Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/73811
bout a year ago when he was WCTA Vice President, Tab Buckner offered to tour me around many of the Township of Langley's (TOL) extensive recreational facilities. I took him up on his offer and now that Tab is President, I thought we had better get the feature article written and published before his year at the helm of the WCTA was over. The tour last July was impressive – a day of viewing various sites from tennis courts to spray parks to Frisbee golf to BMX tracks to grass and synthetic turf sportfields. I've now decided that if I'm going to move anywhere in the near future, it would have to be to Langley just so my kids can play every sport imaginable. Langley has an interesting history dating back to the retreat of the last glaciers some 10,000 years ago when Sto:lo First Nations people were thought to be the principal occupants. The Langley area was the first part of the lower mainland of British Columbia where European settlement was established and it quickly became a hub of activity for fur trading followed by the effects of the Fraser River gold rush where it became a large supply centre. Increased farming took place to supply the growing food demand as more people arrived in the area and on November 19, 1858, the proclamation of Crown Colony status took place in the Big House at Fort Langley proclaiming Langley as the birthplace of B.C. Fast forward to today and Langley has become metro Vancouver's suburbia. With a population of 104,000 the TOL comes somewhere between Kelowna and North Vancouver on the 10 largest cities in BC list (depending on what list you look at and whether or not you include the City of Langley which is surrounded by the TOL but that's another story). It's a big place geographically too, bordering the Fraser River to the north, 195th street to the west, 276th street to the east and the US border to the south covering 316km , 70% of which is still in the Agricultural Land Reserve. This bedroom community takes its recreation very seriously and has invested millions into sporting venues like the new Langley Events Centre and Willoughby Park to satisfy the wants and needs of a still growing young population. I get the impression from Tab and from general observation that these facilities are very appreciated and popular within the community and the demand to keep a high quality product is a top priority for town council. A MORE ENVIABLE POSITION THAN BEING UNDER IT LOOKING THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE - Tab joined the Township's Parks Department in 1981 spending two summers working as a high school student then continuing while in university until 1988. After an almost two decade absence from the TOL, he returned in 2006 to manage the landscaping and boulevard maintenance for the Engineering Operations Department. Then in 2008, Tab accepted a postion as Parks Operations Manager and was promoted to Manager Parks Operations and Cemetery Services in 2010, the position he currently holds. Prior to working for the TOL Tab had been employed for 18 years for the Langley School District in the Grounds Department working his way up the ladder from labourer to foreman. Tab graduated from the Kwantlen University Turf Management program in 2002. He's been a WCTA member since 2002 as well and jumped into the volunteer world of WCTA directorship in 2008. His current responsibility at the Township is certainly diverse, Continued On Page 26