The Denstonian

This book describes the experiences of the author's great-uncle, Wilberforce Cooper, who was an Anglican priest ministering to the people of Vancouver's downtown east side during 1921-1952. Reverend Cooper began his ecclesiastical calling in the slums of London and then as a British Army chaplain in the hospitals and trenches of WW1 before moving to Canada - first to the B.C. Cariboo and then to be the rector of St. James Church in Vancouver. During the early-mid 1900s the East End of Vancouver was home to most of the city's poor, homeless, addicted and unemployed, and was a magnet for illegal intoxicants, disreputable venues and prostitution. In addition, the East End was where Chinese and Japanese immigrants had settled and their presence attracted the continuing attention of white racists. And all this vice and prejudice was enabled by a corrupt Civic Administration that depended upon graft. This was the parish that Father Cooper presided over and where he became well known and loved as someone who cared and fought for the physical as well as the spiritual wellbeing of each individual resident. The author has made use of unpublished memoirs as well as stories in newspapers and other writings to document his great-uncle's life and times. While a number of references to Rev. Cooper's religious thought and outreach can be found in the literature, this is the first book to address his work and actions solidly within the context of the social and political milieu of the Lower Mainland during his tenure.

I have always been fascinated by the life of Gilbert Mapplebeck, who was one of the first Royal Flying Corps pilots to fly to the continent at the very start of the 1st World War and was the first British aviator to fly a reconnaissance over enemy territory. His life reads like something out of an adventure book: his determination to become a pilot; his posting to France in 1914; his reconnaissance flight over enemy lines; carrying out one of the first bombing raids on an enemy transport train; being badly wounded in an early "dog fight"; being shot down over enemy territory and his amazing escape back to England; and his tragic death in a flying accident just one year later. But his story has always been incomplete until two significant diaries written by Gilbert (Gib) came to light. In the first he tells us of his time in the RFC between July 1914 and February 1915. The second diary, written after the event, Gib tells the story of the ill-fated "sortie" over Lille.