Happy Gang space renewed

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Happy days will continue for the Strathmore Happy Gang, after town council approved a lease extension for the organization’s club space at the Lambert Centre.

The Strathmore Happy Gang is a club providing recreational activities to residents aged 50 and over. These activities include billiards, functional fitness, yoga, line dancing, low impact walking and games. The club is typically open six days a week, excluding Sundays, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. While COVID-19 has temporarily sidelined the group’s activities, it has more than 180 active members each of the last two years.

The group has a long history in Strathmore. Meetings started in 1967 and the group registered as a non-profit society in 1970. After having met at the United Church and the Royal Canadian Legion, members started applying for grants and supplied matching donations to help fund a permanent home for the group in the late 1970s.

In 1980, the Town of Strathmore built a community hall and library, which was partially funded by the group’s fundraising. The structure, now known as Lambert Centre, included space to house the Happy Gang. Club membership continued to grow from then, and the space has since been upgraded several times.

The Happy Gang held a five-year lease agreement with the town for use of this space in Lambert Centre. Signed in 2017, this agreement was scheduled to expire this year, but included an option for a five-year renewal extension. Initially, town council voted against the lease extension during its meeting on March 17, because several councillors requested more information about the group.

At the council meeting on April 7, two representatives from the Strathmore Happy Gang, Lorraine Bishop, president, and Arlene Wahl, secretary, presented an overview about the organization and answered questions from councillors about the group. After learning more about the group and its activities, council then approved the lease extension unanimously, in a 6-0 vote, with Mayor Pat Fule not in attendance.

The group is mostly sidelined by COVID-19 until it gets the green light to continue, said Bishop, in an interview with The Times. 

“Until we get notification from the public health officer that it’s okay for us to open the hall, we will be closed,” she said. But the line dancing group is continuing to meet outdoors, and the walking group is looking to start walking outside as the weather warms.