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Some Botha history discovered

This last seniors’ monthly meeting took place this past Monday, June 2, and hopefully everyone had a great time.

This last seniors’ monthly meeting took place this past Monday, June 2, and hopefully everyone had a great time. Now they will be taking their summer break and will be starting up again the first part of September. So please keep your eyes open and the date will be posted at that time. The committee would like to thank you all, the seniors, for attending these important meetings and hope to see all seniors back in the fall. They hope everyone has a great summer, and can get away and relax some.

Sympathy goes out to Margaret Turner and family on the sudden passing of Margaret’s brother-in-law (Glenn Turner) who passed away peacefully on Friday, May 23. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all at this time.

Don’t forget about all the excitement which is going to take place next Friday, June 13, at the Botha Hall. The “Old Tyme Aires” will be back again than to entertain the crowd at their final dance until this fall. So you won’t want to miss out on this excitement. They are a great band and everyone, regardless of age, has a lot of fun.

Bingo takes place again next Tuesday, June 10 starting at 7:15 p.m. sharp at the Botha Senior Centre. So come on out and try out your luck. Who knows you could be the lucky one that evening and take it all home with you or a big part of it. The Jackpot is up there to as its still hasn’t been won for quite a while, so who knows, you could be lucky enough to take it home with you. Bingo continues every second Tuesday evening even throughout the summer, so you sure won’t want to miss out.

Seeing Botha just celebrated their anniversary a few years ago, I am going to include some history I have located about our little village. The early hamlet before Botha existed was Mayvrille, which was located very close to where Botha is now, and the history on this is non- existent at this time, which later was renamed Botha. Botha was named after a South African prime minister and solider, who was Louis Botha. In 1972, a descendant of General Louis Botha, who came to Canada and Botha in 1972. The Village was developed in 1909 around the railroad and train station, which ran through the south end part of Botha.

On Jan. 11, 1905, the Mayvrille Post Office opened with a two-storey building which was the living quarters of Will Gibbon, his wife and their son. This was the very first post office in this little Village. The Post Office had a store on the ground floor with the living quarters above it. Will also ran a lumberyard. The business changed hands shortly to Jim Hendry.

The village by this time had become a good size for that time frame, with quite a few businesses. There was a blacksmith shop ran by Fred Hendry. There was a house built by Ernie Snyder for Mr. Wuest in 1907. There was a hardware built by Wes Harrison for Otho Hunter and his father William Hunter who had come from Carstairs. There was a large Mayvrille Hotel built in 1906 and a dance was held there Dec. 21, 1906 to celebrate the opening. The owner of this building was George Dornfield. Mr. Selgauch owned and operated a butcher stop which held a livery stable.

This past week and weekend has had some rainy days, so hopefully this will help the crops and gardens out some and everything will look green and fresh. Hopefully everyone has a great upcoming week.

Also don’t forget to take a break away from your busy schedules and join your friends for coffee every Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the Botha Senior Centre. They would love to see you, and it’s a great way to take a break and come out and enjoy yourself with your friends and neighbours. Coffee time will continue all summer, so please don’t miss this opportunity to come out and visit.

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