JUNE 20 Waling special day

This day was designated as the inaugural for the City Walking Program at Britannia Community Centre. Besides the regular Saturday seniors walking group, about twenty other people joined in, including a young mother with her toddler in a stroller, a couple pulling a wagon with their six-year old daughter, and several people who had previously moved out of the area but came back because they enjoy being here.
The walk was previously designed at Britannia Centre and published in a pamphlet entitled "Britannia Community Arts Walking Tour" mapped out as the South Grandview Woodlands Walk. The walk is about 3.5 km and starts at Napier Street heading south on Commercial Drive to Graveley, where a bright mural adorns the side of Norman's Market.
The walk continues south along Victoria Drive to the art tiles on the outside wall at Victoria Elementary School. The tile project, headed by Blake Williams, was completed by students in May 1998 as a City of Vancouver Community Art Project . The remainder of the long south wall contains an undersea mural in dark blue featuring sea creatures and corals, also painted by the students.
At East 6Th Avenue, we turned west to enjoy the well-maintained older homes and gardens. My favourite feature was the "hairy" trees. These are huge trees that grow over the street creating a canopy and the lower trunks are covered in short fine-leafed branches down to the ground. The gardens along the boulevard spill over onto the sidewalk in colourful blooms amid a variety of leafy shrubs.
Across Commercial Drive, we headed to Woodlands Elementary School to admire the First Nations open pavilion inspired by the Musqueam traditional longhouse, decorated in relief designs of various animal and bird symbols. The side wall of the school is painted in a moving ocean motif with large sea mammals. A large map of North America is painted on the open cement area.
We followed Woodlands Street to McLean & Charles where a small park is decorated in commemorative bricks and tile pictures in the shape of a creek running down the slight grade. Over 500 people worked on the intricate tile designs. The park was dedicated to the "mosaic of volunteers and residents whose vision, initiative and energy has created this beautiful place" - a celebration of the variety of ethnic citizens living in the area.
On our return to Napier Plaza, we were entertained by a 3-piece band playing reggae music. Fresh apples, oranges and bananas were available to refresh our palates. Ian, who works at Britannia as a food security employee, was making fruit smoothies with yogurt for the thirsty walkers. Draws for monthly passes were made: Linda and Lorna were among the lucky winners. Invitations to join walking groups were available at two tables and many participants signed pledges to increase their activities and healthy eating.
In spite of a few moments of rain splatters, the weather was calm and pleasant for this very successful day.
Contributor Virginia