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Crofton, Then and Now, Di Setterfield |
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Di Setterfield's letter, Feb 2004 - . "It was an idyllic life for
children - golden sand and clear water - a perfect habitat for
flounder, etc.. My earliest memories were of catching those tasty fish
from a rowboat."
Crofton, Then and Now
by Diana Setterfield, Salt Spring, February, 2004
I was born at the King's Daughters Hospital in Duncan in 1921, and
lived the first six years of my life in Crofton. Every summer my family
moved down from our farm at the end of Adelaide Street to our summer
camp by the beach. It was an idyllic life for children - golden sand
and clear water - a perfect habitat for flounder, etc.. My earliest
memories were of catching those tasty fish from a rowboat.
All this came to an end when I was taken, protesting, to England. From
then on I lived for the day I could return to Crofton. Twelve years
ago, when the children had grown up and I had retired from farming in
Ontario, I was finally able to return "home". I was horrified by
what I found. The first thing I encountered was the foul air, and then
I discovered that all the golden sand in the bay had been replaced with
black muck, with not a fish in sight. I was told that the air was
contaminated by the pulp mill nearby. This same mill had put up a
breakwater so that the tides no longer flushed out the water in my
perfect bay!
I settled on Salt Spring. The Trail and Nature Club has a walking group
and Joan Lott (formerly of Duncan) and I decided it would be fun for
the group to walk to the Chemainus River across what we knew formerly
as Swallowfield Farm. I obtained permission from the Mill, but
evidently not from the right authority. After our beautiful walk to the
river, with lunch on its banks, we returned to find ourselves locked
in! Eventually some furious security guards arrived to release
us. Why the security? If they have nothing to hide, why is the public
not allowed? Are they secretly spreading obnoxious effluent on this
once beautiful farm?
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