FRIDAY SEPT 22, 2017 VOL. 43, NO. 35
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Watch for more online at: WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM
New space for the little ones
An update on the Bowen Children’s Centre expansion
Adventure time
Half-full, and made on Bowen
On Bowen and abroad
A review and celebration of Teun Schut’s new album
FAC Chair welcomes new ferry schedule MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
LEFT: A recent photo of Peggy Proudlock ABOVE: Peggy and her sister, Roberta, outside their cottage in the Cove (Doc Morgan’s Cottage)
Bowen Island Museum and Archives
Island mourns loss of Peggy Proudlock, Bowen institution
Margaret Elizabeth Proudlock aka “Peggy” was born at Lions Gate Hospital on October 31, 1948. She grew up on a large property on Grafton Rd, with her parents Dorothy and Bob Proudlock and her younger sister Roberta and youngest brother George. Nadyne Hindle recalls playing with Peggy, and her siblings outside the Dots Inn hamburger and ice cream joint as a child, while their mothers chatted. “We would go to the washroom in Doc Morgan’s cottage,” says Hindle. “And through the years we would always say hello, and stop to chat in the Cove.” Bob Proudlock created “Dots Giftshop” on the corner of the family Grafton property as a haven for Dorothy as she was battling cancer. Peggy moved off the island for a short time and lived in Toronto after giving birth to her first son, Lonn. Peggy also lived in Vancouver with her best friend Susan Childs before moving back to Bowen Island, where she met Mark Slade, the father of her three other children: Brandon, Michael and Serena. Peggy and Mark along with the children lived on the corner of the childhood property beside Dots Giftshop. Serena and her brothers recalled their mother living on every corner of Bowen Island at some time or another. “She always worked so hard for us,” says her daughter, Serena. “She worked hard for everyone, actually. She was
always giving people things, that’s what gave her joy.” Peggy worked at many different places, including the CNIB or “the lodge”, Doc Morgan’s Pub, The Bowen Pub, and she volunteered at the Bowen Archives. “She would come in here and had this amazing ability to put names to faces, and she remembered every event,” recallsCathy Bayly, from the Museum & Archives. “She was a real asset in that sense and I was really looking forward to doing an interview with her. And she was also just an incredibly kind and generous person. My heart is broken.” Joan Hayes has memories of Peggy hitch-hiking with her three small children, and working very, very hard. “The one thing I can tell you is in spite of how hard she worked, she always asked me how I was doing,” says Hayes. “And always asked how my kids were doing, and my grandchildren.” Serena and the boys have fond memories of living at the Buchanan’s trailer with their uncle George, their dog Chow Chow (the Chow Chow) and the cats, Cleo, Leo, and Storm. “I remember spending hours playing at Peggy’s with Serena and her brothers, and their friends. We always had so much fun, and were surrounded by so much love,” says longtime family friend, Rebekah Lipsey-Ouimet. continued P3
This Monday, BC Ferries released new schedules for ferries to both Snug Cove and Langdale, following a months-long consultation process. Bowen Island’s Ferry Advisory Committee Chair, Susanna Braund, says that a positive shift in attitude on the part of BC Ferries lies behind this schedule, and its release marks the beginning of a new phase in the relationship between the organization and coastal communities. “Last year, BC Ferries decided to look to the schedules to address on-time performance,” says Braund. “They introduced a spread-schedule with longer turn-around times for docking, and brought these schedules to the FACs. We said no to these schedules, as they would negatively impact Bowen student and Langdale commuters. Initially, BC Ferries didn’t want to hear it, but ended up offering further consultation if we’d be willing to live with delays for a while longer.” Braund says that accepting this deal seems to have paid off. For Bowen, the new schedule “With more than 600 respondents to the schedule-survey from Bowen Island, I believe our needs were taken seriously,” says Braund. “And in light of those responses, BC Ferries identified five key priorities: to maintain key sailings e.g. for schoolkids and commuters, to achieve reliability, to increase frequency and capacity, to simplify the schedule (more a Langdale issue than a Bowen one), and to provide later sailings to Bowen and the Sunshine Coast. The new schedules reflect those priorities.” Starting in January, the new schedule will see the first ferry of the day departing Snug Cove at 5:30am, and the last heading back to Horseshoe Bay at 10:30pm. Key aspects to this new schedule, says Braund, include the fact that the 7:30am ferry from Snug Cove will remain in order to accommodate commuting students, the morning schedule will remain the same throughout the year, and the afternoon schedule will have the student run shift from a 3:30pm departure in the afternoon to a 3:45pm departure in the peak season. So far, many islanders have responded positively to the new schedule - especially the later sailings in the evening. Parents of teenage hockey players, who have practices in West Vancouver ending at 9:15pm, will now cut down their number of trips on the water taxi from four to two times per week. Shift workers have expressed concern about no ferries before 6:20am on weekends, as have parents of kids who play off-island sports - as there is still no 7:30am ferry on Sundays.