Jane Hicks

Jane was born in the UK, raised in South Africa, and is now passionate about living in the Kootenays. Jane studied drama after school, but soon went into journalism where she enjoyed an international broadcast career. When she arrived in Nelson, Jane returned to the theatre and began storytelling for The Kootenay Storytellers. Jane is married to Glenn Hicks and has a fabulous 11-year-old daughter, Sarah Jane.

Love and Death on Kootenay Lake

This is the “true” story of how vanity killed an industry. Industrialist Selwyn Blaylock is credited with ruining the burgeoning cherry industry in the Kootenays by introducing the fatal Little Cherry disease. During the 1930’s he allegedly smuggled in ornamental Japanese Flowering Cherry Trees, to impress visitors with the magnificent gardens on his Lakewood Estate. Some people say the mansion Selwyn built, the gardens he grew and the extravagant parties he held at Lakewood, were all to impress his wife Kathleen … but he never did!