Why I celebrate Winnipeg with THIS photo every day!

November 8 is Winnipeg's birthday - an impressive 140 years old! Incorporated on this day in 1873.

I celebrate Winnipeg every day. In fact, I plaster my favorite Winnipeg photo everywhere - and it is my trademark profile picture. So what makes this particular shot so special?

 

I'm not sure of the whys and wherefores, but for some reason, Winnipeg celebrated its 75th birthday not on November 8, 1948, but instead on June 5, 1949.

 

My dad was 21 years old and proud of his city. He had recently been hired for what was to become a 38 year career with the Greater Winnipeg Water District, and just a few weeks earlier had met my mom for the first time.

 

To mark this special occasion, a giant birthday cake had been erected on the famous "Portage and Main" intersection. Like several of his fellow citizens, Dad leapt onto the cake, camera in hand, to capture the essence of Winnipeg.

 

In the bottom left hand corner, an Eaton's catalogue truck, overflowing with sacks of goods for eagerly waiting customers rounds the historic corner filled with streetcars AND pedestrians. Eaton's, the streetcars, and the pedestrians - now forced to cross underground - are long gone, but several of the heritage buildings are thankfully still standing. It's also worth pointing out that some of these same people may well have been evacuated from Winnipeg exactly one year later, as the 1950 floodwaters swept through the streets.

 

Dad was delighted with his photo, and had it enlarged and framed - at Eaton's, of course. On the reverse side of the picture frame, news clippings and his own brief message tell the story. 

 

 

 

This framed treasure hangs over my desk, where I can enjoy it every day. I couldn't bear to damage what my dad had so carefully created with his clippings, and so I photographed HIS photograph through the frame's glass, and that's what I share as my profile shot. I know it would be so much clearer if it was taken out and properly scanned. I don't care. I absolutely won't do it.

 

This is my Winnipeg!

 

 

It's International Credit Union Day!! Here's some Manitoba Credit Union history you may not have seen or heard before...

On October 17, we recognize International Credit Union Day.

 

I'm proud of my grandfather's role as a "Statesman" of the credit union movement in Manitoba. You can read in more detail about his accomplishments on the Manitoba Historical Society's website  Memorable Manitobans - Harold Vincent West.

 

Here are some memorable credit union moments found in his personal archives:

 

60 years ago on October 15, 1953, the Greater Winnipeg Credit Union Chapter celebrated with a Credit Union Day banquet.

 

At the banquet, my grandpa received a special presentation from the Founders' Club of North America to recognize his role in organizing credit unions: 

 

 

 

In 1950, the Manitoba government established a Co-operative Services branch and passed its first Credit Union Act. 

 

The Co-operative Credit Society of Manitoba was established. The framework and content for the Act were prepared by the Society's founding directors. Many of the meetings were held in my grandparents' home at 240 Garfield Street. Here is that first board of directors:  

Harold West had been involved in credit unions since 1938, beginning with the Commercial Telegraphers' Credit Union - the first industrial credit union in Manitoba. For several years, it even operated from his Garfield Street home. It is best remembered for its final permanent location in the former CNCP Telecommunications Building at Portage and Main.

 

That's my grandpa. And that's the pouch he used on visits to Canadian National Telegraphs to collect  members' paycheques for deposit.

 

Harold West was completely dedicated and committed to the "credit union philosophy". In 1961, as President of the Credit Union League of Manitoba, he addressed the League's members at the Annual Meeting with this speech:

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Like he said... To promote and protect the welfare of the individual member... symbolized by "The Little Man Under the Umbrella".