What’s happening?
The Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery continues its longstanding tradition of celebrating the reigning monarch and the memory of Queen Victoria at the annual anvil salute. It takes place on Monday, May 21, with music starting at 11:30 a.m. and the 21-shot anvil salute beginning at noon in Queen’s Park Stadium.
How does it work?
After the anvil battery places gunpowder between two anvils, members ignite it from afar. When ignited, there’s a massive boom. (Hint: You may want to bring earplugs.)
How long has this been going on?
The New Westminster Historical Society states New Westminster has been celebrating Victoria Day every year since 1859. Queen Victoria named the city after Westminster – the part of the London where the parliament buildings are located.
Sounds intriguing – I want to know more:
The New Westminster Historical Society evening on Wednesday, May 16 will feature a presentation offering an overview of the Victoria Day festivities in New Westminster and its local long-term connection with the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery. The presentation starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Cedar Room at Century House, 620 Eighth St. It’s free and everyone is welcome to attend.
“The Anvil Battery, with its salute using anvils and gunpowder, became linked to this celebratory event a few decades after the first one here and remains integral to the honouring, as carried out today, of the reigning monarch and the memory of Queen Victoria,” said a press release from the society. “This program will include items from the battery’s ongoing research project into its history, as well as many anecdotes from that history and from the story of the local Victoria Day.”
