The City of Maple Ridge offered four Community Heritage Awards to citizens and groups who are preserving the history of the city.
The awards are presented by the Community Heritage Commission, which advises city council on heritage conservation issues. The awards are designed to celebrate individuals and organizations that enhance heritage conservation and awareness.
• The prestigious Sheila Nickols Award recognizes a person who has helped maintain Maple Ridge history, and work that preserves original historic documents. The award was given to Andrea Lister who has contributed to recording the city’s history over decades. She has written historic works based on her own research, been an editor for other historical writers, and serves as the c0-editor of the Family History Group’s newsletter.
• The Historic Site Award was won by the Holy Spirit Anglican Church in Whonnock. The church recently celebrated 100 years of heritage conservation at the site on River Road, near the Lougheed Highway. The church was recognized for retaining its heritage character with its pointed arch windows, shingle cladding, plank doors, and other authentic features.
• The History Hero Award, which recognizes the accomplishments of a person or group that has contributed to Maple Ridge’s history, was won by the Maple Ridge Family History Group, which tells the stories of early settlers. The group recently completed a project called “On the River, the Fishing Industry in Maple Ridge.”
It can be found at mapleridgemuseum.org/community-history-projects
• The Stewardship of a Community Cultural Asset Award was won by the Kanaka Education and Environmental Project. KEEPS has promoted and preserved its namesake watershed and park since 1998, bringing events and programming to its Stewardship Centre and Bell Irving Hatchery.
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Sheila Nickols was a former teacher, museum curator and local historian who died in October 2020. She helped to write the book Maple Ridge: A History of Settlement, and wrote a regular history column for the Maple Ridge News from 1987 until 2014 – with some 1,000 entries.
READ ALSO: A champion of Maple Ridge history has passed away
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