Have a special memory of Richard McBride Elementary School? A New Westminster woman is looking for submissions to include in a commemorative book she’s putting together about the 90-year-old school.
“It’s like a memory keepsake for the families of McBride because the school is being torn down, and once it is torn down, it’s gone, it’ll be out of people’s minds, out of people’s memories,” Autumn Sweet told the Record.
Sweet is an architect (one of her projects is the new Urban Academy school) and, to her, McBride is a marvel. The keepsake book will include photos taken by Sweet of the school, historical images and other pieces of its history.
“It’s the history of the school being in Sapperton and what it meant to three, four generations of families,” she said.
The original Richard McBride Elementary School was built in 1912, but a fire destroyed the two-storey building in February 1929. A few months later, a replacement school was built. That school still stands today.
It’s now 90 years old and will be replaced with a brand new $22.6-million school in January 2021.
Sweet wants to have her book ready in time for the opening of the new school in 2021. Proceeds from book sales will be donated to McBride’s parent advisory council, which supports a variety of school activities and programs.
“I just want to create a good collection so that once the school is torn down they’ll have a memento of what was there before,” she said.
You can send items for consideration for the book to Sweet directly at autumnsweet54@gmail.com.
