Tahsis Farm to School Volunteer Invitation

Captain Meares Elementary Secondary School

Invites you to be a volunteer for the 2015 season of

Tahsis Farm to School Lunch Program

We are looking for volunteers to help prep, set up, serve and clean up our popular soup and salad meals

. 

Shifts are from 11:30 am to 1:15 pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

  

Please contact 

Karli at (250) 934-7805 

or (250) 934-6305 

to sign up for upcoming January and February shifts.  

Thanks so much!

 

 P. S. Free lunch is offered to all our volunteers.

New Year's Eve in Esperanza Invitation

Ring in the New Year in Esperanza!

Hosted by: Bowdens, Våges and Johnsons

You're invited to celebrate New Years Eve in Esperanza!

Boat pick up the New Years Eve in Tahsis and Zeballos: at 3:00pm

• Dinner and Breakfast Provided
• Games and Activities Planned
• Clean and Sober Family Friendly Event

Boats returning to Tahsis and Zeballos New Years Day: at 11:00am

 Let us know if you plan on coming.

Call 250-483-6991, or E-mail info@esperanza.ca

for more info, read here:  Esperanza New Year's Eve Invitation

Polar Bear Swim Info

A Tahsis tradition:  Every New Years Day, people gather down at the public boat launch to watch or participate in a freezing cold dunk in the ocean.

So join the polar bear swimmers, if you dare, or just come and be a spectator.  Free hot dogs and hot chocolate are available, thanks to the donations and work of Mario, Maureen, Tahtsa Dive Charters, Dan and the Lions Club.

Join us on New Years Day, January 1st 2015 at 12 noon.  Start the year off right and take the plunge!

Tahsis Time Grill will be offering complimentary coffee, tea and sweets from 11am till 1pm to celebrate the Polar Bear Swim.

Dan on Jan 1st 2013

  

Christmas Spirit in Tahsis

After the Carolling at the church, we drove around to see the lights.  These are our favourites in Tahsis.

Ronald and Harmony's house

Jim and Elsie's house

Richard and Birte's house

Christmas Eve Carolling at St. Joseph's Church

Battista's Creche

A huge thank you to the Twang Gang for playing some lovely Christmas music for us to sing along with, the candlelit version of Silent Night was particularly beautiful.  Everyone enjoyed the music, Juanita's poem reading, the decorations including Battista's nativity scene, and the treats with friends and neighbours afterwards.  It was especially good to meet a few new Tahsis residents, and I hope you know how happy we are to have you in our village.  This is the season for welcoming friends in from the cold.

Twang Gang members Mervin, Roy, Stephanie, Alisa, and Andie.  To the left out of view, there were Scott and Corky.  Juanita read a poem.

Corinne, Evan and Emelie help give out the candles

A happy crowd.  The singing sounded great!  

Sweets and coffee afterwards

A Visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus

Every December, with a little help from the Tahsis Volunteer Fire Department and the Tahsis Lions Club, Santa and Mrs. Claus drive around Tahsis delivering goody bags of treats to everyone in town.  There are lots volunteer elves who ride the trucks and assist the famous couple as they make their way down every street in Tahsis.  Thanks to everyone involved!

Bill, Maureen, Josie, Russ, Andie, Gareth, Marion, Santa, Mrs. Claus, Emelie, Leilani, Glyn, Corinne

Braving the rain.  

Christmas Concert at CMESS December 17th 2014

Congratulations to the staff and students of CMESS who, together with the Tahsis Twang Gang, put on a great reading of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" with lots of music and singing together with the audience.  Thanks to PAC (Parent Advisory Council) for providing the treats and spiced cider.

Photos by Tia R.

  An exciting annual event is our PAC Stocking Raffle.  PAC works hard to fundraise to fill an enormous Christmas stocking and with the generous donations of local businesses, it is an exciting prize!  People buy tickets to support PAC, and then they draw a winning ticket at the Christmas Concert.  Congratulations to this year's winner Daisy from Zeballos!

Daisy's Mom and Dad, Dorothy and Eugene.  Congratulations!  

Thank you so much to all the hard working volunteers who make these events so meaningful and special to our families, friends and neighbours.    

Good News!

The boil water advisory has been lifted and our water is back to normal.  Thanks to all the village crew who worked so hard during and since the storms to fix this situation!

CMESS Staff Christmas Party December 15 2014

The Tahsis Time Grill opened up for a special night of celebration for the staff of the school.  Everyone relaxed and enjoyed delicious appetizers, entrees and desserts.

Before the gift exchange, Mrs. S. was recognized by the district for her 20 years teaching here in Tahsis.  Mrs. S. teaches a grade K, 1, 2, 3 split classroom and even with that challenge manages to instill a love of learning early on to our youngest students.  Her kindness and skill make our kids feel cherished and confident.

We love and appreciate you, Jeannie.

  

Breakfast Club of Canada at CMESS Holiday Morning

This morning the Breakfast Club of Canada volunteers (Dave and I) served up some delicious holiday breakfast sandwiches.  Whole wheat English muffins, toasted and topped with smoked turkey, homemade cranberry sauce and melted mozzarella, with Christmas oranges and eggnog on the side.  The kids and staff enjoyed them and visited with our school district trustee Fern.

We are so fortunate to have support from Breakfast Club of Canada, so we are able to offer free breakfast to any and all students every school day at CMESS.

It's a lot of fun, and the kids love coming into our kitchen to see what we've cooked up next.

 

Christmas Season at the Rec. Centre

Lots going on over the holidays at our Tahsis Recreation Centre.

Tahsis Emergency Services Christmas Party

Last night the Ambulance, Firefighter and Police members got together with their families for a steak BBQ at the Fire Hall.  (The steaks were great quality, from The Butcher's Block in Courtenay)  This is a holiday tradition that includes an amazing meal and a gift exchange with lots of swiping gifts as we go around the table.  We are very fortunate to have a great bunch of people to take care of us if we have an emergency here in Tahsis.  Stay Safe, and Happy Holidays!

Fire Chief Russ

Josie, Allison, Scott and Barb, our ambulance crew

Buddies Silas and Karma

Firefighters Terry, Bill, Rob, Russ, Josie, Scott, Graham, and Glyn

Here comes the Sun

After several days of storm winds and heavy rain, we have some sun shining through the clouds.  Our village is still under a Boil Water Advisory because of the storms (the weather churns up the water and it becomes too cloudy to pass the safety tests) but hopefully that will be over soon.

The Inlet this morning

Economic Development

I attended a meeting last night to discuss some strategies for success for our Economic Development Planning.  There are lots of great ideas out there, and we need some help organizing everything and moving forward to benefit our little town. The challenges might be big, but we are a resourceful bunch.

George, Jude and Randy.  George and Randy are from Community Planning and Development Consulting.

If you haven't already filled out your survey, you have one more day!  Here's the link:  Economic Development Survey


This is from the Village of Tahsis Website:

The Village of Tahsis is initiating a project to prepare an Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan to address the decline in the local economy, to increase its economic development capacity and to and to seek strategic employment and investment opportunities.

By undertaking a long-term economic development strategy and action plan, the Village will be able to establish an overall framework within which local businesses can develop their own long-term strategies and work together with the Village to develop and pursue an investment attraction and marketing strategy and to pursue appropriate investments and projects in a strategic and professional manner consistent with the Villages Official Community Plan (OCP) and other policies.

St. Joseph Catholic Church getting ready for Christmas Eve

4 volunteers were at St. Joseph Catholic Church today, getting ready for the Christmas Eve Service, by bringing in some beautiful local greenery to give the church some holiday decoration.  The boughs and bows were leftover from the wreath making workshop last weekend.

Battista was there carefully setting up his lovely creche that he built and has embellished every year.  It is arranged on a bed of natural moss.

St. Joseph's Church is holding mass on Christmas Eve at 5 pm, followed by a potluck supper at 6 pm, then the Tahsis Twang Gang will be there at 7:30 pm to provide some Christmas music.  Everyone can join in the carolling, and enjoy some sweets and coffee afterwards.

    

Christmas Tree Lighting

Last night we gathered at the large tree across from Oceanview Restaurant, and the Tahsis Christmas Tree was lit.  It was a cold but clear night and the bonfire was a welcome source of heat.  Many people gathered under the tree to sing carols and enjoy hot dogs and hot chocolate courtesy of the Lions Club.  It feels like the official start of holiday season in Tahsis.

Karma

Tony and Jean

April, Maureen, Corinne and Mervin

Marion, Emla, Emelie

Inaugural Council Meeting

Last night, our new town council members met and were sworn in for the next 4 years.  Our mayor Jude Schooner was re-elected, along with councillors Brenda Overton, Louis VanSolkema and Randy Taylor.  The newcomer to the group is councillor Kathy Bellinger.  Congratulations to everyone and good luck!

Jude

Louis, Brenda, Jude, Kathy, and Randy

Out for Brunch

Tahsis Time Grill is on winter hours, which means we are down to Sunday Brunch and special occasions.  The tasty brunch menu is worth the week's wait, however.  My current favourite is the traditional Eggs Benedict.  I enjoyed mine with a bowl of Chorizo Chicken soup today.

On the way home, we noticed members of the Tahsis Volunteer Firefighters Association up in a tree.  They are preparing for our annual Christmas Tree Lighting which is on Wednesday, December 3rd.

Everyone is invited to the large tree opposite Tahsis Supermarket Wednesday night at 6:30pm.  The tree will be lit, Christmas music will be sung around the tree and the bonfire, and the Tahsis Lions will have hot dogs and hot chocolate for sale.

Esperanza Valenteen Retreat Information

Esperanza is a very special place close to Tahsis.  This excerpt is from their website:

Esperanza is a community of convergence, a meeting grounds for people of various abilities, interests, denominations and ethnicities. It is a place where people learn about our Creator, about one another, and about themselves. It is a community where some come to live, some come to rest, and some simply visit. Others come to volunteer and serve for a day, and others a lifetime.  

Some of our CMESS students come from Esperanza by boat every morning, and many Tahsis community members love to accept the invitation to join the families at Esperanza for Easter or Thanksgiving Feasts and Celebrations.  Esperanza Ministries often have programs for young people throughout the year, and it looks like plans are underway for a Teen Retreat in February.

Improv

Our school is unusually small.  We have about 34 students, from Kindergarten to Grade 12.  That rules out many activities, like soccer since we don't have enough of the same age of kids to make one team, let alone two!  But one thing our kids excel at is drama.

Year after year, our kids hone their skills onstage in various productions and shows.  We have a great interest in Theatre Sports, and our students travel and compete in the Canadian Improv Games.  Two days ago, our improv team (the CMESS Pirates) competed in a North Island exhibition round in Comox.  They did well and had a lot of fun!    

Wreath and Arrangements Workshop

Today I attended an excellent workshop organized by Stephanie Olson.  It was held at the Tahsis Recreational Centre and was taught by Sharon Stembridge, who has years of experience as a florist.  Sharon and Stephanie had gathered up fresh local greenery, and 11 of us had a great time wrestling branches onto wire hangers and into vases.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon, and our projects turned out beautifully.  Mary, a newcomer to town, pointed out how much nicer our wreaths were than the ones from the store, since we have had the meaningful experience of making them.  Something to remember this time of year, when it's easy to get caught up in the shopping shopping shopping mentality.