Hugh Cruickshank started and ended his life in New Westminster – but travelled the world in between.
Cruickshank was born in New Westminster in 1930 and passed away in his hometown on Nov. 24 at the age of 83.
“He attended Duke of Connaught high school,” said Bruce MacDonald, who interviewed Cruickshank for his recently published book Salmonbellies Vs. The World. “He excelled at track and field, hockey and lacrosse.”
Cruickshank wasn’t a large man, but he brought speed, agility, smarts and a good shot to the New Westminster Salmonbellies in the 1950s.
“He was a super talented lacrosse player,” MacDonald said. “Someone called him ‘whirlwind goal reaper’– he was so quick.”
During interviews for Salmonbellies Vs. The World, Cruickshank told MacDonald the biggest thrill of his lacrosse career was playing before the future Queen, when then-Princess Elizabeth visited Canada.
Cruickshank’s life changed in 1956 when his mother died suddenly at the age of 56.
“He stopped playing lacrosse,” MacDonald said. “He literally put down his lacrosse stick and picked up a bible.”
The shock of Cruickshank’s mother precipitated a spiritual quest that would take him around the world.
“He basically became a missionary,” MacDonald said. “He travelled the world for the rest of his life. He was a lay preacher and a missionary.”
Cruickshank returned to the Royal City about three years ago, moving into his niece’s home on Princess Street.
“The street he grew up on was Princess Street – he literally returned to where he grew up,” MacDonald said. “He definitely made a point of coming back to New Westminster. It completed the circle.”
Cruickshank was a member of First Church of Christ Scientist in New Westminster.
“He was a very humble person,” said a member of the church. “Everything he had was given out in the community. He was always doing work in the community.”
Everyone is welcome to attend a celebration of Cruickshank’s life that’s taking place on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. at First Church of Christ Scientist, 633 Eighth St.
City hall shuffles
A number of staff changes – both temporary and permanent – are taking shape in the city’s parks, culture and recreation department.
Ruby Campbell, the city’s volunteer coordinator, has been temporarily reassigned to some special projects, and her position has been filled for 12 to 18 months.
“Another person who has been working for us in an auxiliary capacity was the successful candidate for the volunteer coordinator position. That was filled two or three weeks before Christmas,” said Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks, culture and recreation. “Ruby is focusing some of her efforts on supporting planning for both the opening of Anvil Centre, as well as supporting some of the work for the Wait for Me, Daddy project.”
Greg Magirescu, who had been working as the city’s manager of arts and cultural development, is no longer employed by the City of New Westminster.
“We don’t have much that we are able to talk about on that, other than we reached a point where Greg has concluded his employment and he has been free to look for some other opportunities,” Gibson said of Magirescu’s departure. “He’s actively off doing that right now.”
The position will be filled but will have a slightly different (to be finalized) title.
“A posting for that should be coming out within the next couple of weeks or so,” Gibson said. “It’s moving its way through human resources before it hits the newsstands for starting that recruitment process.”
The job will include coordinating arts activities in the city.
Magirescu, who started working with the city in April 2010, was in charge of projects such as the Vancouver Biennale public art initiative set to be launched in New Westminster this year.
“Certainly Greg’s departure has left a bit of a hole in the organization, so we have taken aspects of his job – just to keep the most immediate things moving ahead, and parceled those out amongst different managers within our department,” Gibson said. “Right now, Rob McCullough, who is our museum and archives manager, is taking on a significant portion of the arts and culture portfolio role as well.”
Gibson said McCullough (who previously worked as the curator of the city’s archives) will be able to apply his “excellent set of people and management skills” in the arts and culture setting for the time being.
Sloane Elphinstone, a recreation programmer with the city, has been working on the Biennale project from Day 1 and continues to help plan for the event that gets underway later this year.
Bremner thrilled
And speaking of the Vancouver Biennale, no one will be more thrilled than Hector Bremner when it comes to New Westminster.
The New Westminster resident approached the folks at the Vancouver Biennale a few years back about the possibility of getting the city involved in the “open air museum” event that includes public art, an education program, an artists residency program, a lecture series and more.
Bremner was a member of the city’s community and social issues committee when he first broached the idea with the folks at Vancouver Biennale.
“We were talking about the park,” he recalled about planning that was being done for Westminster Pier Park. “I was thinking about what was going to make that park sparkle at that time.”
Bremner strongly believed New West needed some “world-class things” to draw attention to the city. Having followed the success of the Vancouver Biennale, he thought it would be a way to draw people into New Westminster and change how some people view the city – and show that it’s a city on the rise.
“I thought it would work in New Westminster,” he said. “It is a long time coming.”
Bremner made contact with the organizers of the Vancouver Biennale and kept checking in periodically. Bremner, who ran for the B.C. Liberals in New Westminster in the 2013 provincial election, is looking forward to checking out the Biennale’s offerings.
“It’s OK if they are a little controversial,” he said about public art. “It should inspire a conversation and get people talking and involved in their community.”
In the past couple of years, the City of New Westminster has been working with Vancouver Biennale on the project that gets underway in 2014.
Biennale Vancouver founder and president Barrie Mowatt told The Record that Bremner was pushing organizers to bring the open-air museum to New Westminster and was the “impetus” for its presence in the city.
“I am glad it is finally coming together,” Bremner said. “I think the community will enjoy it and it will be well received.”
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