Sandeep Bhangu remembers when farmers would let their horses roam free around Queensborough. He remembers when his mother would call the other families in the ‘Boro looking for him and his siblings. He remembers when there were no shops on the little island, so if you wanted groceries you had to cross the bridge.
While the infrastructure has changed dramatically in Queensborough since Bhangu was a boy, the feeling of home remains the same.
“It was so small of a community, and it still feels like that,” he said.
Bhangu moved to Queensborough with his family when he was very young. His father was a developer, and the family moved around the ‘Boro often. In the beginning, there wasn’t much in the ‘Boro, Bhangu recalled.
“It was farmland and old houses. We only had two stores … and the community centre. That was pretty much it,” he said.
Thirty-three-year-old Bhangu lived in Queensborough until he got married in 2007. Once married, he and his wife, Janak moved to Vancouver, where they lived for about a year before moving to Surrey.
“And then we lived in Surrey for about four years, up until about the time of the recession,” he said.
The Bhangus decided the recession was the right opportunity to buy land and build their own home, and Sandeep knew just where he wanted to build.
“I wanted to get back to Queensborough because when I grew up here it was a small community. I was used to that, I wasn’t used to the city,” he said.
Living in both Vancouver and Surrey proved too much for the small-town native. The busy, bustling streets of the big cities didn’t have the same feeling of home Bhangu was looking for. He wanted his children to experience the same childhood he had in Queensborough.
“Going from Queensborough to Vancouver was a big change for me,” he said. “We ended up buying a lot here (in Queensborough) and built this house.”
Today the Bhangus have three children, five-year-old Jaylum, three-year-old Nevaeh and one-year-old Landon. While Queensborough is still relatively small, the kids’ experience will be slightly different than that of their father’s. As Bhangu mentioned, there were only two corner stores in the ‘Boro when he was growing up, but now the New Westminster suburb has its own shopping centre – an attraction that brings in visitors from outside the neighbourhood.
“Now it’s like we have everything. The Wal-Mart, the whole landing, the casino and the junior high,” Bhangu said. “Then they didn’t have the junior high, so you went right to New West (secondary).”
Back when Bhangu was in school, the Queensborough kids were shuttled by bus to the high school. Most of the time the ‘Boro kids stuck together, not mingling much with the other students, he added.
“When I grew up here, you could be out as late as you wanted because you knew every family,” he said. “Even when you go out (today) in Queensborough, you still see familiar faces everywhere. It still has that small community feeling.”
The Bhangus like how Queensborough hasremained relatively quiet, even as the population continues to grow. They equate it to a village, where young couples are flocking to start their own families. Developments like Port Royal, along with the many town homes and row houses, continue to draw people to Queensborough, but through it all it continues to have the small-town charm, Bhangu said.
“You don’t have the street lights and the busyness, it’s quiet,” he added.
Bhangu’s wife, Janak, grew up in Vancouver. Her childhood was nothing like Bhangu’s, but she’s managed to adjust to the smaller community quite well, she said.
“What I also love is that it’s so central. So if I need to go to Surrey or go to Delta or go whereever, … everything is so close by so it doesn’t take me too long to get to places,” she added.
Janak is among the increasing number of new residents to Queensborough. As the population grows, Queensborough isn’t losing any of its “small-town” charms. Instead of changing the community, the new residents are blending into the established status quo, Bhangu said.
“I think they fit right in because when I talk to people who’ve (just) moved here, they’re so interested in the history of Queensborough,” he said. “They want to know about where they live.”
