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Effort underway to ‘rejuvenate’ Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club

‘We owe it to the founders not to give up so easily’
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A general meeting has been set for Sept. 14, 2021 to elect a new board of directors for the Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club. (File photo)

There’s an effort afoot to “rejuvenate and rebuild” Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club.

Diana Barkley – a longtime White Rock resident and member of the club since 2009 – said last week that a group formed in May to get the club back on track, following a pair of failed votes to turn the 1284 184 St. property over to the City of Surrey.

READ MORE: Motion to donate Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club to Surrey defeated

READ MORE: Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club has storied history

“None of us believe that we should donate the land to the City of Surrey,” Barkley, who is president of the Friends of Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club, said Aug. 23.

“We all feel the same way, that we really owe it to those founders in 1957, way back when, who really believed in this and actually mortgaged their own property to purchase the land.”

Members have been stewards of the site since the late ’70s.

Board officials told Peace Arch News in March that a proposed agreement to donate the 29-acre property – home to a hatchery, gun and archery range and more – to the city was “a business situation” resulting from “financial projections of a severe shortage of funds” that prompted a need to “look at alternatives.”

Increased operating costs, reduced revenue and a backlog of repairs that were beyond the ability of the club to finance were all cited as challenges.

While the March 21 vote did not meet the required two-thirds threshold needed to proceed, it did spur members who didn’t want to see the club lost to step forward, Barkley said.

“So, we started our campaign,” she said.

“There’s a lot of ideas out there. I think we owe it to the founders… not to give up on it so easily. I really believe a renewed and re-energized board has an opportunity to turn it around and rebuild it.”

In accordance with the Societies Act, The Friends of Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club requisitioned a general meeting. Set for Sept. 14, the sole agenda item is the election of directors.

Sixteen members of the Friends group are in the running, including Barkley.

Club vice-president Ron Meadley, a longtime director, confirmed this week that he also plans to stand as a director. He could not comment on what next steps are being considered for the site’s future.

Following the vote, the new board of directors “will then be in a position to determine options on a go-forward basis,” Meadley told PAN Monday (Aug. 30).

“Accordingly, we are unable to further comment at this time.”



tholmes@peacearchnews.com
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Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
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