OUR HISTORY

In 1955 a visionary group of seniors conceived the idea of a Golden Seniors Club, recognizing that a gathering place was needed for seniors to come together with each other for socializing.

The Society became popular right from the start with organized card games, weekly teas, and crafts. There were group bus tours that took our members out of town to many different destinations. At Christmas there were tours of Christmas lights, often enjoyed by many who couldn’t do this on their own.

In 1997 when our new building was completed, we had room for banquets, tickets for the Christmas dinner were always sold out well in advance. Also added to the centre was a pool table and shuffleboard table, leading to many competitions amongst the seniors. This new building also provided a much-needed income from community rentals for various events, with extra space for meetings, exhibits and many other community events. Sadly, it is also a place to say goodbye to friends and loved ones This is offset by weddings that can also take place in this building.

Before we were shut down by COVID-19 our building was home to a very talented group of artists, crafters, bingo, and card players, as well as semi-annual bake sales and teas. We hope to slowly reopen when it is safe to mingle again and enjoy many more hours as a group.

Do you have memories of special events here? Or members who contributed so much to make this Society a success? We would love to hear your stories. If these walls could talk it would prove to be very interesting.

With the help of Golden Museum, we have been able to put together some interesting facts spanning the years of the Golden Seniors Club and then the transformation to the Golden and Region Seniors Society.

Featured

1955

On Thursday February 24th a meeting was held in the Catholic Parish Hall to start a Senior’s Club in Golden. For a brief period, meetings were held in peoples` homes and locations around town. But they soon settled into having meetings and events in the Odd Fellows Hall which is now DJ`s Paper Place building. There were 25 members that year.

date unknown

From the Odd Fellows Hall, the Seniors moved into the basement of the Dahlstrom Centre, today’s Civic Centre, where they continued their many activities until 1978 when they were offered and accepted the old Fire Hall as a club facility. (Underneath the existing Town Office)

1978-1979

The old Fire Hall was an unfinished room where members came together to “fix it up”. This was accomplished by fund raising and a financial grant from New Horizons.

After months of volunteer work the Senior Citizens Drop-in Centre was completed and officially opened June 21st, 1979. The Centre was to be open from 10 am to 3 pm Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, although it seems the Golden Senior Club still met in the Civic Centre.

1993-1994

Because of space restrictions, members started to talk about a purpose-built facility. They slowly started to raise funds by arranging BBQ’s, raffles and teas. We believe this is when Soup Day was started at the cost of $2.75. Soup Day was such a success that we heard stories of folk sitting outside on the wall waiting until a table inside became available. Further tales tell of members going door to door asking for donations. There were 80 members that year.

1996

Early in this year fundraising was kicked up a notch when C.P. Rail made a huge donation of $100,000. Significant donations from local businesses followed. Individuals in the community also contributed. Including the sale of bricks. During the fund raising all regular activities took place with the Golden and Region Seniors Society having to rent or borrow alternative halls for larger events. By September of 1996, after negotiations with the Town of Golden, the Golden and Region Seniors Society secured a lease of the land where the Seniors Centre now stands. September saw the sod turning ceremony. There were 114 members that year.

1997

July of this year saw the closure of the doors on the old drop-in centre and the move was on. Over the next 6 to 7 weeks everything was successfully moved into the new building. On August 23rd, 1997, the official opening of our building took place with members and guests from near and far. There were 113 members that year.

2001 – present

Over the four years following the centre’s opening members continued to fund raise and apply for grants to improve the centre.

2001

An extension was added to the rear of the building giving much needed storage space and freeing the main hall for activities.

January 25, 2011

The Golden Senior Club formed a society and became the Golden & Region Seniors Society.

2012

A timber frame canopy was added to the front façade providing a covered entrance and place to sit.

2016

The heavy front doors were changed to automatic opening doors and the interior of the building was painted throughout and the washrooms were updated.

2017

WIFI was brought into the building and a hanging system was installed to display arts and crafts.

2020

Wow 65 years since conception of a Golden Senior Society, unfortunately COVID 19 closed our doors, and we were unable to celebrate this milestone.

The building of the Centre and the renovations in the past could not have been completed without the generous grants from CP Rail (building) New Horizons, Columbia Basin Trust.