Fonds consists of records of the Gorge Harbour Community Hall Society, including minutes of meetings, financial statements and administrative records and correspondence. It is arranged into five series: Minutes, Financial, Administrative Records, Correspondence and Programs.
The Gorge Harbour Community Hall Society was formed in 1930, when residents decided to build a community hall. The young people of the area formed the Gorge Harbour Dramatic Society and put on plays and dances to raise funds. The Hall was built on land donated by George Beattie. Volunteers split shakes for the roof and did all the building, with Charlie Allen as supervisor and Bill Ballantyne as work boss. The Hall opened on Nov. 11, 1933, with an Armistice dance.
The Gorge Harbour Hall Society disbanded in 1952 and handed responsibility for the Gorge Hall over to the Whaletown Community Club. From this time, the Gorge Hall replaced the Church Hall as the main venue for weddings, dances, meetings and parties for both the Whaletown and Gorge Harbour communities.
Custodial History
Records of the Gorge Harbour Community Hall Society were turned over to CIMAS by Gillian Milton, who collected them from the home of Gilean Douglas in 1993. Douglas' husband, Philip Major Douglas, was president of the Whaletown Community Club when it took over the Gorge Harbour Community Hall and presumably had the records in his possession at that time.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of records of the Gorge Harbour Community Hall Society, including minutes of meetings, financial statements and administrative records and correspondence. It is arranged into five series: Minutes, Financial, Administrative Records, Correspondence and Programs.
Sedley Bell-Irving Sweeny (November 29, 1917 - December 19, 2013) was born in England. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada with a commission in the Royal Engineers and went on to serve in World War II with the 8th Army from El Alamein onwards, then in Sicily, Italy and Greece; he was awarded Military Cross for valour at the Garigliano River crossing in Jan.'44.
He married Diana Game in 1941 and they had three daughters: Nicola, Terry and Robin. He retired from the army in 1957, bought a farm in Wales, and for the next thirty years devoted his energies to sustainable land management, self sufficiency and, increasingly, the welfare of marginalized people. With Diana, he managed an orphanage for Tibetan refugee children in Simla, India, on behalf of Save the Children Fund, subsequently founding The Society for Training in Rural Industries and Village Enterprises, through which he provided instruction and practical experience for Tibetan family groups on his farm.
Sedley returned to BC in 1985, divorced and single again. At age 71 he rowed to Cortes from Vancouver, where he met and married his second wife, Trude Albright, in 1989. Sedley was a Self Sufficiency advocate promoting a Cortes wide vision of cooperation and skill sharing. He and Trude were involved in many Cortes community initiatives including an emergency first aid and ambulance service; the Friends of Cortes Association; the Cortes Ecoforestry Society; the Cortes Earmark Book of islander skills; and The Cooperation For Cortes Self Sufficiency. Many of the associated activities happened at Trude's Café. A skilled boat-builder, he converted a fishing boat into a junk-rigged yacht, and he also instructed Cortes youth in boatbuilding and sailing.
Sedley died at home at the age of 96 and is buried in the Whaletown cemetery.
Custodial History
There is no accession record; fonds has been given an arbitrary FIC (Found In Collection) number based on the date of processing.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of writings by Sedley Sweeny, including a book, "The Challenge of Smallholding", and two photographs of his sailboat, "Wild Rose".
