Lions Club refurbishing Stoney Creek School

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This article was published 01/09/2022 (1372 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Lions Club in Neepawa is working to restore the Stoney Creek Schoolhouse, which used to stand west of the community along Highway 16, and now sits on a grassy clearing at the Neepawa Lions Riverbend Park.

Tim Borsa, a member of the Lions Club in Neepawa, 76 kilometres northeast of Brandon, said the historic building was moved to its current location in 1964. Now, nearly six decades later, the club is raising money to ensure the building remains for many years to come.

The old schoolhouse is now used by the Lions as their clubhouse, said Borsa, who is also the club’s past-president and past-secretary.

“The interior of it very much still looks like the old school,” Borsa said. “It’s got the old teacher’s desk with the strap in it, and it’s got the blackboards, and it’s got the old-style desks.”

The town of Neepawa’s summer day camp students are also making use of the building, something Borsa said has proven very popular with them.

“One of the things that the youngsters like to do all the time when they go there is they all like to see the strap, and they like to ring the bell, and they all like to write on the blackboard. It seems to be so fun for them.”

The Lions Club received funding of $20,130 from a Manitoba Heritage grant for maintenance at the school last June, said Jason Nadeau, the club’s current secretary-treasurer. The Town of Neepawa also awarded the club a grant for $5,000 in 2021 as part of their community grant program.

Borsa said the money will go toward putting new cedar shake shingles on the roof of the schoolhouse — to preserve its original design — as well as to repainting the outside of the building.

“The roof is in really good shape, but the shingles that are on it right now need to be replaced,” Borsa explained.

The grant money given to the club will cover a “huge chunk” of the cost needed to refurbish the school, Borsa noted, and for the remainder, the Lions Club is selling 50/50 tickets for a cash prize of $6,000. The draw for the winner of the prize will be held at the schoolhouse at 7 p.m. on Sept. 5.

The club had hoped to have the work done by now, but Nadeau, citing issues with the supply chain and rising prices for materials, said the group now hopes to have it done next year.

“Heritage Manitoba has been great at allowing us time as needed in order to get everything in place,” Nadeau said.

Currently, the club is still trying to source the cedar shake shingles and receive revised quotes before selecting a contractor to move forward with the work.

The Stoney Creek School operated from 1881 to 1950, and a stone with a plaque featuring those dates marks its former site in the municipality of North Cyrpress-Langford.

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