Beacon Hill Park

Each time I return to Victoria, a trip to Beacon Hill Park is a must. It's a park that has so many memories and for over 150 years, generations of our family have wandered through and marveled at it's beauty.
My sister Maureen, has suggested that it's likely that our Great Grandmother pushed her children in a pram over the stone bridge. Our grandmother took her children for outings and picnics in the park. We know that she enjoyed picnics because she would arrange them for our family when we were children. Sometimes on Sunday afternoons we would listen to the concerts at the Cameron Bandsell and as we did I think my parents must have been thinking back to the time two young soldiers singing together on stage spotted a pair of nursing students in the front row...the rest is history. We lived in Fairfield, within walking distance to the park, so we swam in the wading pool, and attended the free Summer Parks Programs for children.


This view of the stone bridge in Beacon Hill Park in Victoria BC is a special memory for me. At the tender age of 12, my 9 year old sister sat beside me on the grass as we painted this bridge. We were attending "Painting in the Parks" that summer and we'd been given large cardboard folders to act as easels and to carry our papers home in. My grandmother Clara, had enrolled us and I remember another spot at the edge of the park where we sat and painted a large Tudor style home across from the park. I wish I remembered more but do know we were taken to different locations by an art instructor and when I first started painting as an adult, I chose to copy a picture I'd taken of the stone bridge. The beautiful floral gardens, duck ponds, magnificent trees and lovely vistas make the more than 200 acre Beacon Hill Park a real treasure for Victorians - just as it was more than 150 years ago.