Bill Benner remembers that:
“Our winter activities took place in two main skating rinks, one at 9A Street and the other at what we called the BRA (Bridgeland Riverside Association) situated south of the General Hospital (in the approximate location of 9 St at Memorial Drive today). The rink on 9A Street was used mostly for pleasure skating, since it had no boards (although hockey was played there on weekend mornings). The BRA rink had boards and it produced many good hockey players. None of these rinks exist today; the 9A Street rink is now a playground and the BRA became the Bridgeland Crossings condo project.
My home was 200 feet from the 9A St rink and in the winter, I almost lived on that ice. I put my skates on at home and skated down the snowpacked road to reach the rink. This was not a good hockey rink because there were no boards and the puck inevitably ended up in a snow drift at the side of the ice. This is where we learned to skate, first on our ankles and backsides, until we finally succeeded in learning the art.
About 7:00 pm, the skating music started, and people skated to music like the “Skater’s Waltz” and other popular tunes of the time. There was a shack on the southeast corner and a wood burning stove made out of a 45-gallon drum that produced enough heat to thaw out frozen hands and feet.”
Marilyn Haughen recalls that:
“There were great toboggan runs but we had to walk quite a few blocks to get to them. We did not care because we were tough and used to being out in the coldest weather imaginable. Being the youngest, my siblings put me in the front of the toboggan which was a big mistake because I always got a face full of snow and used to end up crying, wanting to go home. On the biggest hill north of my place we had an area that was long and steep. The more kids that slid on it with our split-open cardboard boxes (one of the best sleds around), and toboggans and other sliding things, the slippery it got until it became a sheet of ice and actually looked somewhat like a luge track at the Olympics.”
Elvira Thurn shared this memory:
“My father built a skating rink in our yard and I learned to skate on this ‘L’ shaped surface with brand new skates in 1940.”
Thanks to these long-time residents for sharing these great memories of childhood in our neighbourhood. The Bridgeland – Riverside kids of 2020 are still playing outside in the winter, making memories for themselves. The Murdoch Park hill at 7A Street and Centre Avenue is a busy place for tobogganing on a snowy day and split-open cardboard boxes are still occasionally used. Skating happens at the ice rink next to the community centre as long as it’s cold enough to keep the ice. And there is at least one backyard where a Dad has made an ice rink for his kids to skate on. And wintertime life is good in the ‘hood!
Bill, Marilyn and Elvira grew up in Bridgeland Riverside in the 1930-50s. The excerpts are taken with permission from “Usu Leut: Our People, A historic look at the Germans from Russia living in Bridgeland/Riverside” by Marlene Michel.
Deb Lee
Heritage Committee
