Family History

The Friends of Maltby Lake Watershed Society (FMLWS) is now the proud owner of 3% of the Maltby Lake lands. We are unwaveringly dedicated to conservation, education and preservation of its sensitive ecosystems and wildlife.

FMLWS purchased their partial interest from The Land Conservancy of BC (TLC) who had received a 35% undivided interest in Maltby Lake as a conservancy bequest from Catherine Cecily Anne Holmes.

For information about our society’s purpose with respect to Maltby Lake please see: https://maltbylake.com/about-us/purpose/

For more information regarding the background to our ownership of the partial interest in the lands please see: https://maltbylake.com/history-2/

Catherine and her husband Pip spent many warm summer days and golden sunset evenings graciously hosting friends and family at the A-frame cabin Pip had built high on the rock above the south shore. They ensured that the lake was always a welcoming place to be enjoyed and respected. They chose to keep it very natural without electricity or running water. The lake was and remains an incredibly special place to the family of Pip and Catherine Holmes.

An excerpt from Pip’s biography, The Story of Philip Despard Pemberton Holmes, by Camilla Turner:

“For years, including the summer before, she [Catherine] would exercise with a long swim to and back from the base of the cliff at the west shore of the lake. Once the water in the lake warmed up in 2007, she set out for one of her swims and was astonished that she could barely make it back from the nearby raft….

…”He was my life’s breath,” she said. “Maybe my breath went with him when he died.” Catherine responded to her progressive decrease in strength with an increase in attention to several things she wanted to see done and in place. Then with matters in good order, she dies on 13 December 2007, thirty weeks after Pip.”

In her Will, signed just three months prior to her passing, Catherine expressed her wish that a park be created and called ‘Pip’s Park’ after her beloved husband.

FMLWS respect the wishes of Catherine Holmes and honor and admire the family members who have cared for this precious land for more than 100 years and continue to do so today.

More about Catherine: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timescolonist/obituary.aspx?n=catherine-holmes&pid=99981953

More about Pip: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timescolonist/obituary.aspx?n=philip-holmes&pid=88223635