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Across the Bridge
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Across the Bridge
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| "The
Delta Manor Hall was built in 1927,
completed just in time for Christmas festivities. Referred to
in the beginning as the Delta Manor Lecture Hall, it served as
a community hall for three or four decades, where dances, meetings,
fall fairs, and many other community activities were held. Built
by the Delta Land Company, it was at the hub of Delta Manor,
and served a multitude of purposes, other than social, over the
years. For instance, during the years of World War Two, the building
was used as a hostel for the girls and women who came to Delta
to pick berries on local farms. The demonstration farm was set up by the Delta Land Company, for the purpose of instructing people who were new to chicken farming. The buildings on site included three large poultry houses, a brooder house, colony houses and a hatchery... Eggs were hatched on the premises and chicks were sold to the residents of Delta Manor. Classes on various aspects of raising chickens were also held in the Hall, but they were probably only available to residents of the Manor. Later, films on other aspects of farming, for instance, beekeeping and the growing and marketing of bulbs, were shown. In 1932 the complete poultry breeding plant was leased to the University of British Columbia. The Delta Land Company subsequently claimed that 'Delta Manor became the outstanding breeding establishment on the continent.' Given the Company's track record on other claims made by it, this one is also suspect, and, in addition, is impossible to verify. In any event, by 1945, the Delta Land Company was giving up its involvement and presence here. About that time the Hall was sold to local shareholders who made up the Delta Manor Co-operative Association. A superintendent, presumably an employee of the Delta Land Company, was in charge of the demonstration farm, and he was provided with housing on the property. The photograph below shows the residence near the Hall. That house, of course, along with the outbuildings, was demolished long ago; a two-storey commercial building now stands where the house was located. The first person to hold the position of superintendent in 1927 was George Dynes, followed a year later by Hugh Greenwood, and later by Mr. Simpson, and by Mr. Kisby. In 1939 Eric Telfer, who had had considerable experience with chickens on his Mathews Road farm, took charge of the demonstration farm. He and his wife, Mary, bought the property, excluding the Hall, and gave it a distinctive name, Northumbria Poultry Farm." |
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