Community Project to Reduce Home Energy Use

 Heritage, Municipal  1 Response »
Jan 092013
 

How much do you spend to heat your house and heat your water? Imagine your heating costs averaged out to zero and your home stayed a uniform, comfortable temperature all year long. That’s Leanne and my dream for our upcoming home renovation, but it’s exhausting to try to do this on your own.

A few weeks ago I (James Rowley) went to a lecture at SFU that blew me away. Lorraine Gauthier of The Now House Project described how they retro-fitted one house north of Toronto, then five houses in Windsor, then 95 more houses in Windsor so that the houses produced more energy than they consumed over the course of the year. With each renovation they refined their technique and lowered costs. They identified two barriers stopping everyone from doing this: cost and local expertise.

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 Posted by at 9:37 pm

Come to the November meeting!

 Events  No Responses »
Nov 102012
 

We’re having a meeting of the Hammond Neighbours at the Hammond Community Centre at 6 PM on Monday Nov 12. We’ll be talking about the proposed Hammond Community Plan, youth representatives in the Hammond Neighbours group, and other recent stuff. Val Patenaude of the Maple Ridge Historical Society will be there as well, so we’ll be able to talk to an expert regarding Hammond history.

Unlike previous meetings, this meeting will not be pot-luck, so don’t feel obligated to bring anything.

 Posted by at 11:14 pm

Update on the Hammond Community Centre Garden

 Gardening, Kids and Families, Municipal  No Responses »
Nov 052012
 

Anyone who drops by the Hammond Community Centre this week or next will notice lots of activity. Landscaping folks from the municipality are working on the gardens, digging out the gnarly old roots and prepping and re-planting the beds.

Cyndy, who has spear-headed the whole community centre project, drew up a “wish list” of things we’d like: new light standards, soil and bark mulch, etc. We had planned to do the gardening work ourselves, but were happily surprised to find that the Parks and Leisure department has jumped right in. We’ll still be donating some plants, but the landscaping folks will be providing the bulk of the plants and labour and have drawn up a great-looking garden plan. They have also extended the paving to make the doors to the main hall easier to access, and will be adding turf to widen the walk-way between the pool and the community centre.

Thanks again to Dave Speers, our contact guy at Parks and Leisure who helps make all this stuff happen. He’ll also be helping us with the next stage of the project, which will include more painting, some new signage, etc.

And huge thanks again to the indefatigable Cyndy – holy smokes, does that woman get stuff done or what?

 Posted by at 9:49 pm

October Pot-Luck and Meeting

 About Us, Events, Gardening, Kids and Families, Municipal  No Responses »
Oct 022012
 

Last night the Hammond Neighbours Ad-Hoc Self-Appointed Disorganized Organized Committee (HNAHSADOC) got together for a potluck dinner and chat about recent and upcoming events. Dinner featured left-over pop, chips and candy from the July party, big bowls of popcorn, and, yes, some actual real nutritious food. (We feel it’s important to set an example regarding good nutrition.)

Most of the usual suspects were in attendance, plus a couple of new faces. Dave Speers, our handy-dandy municipal liaison and go-to guy was there, as was Tony Cotroneo, Recreation Manager Youth & Neighbourhood Services. Here’s what we talked about:

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 Posted by at 9:39 pm

Hammond Elementary – New Playground

 Kids and Families  No Responses »
Oct 012012
 

Hammond Elementary School is getting a new playground for the younger kids. This will be separate from the existing playground, and will include all natural materials like boulders, trees, bushes, sand, wooden train tracks, hopping stones, totems, bird houses, sunflowers, blueberry bushes, planter gardens. Much more fun than grass.

If you have some landscaping material lying around, please consider donating it to the Primary Play Area. I’ve heard they need “everything” but especially large boulders.

Update: here’s the concept plan and the materials list. HAMMOND Prelliminary costing

 Posted by at 5:24 pm

The Reason for the Train Whistles

 Heritage, Safety  1 Response »
Sep 282012
 

Folks who live in Hammond are accustomed (if grudgingly) to the frequent train whistles. We may complain, but the whistles are there for a good reason – to prevent tragedies.

On the right is Bobby and Margaret Rock (nee Erickson), taken in the early 1950s. On July 10, 1954 they were killed by a passenger train on the Lorne Road crossing in Hammond. They were 23 years old. (The other couple is Doug and Rose Airth on their wedding day.)

The Rocks were survived by their three children: Robert, who was turning four the following September; Trudy, turning three in October; and Treva, who had turned one on the previous fourth of July.

Treva recently posted the above photo on Facebook. Many people came forward with their memories of the couple, which were very much appreciated by Treva. Some commented on Treva’s resemblance to her Mom and Dad, and also to her grandmother who raised her after she lost her parents.

In the face of such a tragedy, it’s easy to stop complaining about the train whistles.

 

 Posted by at 3:46 pm

Pot-Luck and Yack-a-Thon

 Events  1 Response »
Sep 252012
 

Time for the Hammond Neighbours De-Facto Self-Appointed Disorganized Organizing Committee to have a yak. (You too can be a member of the HNDFSADOC – simply show up!) Friends, interested parties, kids, dogs, and anyone looking for a free meal are also invited. (Well, not dogs – they are *all* looking for a free meal and tend to hog the swedish meatballs.)

Monday October 1, 7 PM, at the Hammond Community Centre.

Some topics of conversation:

  • the Pool House Painting project
  • ideas for fall activities, projects, get-togethers, etc
  • becoming a formal organization that can apply for grants, accept donations, enter into contracts, etc.
  • anything else people want to talk about

Please bring a dish with enough food to serve 4 – 5 people. (If you’re in a pinch, don’t worry about it – there’s always way too much food at these things.) If your dish contains seafood, nuts or other common allergens, please label it accordingly.

 Posted by at 9:42 pm

Hammond Pool Painting Project Update

 Events, Kids and Families  No Responses »
Sep 242012
 

dscf3344 If you haven’t dropped by the Hammond Pool to check out the painting project, you should – it looks terrific! Bright and clean, and Dulux even painted the chain-link fences. I can’t believe how generous they’ve been, and how hard Cyndy has worked to put this all together.

There’s another painting day on Thursday – Dulux is continuing with the building while Cyndy gets started on the mural. Fun! If you can, please drop by and pick up a brush or just say hello and thanks to the Dulux folks.

 Posted by at 11:06 am

Hammond Neighbours at GETIFest

 Events  No Responses »
Sep 222012
 

We had a “Hammond Neighbours” table at the big GETIFest event today at the Memorial Peace Park. Cyndy re-purposed the historical display she made for the Hammond Neighbours Party in July and also made a display about current and recent Hammond Neighbours projects.

click to enlarge

The display was fantastic – people raved! Many, many people spent a long time looking over the photos and descriptions of the heritage houses and snippets of Hammond history. (Cyndy herself was over at the Hammond Community Centre painting the pool-house, so she didn’t get to hear all the compliments first-hand.)

Objective estimates (they actually have “counters” of some sort at the Farmers’ Market) put the number of attendees at around 3000. I talked to people steadily all day – it was very fun talking to old and new Hammond residents, and people who have new interest in our neighbourhood since they’ve been reading about our activities in the local newspapers. I especially liked talking to a number of elderly people who now live in downtown Maple Ridge but previously lived in Hammond and have fond memories of their houses and neighbours and gardens. They were very pleased to see current residents taking an interest in preserving the neighbourhood they know and love very much.

Many people told me that we (Hammond folks) are lucky to live in such a special place. How can I not agree?

 Posted by at 10:24 pm

Discover Hammond Bike Ride

 Events, Heritage  No Responses »
Sep 052012
 

The HUB cycling group is organizing a “Discover Hammond” cycling tour on September 15, 2012. The ride will be led by Ian McLeod, who has an interest in “land use, transportation and civic culture in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland” and writes about these issues on his blog Fraseropolis.com, and who, together with Claus Andrup, recently published the booklet Aesthetic Maple Ridge.

The meeting points for the ride are:

10:00 – Memorial Peace Park (@ blue fountains)
10:20 – Ridge Meadows College on Thorne Ave.
10:45 – coffee break and chat at Stomping Grounds Coffee House at Osprey Village, Pitt Meadows
11:30 – meeting place for Hammond Neighbours: where Katzie reservation road and Wharf Street meet (by Golden Ears Bridge)

After a tour of Hammond of probably about an hour or so, the ride will end in Hammond. Those who wish can ride back to downtown Maple Ridge with us. The distance of the ride from Memorial Peace Park to Hammond is approx. 13 km.

See the HUB website for more information.

 Posted by at 10:27 pm
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