Mayfair began in 1928 as a hamlet because the railway was pushing its way through the area, alongside a main road. Galvin Lumber Company constructed the first building with J.H. Spence as the agent. As of 1931, Mayfair had five stores, two cafes, a post office, barbershop, poolroom, bank, hotel, service station and three grain elevators. A CNR station was constructed along with a bunkhouse, section foreman dwelling, pumpman's residence, loading platform by the train station and a water tower for the locomotives ran by steam engines.
All were in place, when a fire on Jan. 6, 1931 destroyed two stores, the post office, one cafes and the bank. The mail was quickly removed from the post office before the fire caused more devastation.
The past 80 years we've dwindled to an almost "if you blink, you miss" community, but we are still on the map!
From January through to April, a group of approximately eight women gather in a room in the hall to work on individual projects, such as painting, scrapbooking, knitting, crocheting  or other projects from 9:30 a.m.to 3:30 p.m. They each provide their own lunches, but do share some of their home-baked goodies with one another. I'm told they have a blast and are always looking for new faces (men are welcome) to join in on the good times.
Early in the winter, Gail Adamur purchased a home in Battleford and is enjoying the move. Her husband Edward passed away two years ago. She has great support from her family and is not often alone. She does frequent Mayfair and still volunteers her time either at the library or preparing food for community functions or working at bingos for Mayfair Recreation Centre.
Congratulations to Dora and Barry Brown on becoming proud great-grandparents to a baby boy residing in Peace River country. They are anxiously waiting see him in person, but have already viewed the baby on Facebook.
Dora is now retired after working in the health-care system for many years. In 1971 she became a registered psychiatric nurse working in various locations throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta, while raising two girls. For the past 11 years, she was employed at Villa Pascal in North Battleford. I've been told by other employees and residents that everyone misses a long-time colleague and friend.
Now Dora will be able to spend more time with her cattle and her painting. I viewed some of her paintings two years ago at an art show and tea sponsored by the local library and they are fantastic. We do have some very talented artists in the community. Some of them have engaged in art lessons instructed by Doreen Kalmakoff from Blaine Lake plus other art teachers.
Early in January, a group of parishioners from All Saints Catholic Church in Mayfair and Father Doug Jeffrey from North Battleford went Christmas caroling around the countryside. Caroling was scheduled for two days and we didn't get to everyone's house that requested a visit. We usually sang three carols, then the priest said a prayer appropriate for each family and then blessed the house with holy water.
This is a highlight for the residents residing at Rose Gill Lodge in Rabbit Lake and usually the entertainment lasts for at least a half hour in the afternoon.
The people participating were Sharon and Peter Babiy, Lorena Lafreniere, Rick Taylor, Cheryl Bulmer, Maryann Mischuk and myself. We were the guests at Rollie and Jean Pelletier's home for a Norwegian supper. They are gracious hosts. Their farmhouse is a showcase of 1920s style, with the original furniture from that era.
Raymond Stokalko, Mayfair retired school teacher, from Saskatoon won $1,000 from the BUHF monthly lottery. Also congratulations to Bert Heide, Mayfair resident, on winning $100,000 in buying a bonus extra ticket in a big lotto. Knowing people that win makes it more exciting! Former owners of the cafe, Irene and Tom Adamus, were the lucky winners of the BUH draw of $100,000 approximately 12 yeas ago. Both are now deceased.
Arriving back to their Whitkow farm, Ron and Heather Buziak got a real taste of our harsh weather early Friday morning after being in a warm climate for two weeks. A 40th wedding anniversary gift of an eastern Caribbean cruise was given to them by their four children: Kristy (Curtis) Rousseau, Dusten (fiancee Meghan), Tara (Daniel) Carlson, and  Zane.
The seven-day cruise included Nassau where they did a beach excursion; St. Thomas Island, where they toured the mountains and tropical rain forest; and St. Maarten Islands in which shopping and bartering for the goods purchased was done. This island was inhabited many years ago by the French and Dutch. Heather noted that it is distinctly divided by these two cultures.
The name of the cruise is Oasis of the Seas, one of the largest, accommodating 5,400 guests and employing 2,400 workers.
There were back in Fort Lauderdale for almost a week. Miami sounded exciting, so they engaged in a shuttle bus tour of the city. It also took them to Key West, which is comprised of 40 small islands connected by bridges.
Ron and Heather enjoyed every sunshine-filled day of their holiday and are thankful to their children.
Feb. 6, a group of three gals including myself attended a seminar sponsored by Assante Wealth Management for the retiring farmer. We gained a lot of valuable information. Now the hard part is to retain it all! In the evening at Prairieland Park we took in a session which featured the pros and cons in purchasing property in a foreign country. It is very common to know of retired people who own their vacation winter home. I've learned that rather than be an owner, it is cheaper to rent. Being a property owner ties a person down to perhaps staying at the same place year after year, paying taxes and insurance, the possibility of vandalism, and maintenance costs.
People using air miles when travelling obviously have a "cheap" holiday. You can even rent a vehicle using your air miles. We have used ours on a few occasions. In 2005 Dave and I flew to Australia. In December 2007, with our four grown-up children, we vacationed in Costa Rica and Panama. We stayed in some "wilderness" accommodations with our oldest son being our guide. Curtis is fluent in Spanish so we had no problem with language barriers. He has been a regular traveller to Central America for about 10 years, the big attraction being surfing and meeting many younger adventurous people world wide.
Young families moving to the country and being quite a distance from a city is rare. Chris and Tiffany Cherwinski and theirthre sons recently purchased a 40-acre plot with a large seven-bedroom house on it. The former owners were Lise and Rene Chorney, who now temporarily reside in Mexico. The boys will be able to have lots of sleepovers with their friends, as there is no shortage of space.
The Cherwinskis are situated 12 miles southeast of Mayfair. Chris grew up on a farm owned by his parents, Stephan and Leanne, between Whitkow and Mayfair, so country living is not a new experience for him.
The Chorneys had foster children for a number of years who attended Hafford School. We have a number of local children who are bussed to Hafford with driver Teresa Toews from rural Mayfair.
According to the weather forecast towards the end of this week we are to be experiencing much warmer weather (-6 C). This will be welcome to people who participate in outdoor sports or who walk to work. We have endured two long stints of bitterly windy, blustery cold weather, but wait, isn't it winter? I must admit that the snow that fell on this past Friday was a welcome scene, although it basically blocked my farmyard. Thanks to four-wheel drive vehicles we wiggle out and keep on trucking it down the icy roads. In my next report, I will touch a little on Mullinger's past history. Mullinger is 11 miles northwest of Mayfair.
