President’s Message – October 2019

September witnessed continual activity at the Community Hall with the completion of upgrades to the lower and upper levels. We have attached pictures below highlighting the main Hall and kitchen areas. These upgrades were made with assistance from the City of Calgary through their Capital Conservation Grant Program and the Province through their Community Facility Enhancement Program. We would like to thank both Councillor Sean Chu and our MLA Jeremy Nixon for their support in obtaining supporting funding. The community funding for these additions came from proceeds of our second quarter Casino fundraising through the Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission program. This illustrates the importance to the Community of the Casino activity and our appreciation goes out to those volunteers that made it happen.

Upcoming Events

The parents of Cambrian Elementry School have once again combined with the Community Association to host a market day consisting of your favourite catalogue home-based companies. This was a very successful event last year and is the main fundraising event for the parents to support children’s’ activity associated with the school. Please reference the poster in this months issue for details.

Again this Fall we hope to host our annual Halloween Dance and party for the children. At this point, we need new volunteers to help organize this event. If you are able to help in this regard please contact us at cambrianheights@gmail.com. The Halloween Dance is annually very popular and we encourage you to help sustain this event. If confirmed we encourage you to purchase your tickets in advance on our website (www.cambrianheightscommunity.com) to avoid the disappointment felt by a few last years as we reached hall capacity. Details of this event may be found in this newsletter issue or our website.

After the success enjoyed this spring we are scheduling another Cooking Class hosted by Chef Don Turnbull for Saturday, November 2. This class will feature fall recipes for turkey (including deboning), sweet potatoes, roasted Brussel sprouts with bacon and a seasonal dessert. Tickets are only $25 (members) and include the meal with wine. A poster with details for the event may be found in this issue. Only 16 tickets will be sold to enhance the intimate experience. Again these tickets will be available on our website.

Our weekly yoga program and our fitness drop-in programs (Piloxing, Kickboxing, Body Lift and new Barre Above) programs were restarted in September with evening times posted on our website and in the Newsletter. For more detailed information on these programs please check either of these sources.

We will once again be hosting our annual Lego contest on Saturday, November 30. This has become an ever increasingly popular event so we encourage you to check the poster in this issue or on the website. For further details do not hesitate to contact Nancy Else at nancy.else@gmail.com

In running the Community and both adding facilities and undertaking outdoor maintenance of our property we are always looking for volunteers to help out. Such recent items as trimming bushes and installing benches need volunteers for an afternoon of mild labour. If you are able to help out in such activities please register with us by contacting the Board of Directors through president@cambrianheightscommunity.com. Your efforts will contribute towards our ability to finance community facility improvements for the benefit of all residents and their families.

As outlined previously, we at Cambrian Heights have initiated a Community Parks focus to better develop, recognize and utilize our park spaces in the future. One of our first focus areas will be the park on 10th Street and 32nd Avenue adjoining Queen’s Park Cemetery. This is currently an Off-Leash Dog Park and the focus of much controversy in 2005 and 2018. We are forming a committee of residents who want to take part in determining how to improve this park through design and facility additions to reflect its importance and ownership within our community. If you wish to be involved in this process please let us know by emailing cambrianheights@gmail.com. A few interested residents have come forward already. We will be focusing our development ideas for this park space in the Fall in association with support from our neighbours at Rosemont and the team at Bentall Kennedy who manages the North Hill Mall. Please get involved if you value this current Off-Leash Dog Park and wish to maintain it for our use in the future.

The next meeting of the Board will take place on October 7.  All residents are welcome to attend. These meetings normally take place at the Georgina Thomson City building on 14th Street and Northmount Drive at 6:30 PM.

Remember Participation Sustains Your Community’s Livability

Daryl Connolly, President CHCA