Valley Voices in the Summer

Summer is an ideal time to explore the Fraser Valley and its fascinating history. On the July edition of Valley Voices, host Mark Forsythe discovers more about the Bad Rock Tours into Sto;Lo traditional territory conducted by Naxaxalhts'i (aka Sonny McHalsie). And Kelly Pearce from the Hope Mountain Centre describes the revitalization of the Hudson Bay Company's Heritage Trail that once linked fur traders between the coast and interior. Now you can hike and camp along the trail from Hope to Tulameen. Listen to our latest broadcast HERE. Naxaxalhts'i  (Sonny McHalsie) conducts nine different tours in Sto:lo traditional territory. To see the tour selection and to book yours, visit HERE. Kelly Pearce is Program Director at the Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning. More information on their programs and finding copies of new HBC Heritage Trail map and book, HERE.  (Also available at Valhalla Pure in Abbotsford and Mt. Waddington's [...]

2020-05-27T05:59:44+00:00July 3rd, 2019|

Valley Voices for May

      From top: Marie Heaster is curator at Lytton Museum & Archives; Lorna Fandrich owns the award-winning (Heritage BC) Chinese Canadian History Museum in Lytton; Ralph Drew is author of Coquitlam Chronicles: Historical Crossroads on the Fraser River.       Valley Voices journeys into the Fraser Canyon, to Lytton, where two unique museums are waiting to be discovered. (Watch for a story on these museums in the summer issue of British Columbia History Magazine.)  Also on May's show: dig into Coquitlam's history with Ralph Drew. The historian and author covers the ice age, indigenous occupation and settler arrival via the Fraser River. Hosted by former CBC broadcaster Mark Forsythe, Valley Voices is heard on CIVL 101.7 FM on Wednesdays at 11 am, or listen via this LINK. The program is a monthly production of the Langley Heritage Society.    

2024-11-27T06:56:50+00:00April 30th, 2019|

Valley Voices: People, Places and Stories of the Fraser Valley

Valley Voices is a production of the Langley Heritage Society on CIVL 101.7 FM (based at the University of the Fraser Valley). Former CBC Radio broadcaster Mark Forsythe interviews people connected with Fraser Valley history and heritage, and draws on the Oral Histories collection at the Langley Centennial Museum.  (If you have difficulty playing a sound file, try opening with Google Music Player. CIVL Radio sound files of the show are HERE.) The show has been on hiatus during the pandemic, but links to broadcasts from 2018 - 2020 are below. The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) awarded Langley Heritage Society’s Mark Forsythe the 2019 Best News and Media Award. March 2020: Meet Chief Dan George's great-grandson, Sam George, an Aboriginal Support Worker in the Langley School District who connect youth with their heritage. And Robert Reyerse gives us a tour of the Harrison Sasquatch Museum. Listen HERE. February 2020: Valley [...]

2024-11-21T05:34:25+00:00March 4th, 2019|

Our Latest Video

Brookswood Secondary student Emily De Guisti edits our most recent video, CN Station Memories. This video features CN Station manager Helen Williams and tells the story of the first British war bride to arrive in Langley, why the telegraph was developed and Royal whistle stops in Langley. Watch the video HERE.

2020-05-27T05:59:50+00:00February 8th, 2019|

A Milner Timeline

Ellen Worrell (nee Monahan) is a longtime member of the Langley Heritage Society who moved to Milner in 1950 after marrying her husband Jack. She grew up in nearby Murrayville, where her father made deliveries for Porters Store. Ellen collects all things Milner, and has filled binders with photos, newspaper clippings and specific details about people, buildings, and community events. We're using that information to create a Milner Timeline. This rural community begin to take shape with the sale of the Hudson’s Bay Company farmlands in 1877 (in production since the 1830s). For a while, Milner was the centre of activity in the Langley region, boasting a general store, blacksmith shop, two churches, community hall, livery stables, B.C. Electric Station, B.C. Telephone exchange, cheese factories and numerous farms. Commercial agriculture in the Lower Mainland began here. Pioneer John Smith told the British Columbian Newspaper in 1910, “You can plough a [...]

2020-05-27T05:59:51+00:00January 20th, 2019|

Langley’s History Through The Lens: Share Your Family Photos

These evocative images came to Langley Heritage Society from Patricia Young. Her grandparents, Nell and Jim Wright, moved to Langley from England just after the turn of the last century. They settled where Walnut Grove subdivision exists today; as you can see, it took lots of sweat and effort to clear the land in order to build their home. "I hope this might encourage others to contribute their own photos and stories.  The attached photos are of my Paternal Grandparents, Jim and Nell Wright who lived at 9207  Holmstead Road (now 213th St.). The Wright brothers settled in Langley about 1907...they cleared the land and built their own home. My Grandfather lived on the property until his death in 1969."  Jim Wright prepares for some hard work. Nell Wright and her husband emigrated from England to Canada around 1907. They landed in rural Langley where they cleared the land [...]

2020-05-27T05:59:51+00:00December 6th, 2018|

New Valley Voices

On the December edition of Valley Voices: Curator Kris Foulds tours the award winning Voices of the Valley permanent exhibition at The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford (3:15 into sound file). Also, meet Paul Brodie, a Fort Langley man who builds and races replicas of the classic Excelsior motorcycle (17:30 into sound file). And it was 160 years ago that Colonel Richard Moody arrived in the Fraser Valley and promptly quelled an uprising in the Fraser Canyon. Valley Voices is hosted by former CBC Radio broadcaster Mark Forsythe and is a production of the Langley Heritage Society, through the studios of CIVL Radio at the University of the Fraser Valley. Listen Wednesdays at 11 am at 101.7 FM, or anytime via link HERE. Paul Brodie builds Excelsior motorcycles from scratch in his home shop. He also teaches a bike frame building course at the University of the Fraser Valley. See more of [...]

2020-05-27T05:59:54+00:00December 3rd, 2018|

Our Friends at the Museum of Surrey

Tour the newly expanded and updated Museum of Surrey. The current dinosaur exhibit and new children's Explore Zone are pulling in families, and the museum's collection looks fantastic in new display galleries. Photo Mural project features 2,000 photos submitted form the Surrey Community. The river motif illustrates some of the 1,400 kms of rivers and streams in Surrey. This guy moves and roars -- and pulls in the kids. Indigenous Hall. A space for gatherings, story telling and exhibitions. (Katzie, Kwantlen & Semiahmoo) The Textile Centre has a number of working looms and spinning wheels. It's named after Honey Hoover, a Surrey weaver and mentor -- who helped people with special needs and injured soldiers returning from WW II. The 128 year old Anniedale School has been saved by the Surrey Historical Society and has been moved to the grounds at the Museum of Surrey. It's one of the few [...]

2020-05-27T05:59:54+00:00November 20th, 2018|

A Month of Remembrance

On November's edition of Valley Voices, military historian Paul Ferguson discusses how we remember the two World Wars, and recounts an air training disaster that claimed 11 lives on a Fraser Valley mountaintop. Also, from the Langley Centennial Museum archives: Mildred McDonald & Hugh Davis were children when WW II broke out, but they never forgot its impact. Listen to Valley Voices with former CBC broadcaster and member of the Langley Heritage Society, Mark Forsythe HERE.  Valley Voices airs each Wednesday morning at 11:00 on CIVL Radio 101.7 at the University of the Fraser Valley.

2020-05-27T05:59:54+00:00November 6th, 2018|

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