The Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery is honouring its traditions – and evolving to stay relevant.
Jerry Dobrovolny, who is the battery’s captain, said the group has fired its annual salute to Queen Victoria on her birthday for more than 150 years. (Queen Victoria named New Westminster.)
“This will be 153 years in a row,” he said. “The only year that they stood silent was 1901, the year Queen Victoria died. They stood at salute and gave her a moment of silence but didn't fire.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the battery kept its streak alive and fired its salute – without members of the public in the stands. Although the doors to Queen’s Park Stadium were locked for a couple of years, some fans of the event watched from outside the chain-link fence around the stadium.
Everyone is invited to attend this year’s Victoria Day salute in Queen’s Park Stadium.
A “siting shot” will take place at 11:55 a.m. on Monday, May 20, with the 21-shot salute starting at noon.
“Come out and have fun. I guarantee there's not a louder celebration in the Lower Mainland than what we do,” Dobrovolny said. “I guarantee it's something you'll never forget. If you've got earplugs, bring them. If not, put your fingers in your ear and open your mouth – it helps to protect your ears.”
Whether or not they attend the event, many residents will hear the blasts from the 21-shot salute – and the many car alarms that start going off following the blasts.
The Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery’s salute begins when gunpowder is placed on a playing card that’s then positioned on the top of an anvil. After a second anvil is placed on top, a long, heated iron is used to ignite the explosion.
“Starting it at 12 noon, we'll fire 21 shots in memory of Queen Victoria,” Dobrovolny said. “At the end of that, we do three cheers and sing God Save the King and wrap it up.”
Folks who have attended past events will undoubtedly notice some changes to this year’s salute. The battery has added six new members – including its first three women.
“Through COVID, we just kept going with kind of a skeleton crew,” Dobrovolny said. “And this year, we needed some new hoisters coming in to lift the anvils.”
But that isn’t the only change in 2024.
“The other change is we are going to leave the uniforms at home,” Dobrovolny said.
For its first 90 years, battery members wore bowler hats and street clothes. Members began donning a uniform in 1958, as part of B.C.’s Centennial.
“They've had a couple of variations of the uniform for the last 60 years,” Dobrovolny said. “It was a bit of an homage to the Royal Engineers, but also, at that time, a lot of the battery members were veterans that had come back from the war, and so they had stronger military links.”
Dobrovolny said battery members decided it was time to shift back to the group’s more historic attire and away from a military-inspired uniform. He said it’s possible the group may evolve into “period wear” over time, but that’s yet to be decided.
“For now, we're just leaving the uniforms and doing it in street clothes, which is what people used to do in the past,” he said.
Part of the city’s charm
Dobrovolny, who was born and raised in New West, is keen to be part of the city’s longstanding tradition.
“I think that part of the charm and part of what I love about New Westminster is its heritage,” he said. “And that’s all of the heritage.”
Dobrovolny believes the key is to evolve and be relevant to a changing community.
“I think the way you keep a tradition alive is to keep it relevant,” he said.” The gunpowder and the anvils and 21 explosions are keeping the tradition going. Returning back to our roots in street clothes is part of that evolving tradition. And expanding our demographic is important; it’s an important acknowledgement of where we are. We are staying relevant as we go.”
The anvil salute is steeped in tradition, with some members of the battery being second- or third-generation members of their families to participate.
“We have a lot of fun,” Dobrovolny said. “And the connection to history is strong.”
Dobrovolny said anvils were once used in New Westminster’s like fireworks have been used in modern times – for celebrations. That includes Queen’s Victoria’s birthday, May Day and celebrations related to the arrival of riverboats on New Westminster’s waterfront.
“We all get a kick out of the history,” he said. “We all want to keep that history going, keep that tradition.”
Dobrovolny said the thousands and thousands of years of First Nations who lived on these lands pre-settlement and New Westminster’s history of the last 150-plus years are all part of the city’s story.
“We want our city to evolve and be relevant, but that doesn't mean we lose our history, it means we add to it, by continuing to add and become more diverse, and celebrate all the diversity,” he said. “In my mind, it doesn't mean we stop doing something; we start doing other things as well.”
