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North Vancouver Memorial Community Centre; a study of a local community effort in organizing leisure-time activities. Fagan, Mary Stewart

Abstract

This study, taking the Memorial Community Centre and its two affiliated agencies, Heywood community Centre and North Shore Neighbourhood House, as the medium, examines the form which the development of the recreation movement has taken in North Vancouver, and evaluates the adequacy of the agencies to meet the leisure-time needs of the citizens of this area. These agencies are surveyed in terms of their leadership, programme, and facilities. The importance of the social, economic and cultural background is brought out. The district is poorly planned and the community is isolated from the amenities and commercial amusements of Vancouver City. The population is drawn largely from wage earner groups. North Vancouver was badly hit by the depression and only recently has managed to attain greater economic stability. Accordingly, the North Shore has been thrown on its own resources for recreation and organization. The majority of the citizens moved to North Vancouver to find a more pleasant environment for bringing up their children: they are keenly interested in the welfare of their families and all projects of creative recreation. There is an unusually wide degree of participation in these centres, not only financially but in the form of sponsorship, committees and actual membership. The study pays particular attention to this, to its achievements, and to the difficulties which still remain. As the scope of the centres widen, public relations, recruiting and training of competent volunteers, and programme organization generally, all become more important; the study attempts to assess community opinion on these matters.

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