A community club organization was proposed at Grand Beach. Having been contacted prior to the meeting, Dave Mulligan, CNR (Canadian National Railways) Superintendent at Grand Beach, indicated we could use the old dining hall building as our temporary clubhouse. A Community Club Committee was formed to make this idea a reality. The following people agreed to serve on the committee:
- Jack Anderson
- Howard Bennet
- Jim Cessfold
- Emil Close
- Hec Gray
- Joe Gray
- Bill Markiw
- Don McCannell
- Les Robertson
- Dick Taylor
- Chris Sand
- Al Adams
A Ladies Committee was also formed. Dot Gray was elected as President of the Ladies. We started with only $50.00 in the association’s club funds. All of the aforementioned people had to sign a lease agreement with the CNR. This lease called for a payment from our club to the CNR. Fifty percent of all revenues generated by the Community Club were to be paid to the CNR for use of the building. Bingo and Club Memberships were exempt and 100% of these revenues were retained by the Cottage Owners Association to run the Community Club. The CNR was responsible for half the cost of renting soft drink machines and half the cost of renting movie equipment. The Association was fully responsible for the paying the Community Club supervisor’s salary. An agreement was made with Mr. Blanchette of the CNR, that any money the CNR made over $1500.00, would be returned to the Association. Chris Sand personally met with Mr. Blanchette when the 1959 season ended and he kept his word. I received a $500.00 cheque from him. We already had some base revenues and a small profit from our operations and this $500 provided the revenue to carry on to the 1960 seasons operations. The Grand Beach Community Club began operating in early June 1959, with bingo and dances. In July 1959, the full slate of events commenced as follows:
- Monday – Whist
- Tuesday – Bingo
- Wednesday – Movies
- Thursday – Bingo
- Friday – Teen Dance
- Saturday – Bingo & Dance
- Sunday – Nothing scheduled
At the end of July, we had Sports Day. During the morning there were swimming races of ¼ mile, ½ mile and 1 mile, with separate races for girls and boys. After lunch there were running races. A beauty contest was held just before supper. There was bingo in the evening followed by a dance for the teens. It was a very busy day. It was also a very successful day even though the many events were hard to manage all on one day. We never again held a beauty contest! Originally, in the old CNR dining hall, there was a separate room we used for ping pong. Many of the young and old enjoyed playing. The main room was used as the dance area. Vera Gilbert, a summer resident and famous Manitoba swimmer. volunteered to give swimming lessons. She gave swimming lessons every morning, Monday through Friday and the children took advantage of this and enjoyed this activity and became much better swimmers.
Sale of Grand Beach to the Government of Manitoba
While we were operating our 1st year as a Community Club in 1959, the CNR decided to sell Grand Beach. A number of meetings were held with would be investors expressing a desire to buy Grand Beach. However, the cottage owners felt we did not want “Private Enterprises” owning the land. The Community Club/Grand Beach Cottage Owners Association sent a lot of people to these meetings expressing objections to any group trying to buy the entire beach land, especially the properties that the cottages were on. Then Al Adams and I had two meetings with Mr. Bjornson, MLA for the area and suggested that the Manitoba Provincial Government buy Grand Beach. He advised us both that the Provincial Government would buy Grand Beach from the CNR and they did.
1959, what a year it was! We opened our Community Club, had a successful summer and witnessed the end of one era and the start of another with the sale of Grand Beach to the Provincial Government. The old dining hall building served as the Community Club for 2 years. The Manitoba Government decided to tear down the clubhouse(old dining hall). The Association then needed a new building for our operations.The Association Committee recommended a new community club building be constructed and met with Mr. Somers, Deputy Minister of Parks for the Provincial Government in the Norquay Building in Winnipeg in 1961. After two meetings with him, he said, “We know that you cannot be without a community club.” He said the government would build a new clubhouse for us. They did and we used if for many years until it burned to ground in 2001. The Provincial Government built another clubhouse with the Government funding half the cost and the cottage owners the other half. The government owns the building. The GBCOA is responsible for insuring it. Here we are over 40 years later. The Community Club Committee and GBCOA has seen many Presidents, many Board and Committee members and so many volunteers. That humble start in 1959 turned out very well indeed. I was president in the 1959 and 1960 and served another 10 years on the board. I also drew up another constitution in 1959.
Submitted by Chris Sand of 71 Point Road, Grand Beach
