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Abbotsford Heritage Society wins award for historic Turner House

Organization participated in Next Great Save competition
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An artist’s rendering depicts what the historic Turner House in Abbotsford will look like upon the completion of its restoration. (Rendering by Tyler Friesen of Old Clayburn Designs)

Heritage Abbotsford Society was recently one of 10 organizations to receive the National Trust for Canada’s 2023 Governors Award for their participation in the Next Great Save competition.

The awards were distributed at the National Trust for Canada’s 50th anniversary conference and presented to the winners by National Trust chair Ingrid Cazakoff.

Between October 2022 and February 2023, the Next Great Save competition raised awareness and awarded prize money for projects to adapt, renew or improve heritage places for the future. Almost 200,000 votes were cast for the 10 competing teams.

The top prize of $50,000 went to the Duncan Train Station.

Heritage Abbotsford Society’s entry was the 146-year-old Turner House, the former home of George Turner, a Royal Engineer who helped plan out and survey the Lower Mainland in the latter half of the 19th century.

The home was moved in 2018 from Matsqui Prairie to Clayburn Park, where it is being restored. The project is expected to take several years.

RELATED: Restoration work to begin on 145-year-old Turner House in Abbotsford

AHS executive director Christina Reid said the organization is “excited beyond words” to receive the National Trust award.

“We feel a bit like the little mouse that roared; it’s great to be recognized on a national level like this, and for Abbotsford’s Turner House to get some love,” she said. “This unassuming little place is actually really important and has huge potential, and participating in the Next Great Save helped us spread that message.

“We were excited to be able to use the contest as a vehicle to get word out about the cultural significance of the Turners’ home, the Indigenous community that helped build it, the Royal Engineer family who lived in it, and its significance as Abbotsford’s first cooperative farm. Heritage preservation is climate action, and the contest gave us a way to spread that message.”

Reid said heritage places such as Turner House are critical for sustainable communities, central to responding to climate change, and vital to the collective well-being and sense of belonging.

The building was donated in 2013 to the City of Abbotsford, which entered into a lease agreement with Heritage Abbotsford Society in 2022.

The society plans to run skills transmission workshops and applied heritage preservation classes in the house.

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