Malmo Memories by Tony Cashman  

We moved into our house at 11435 46 Avenue on July first 1965 – my wife Veva and I, our sons Hal (15), Bernard (14) and Paul (9).  We had to move on Dominion Day, (as it was still called) because it was the only day we could get the movers.

 The neighbourhood was still known as Malmo Plains.  It was on the leading edge of the city beginning to push south.  Gophers, the original residents, popped out of the plains to see what was going on.

 From our back door we could look across the country road which became Whitemud Freeway, to see the five houses south of us – the “Honeymoon village” that year, facing the sunset on 115th Street.  From the porch we could see what was going on in back yards five houses in either direction... usually neighbours leveling the clay for black loam and hopefully for grass the next year.  No fences or trees blocked the view.  A third of the lots were unbroken Malmo Plains.

It was a close community of newcomers, which brought on a strong community league.  The city had a longstanding policy – that the school and the league share the same playground.  Unfortunately one of the few long-term residents, a lady who lived in that charming house by the northwest corner didn’t think much of the policy.  She had connections at City Hall and city officials wanted to put us out west, next to Michener Park.  We asked to appear before city council, and argued successfully that the policy had served well and an exception should not be made in our case.

The League got started with a five-year financial crisis.  Our main fund-raiser was the annual Grey Cup pool.  We could sell 1600 tickets at a dollar apiece and after sharing with the winners we’d have $800 to run the winter program.  There was much anxiety with this plan.  Such lotteries were illegal.  The police were happy to look the other way but if some spoilsport lodged a complaint they’d have to shut it down.

The Grey Cup pool squeaked through each time but the revenue always took a hit from the snowblower.  The snowblower had an appetite for things hidden in the snow – hockey pucks and blades of broken hockey sticks.  Either could strip the gears and result in a $400 repair job.

We had other financial trouble when the League put up the first building.  We had a friendly banker – Harvey was a League member and ran the Bank of Commerce branch in the Lendrum shopping centre.  Harvey was willing to lend us the money but the bank insisted that members co-sign $100 notes to cover the risk.  We felt this was discriminatory.  A few weeks later a frowsy character who claimed to have a gun came into the bank.  He had no references, and didn’t sign anything and Harvey gave him eleven hundred dollars.

In the years since 1965 Malmo has grown to garden spot, a pleasure to walk on summer evenings.  And when I stop at the playground and see the little kids enjoying themselves as only kids can --- it’s obvious that the League’s anxious beginnings were worth all the trouble.