North Oyster and Area Historical Society is hosting a celebration of it 25th anniversary this weekend with an open house, refreshments and children’s activities at its community centre at 13467 Cedar Rd. in Ladysmith. (North Oyster and Area Historical Society photo)

North Oyster and Area Historical Society is hosting a celebration of it 25th anniversary this weekend with an open house, refreshments and children’s activities at its community centre at 13467 Cedar Rd. in Ladysmith. (North Oyster and Area Historical Society photo)

North Oyster historic society hosts 25th anniversary celebration

Children's activities, live entertainment slated for Saturday celebration at Ladysmith

Children’s activities, refreshments and live entertainment will be part of the action when North Oyster and Area Historical Society celebrates the 25th anniversary of the creation of its community centre.

Festivities happen Saturday (July 14) 1:30-4 p.m. at the old North Oyster Elementary School when the society welcomes visitors for an afternoon of festive activities.

“We’ve got refreshments, mainly desserts, and things like that, and an area for children,” said Irene Hawthornthwaite, society vice-president.

The children’s colourful creations will be displayed on one of the community centre’s blackboards, which is appropriate considering the building was constructed as an elementary school in 1913. It saw generations of children from the area’s families taught in its classrooms, one of which has been preserved, complete with chalkboard and other teaching aids of the era.

The building was moved from it’s original location, now occupied by Ecole North Oyster Elementary School, to its current spot across the street at 13467 Cedar Rd. in 1993 by a group of area residents, who originally formed North Oyster and Area Historical Society and raised $19,000 to move the building and spare it from being demolished and convert it into a community centre.

Today, the old school building boasts a state-of-the-art commercial grade kitchen and hosts numerous community events throughout the year, including weddings, craft sales, community garage sales and fundraisers, a day care and celebrations of life. The community centre even has a museum packed with artifacts from North Oyster’s past that will be open to the public during the anniversary celebration.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

To learn more, visit https://northoysterhistoricalsociety.com/.


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Nanaimo News Bulletin