The following are unedited snippets from past Undercurrents. To read the complete articles or to follow up on information please contact the Bowen Museum & Archives at [email protected]or 604.947.2655
40 years ago: July 1979
Bowen Island Park & Store Use Society
The drive to save and refurbish the old General Store continues. The Provincial Heritage Advisory Board has deemed the building worthy of a heritage designation. The provincial Heritage Trust, a group responsible for allocating government funds for heritage projects, has pledged $15,000 towards restoration of the building’s exterior. The store itself is owned by Crippen Engineering of North Vancouver and we wish to thank them for generously allowing us use of the building while negotiations concerning the land surrounding the store continue.
Ferry sailing cancelled because worker overslept
A late-sleeping ferry worker forced the cancellation of a [ferry] sailing last week.
The 5:45 a.m. Thursday trip from Bowen did not sail when a crew member failed to show up for work on time.
Bowen transportation committee member Pat McGuire said a missing crew member should not have disrupted service.
“Everyone has the right to sleep in, once in a while,” McGuire said. “But I’m amazed that there’s no backup so the ship could sail.
Horseshoe Bay terminal manager Dave Elliott said the Capilano, which leaves Horseshoe Bay at 5:15 each morning en route to its first official sailing, cannot sail without a full complement of qualified staff.
Coast Guard regulations require a minimum number of trained crew.
Just in case a crew member doesn’t arrive on time for work, terminal staff are certified to operate Capilano’s emergency escape, but they are not always available to replace a missing worker, Elliott said.
25 years ago: July 1994
Baby arrives on local dock
At 2 a.m. this past Tuesday morning, Brian Biddlecombe of Cormorant Marine received a call from the local Ambulance Service, asking him to be at the dock in two minutes to transport a local resident in labour.
Brian hurried off and arrived at the dock (two minutes later) to discover that a new island resident had just been born.
Garth and Midge Meeres are the proud parents of a new baby boy, delivered by two members of the Bowen Ambulance Service.
It has been approximately eight years since a baby was born on the water taxi. This birth was close enough – on the dock – and so will be awarded a lifetime water taxi pass from Cormorant Marine.
10 years ago: July 2009
Slow down for deer crossing by Susanna Braund
I’d like to remind everyone that this is the time of year the mother deer are out with their new fawns who haven’t yet learned about cars and roads.
Baby deer at the side of the road can easily panic and run into the road instead of into the bush, as I unfortunately found out last Friday night while driving by the Mitts’ place mid-island.
A wise saying I have heard is that where there is one deer, there are likely to be several. The young does typically have one baby but the more mature ones have twins – so if you see one fawn, there could easily be a sibling nearby as well as the mother.
Innovative infill to be used for new turf field by Marcus Hondro
At Monday’s council meeting it was revealed that the infill material to be used in the artificial turf at BICS will be made of an organic, recyclable material, not the crumb rubber and silica many Islanders have opposed.
Community services manager Christine Walker says they worked to find a safe material for the field and this material can be used for kids to play on beyond soccer.
“It will actually be the first installation of this organic material in Canada,” Walker said, noting that when the life of the field is done, the infill can be used for other purposes such as mulch.
Walker said the president of Geo Safe Play plans to fly out from New York next month to speak to council about Geo Turf. Members of the public may be invited along to listen.
