by Irena Karshenbaum
Braeside Community Centre, or the Hall, as it is also known, has a very interesting history. Originally built in 1967, it was constructed by volunteer contractors who were living and working in Braeside. Unfortunately, their names have been lost to history as even long-term director of construction and maintenance, Bob Byers, who has been in the role for over 20 years and remembers meeting some of them years ago, sadly, doesn’t remember their names.
Bob Byers recounts hearing how the Braeside contractors got together to construct the “old” Hall, the part where Braeside Before and After Child Care is today. Bob explains the old Hall did not have any drawings, “They had a rough idea of what they wanted and sketched it out on pieces of paper.”
Bob retells the story, “The main contractor who was building the old part got called away for a job in Lethbridge. By the time he came back the other contractor he was working with put a roof on the building without realizing that there was supposed to be a second floor there.” Bob laughs saying that was probably a good thing because had they built a second floor there might not have been the “new” Hall. The addition to the building where the Upper and Lower Hall is today was built around 1974, although Bob can’t give an exact date. Bob adds another interesting bit to the story that the City of Calgary has the drawings to the new Hall, but can’t find them.
Bob continues, “The volunteer contractors did a great job as the building is still standing and has served the community well.”
This story illustrates how Braeside has a Hall because of the selfless giving of its volunteers. The giving continues to this day.
Even though Braeside Community Centre has been ordered to close during the COVID-19 pandemic, the volunteer board of directors of Braeside Community Association have been working hard and have given selflessly of their time to not only provide advocacy and management for the community centre, but are also doing critically important work to improve the building.
BCA president, Robert Grigg, explains, “We needed new lighting (LED and dimmer switches) for energy savings and to upgrade the aesthetic look of the Upper Hall. Next, we replaced the furnaces because they needed to be replaced after many years of good service and they are more energy-efficient. The new furnaces have an efficiency rating of 96.1%. This should be saving us a lot of money in energy costs.” Robert says that the BCA Board is evaluating the flooring and hoping for the new flooring to be installed around mid-June.
The funding for these projects came from the City of Calgary and Government of Alberta grants. The grants, which required extensive work, were written by volunteer BCA board members.
All this work on the building is absolutely necessary for the long-term sustainability of the Hall so that it can be a warm and comfortable place for the community to meet.
Robert Grigg also recently sent out a survey, using SurveyMonkey, and thanks all the people who took the time to reply. Results will be shared with the community once they are compiled. BCA is also working on launching its website.
Robert explains, “We don’t know when the Hall will be reopened. We are waiting for instructions from the City of Calgary on that. We are also waiting for instructions when child care can open, that go-ahead comes from the Province.”
Even with the passage of time some things remain the same. The Braeside Hall is at the heart of the neighbourhood because of the selfless giving of the volunteer BCA board of directors.
Irena Karshenbaum is the Community Coordinator for Braeside Community Association. She loves to tell Braeside stories. [email protected]
