Our Stories · 1987–2027

Forty years, remembered.

In May 2001, neighbours picked a bare field clean by hand, one bucket at a time, while the new houses looked on from the ridge. That's how Signal Hill got built: before the C-Train, before the trees grew in, by people who showed up. We're gathering their stories for the Association's 40th birthday in 2027. Yours belongs here too.

0of 40 stories for 40 years

Story one is still unwritten. It could be yours.

Add your story → Leave a one-line mark
Three dads and eight kids stand on a bare, freshly turned field holding buckets, shovels and rocks, with a row of new two-storey houses along the ridge behind them. May 2001.
Rock pickers of Signal Hill, May 2001. Neighbours cleared this field by hand, one bucket at a time. Recognise someone? Tell us who.
One line is enough

Leave a mark.

Not ready for a whole story? Finish one sentence, or a few. It goes on the wall straight away, next to your neighbours'.

I moved here in , and I remember

For SHCA members. Leave as many lines as you remember (up to ten a day). Each appears on this page right away, and we email you a private link to remove it.

The wall is empty. Be the first line on it.

What the archives don't have

The City keeps the permits. We keep the people.

Official records show when streets were paved and permits were issued. They don't show who flooded the first rink, what the field looked like before the houses, or the neighbour who shovelled everyone's walk. That part only you remember. Stories are filed by the year they happened, from before the first houses to today.

    Opening the archive…

    Missing from the archive

    Help us find these.

    A few gaps we'd love to fill. If you have the photo, the memory or the name, it belongs here.

      Who's here

      Forty years of arrivals.

      Every dot is a neighbour who has left a story or a mark, placed in the year they moved to the hill.

      Need a place to start?

      Pick a question.

      Every street has a story. A paragraph is plenty, and a blurry old photo is perfect.

      For SHCA members

      Add your story to the archive.

      Write one, or write a few: up to five a day. Every memory gets its own page.

      It goes up here as soon as you send it, with your photos. Some stories will appear in the newsletter and at the 40th anniversary celebrations next year.

      1. No. 01 — Any lengthA paragraph is plenty. Write it the way you'd tell it over the fence.
      2. No. 02 — Old photos are goldA phone picture of a print works. Add a caption and who took it.
      3. No. 03 — Members writeUse the email on your membership. Any adult in a member household can add a story.
      4. No. 04 — Yours to changeWe email you a private link to edit or remove your story at any time.
      Photos (up to 5, first is the lead)

      Add a caption and who took it, if you know. For an old photo, add the year it was taken and we'll label it "Then". Only share photos you took or have permission to use.

      Rather talk than type? Record it

      A recording can be the whole story: add a title and you're done. Up to 3 clips. Audio up to 25 MB (about 20 minutes), video up to 50 MB.

      Know an old-timer?

      Help us record them.

      Know someone who's been here since the start? We'll sit down with them and record their story. Some of the best ones will never be typed into a form.

      Sitting with them now? Record a few minutes

      Ask first, and only record someone who's happy to be recorded. Recordings stay private with the board: they're never posted without the person's say-so.