Background and History:
The Fallen Alders Society was incorporated under the Societies Act on April 20th, 1951. Seven acres of property was donated to the society by a private donor, which the local community (Minto District) owned and operated. Volunteers from the community came together and cleared the property, milled the lumber, and started building the hall which was completed in early 1953. Local families donated and borrowed funds, and held fundraisers including dances, whist drives, bingo and card games, craft fairs to help finance the operation of the hall. The Fallen Alders Hall was a popular venue for the local community, and it was consistently rented out for weddings, funerals, celebration of life services, birthday parties and family Christmas celebrations.
The fields were cleared, and a fully fenced baseball diamond with grandstands for spectators and fenced dugouts for the players were constructed.
A full-size fenced tennis court was a popular addition to the property. As a tribute to the volunteers that have donated so much of their time and efforts to the society, a small treed Memorial Park was created on the property with memorial plagues recognizing each of the volunteers.
In early 2000, a lack of volunteers resulted in a lack of continuity in the duties of the Fallen Alders Board. The Directors missed the deadline for filing annual reports to the Registrar of Societies, and unbeknownst to the volunteer’s ownership of the land was subsequently transferred to the Escheats Department of the Crown. In 2006 a meeting was held to inform the community that the land had been transferred back to the government. The attendees were informed that since the society did not have the money to pay for the legal fees to regain ownership of the property, that the Fallen Alders Community Hall would have to close. The people rallied, members of the community personally donated funds to cover legal costs and in 2009 the legal journey was over, and the Fallen Alders Community Hall was back in good standing.