Monday at the Old School Series: Meeting the Neighbours

Meeting the neighbours and showing them THIS

The school closed down in 2016. It was a very sad time for the community because, for so many years, it had been the hub of activity—Christmas concerts, fairs, school baseball tournaments, the skating rink and so much more.

After it closed, it was purchased and turned into a business centre. It housed a nursing station, a hairdresser, daycare and community meetings. But then COVID hit, and the doors to the school once again remained closed.

Eventually, the school was put on the market.

It took several years before our offer to purchase came along, and during the time it sat for sale, the yard continued to be used by the community as a playground and a place to walk.

There had been other ideas for the property—a bitcoin mining centre, a campground, a storage facility and other business ventures. Some weren't approved by the municipality and others simply fell through. I don't know all the details, but I do know one thing:

The community was understandably nervous about who their new neighbours were going to be.

Then along came us—three families planning to turn their old school into our home!

Once we took possession and started working on the school, one of the first people we met was our next-door neighbour to the south. She came over and introduced herself, and when we told her that three families would be moving in, she was both excited and relieved!

She had been the school custodian and had been a huge part of the children's lives when the school was open. I think she was especially happy knowing there would once again be children running through those hallways.

Another neighbour we met came by one evening when Jake and I were just closing up for the day.

By this time, we had taken down some walls, and all the electricity had been disconnected so we could run new wiring into each of the units. It was late fall and almost pitch black when he pulled into the front drive.

We went outside to introduce ourselves and discovered he was the Reeve of the community. He had stopped by to welcome us and tell us how pleased he was that families would be transforming the school.

Of course, we decided to give him a tour!

With flashlights leading the way, we walked him through the dark school while explaining all our plans.

I'm sure he had a hard time picturing it. All he could see were torn-down walls, wires hanging from the ceiling and a huge mess.

Trust me, at that point I was having my own issues visualizing what it could become! 😂

Over the next few months, people would stop by out of curiosity, and we were always happy to show them around and tell them what we were planning.

Then winter arrived.

The snow began piling high around the driveway and yard. Because we weren't at the school every day yet, we started worrying that one good Manitoba snowstorm would make it impossible to get up the driveway to unload supplies—or even get into the school.

That's when we "met" the neighbour behind us.

We weren't actually introduced right away. We just started noticing that after a big snowfall...

our driveway had been plowed.

We hadn't asked him to do it.

He simply saw that it needed doing and took it upon himself to look after us.

WOW.

Since then, we've gotten to know both him and his wife and have seen just how committed they are to this beautiful little community. They're involved in the community centre, the fire department, fundraising and so much more.

He also attended school here himself, so he's been a wealth of information about the history and legacy of the place we now call home.

Looking back, I think one of the greatest surprises of this whole adventure has been the people.

We bought an old school thinking about walls, renovations, gardens and creating a home.

What we didn't realize was that we were also becoming part of a community.

And we have been incredibly blessed by the people who welcomed us into it.

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Next Monday on the Old School Series...

Hiccups Along the Way! 😬

Because, as you can probably imagine, turning an old school into three homes didn't exactly go according to plan!