When Dun-Waters knew he was dying and there were no heirs to inherit the estate, he sold Fintry for one dollar to the English-based Fairbridge Farm Schools – a philanthropic organization that gave British orphans a chance to grow up in Canada, New Zealand or Australia. Here, they would receive a proper education, with emphasis on manual arts and agriculture. This training would help them earn a decent living as farmers. As each one graduated, they were given a “nest egg” – money for the work they had done on the school farm.

The Canadian Fairbridge School was opened near Duncan BC in 1935. Once Fintry became part of the organization, young people continued their formal education and ran a farm on Vancouver Island but senior students came to the Okanagan estate from spring until harvest, to put their agriculture lessons into practice.

The first class, which was just three 17or 18 year-old boys, arrived at Fintry in 1938. In the spring of ’39, twenty-eight boys and four girls were welcomed at Fintry. They ranged in age from 12 to 16. This was the group that Dun-Waters uproariously “pummeled into submission” in a pillow fight, two weeks before his death.

click to enlarge photo

Fintry Boys Display

Under supervision of “cottage mothers” from Duncan, the girls cleaned and cooked for the rest of the student farm crew. The boys worked in the orchard and packing house, the dairy barns and fields – the same as local young men hired as seasonal workers in previous years. Like everyone else in those days, the students worked a 12-hour shift - from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Evenings were full of sports like cricket, baseball, swimming and boating. The girls slept in the Manor House but the boys had the ultimate summer-long campouts - they slept on bunk beds on the huge verandah running around the east and north sides of the house. They all ate together in the Manor House dining room.

The headman was the Fairbridge superintendent - but as far as farm work was concerned, Angus Gray, Fintry’s manager, was in charge. Pete Scott was the orchard foreman, Mr. McFarlane was in charge of the dairy and Art Harrop basically supervised operations in the packinghouse.

The dangers of a submarine-infested Atlantic Ocean prevented more orphans coming to Canada. In 1940, only 18 boys and 2 girls spent the season at Fintry and in 1943, it was down to 7 boys.

After the war, there was great hope that Fairbridge Farms would be reactivated and Fintry would be the centre for teaching the most advanced methods of agriculture. Although support for Fairbridge Farm Schools was greater than ever, British sterling could not be sent overseas and schools in “The Colonies” were financially cut off from the parent body. Despite the fact that the Society highly praised estate manager, Angus Gray for his efforts, ability and efficiency, Fintry, the newest school in the group, was closed in 1948.

In 1949, the Fairbridge Society closed all its farm schools but Fairbridge graduates continue to return to Fintry and share fond memories of their summers on the delta.

The Friends of Fintry have started "The Fairbridge Reference Library" - a collection of books on agriculture and other topics related to the estate.

Friends of Fintry
PROVINCIAL PARK SOCIETY

7655 Fintry Delta Rd. Kelowna, BC V1Z 3B2

Phone: (250) 542-4031
E-mail: info@fintry.ca