Caldwell Road School was the site of the weekly ball game. You came, paid 50 cents and played. Imagine 25 players in the field at one time – and that many batting. At that time there were only two teams. Everyone batted, and everyone played in the field.

Shirley Shergold was instrumental in starting ladies softball in the Caldwell Road area. Coaches for the teams were Bob Morash and Jim Feeney. They had a bit of a rivalry going on as to who could build the best team. The two teams became the RED and the BLUE teams.

At the end of the 1979 season, Shirley Shergold asked me to take over running this sporting event. I was hesitant about taking over, not sure I could do it; however, she talked me into it. From there I decided to form an executive to help out. We called a meeting and a vote was taken to accept this executive and things evolved from there.

The Red and Blue teams played each other each week. Then the coaches heard there was a team at Imperial Oil (Esso). They were invited to come and play. After that came Lake Echo, Forest Hills, and other teams. We decided to make up a schedule of games for the next year. In 1982, from the Red and Blue teams, the Rebels were formed. There was dissention in the ranks, and the Rebels were not invited to the spring meeting since they were a new team. At the same time the Lake Echo team had split and the new branch of that team “the Jays” were also wanting to join. A coach from one of the teams informed me of the meeting and three of us from the Rebels showed up uninvited. Since those who were now in charge didn’t know how things had been run, the end result was they voted me back in as President of the league. Now we had 13 teams. So we divided them into A and B divisions and each team chose which division they wanted to be in. A had 6 teams (Rebels, Aces, Jays, Coaches Wives, Esso Angels, Porters Lake) and B had 7 teams. The following year, the B division wanted their own governing body so the League became two leagues. We were known as the Cole Harbour Ladies Softball League A & B divisions. The B division kept the name, and the A division changed to Halifax County Ladies Softball League, since we had teams who were from the county.

Later, our six teams became 8 with the addition of Magnums and Vixens. Porters Lake dropped out after a few years, and Friday Nite Girls joined. Coach’s wives became Classics and Vixens became Short Stop, then GTO. Over the years Rebels became R & M (a mix of Rebels and Magnums) then Axis, and now Our Friend Pub. Esso Angels changed their name to One On the Way, then to Zap Realty.com.and now Quest Realty.

I remained President for 8 years while the league was being formed and the kinks worked out. At the end of 1987, I resigned and Ann Bellefontaine (Esso) took over. It has been the dubious honor of many since that time to become CEO of this league. There have been many changes over the years, some good, some not so good; however, we remain a very enjoyable league with which to be associated.