Victoria HarbourCats: Ten Years and Counting is a must-read for anyone who
loves baseball. It faithfully documents every game played by the Victoria HarbourCats
over a decade, making them the only franchise in local history to last more than a few
years. The book starts with a local baseball history and then outlines the highs and
lows of the past ten years. It features interviews with former players, coaches, and
executives, bringing their stories to life. The pages are richly illustrated with a selec-
tion from the thousands of photos taken by team photographers and supplemented
by archival images. Learn some new stories and enjoy the familiar ones—it’s all here.
Written by award-winning author and co-owner of the team, Helen Edwards, it
deserves a place on your bookshelf. It will be available from the HarbourCats office,
at baseball games, at Munro’s Books and Russell Books and will soon be on Amazon.
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The Heritage Detective, Volume Two is the second book in the series. The book brings alive the stories of ordinary people living extraordinary lives in the city’s neighbourhoods, including Fairfield, Rockland, Oak Bay, and Esquimalt. Richly illustrated with more than 200 photographs, this book draws upon decades of articles about the city’s history, their details expanded and updated with additional research by Victoria’s heritage detective, Helen Edwards. The result is a tapestry of local tales packed with vivid descriptions that will transport you to a past era when the young city was just beginning to invent its vibrant future. The Heritage Detective is an invaluable resource for Victorian seeking a deeper understanding of their community’s history. Visitors will discover captivating accounts of day-to-day life and memorable moments that provide and in-depth look at the history and culture of the city.
This book is available locally from Munro’s Books, Bolen Books, Ivy’s Bookshop, Russell Books, Tanner’s Books and at the Craigdarroch Castle Gift Shop. It is also online at Amazon.
Check it out here.
This book is available locally from Munro’s Books, Bolen Books, Ivy’s Bookshop, Russell Books, Tanner’s Books and at the Craigdarroch Castle Gift Shop. It is also online at Amazon.
Check it out here.
This book is a sequel to Dutchy’s Diaries, Life as a Canadian Naval Officer, In His Own Words, 1916-1929 that was published in 2020. Once I published that book, the logical question was “what’s next?” I knew there were binders full of material about later duties and set about investigating precisely what we had. I found special editions of books, binders of clippings about Dutchy’s time in the navy, and hundreds of photographs illustrating a complete story of a long naval career. As he rose through the ranks, his staff collected newspaper clippings for him and compiled them into scrapbooks that proved invaluable in documenting events, even if the name of the publication did not always appear. I scanned everything to have working copies and then shipped all the source material to its new home at Library and Archives Canada. I was thrilled that they considered this material to be of national significance. Thus, Dutchy joined his father and brother in the LAC files. The partial journals that gave insight into the day-to-day operation were fun to read. Typewritten notes combined with the Night Order book outlined the journey of HMCS Prince Henry from the Caribbean to Alaska and the stops in between, including a starlet-filled reception at the Beverley Hills Hotel. As in the first book, I corrected minor spelling errors in the two journal sections but did not change anything else. My principle in this regard was minimum intervention to bring Dutchy’s voice to a new audience. His sense of humour shines through these segments and puts a human face on a naval career. In the 1930s, there was not much going on in the naval world, so Dutchy and Dot were able to compete in tennis tournaments at a high level. This brings a whole different aspect to his life story and reinforces the athletic activities that were mentioned frequently in his early journals.
Check it out here.
Dutchy’s Diaries
While sorting through family treasures, we came across these amazing journals, written between 1916 and 1929, which told the first-person story of years of naval service. That they survived the myriad of moves that a naval family makes is a minor miracle. Doubly amazing is the fact that we also found photographs that enhance the text. Now, over a century later, the story of naval service in the early twentieth century can be told—in the words of the journal writer, Commodore John Crispo Inglis Edwards. “Dutchy’s Diaries: Life as a Canadian Naval Officer, in His Own Words: 1916-1929” was soft launched on February 18, 2020, at the Wardroom at CFB Esquimalt. It is available from Bolen Books and Munro’s locally and from the author and is also available on Amazon.
Check out details and the story behind the book, including scans of the original journal pages at https://dutchysdiaries.ca/
The History of Professional Hockey in Victoria B.C.
I have been a fan of professional hockey in Victoria since the 1950s. When it was announced that the Victoria Salmon Kings were being disbanded, I was very upset. It seemed to me that I had been down this road before when the Victoria Maple Leafs left town for Phoenix. At about the same time, I learned of the death of Bill Shvetz who had played defence for the Victoria Maple Leafs. It seemed to me that time was of the essence.
While there have been books written on hockey in BC and the old Western Hockey League, nobody has documented this issue from a strictly Victoria perspective. For this reason, I channelled my disappointment into a positive project. I wrote a detailed history of professional hockey in Victoria, BC. Although I was obviously not born when the Patricks’ team won the Stanley Cup, I have been aware of this for many years. I saw the 1950s era Victoria Cougars as a child and held season tickets for the Maple Leafs and Salmon Kings, so felt I had the expertise to document this overlooked history.
The second edition with updated information and a new cover was launched live on January 20, 2024 as part of Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada with an on-ice interview with Ron McLean.
This book is a tribute to the many men who skated on Victoria ice, regardless of the era, as they all were important to the story. A copy of the book is now housed in the D.K. “Doc” Seaman Hockey Resource Centre,” the home of the National Hockey League’s Hall of Fame artifact and archival collection.
Check out the entire story at https://professionalhockeyinvictoria.ca/
It is available from Bolen Books, Munro’s Books, Ivy’s Bookshop, Russell Books, and Tanner Books locally and from the author. If you don’t see it on the shelves, please ask for it.
Upcoming books:
The First Ten Years of the Victoria HarbourCats baseball team. To be published in July 2024. This will document the first ten years of the summer college baseball team and includes interviews with selected players, builders, and others who have made the team what it is today.
A Lifetime as a Volunteer and Activist. To be published in 2026. This is a memoir of my long life, focusing on my volunteer activities, activism, and philanthropy.