BORDEN — More than 100 gathered at the Borden Community Centre July 22 to help Rev. Sheldon Carr celebrate his 70th birthday. Sheldon is the Anglican priest serving St. John’s Anglican Church in Borden. A meal was served by the Borden Community Centre Preservation Committee and dessert was five large carrot cakes and ice cream made by Rosann Carr. Happy Birthday was sung to Sheldon while he cut the cake.
After supper, Celtic Country played numerous Irish, Scottish and Celtic tunes. In the group are Perry Nicol playing an Irish drum and tambourine, Bob Wardhaugh playing keyboard and accordion, Ed Neufeld playing guitar and Archie Wainwright singing some solos. All four sang together for many of the tunes.
The Borden Museum was the site for the second Adventures at the Museum, featuring Archie Wainwright talking on the CN railroad station. Archie said his grandparents came to Borden in 1905, The CN train bridge over the North Saskatchewan River was built in 1904-05 with many local farmers helping to build it.
The railroad station was the hub of the village from 1910 up to the 1940s with everything coming in or going out by rail. In the early days it took about one and half to two hours to get to Saskatoon. Archie remembers his dad getting a wagon off the train and he still has that wagon to this day.
Groceries, hardware, mail and many more things came in on the train and there was a dray man who used to deliver around Borden.
I remember shipping cream on the train in the 1960s and going in to Saskatoon on the train in the middle 1950s when we had a blizzard and the highway was blocked.
Some of the station agents at Borden were Mr. LaGalley, Mr. Stone, Gordon Harris and the last was Bob Robinson whose last day was July 29, 1971. Archie talked to Bob, who is 91 years old and lives at Emma Lake, Sask.
The station agents and their family lived in the back and upstairs in the train station. The station closed July 31, 1971 and was then torn down and buried.
Coming up this week is the memorial service for Daphne Pearce on July 26 at 2 pm, then the Friendship Club have their barbecue supper at the acreage of Ed and Dianne Rawlyk July 27 at 5:30 p.m.
The next museum adventure is Aug. 6 at 2 p.m. with Carrie Harkness talking about Foster’s Store and touring the store which is now Carries’ Troupador Shoppe.
The last adventure will be Aug. 20, which will be a car tour in the RM of Great Bend, looking at historic sites starting from the Community Centre at 1 p.m. and ending up back at the Friendship Club Room for a cold plate supper, at a cost per carload of $20.
For anyone wishing to tour the museum, it is open Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays 1 to 5 p.m., with Ethan Fisher the student in charge. Ethan’s last day at the Borden Museum will be Aug. 27.
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