was followed by the huge 869 set collection from Angie Van den Bon in 1992.There are also about 60 sets from a variety of donors. Amazingly there are very few duplicates among this huge display and it is quiet entertaining to see the various themes such as vegetables or animals. If you would like to see them, come on down to the green baggage cars when the train is in. The baggage cars are open at train times and everyone is welcome to join the train tourists to have a look.
The Big Valley Municipal Library is very pleased to welcome back Kelsey Mailer as our 2015 summer student. Thanks to the wonderful support of our hardworking Friends of the Library society, we have been able to hire our summer student one month earlier than usual. Kelsey will be making a school visit this Thursday, June 4 to promote our Summer Reading Club, which is scheduled to begin at the end of June. She already has plans for a summer teen book club, game and activity evenings and she will be holding a senior's drop-in "Computer Club" every Friday morning beginning at 10 a.m. for those who need a little help learning to master their electronic devices. We are delighted to have her input in the planning of the library's "Kid's Carnival" which was such a hit last year and is scheduled to take place on the August long weekend. The library is looking forward to a fun and exciting summer of great programming with Kelsey's talented input.
The Elks' annual Memorial Golf Tournament honoring Brothers Elmer Kerbes and Lloyd Duncan was held on May 31 with 50 golfers hitting the links. The Kurt Watts team, consisting of Barb Skocdopole, Zachary Duncan and Russ McCrindle, ate up the course with six under par. The day started off dreary and hazy but after a hearty breakfast was cooked to order, by tee off time the sun burst forth and the day turned out perfect for the occasion. Annette and Sharon presented the plaque to the winners under bright skies and a few comments were heard that our two good friends were probably looking out for us. A lot of effort goes into making this a high point of the Elks season and the prime organizer was again Len Currie and we thank him. Fellow Elks assisted in cooking breakfast and beef on a bun for lunch and the sausages for breakfast were looked after by Bill. Hole 5 refreshments were on Kent and much appreciated. All in all it was a great day and we thank all of you who took the time out to remember Elmer and Lloyd. See you next year.