Tower ain up in Greenville

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday,-July 23, 1997 - A3

Historic church bells revived

By SALWA FARAH

AFTER DECADES of silence, church bells _

will soon ting out from St. Andrew's
Anglican church in Greenville,

Under construction is a tower to hold two
antique bells,

Both betis play an important part of
church history in the Nass valley com-

~ munity, says: St. Andrew’s church com-
mittee chairman Wilfred Tait.

The bells have been in storage for years
after their first church homes were
destroyed by fire.

And they might have stayed there when
planning began for a bell tower at St
Andrew’s,

“We decided to buy new bells but the
cost was $39,000 Canadian, so I told the
committee to look at the old betls,’’ said
Tait,

The smaller of the tvo bought for $250
back in the early 1900s from a foundry in
New York.

It was first located in a church at Fishery
Bay, on the Nass River west of Greenville.

Fishery Bay wasn’t a permanent village,
but only a seasonal camp — in its heyday
three to five thousand pecple would
gather,’ sald William Moore, manager of
Greenville Construction Company, the con-
tractor hired to build the tower.

From February to May Fishery Bay
would be busy catching, stringing and
drying oolichan.

The bell survived three fires over the
years which destroyed the settlement there.
It was moved to the basement of St.
Andrew’s in the 1960s.

At about 20-inches in diameter the bell
weighs over 200-pounds, explained Moore.

It was only after some cleaning and

polishing that the silver colour of the bell
began to gleam,

“The bell is made of nickel — it takes
about three men to pack the smali one,’
Tait said of the weight.,

The other Jarger bronze bell rings of a dif-
ferent history. It was forged in 1883 ata
foundry in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“We bought the bell when Greenville
turned to the white man’s philosophy of
Christianity,” said Wilfred Tait.

The bell belonged to St. Andrew’s, then a
Methodist church, until the elders decided
to adopt the beliefs of the Anglican church
early this century, explained Tail. The lack
of Methodist missionaries also prompted
the change.

This bell suffered the same fate as the
other.

In March of 1922, while town residents
were on an oolichan run, Si. Andrew’s
bumed to the ground.

The people of Greenville built the new
church in the mid-50s and have been plan-
ning to build the tower ever since.

*It was a dream we had a long time com-
ing,’’ said Tait, adding that the congrega-
tion received no outside help but raised all
of the $142,000 cost through donations and
fund raisers.

The 80-foot wooden bell tower is buill to

withstand the weight of the bells as well as.

earthquakes.

“(We've maintained a space between the
(tower and the church — from an engineer-
ing point of view we had to consider move-
ment,” explained Moore, adding that in the
winter times Greenville gets 60km winds.

The bells should be hoisted up a finished
bell tower in mid-August.

CROSS AT top of tower under construction at St.
Andrew's Anglican church in Greenville marks the
home of two antique bells recently taken out of
storage. Their history dates back to before the turn of
the century in the Nass Valley.

City agrees to airport takeover

News In Brief

AFTER MONTHS of haggling over how to go
about taking over the airport, city council has
decided it should be tumed over to a not-for-
_ profit corporation.

An airport authority will be created with a
board of directors reflecting the region and ex-
ercising independent control over the airport,
said city economic development officer Ken
Veldman.

At the same time, he says, the city has aban-
doned efforts to get a better deal with the pro-
vince for land surrounding the airport.

Terrace will take the offer on the table —

basically that the province will turn over the _

land on which airport buildings sit.

But if the city wants extra land to become a

future light industrial site, then there will be a
side deal negotiated for that land which would

TENT EVENT.

TOTEM’S COUNTRYWIDE GIGANTIC

include a share of revenues that would be
gained going to the province.

The board of directors of the airport authority,
once appointed, will begin negotiating a final
airport takeover deal with Transport Canada.

“I would expect that all the negotiations
should be completed within six months of them
beginning,’ Veldman said.

Council is also making preparations to extend
Terrace city limits out to take in the airport
lauds.

That would only go ahead, Veldman said, if

_ the referendum in October doesn’t lead to the

merger of Terrace and Thornhill. ‘4 2
Having the airport inside city limits will’
ensure the city has control over tax rates there,
rather than the province, Veldman said.
All subsidies from the federal government to

support the airport run out in March of 2000.pg

Veldman said the decision to go with indepen-
dent airport authority — rather than the Cily of
Terrace — in charge of the airport reflects
what's been successful in other areas,

He said the city believes the gioup would
bave fewer restrictions outside the public sector.

“The most successful and innovative groups
were the anes that had that freedom,’’ Veldman
said.

He said the city is approaching a number of
organizations about naming representatives to

yServe on the airport authority’ s. first board of H

‘directors.

“It’s going to be important to get a slroug .

board of directors and then let them go.’*

Reformers come to town

THE THREE men why» want to lead the B.C. Reform
party came to town las! week buoyed by a new opinion
poll putting the party first in the minds of voters.

The party is now the favourite of 35 per cent of de-
cided voters, according to a Marktrend poll taken in
late June.

That’s one point more than the provincial Liberals
and 10 points more than the governing NDP,

“It’s great news,'’ said Burnaby lawyer John Matiuk,
one of the three leadership candidates.

He and biochemist Adrian Wade of Vancouver and
Cranbrook petroleum consultant Wilf Hanni are in the
race to replace Jack Weisgerber who is stepping down
as leader.

B.C. Reformers mect in Surey Aug. 30 to choose
one of the three. Party members can either mail in their
ballots or vote al the convention. ,

The party has two members in the legislature -—
Weisgerber and Richard Neufeld, both of whom arc
from the Peace River.

Terrace was one of the first stops for the three in their
tour of the north.

They had intended to hold a mecting while in Terrace
but the timing would have conflicted with the Kari
Simpson rally on issues in homosexuality, So they
went to the rally instead,

Deportation urged

SKEENA REFORM MP Mike Scott wants the federal
government to toss out all foreigners who take part in
anti-logging activities.

In a letter to immigration minister Lucienne Robillard
last week, Scott described as outrageous the ability of
foreigners entering Canada to disrupt loggers.

“Tt is time the federal government sent a strong, clear
message to foreign activists that their antics will not be

tolcrated in this country,” he said.

Scott also wants the federal government to check the

‘| backgrounds of those involved in anti logging activity

to determine if they have criminal records.

Forest workers merge

THE LOCAL representing IWA workers in the north-
west is merging with one in Vancouver.

Better representation and service is promised with the
merger of Local 1-71, covering 4,500 people in Ter-
race, Prince Rupert, the Queen Charlotte Islands, the
Sunshine Coast and upper Vancouver Island and Local
217 which has members in Vancouver, say union offi-
cials.

The new local will be the biggest within the WA
with approximately 6,500 members. A founding con-

‘) vention for the new local takes place next February,

Local IWA business agent Surinder Malhotra became
the second vice president of Local 1-71 for a two-year
term Saturday. He was previously third vice president.

Malhotra says he will also run for an executive posi-
tion when the two locals menBe. but he hasn’ t decided
what position ‘that will be. ; ‘

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