79-year-old B.C. choir conductor constructs 'little libraries' to donate to others

Langford, B.C. -

Although he’s the same age as Mick Jagger, and has worked in the music business for a similar length of time, there is one difference between between the Rolling Stones frontman and Bruce More.

“Rock and Roll generally gets big audience response,” Bruce says before laughing.

“Whereas choir conductors, not so much.”

But when the crowd does goes relatively crazy for your choir, “there’s absolutely no feeling in the world like it,” Bruce says.

When he wasn’t conducting choirs in 33 countries around the world, Bruce was striving for a similar high as a self-described “garage sale freak.”

“If you make a big purchase and get a real deal on something, you just feel so good,” Bruce says.

Finding a bargain was one thing. Using what he bought was another.

“For 30 years, I’ve been collecting tools,” Bruce says. “And they’ve been sitting in the basement doing nothing.”

But then Bruce retired.

“You hear about people who retire and they die the next year,” Bruce says. “Finding something to do that you really like is really important.”

So Bruce decided to use his tools to construct a "Little Free Library" in his front yard and start exchanging books with his neighbours.

“It collapsed (in the rain) because it was made of particle board,” Bruce smiles. “Note to self.”

So he tried again. And with the same determination that earned him a doctorate from Yale, Bruce built a more robust book-borrowing box.

“It’s the thrill of creating something,” Bruce says, showing pictures of his brightly painted buildings with shingled roofs and latching doors.

“And the thrill of somebody using something you’ve created.”

Bruce started making multiple Little Free Libraries and donating them to people who couldn’t make or afford their own. He even made a map showing how 15 of them have been erected across the region. He’s currently working on two more.

“I want to make the thing,” Bruce smiles. “And get it out there.”

Which brings us to another difference between Mick and him. While Jagger “can’t get no satisfaction,” Bruce has found that serving others is the most fulfilling feeling of all.