COMMUNITY CALENDAR

(Click on photos to enlarge image)

One Offs & Limited Engagements

KIDS STUFF ONLY MARKET

Coal Harbour Community Centre / Gymnasium
Sunday, March 3
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Free

Families with children’s toys, clothes, and books they no longer use will be at Coal Harbour Community Centre for this family event, ready to pass along gently used items at great prices. There will be no merchants or retailers involved, just good folks with kids stuff they’d like to pass on to someone who can give it a good home.

Simma Holt, West End resident and celebrated journalist, author, and politician.

Simma Holt, West End resident and celebrated journalist, author, and politician.

SISTERS OF THE PEN: WEST END NEWSPAPERWOMEN & JOURNALISTS

Thursday March 7, 2019
7:00 pm
West End Community Centre / Stanley Court Room
Free

An illustrated talk by historian, researcher and fourth generation West Ender Jolene Castillou Cumming, featuring stories and rare historical photographs about some of the remarkable women journalists who lived in Vancouver’s West End. They include: Isabel MacKay, Myrtle Patterson Gregory, Simma Holt, Janet Walker, Maisie Hurley, Pauline Johnson Tekahionwake, Mildred Valley Thornton, Isabel MacLean, Amy Kerr, Julia Henshaw, Judge Helen Gregory MacGill and Helena Gutteridge.

Learn about some seldom noted West End stories and the pioneer women journalists and editors who made their mark in local, national, and international newspapering circles.

The Canadian production of the award-winning musical Come From Away comes to Vancouver.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN / AN AFTERNOON AT THE THEATRE!

Saturday, March. 9
10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Departs from the West End Community Centre
$149
Registration Info at 604.257.8333

Your community centre offers monthly out-trip adventures to interesting places and exciting events . In March attend a matinee performance of the hit musical “Come From Away” at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Outing includes tickets to the show, lunch at Cafe Calabria, and all fees and taxes. Register early, as all out-trips are subject to cancellation or seat bookings are slow.

COMMUNITY CARE FIRST AID / EMERGENCY FIRST AID

Saturday, March 9
9:10 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
WECC / Barclay Room
$90

Each month the West End Community Centre hosts a First Aid or other health care session provided in partnership with the Canadian Red Cross. The March course teaches simple First Aid and CPR techniques, in an interactive environment, for individuals who want an overview of First Aid and CPR for home or in the workplace. The course covers skills needed to recognize and respond to cardiovascular emergencies for adults (CPR Level C) and other topics such as shoking, airway and breathing emergencies in babies and children, and AED certification. Three-year Canadian Red Cross certification upon completion.

PHILOSOPHER’S CAFE @ JOE FORTES LIBRARY

Thursday, March. 14
7 p.m.
Joe Fortes Library
Free. No Registration Required.

Thinking the unthinkable, imagining the impossible, and discussing the improbable. That’s the theme of SFU’s Philosophers’ Café series of informal public discussions in the heart of our communities. Since 1998, this award-winning program has engaged the interests of scholars, seniors, students, philosophers, and non-philosophers through stimulating dialogue and the passionate exchange of ideas. The March Café at Joe Fortes will see SFU philosophy professor Alan Belk moderate a conversation about morality, as examined in the TV series “The Good Place”, asking if morality is a big part of your everyday life.

GARDENING WORKSHOP SERIES

Sunday, March 17
1 - 2:30 p.m.
West End Community Centre / Barclay Room
Free

Learn To Make Kombucha … Join the West End Neighbourhood Food Network at a family-friendly monthly gathering. Bring something tasty, share some good food and conversation with neighbours, and pick up a West End Urban Garden Calendar. You’ll also learn about the many other West End Neighbourhood Food Network events and activities. Each month’s meeting includes a mini-workshop on a different food and/or gardening related topic, and is followed, from 2:30 to 3:30, by a meeting of the West End Urban Garden Club, where you can share information, help organize food and gardening workshops, and save and share seeds.

The March 17 workshop is titled “Admendments and Fertilizers for Patio and Balcony Gardeners.”

Roedde House Museum.

ROEDDE HOUSE MUSEUM AGM

Tuesday, March 19
Roedde House Museum
7 - 9 p.m.

Are you a member of Roedde House Museum, that gem of a house museum in the heart of the West End? If not, consider becoming a “Friend of Roedde House” and attend the upcoming Annual General Meeting to learn more about the museum and how you can help. You can sign up here.

The agenda for the AGM includes current and new events for the year, reviewing the past and upcoming budget, and an election for new Board Members. Members are encouraged to attend and vote on executive decisions.. If you are interested in running for the Board of Directors, please contact Kelsey at manager@roeddehouse.org.

This year they are especially on the lookout for a new treasurer. If you have accounting experience and are interested in working with Roedde House Museum in this volunteer role, please have a look at their volunteer posting here  and contact Kelsey.

This elegant and historic (1893) West End landmark is the former home of Vancouver’s first book-binder and his wife, Gustav and Matilda Roedde. The museum is attributed to famed architect Francis Rattenbury and is a City of Vancouver-designated Class A Heritage House.

The Museum is owned and physically maintained by the City of Vancouver. All other expenses, including staffing, insurance, parking rental, collections maintenance and purchases, are borne by the Roedde House Preservation Society.

VANCOUVER’S 1971 OCCUPATION OF “ALL SEASONS PARK”.

TALES FROM THE WEST END

Wednesday, March 20
4:30 - 6 p.m.
JJ Bean (Bidwell & Davie)
Free

"Tales From the West End” is an evening of story-telling exploring our community through stories about our common past. Bring your stories and photos to share with your neighbours.  

March’s featured storyteller is Kevin Dale McKeown, editor and publisher of The West End Journal.   As part of his “People’s Park” story, Kevin recalls the spring of 1971 when Vancouver's  Yippie movement occupied and built a tent city on the proposed site of a new Four Seasons Hotel at the entrance to Stanley Park -- where Devonian Harbour Park is today. Kevin was in the thick of the action, helping out at the camp kitchen. The protest lasted a year, Mayor Tom Campbell called it "a breakdown of society”, and obviously the campers / protesters won the battle. Today the main attraction at the site is not a glitzy international hotel but the bronze statue of a woman sitting on a park bench, apparently searching in her purse for the glasses we can all see sitting atop her head. But things could have gone differently.

“TRY IT OUT” OPEN MIC

Every Third Thursday (March. 21)
7 to 9 p.m.
Barclay Manor (1447 Barclay)
Free

Got a story to tell, a song to sing, a tune to play? Share your interests and your talent in an informal gathering of friends and neighbours, or just come to listen and enjoy. It’s an opportunity to share music, stories, poems, comedy, interpretive dance, or to just listen and enjoy. “Try It Out “has seen first-time performers as young as five and seasoned performers who are — well, ageless! Everyone gets 10 to 15 minutes (enough time for up to three songs) depending on the size of the group. Sign up at 7, first come, first served. One mic, acoustic guitar amp, and piano provided.

FIRESIDE BOOK CLUB

Fourth Friday of Every Month (March 22)
11 a.m. to 12 noon
Joe Fortes Library / Stanley Court Room
Free

Connect with other avid readers to talk doubt what you’ve been reading and why you love it — or didn’t! Every fourth Friday of the month. The March 22 title under discussion will be "The Lifeboat" by Charlotte Rogan.


WEST END GAMES NIGHT

Last Friday of very month (March 29)
7 - 11 p.m.
Gordon Neighbourhood House (1019 Broughton)
Free

Looking for a spot to play board games with friends? Or do you want to meet neighbours and learn new games? Join the fun at the West End Games Night, hosted by Young Ideas and Gordon Neighbourhood House. If you arrive solo, the friendly hosts can help form groups, and teach you new games.

Clara Shandler will be at The Labyrinth March 29.

IN THE LABYRINTH

Music In The Labyrinth
Last Friday of Every Month (March 29)
St. Paul's Anglican Church (1130 Jervis)
7 to 9 p.m.
By Donation

The Labyrinth at St. Paul’s Anglican Church is a full 13-metre replica of the medieval labyrinth laid in the stone floor of the 13th-century Cathédrale de Notre-Dame de Chartres, 80Km south of Paris. It is laid on the hardwood upper floor of St Paul's Church Hall in a space once used as a theatre and a basketball court. The Labyrinth is open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and 7 to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, and Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The last Friday of every month the Labyrinth experience is accompanied by a local musician or group. Music on this last Friday, March. 29, will be cellist and vocalist Clara Shandler.

Click here to learn more about the St. Paul's Labyrinth.

Once A Week, Every Week …

  • FAMILY STORY TIME ... Every Tuesday from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m. at Joe Fortes Library, join this program for parents and caregivers with young children. Songs, rhymes and stories are shared. Suitable for pre-schooled and toddlers of all abilities to enjoy and learn together. 

  • A COMMUNITY CHOIR … The West End Spirit’s Call Choir meets every Wednesday in The Labyrinth at St. Paul’s church (1140 Jervis) from 7 - 9:15 pm. for a rollicking good time that includes world, classical, pop, and rock music. They are looking for new members of all ages and singing abilities (no experience necessary) and you can find out more here.

  • FRIDAY NIGHTS FOR YOUTH @ Coal Harbour Community Centre … Every Friday it’s something different, from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. with activities for youth ages 13 - 18. Upstairs in the Multi-Purpose Room. Info at 604.718.8222.