A big boom could mar the evening birdsong on May 28, but it’ll be for a good cause.
A small but working brass cannon will be part of the Rotary Club of Sidney by the Sea’s second annual James Bond fundraiser.
The local history of the cannon is fun, and former owner Marolyn Stevens hopes someone will come up with new creative ways to use it.
“Who knows who might come up with a use and a love of it,” she said.
Years ago when Marolyn and her husband Bert were living on Lands End Road with a great view of the water, Marolyn came up with a brilliant idea.
“Some of the boats came pretty close to shore and Bert had this funny thing about ‘man the cannons, blow them out of the water’,” Marolyn said. She found a cannon in Hawaii, and made Bert haul the heavy box home for his birthday.
“The first time they fired it Al Whitcome and Bert went down to the ferry dock when the ferry wasn’t in,” Marolyn recalled. Fortunately they’d notified the Town of Sidney they were about to fire the small cannon, unfortunately they opted for a full load of black powder and a ball bearing for the first firing.
“It was a huge boom. Now it’s a quarter of a black powder shot and they don’t put anything in it to fire it,” Marolyn said.The last time it was fired was during the World Town Crier Invitational Competition, when it was set off on the lawns of Sidney town hall. Organizers are hoping to fire the cannon during the Monte Carlo night.
Bert Stevens, Sidney’s long-time official town crier, died last June in the Palliative Care Unit of Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
“Bert and the guys all got a really good chuckle out of it, it was really much more their fun than mine,” Marolyn said. “Since Bert passed away it’s just been something I roll away and vacuum under and roll back.”
Bert had been a member of Sidney by the Sea Rotary Club for years and when he died, Marolyn joined to carry on the family tradition. The club also made Bert’s guide dog Bing, now retired, a member with the title of independent mobility specialist.
“Everything Bert did in rotary I ended up having to help, because of his eyesight,” she said. “I joined rotary to get myself out and get back on my feet.”
In keeping with Bert’s years-long support of rotary, Marolyn opted to donate the solid brass cannon as an auction item for the second annual James Bond Monte Carlo night fundraiser hosted by the Rotary Club of Sidney by the Sea.
“We have doubled our attendance target from 250 last year to 500 this year, and we are already halfway there,” said organizer Fraser Smith. “We are tripling our profit target from $11,000 last year to $33,000 this year.”
The proceeds from the second annual fundraiser evening will go to the Free Ride Bike Park in North Saanich, along with youth scholarships and cadets.
“The youth of this community really don’t have an awful lot of devoted-to-them kind of space and I think that bike park is just amazing,” Marolyn said. “It’s good fun, and healthy fun.”
The bike park opened for the season April 17 according to Denis Paquette, executive director for the Friends of the North Saanich Bike Park.
“Last year was the first real year. They started to hear noises behind the works yard where the park is located, and it was full of kids. They hadn’t heard that before,” he said. “(There’s) no need to register, kids can just show up during daylight hours. But we absolutely need membership — people to get involved in the organization. We need the kids’ parents involved.”
The society recently hired Adam Billinghurst to finish the project.
“Adam does all the building in Whistler, a lot of local guys are very happy he is coming here. It will add a new dimension and flavour to the park,” Paquette said. “Phase seven and eight is the rotary section, the pump track.”
The James Bond Monte Carlo fundraiser will be held May 28 at the Viscount Centre (9800 McDonald Park Road). Tickets are $20. Call 250-656-7077 for more information.