Monday, July 18, 2016

Rolly Ashdown: Langdon




The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
July Issue 105
All Rights Reserved


Summertime in Langdon and the South East part of Rocky View County is always interesting. Just last weekend I had the pleasure of attending two different functions, only a few miles from each other, and celebrating some milestones as well as some great beginnings. The first one was in Langdon. It was an occasion with 3 different focuses: an opening of a time capsule that was placed at the Memorial in the Park 33 years ago, a Grand Opening of the Community Garden and two Volunteer of the Year Award presentations. The second one was in Indus at the Junefest with a breakfast and a grand opening of a playground the community built a few weeks ago.
The time capsule was placed in 1983 by a group of residents, many of whom were in attendance. It was interesting to look at some of the materials and compare to what is going on today. Bill Crilly was running for Council back then, his election pamphlet was there and he was there with his wife Sandra. I imagine how they felt going through an election in Rocky View County 33 years ago; Karen and I are where they were 33 years ago! Times were different but I bet the excitement was the same. There was a map of the county, then called the MD of Rocky View. It showed quite a smaller City of Calgary as well, as there was a lot more distance between there and a little town called Airdrie. Lake Chestermere didn’t have many Houses around it at all. There was a copy of the Five Village Weekly, now called the Rocky View Weekly. I had a glance at it; there was an article talking about high water tables and potential flooding. Imagine that! At least the water levels stay consistent. Of course the population was much different, many of the people that live in and around Langdon in 1983 now have streets named after them, one of the things that I always get a kick out of is that when there is a function that involves young and old in our area, many times the people the streets are named after are at the function! That is one of the unique things about Langdon, I doubt there are many communities in the world that celebrate their Heritage while those who were the pioneers get to still take part; surely a unique feature of our fast evolving community.
The second focus was the opening of the Langdon Community Garden. I know the effort that went into this project because I watched the tireless volunteers look at three different sites before finally landing on the one in the park that they chose. I also watched them go through all the hoops of creating something that isn’t the norm and I had the pleasure of watching them succeed in getting it to be the wonderful project it has become. I wish them the very best of luck and may their garden grow well. Colette Curkin and the others deserve resounding success for their efforts to date. I hope Mother Nature treats them well.
The third item on Saturday was awarding two of the most selfless people in Langdon. Chrissy Craig and Cat Golden were given the first annual Volunteer of the Year Award. You will see Chrissy looking after Langdon Days, in itself a major thing, but to people like Chrissy, it’s just business as usual, maybe a little tougher this year amid having a child and taking on some surgery in her spare time. I know she is looking for some help during the Langdon Days celebration this year if anyone has some spare time on their hands. Cat Golden is the Junior Volunteer of the Year, working with Synergy, a great Youth organization in Chestermere and Langdon. Thank those people if you see them, they are true community builders.
My Sunday gave me opportunity to attend Junefest in Indus, some of the old(er) timers know it as a different name I found out at the pancake breakfast but it has been called Junefest for about 8 years now. I had the honour of cutting the ribbon to open the new playground that the volunteers built at the Indus Rec Centre a few weeks ago.
It always makes me feel proud and humbled to see all the community-minded people in our area and the contribution they give to the community, what a great place to live! Thank you very much everyone for giving whatever you can to add to our way of life, I know everyone appreciates anything people do to add to the community, thank you again!

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