Community halls invaluable in keeping people connected

It was disappointing to hear that the popular Sheffield Mills Eagle Watch weekend was cancelled for another year due to Avian flu. Understandable of course, but disappointing for those that also fancied the traditional breakfast in the old Sheffield Mills school hall.

Then there was a kind of resurrection. The Eagle Watch Breakfast is returning to the community hall on the weekend of March 25-26.

As former county councillor Meg Brown indicated, “We've survived the pandemic and (avian influenza) but only by the skin of our teeth and need your help to ensure the survival of our historic community school building.”

It's on the ample side with an upstairs hall and stage. Steep stairs lead upward to a space that has had a myriad of uses. Eagles and nature lore were the focus when we visited.

Showing international students the raptor spectacle was fun, but our gang always loved the pancakes, blueberry syrup and sausages served up by genial community members. Easy listening live music was an added treat.

Brown put out a call already for musical talent and naturally folks stepped up.

Speaking of breakfasts, Centreville always put on a good meal too. The offerings included fried or scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, baked beans, hash browns, and toast. No meals on the village event page this month, but I hope they will return to support the centre, which dates back to 1920.

Lately, since life is returning to some normalcy, I've found myself at several local community centres that started out as school houses. There was, for example, Kara Friesen's Let's Talk Food event at the tiny North Alton hall.

Sometimes I take a yoga class at the Hants Border hall, which is a well-cared for building facing a line of evergreen trees. While holding a pose, I'll find myself wondering who planted that stretch of tall trees long ago.

The West Brooklyn Speak

Easy, atop the South Mountain, offers an entertaining evening out. We've been up several times to catch informal, but stellar, concerts with terrific volunteer service in the kitchen. Revenue from these well-organized musical events supports maintenance of the old school built in 1928.

The Gaspereau Community Centre is another frequent concert venue and party rental. My first memory of that solid white frame building was in 1980 when the village held an inaugural supper named for the bony little fish that were swimming up river that May — and every May. The meal didn't exactly catch on, but it was a memorable local food celebration.

In Grafton, community bingo is going again and the ample Woodville Community Centre has weekly coffee parties and fundraisers underway. Back in 2011, Woodville was awarded the Lieutenant Governor's Community Spirit Award. The award recognizes communities throughout Nova Scotia that demonstrate a high level of pride and citizen participation and the community's unique strengths.

Community halls are important to the fostering of a cohesive local culture and neighbours getting to know neighbours.

After public education was mandated in Nova Scotia in 1864, communities of all sizes had to step up and build schools.

By the late 1930s there were almost 1,500 rural, one-room schools in this province. Each required three trustees and a secretary for every teacher. Heated by a woodstove and boasting four and sometimes six-seater outhouse facilities, these schools were maintained by local property taxes and volunteer support.

Starting in 1949 and then into the early 1950s, education became consolidated in larger centres. School buses ran to deliver first high school students and then the younger learners going longer distances.

Many communities, who had already invested in these buildings, continued to use and maintain the old school structures. Election voting and baby showers had a venue. Centennial grants in 1967 helped out in the preservation. I think new grants would be helpful.

Some old schools got sold and saw adaptive reuse, but others were worn out by time, weather and a lack of use. There are a few now that I pass on my way somewhere else and worry about. But I'd like to celebrate those that survived the pandemic lockdown, like Sheffield Mills. Bring on those breakfasts.