West Vancouver Beacon | November/December 2022 | Edition 53

Photo: courtesy of John Reid

Chris Stringer Publisher

chrisstringer @westvanbeacon.ca

Lindy Pfeil Editor

lindypfeil @westvanbeacon.ca

Penny Mitchell Advertising pennymitchell @westvanbeacon.ca

Melissa Baker Creative Director

melissabaker @westvanbeacon.ca

Please note that all contributing writers for The Beacon retain full rights and that the full or partial reproduction of feature articles is unauthorized without the consent of the author.

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Ispend

November is for remembering

a lot of time looking for lost stuff.

Cell phone. Glasses. The socks I thought

I’d put in the dryer. I drive to Safeway and then forget what I planned to buy for dinner. And don’t ask me what I did last weekend.

And yet I remember – in technicolour detail – everything that hap pened when I was twelve. Where I was when it happened, what I was wearing, who was with me, and most peculiarly, how I felt.

I remember standing in front of our living room window in Johannesburg, in 1976, singing “Fernando” to my reflection as ABBA spun on my little red re cord player. The music rushed through my pre-teen veins, and I was invincible.

And then there was the time I spent, barefoot in the neighbour hood, burning red ants on the sidewalks, with my father’s fancy gold Zip po lighter. Listening to them ‘pop,’ I felt like God. But in bed that night, unable to sleep, I panicked. Was murdering ants a sin? Was I destined for hell? I still break out in a cold sweat thinking about it.

Psychologists talk about the ‘reminis cence bump’ which starts just after age 10. There are probably excellent scientific ex planations for this phenomenon – like hor mones and brain development – but I’m not terribly interested in the why of it all.

What does interest me, is capturing

these stories, before they disappear – be fore we disappear – into the abyss of for gotten forever.

Recently, at the Vancouver Fringe Fes tival (and a huge thank you to those who braved the bridges to support “Mother Tongues”), sharing stories with some of the

had been before he was my father. I wish I had known just a tiny bit of who he was. His wishes. Challenges. Did he also murder ants when he was twelve?

I have spent most of my life gathering stories. Witnessing their enormous poten tial to connect. To comfort. Even to free. So, it no longer shocks me when one person’s very tiny story connects so fiercely with a stranger.

But first, the story needs to be told. Docu mented. Saved.

audience members after our show, I was struck by the almost universal intensity of our pre-teen memories. As we compared stories, all of us - men and women in our forties, fifties, sixties, and older - remem bered with absolute clarity the hopes, pas sions, and disappointments of our twelveyear-old selves.

We also shared a common sadness; many of us had never heard the stories of our parents, our grandparents, our greatgrandparents. My father died long before I was even vaguely interested in who he

November is just the month to do this. In Canada, and around the world, it’s National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. Between November 1 and 31, participants commit to writing 50,000 words (see nanowrimo.org for more information).

November is also National Life Writing Month. And to celebrate, I invite you to join me every Wednesday on Zoom from 7 to 8 am. I’ll post a writing prompt on screen. We’ll all be muted. And we’ll spend the hour writing silently.

Come in pyjamas. Bring your coffee. Pa per. Pens. Or laptop. Let’s save our stories.

Email me at lindypfeil@mac.com for the Zoom link (no cost during November). There is more information at LindyPfeil.com.

“Stories

here.”

- Sue Monk Kidd

campaign to save Navvy Jack House heats

John

the

House

is the oldest building in West Vancouver, and one of the oldest

in the Lower Mainland. The house has been standing for about 150 years.

ensure

$1.6 million

Jack House has a

at another

This image is conceptual. The final building and grounds may look different.

Illustration: Srigley

New exciting features in Lighthouse Park

BY Daphne Hales

LighthousePark’s long-awaited short accessible trail is now a reality! It is called Birdsong Path, to distinguish it from Juniper Loop (on which it is situated). And a large ‘tree cookie’ once again graces Beacon Lane Trail.

Birdsong Path starts at the entrance to the parking lot, next to two paved parking spots. Almost flat, and just under 450 m long, it winds past the wetland into deeper forest. Opposite the wetland, is a sturdy bench, with a second bench at the end of the path, both made in-house in the district’s carpentry shop. A wheelchair-accessible picnic table nestles in the forest to one side of the path.

There is amazing natural variety along this short path, from the skunk cabbages and ferns of the wetland to the towering cedars, firs, and maples around the picnic table. Salal, salmonberry and sword ferns, patches of seasonal wildflowers, nurse logs and spooky aerial roots line the path.

Lighthouse Park Preservation Society thanks the West Vancouver Parks Depart ment for doing the heavy work, the Rick Hansen Foundation for a grant for the car park paving and the first 330m of path, and the West Vancouver Foundation, which, along with the society, paid for the exten sion of the path and the furniture.

Remember the old Douglas-fir tree cook ie with its many growth rings beside Beacon Lane Trail? It finally disintegrated and has now been replaced with a fine round of yellow-cedar, highly polished to show off its 1,448 annual growth rings. This once-an cient tree now sits under a protective shelter

and recently a sign about its history was in stalled above it. Many local people were involved in saving this ‘tree cookie,’ preparing and installing it for display. The parks department, UBC Dendrochronol ogy lab, and the West Vancouver Foundation also provided invalu able support.

More informa tion is available on the society’s website at lpps.ca.

How

BY Chris Loat

Justone pint of blood can save three lives.

But while one in two persons is eligible to give blood, only one in 81 actually does so.

This has resulted in a shortage of blood to meet the needs anticipated by hospitals and surgeries across the country.

Many patients rely on regular transfu sions of blood to stay healthy. Your contin ued donations can save lives in our com munity.

life

After a successful donor event in May, where 104% of the goal for blood donations was achieved, the Rotary Club of West Van couver Sunrise and partners, West Van couver Foundation, the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, and Enhance West Vancouver are more encouraged than ever to raise awareness of the need to support Canadian Blood Services.

The next donation events are being held at the Congregation Har El, 1305 Taylor Way, West Vancouver on Thursday, No vember 17, between 1pm and 7:45 pm and on Wednesday, December 21, between 12

pm and 6:45 pm.

Time slots to make donations may be booked at blood.ca.

It is in us to give. It costs us nothing and by giving we can save the lives of others. We do not know when we may have a need.

Join the Rotary Club of West Vancou ver Sunrise and their partners at the above events and help save lives.

Entrance to Birdsong Path.

Photo: courtesy of Alexandra Mancini

Photo: Daphne Hales

Valerie Boyer enjoys the new bench on Birdsong Path.

TheSeaview Walk is a peaceful spot for a leisurely stroll and a popular off-leash dog walking trail. However, it was not always peaceful.

Until 1928 it had been part of the railbed for the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) railway line. When service on the line from Lon sdale Quay to Whytecliff stopped in 1928 the entire right-of-way remained unused, often covered over by residents’ gardens, driveways, sheds and blackberry bushes. It was not, however, abandoned by the PGE.

In the early 1950s the news that building the Squamish to North Vancouver railway was being reconsidered caused great dis tress among the people who lived alongside the tracks.

Despite a massive outcry, the line was completed in 1956 with the first train leav ing North Vancouver to Prince George on

August 27. That month, the passenger ser vice introduced the Budd cars which were a modern version of the PGE’s gas railcars. The railway proved popular with passen gers and was busy transporting freight.

At 6.30 am on Saturday February 19, 1972, on the tight curve high above Fisher man’s Cove, 24 cars from a 75-car south bound train derailed. Three cars loaded with lumber plummeted 150 feet down the steep slope onto Marine Drive causing seri ous damage as two houses were hit. Incred ibly, no one was killed.

As one would expect, there was great concern about the dangerous curve. Then operator, British Columbia Railway (BC Rail), realised that a replacement route was needed and so a tunnel was dug through the mountainside exiting above Horseshoe Bay.

After the tunnel was opened in 1973, the

railbed was turned into a level footpath, lat er to be named the Seaview Walk. The 1978 West Vancouver Parks and Recreation Plan states: “The Seaview Walk (1.3-mile former BC Rail right of way) should be improved as a walking, jogging and cycle path.”

Work was completed and the maintained trail has been well used over the years.

As plans moved ahead on building the Spirit Trail into the western part of West Vancouver, it was revealed that the Seaview Walk would be incorporated into the great er plan. Again, there was great concern.

At a Spirit Trail public workshop in De cember 2012, it was announced that the Seaview Walk would be widened and black topped and that lights would be installed –in keeping with the mandate of accessibility of a trail for all users. Additionally, a swath of trees would be removed from Tantalus

Park. This tree removal was called “a dis turbance” by the workshop moderator. The crowd reaction was hostile to say the least!

Covering the second municipal work shop, the Westerner Newsletter of Spring 2013 described the raucous opening of the meeting, attended by over 200 residents. West Vancouver’s Raymond Fung was fi nally able to bring the temperature down by clearly stating that “no decisions have been made yet.”

Residents and visitors alike love our Seaview Walk, saved in its previous popular form, and still enjoyed as one of the few offleash trails in West Vancouver.

Thank you to the West Vancouver Archives (WVA) for their help with this story. Photos are courtesy of WVA however the original source is unknown.

BY Len Kesley

Theparking lot at the West Vancou ver Yacht Club in Fishermans Cove is awash with small white sail din ghies waiting to be launched and young sailors “suiting up” for a day of competitive sailing in Howe Sound. The 2022 Pumpkin Bowl Regatta is about to begin.

In 1999, with the end of the millennium fast approaching, and panic over the Y2K bug, the last junior regatta of the season was cancelled. With a vibrant and competi tive fleet of young sailors “messing about” in their Optis and Lasers around the West Vancouver Yacht Club docks, the club sail ing director and parent volunteers were spurred into action. The Pumpkin Bowl was born. As the name suggests, the idea was to have a youth regatta around Halloween and get those kids “messing about in boats” out at sea and not around the docks!

The original fleet, from three local yacht clubs, was small. Sailors competed

on a course set in Howe Sound, all for the honour of winning a pumpkin! From these humble beginnings, the Pumpkin Bowl has grown to be the largest fall youth regatta in North America. It attracts over 200 sailors young and older alike, from 23 clubs in BC, Alberta, Washington State and as far as California.

The regatta is now so popular that com petition is split over two weekends. The first weekend, October 15 and 16, is for Optis, a small international class boat for youth

with one sailor. The second weekend, Octo ber 22 and 23, is for high performance sail ors aboard both single-handed Lasers and double-handed boats.

What attracts the competitors to this ex ceptional event is not just the four challeng ing racecourses; it is the spirit of the event. Sailors return year after year due to the Pumpkin Bowl’s welcoming nature, feeling of inclusiveness, friendly competitive spirit, and the life-long friendships amongst fel low sailors from near and far.

Pumpkin Bowl is also an opportunity for volunteering and more than 100 yacht club members show up to support the event on and off the water. First aid attendants, res cue boats, RCM SAR1, are all evident and strict safety protocols are employed.

“Sailing provides youngsters with a non-

technology outdoor experience where they learn to take responsibility for their boat and equipment, make decisions, manage risk, work as a team, develop physical strength and endurance, and be resilient,” says race official Stewart Jones, a world class racing sailor and regatta principal race officer for more than 15 years. “For over 20 years, WVYC and its team of engaged volunteers has taken great satisfaction in providing on the water learning and growth experience for a growing group of young athletes.”

At this time of the year the weather can be rather unpredictable. In 2021 mother nature delivered stormy conditions and just finishing was a victory. This year, suntan lo tion was required, the light wind produced tactical sailing and the competition was in tense. Everyone finished!

Time to get underway at the 2022 Pumpkin Bowl regatta. Photo provided

Karl Krokosinski

Bonita Jane Kee

Tori

Real Estate Division

With

Check this out. Sake and Gin are ‘in’!

all the sun we got, this Oc tober still felt like summer.

Time for seltzer. We don’t usu ally drink seltzer in our skinny jeans at this time of year, but we stumbled across it at an event in Vancouver’s Railtown District.

Sake Bomb is a new product hitting the shelves right now and it’s fantastic! We’ve been drinking vodka and gin-based seltzers for years now and they are a good low-cal option but don’t usually wow you with fla vour. But the Vancouver-based Sake Bomb team has found a winner in “Lime Drop.”

His: A ginger and lime bubbly concoc

tion with a well-rounded flavour that is both refreshing and sophisticated. Instead of a bitter aftertaste it leaves you with a smile. Blindfolded, I would have sworn it was made by a hipster bartender in a Mi chelin starred restaurant.

Hers: Attracted to the names of the fla vours, and the modern branding, I was a little pushy, and tried all three. Available at private stores. Visit sakebomb.us

The next surprise was another Cana dian. No, not Ryan Reynolds, though it did challenge his aviation empire. Yup, we are talking gin – another “in” drink that every

distillery is trying to master. Gin is the new single malt, Belgian beer, or Bordeaux.

We discovered gin during our keto phase. In pursuit of zero carb nirvana, we have tried 27 different gins in the last three years and we’ve only had two that wowed us. The first was Roku (Japanese liquid magic) and the second was from Amper sand Distilling Co. from Cowichan Valley.

His: Made by a farming father, and chemical engineer father-son team, it is one of the best in the world. It’s won awards, but who cares? This family has discovered the recipe for perfection. Seven different bo

tanicals create a symphony in your mouth. It is truly world class and deserves a place in your future.

Hers: “Honey! OMG you have to taste this!” You know the rest - I was enamoured with Ampersand co. from the Cowichan Val ley. Canadians are so talented. It won Canada’s best classic gin in the World Gin Awards of 2021. See more at ampersanddistilling.com. Foodie travel-loving sailors, Tim and Sue live in West Vancouver but are constantly looking for the next authentic experience to feed their gastronomic and oenophile aspirations. In other words, they love to eat and drink!

Who needs a mate?

is a charming bachelor who boasts many girlfriends. Some of his paired-off friends envy him as “having it all.” But what does “love science” tell us?

Sanjay

The bottom line is that we humans are wired to form love bonds. And these bonds are not just labour-sharing or parenting contracts. Their most important function is to help us regulate our emotional lives es pecially when we are stressed or distressed.

An interesting demonstration of the brain “on love” was done by a neuropsy chologist at the University of Virginia. It showed the fear and pain patterns on fMRI scans produced in the face of electric shock

disappearing when the subjects held their lover’s hand.

Most of the research on emotional sta bility and relationships puts a lie to the popular notion that confidence and ac complishment develop when we become “independent.” In fact, biologically and psychologically, the co-regulation of emo tions with a partner takes priority over our self-regulation and is much more efficient in creating security and emotional balance, the hallmarks of mental health.

While some people seem content to live their lives in a multi-partner state, I have run across a few like Sanjay who, especially

as they approach middle age, report that they feel that something is missing.

San felt he was not really “known” by his casual partners. There was no one special person who bore witness to his journey or “had his back.”

“My partners seem to enjoy my company, but I never feel cherished,” he complained.

Though others viewed him as the strong, “silent” type, this turned out not to be a compliment. San had learned that he had to make it in life on his own. He was not only independent of others, he was also lonely, often even in the company of friends. His background drew him to those who also

feared close committed relationships.

San’s role in two failed marriages was his habitual “push-away” pattern.

However, despite his automatic defen sive wall, with help Sanjay was eventually able to risk becoming more open and avail able to a willing partner and discover the healing that comes with intimate emotional co-regulation.

Of course, many live without it, but they don’t know what they are missing.

Ian Macpherson is a psychologist who lives and practices in West Vancouver. More at www.westvancouvertherapist.com

Living the dream

BY Bob Turner

Mygreat discovery, after retiring in 2014, has been my love for making movies about wild Howe Sound. It started with a flick of the dial on the back of a small camera.

I had just retired and was about to go on a backpacking trip with my brother Tim in Utah. On impulse, I flicked the camera set ting to video. I had only ever taken photo graphs before. It changed everything. Sud denly my eye was looking for movement, for action, for a story. Later I tried the iMovie editing software. It was so intuitive to use. I was hooked!

But it was Átl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound that gave my storytelling a purpose. Shortly af ter we got back to Howe Sound (Tim lives in Gibsons), we headed over to Gambier Is land to hike its northeast corner. We spent the day walking forest glades, lying in deep moss, swimming crystal pools. I took video as we went.

We got back to find that we had spent the entire day in an area proposed for woodlot logging. We were stunned. This was a place of such beauty, so wild, and in the very heart of Howe Sound. Conservationists were

alarmed, but few others knew about it. So, we made a video of our hike to show the place, to wonder aloud ‘why log such beauty,’ and posted it on YouTube. That video, and another that fol lowed, helped galvanize opposition. In the end, the province withdrew the log ging plans.

The Gambier logging fight taught me a lot. Video can give a voice to beauti ful but little-known places threatened by development.

When a gravel mining operation was proposed for McNab Creek estuary, I went with Tim and John Rich to explore and record its beauty, and rhetorically ask whether Howe Sound was the right place for a new mine. Again, the video galvanized community opposi tion.

Something happened back in early Janu ary 2019 that still thrills me. I was out for a paddle in my kayak on Deep Bay, the most populated cove on Bowen Island, and spied a flock of wheeling gulls just off Pebbly Beach.

I approached quietly and tied up to a

mooring buoy about 10 metres away. A frenzy of shrieking gulls floated, hovered, and dived into the water. Seal heads popped up among the gulls; cormorants and mer gansers dived. Slowly the chaos moved my way until it surrounded me. It was over whelming. The gulls shrieked, rose and dived into the crystal-clear water. Below my boat, seals flashed by. Thousands of small fish glimmered just a foot down. I lowered my underwater camera on its 4-foot pole into the fray.

What my camera saw seemed too re markable to be happening in Bowen’s oceanfront yard. A great silvery swirl of anchovy exploded like fireworks as a seal swept upwards. The anchovy regrouped. Then scattered again as a seal fired in from the left. Above, the surface was cut by plunging gulls, wings pulled tight, bills piercing downwards to snag a fish.

Then the sea lion appeared. Driving on wing beats of its great flippers, it arched up through the fleeing anchovy. Hunter and hunted with movements full of grace akin to ballet. It went on until evening fell and I reluctantly had to go.

We live at a remarkable time and in a re markable place. That the wild geography of Átl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound lies just around the corner from the giant city of Vancou ver is astonishing. It is a piece of geographic and historic luck that we still have so much natural vigour to savour and protect. There are so many ways to help.

“It is a piece of geographic and historic luck that have so much natural to savour and protect.”

Bob on his quest for another video.

The path to a dream

BY Chris Stringer

Bob Turner is a long-time resident of Bowen Island, its former mayor, and a retired federal geoscientist. Since discovering film-making in 2014, he has created over 40 short movies for his You Tube channel (Bob Turner). They depict his encounters in the wilds of Howe Sound and the Salish Sea – his home, a place that he loves.

geographic that we still natural vigour protect.”

Bob became hooked on wild places and wildlife as a kid during summers at a family cottage in Algonquin Park, Ontario, and on many canoe trips. His early passion for field geology and summer field work (BSc Geological Engineering, Queens; MSc Geology, Stanford; PhD Geol ogy, Stanford) led to a 23-year career as a research scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada in Vancouver.

At heart an educator, he shifted the fo cus of his work with the GSC from research to education. Highlights are the Geoscape, Waterscape, and Climate Change poster series, co-authoring Vancouver, City on the Edge, a book about the geology, hazards and resources of the Vancouver region, and Ge oTour Sea to Sky (2010), a geoscience guide to the Vancouver-Whistler highway.

With his wife Rosemary, also a geoscien tist, Bob moved to Bowen Island in 1989. Looking about, on that first ferry ride, on a bright February morning with snow on the mountains, he remembers thinking that there would be enough there to keep him busy for a lifetime. And over the years he has explored, learned, found joy, and worked hard on behalf of the coastal inlet he calls home.

In 1991, Bob led the organization of the Howe Sound Environmental Science Work shop that brought together over 50 federal, provincial, university and industry scien tists to review the scope of knowledge of this coastal inlet and its shores.

He served as Mayor of Bowen Island from 2005 to 2011.

From 2016 to 2020 he was vice president and director of the Howe Sound Biosphere Region Initiative that successfully achieved

the creation of the UNESCO Átl’ka7tsem/ Howe Sound Biosphere Reserve in 2021. During this time (in 2017) he also co-led the development of Ocean Wise’s Ocean Watch-Howe Sound Edition, a landmark review and assessment of the state of the marine environment community well-be ing and economy of our coastal inlet.

From 2019 to 2020, he was project leader and co-author of the Exploring Bowen’s Marine World – A Marine Atlas of Nex’wlélex’wem/Bowen Island through the Bowen Island Conservancy.

Since 2020, and the acquisition by the Bowen Island Conservancy of a 32-acre waterfront Wild Coast Nature Refuge, Bob has led a technical advisory group’s conser vation and management efforts for these lands.

Ruth Simons, Executive Director of the Howe Sound Biosphere Region Initiative Society, said: “Bob’s passionate enthusiasm for the area, his long history of working toward the Sound’s fragile environmental recovery, his leadership behind the Howe Sound Environmental Science Network, and his storytelling about the beauty of

Howe Sound and the need for its protec tion were unequalled. He threw his energy behind the Biosphere initiative as a found ing, now honorary director of the society.”

Fiona Beaty has worked extensively with Bob and has led several Howe Sound proj ects. She enthusiastically relates: “We first met on a research boat in Átl’ka7tsem/ Howe Sound and within seconds of our introduction, he made me feel at ease: Bob exudes warmth, is an incredibly ac tive listener, and has a perennial sparkle in his eyes that invites those around him

to come together, find common ground, and laugh while doing so. I am so grateful to have worked with and learned from Bob over the past few years and look forward to watching him continue to grow his impact in unique, creative, and meaningful ways!”

Bowen Island is home to extraordinary people whose lives have impacted the world in creative and meaningful ways. Bob Turner is one of them. In eight short years he has had a profound impact on his island and ocean community, while also having a lot of fun.

Tidepool. Bob photoing.

Photos: courtesy of Bob Turner

Humpback double spout. Tunstall Bay

The birth of Ambleside-Tiddlycove Lions Club

BY Peter Black

On a cold, dreary day in January 1975, an enthusiastic group of Am bleside merchants decided to start a new Lions Club in West Vancouver. They traversed businesses, trying to gather 17 lo cal retailers.

A few weeks later, a motley group gath ered at McDonalds in West Vancouver, in cluding a butcher, a lawyer, a banker, a bag salesman, an insurance agent, a motel own er, a realtor and a rental store owner.

The first thing to establish was the club’s name. Many of the potential new members worked in Ambleside. One member sug gested Tiddlycove, and the rest is history.

The Ambleside-Tiddlycove Lions Club

was chartered in June 1975 with Doug Mac Callum as the first president and butcher Peter Black as “tail twister,” the officer re sponsible for instilling enthusiasm, and keeping harmony, during club meetings.

Nearly five decades of amazing friend ships and successful projects have kept Ambleside-Tiddlycove front and centre not only on the North Shore but across greater Vancouver. It is estimated that over the last 47 years, fundraising and donations have exceeded well over a million dollars. Ben eficiaries include Lions Gate Hospital and the playground at Ambleside Park.

Three of the founding charter members, Bryan Terrace, Richard Goluboff and Peter Black, remain actively involved. They bran dish their club slogan proudly: “Ya Gotta Love These Guys.”

BRIAN POMFRET

JOE GARDENER

winter?

Here are some handy tips to care for your garden over November and December:

• If you find yourself with a bag of unplanted spring bulbs, you can still get them in the ground now.

• How about planting some garlic? Select large cloves. Plant (pointy end up) about six inches deep and apart in a sunny location. I like to put a little bit of worm castings mixed in at the bottom of the hole. You will be rewarded in July next year.

• Put terra-cotta pots in a cosy, frost-free place to prevent cracking.

• Dig up dahlia tubers and store them in a dark, dry place.

• Lightly prune hollies in early December. They make great wreaths!

• Leave some of your perennials alone as some, like sedums and ornamental grasses, can look attractive in winter. Also, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and asters provide seeds for birds.

• As always, this is a great time to clean and sharpen tools for your early spring plantings.

• If you have Helebores (Lenten rose) they will start to flower now. Remove some of the leaf foliage so the flowers can show off.

• Lime your lawns. Use dolomite, the coarse type that breaks down gradually through winter.

• For a really neat effect in your lawn, try planting crocus. Plant them no more than two inches down and in groups of 20 or so. Leave enough space between groups for your lawn mower to get through. Mow that part later when the crocuses have died back. Very cool!

• Remember too, that these two months are great times to plant a new ornamental tree as there is little risk of shock to the plant – frost free of course.

• Garden lights highlight your garden or lawn in the depths of winter. It’s always a thrill to switch them on. Enjoy!

From left to right, Bryan Terrace, Peter Black, and Richard Goluboff, three of the founding members, receiving Life Memberships to Lions International, in 2015.

Photo provided

Teens making a difference

BY Chris Stringer

T2SAis an organization of community teens who work to create a platform for sharing and caring for seniors. The acronym stands for Teens to Seniors Art Community Wellness Society.

Their website (t2sa.ca) explains, “With our volunteers, we set up art exhibitions where arts are all from collected donations; we also hold engaging craft workshops re lated to different themes. Our volunteers will bring to seniors in the community not only their arts but also care, love, and energy.”

In 2018, Stephenie Liew, was spending lengthy periods with her grandmother, who was in Lions Gate Hospital recovering from a fall. Stephenie, who was in grade 10 at Sen tinel Secondary at the time, brought crafts for them to do during their time together. Inspired by the stimulation and enjoyment these provided for her grandmother, Stephe nie began her organisation. In doing so, she created an opportunity for her fellow teens to provide the same service to seniors in care centres. T2SA was born.

While Stephenie and her team are now at university, their successors, who are in grades 10 to 12, continue the work. The new leaders, co-presidents Christina, Parto and Nazgol, took over during COVID when they could not enter the care homes. They met the challenge by delivering craft kits for seniors to work on their own. With their team, they prepared the kits in their family homes and in two years, 1262 kits were delivered to eight care homes in the greater Vancouver area.

Krispy-Kreme donuts provided support for the T2SA fundraisers. During one of their fundraisers, a little girl approached their stand

and asked them what senior homes were.

“In the midst of explaining what they are and what we do, we realized that the discon nect between the younger generation and the seniors of our community had deepened due to the pandemic. As these two demo graphics had few chances to interact in re cent years (and the younger kids unable to recall much of life before COVID), we felt like we wanted to make a difference.”

They reached out to local elementary schools with the hope of bringing awareness to the importance of caring for seniors, as well as providing them with the opportunity to interact.

“With the help of over 130 elementary school students, we were able to assemble crafts that we then delivered to senior homes,” they explain. “Through this, we were able to see our potential to educate the younger kids about our precious seniors, and how they can benefit from activities that will give them the

chance to connect.”

They hope to serve as a bridge between these two communities.

Catherine Ratz, Principal of Westcot El ementary School, said: “Thank you so much for including our students in this venture. It was so well organized and executed.”

Jessie Davies, Active Living Manager

Lest We Forget

BY Jini Park

Each year, the Royal Canadian Legion promotes Remembrance Day by host ing The Royal Canadian Legion Re membrance Day Poster and Literary Contest. Canadian students in grades 1 through 12 are invited to submit their creative works. The first-place winning entries move forward to the Legion’s provincial level, and then, to the Legion’s National Foundation.

Local student, Emaryllia Gafur, won first

place (primary/ poster) for BC/ Yukon provincial Legion section (2021-2022). The award ceremony was held at James Irvine Memorial Hall in The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 60.

“I was so excited and honoured to win first place,” Ema says. “We should never forget those who sacrificed their lives for our peace.”

You can find more information about the contest at legionbcyukon.ca.

from Cedar Springs Parc retirement living home, said: “Last year’s kits were great and you folks did a fantastic job with communi cation, delivery and presentation. We all re ally appreciated them during COVID times.”

It is so heartening to live in a place where our youth take such initiative to bring joy to the community, contributing their time and talents to building bridges and relationships between community members.

T2SA volunteers assembling kits for delivery to care centres.

Photo: Jini Park Ema receiving her award at the ceremony at the James Irvine Memorial Hall, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 60.

Photos provided Angela Peng delivering kits to Revera-Lakeview Care Centre.

MyBusby hat. The floppy old straw, pinned up in front, and deco rated with three gifts from my birds: the white plume from Busby Mc Gull; the two black feathers from Jasper and Coco, the crows. Last worn at the commu nity centre after working out at the gym, it’s missing. Where did it go? Are there hat nappers about?

I miss it. And so do friends and total strangers who used to stop me on the street to tell me that it made them feel happy.

This started me thinking about hats. They’ve been around for as long as re corded history. The Venus of Willendorf, over 27,000 years old, is naked, but crowned with a willow hat. Coco Chanel advised people to wear a hat when lunching with new acquaintances, “because one appears to one’s best advantage.”

But hats also serve practical purposes.

They protect you from harsh weather, and from enemy attack. They announce your religious or professional affiliations, your social status, wealth and ethnicity, your per sonal style.

There are so many kinds, the mind bog gles.

Beanies, bearskins, berets, bowlers, coonskin caps, helmets, hard hats, kippahs (Jewish), keffiyehs, (Arabic), mitres (eccle siastic), sombreros, toques and top hats are just a few. Wow!

Did I always love hats? No. As a baby I rejected the bonnets my mother made and tore them off. But I fell for a green Robin Hood hat with a feather that I snatched from the head of an English cousin. I howled when forced to return it. And wouldn’t look at hats for years.

I attended two great Hat Occasions: The Kentucky Derby, in Louisville, and Ascot in

England. The hats were enormous. Heaped with flowers, lace, veils and even stuffed birds and animals. Wonderful! But how of ten do you attend a hat extravaganza like that?

A few years ago, spurred by the news that I had pre-cancerous sun damage from my tropical years, I returned to hats.

I acquired them in many colors. From an old sunhat, I created The Busby. It became

my favorite.

Why was it my favorite? It was the jaunti ness. The reverse of Chanel’s advice to ap pear “to one’s best advantage.” The Busby hat was me. Just as I am. The friend of a few special birds who trusted me with their com panionship.

Has anyone seen my hat? I’m still looking for it….

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the 13 years that I’ve helped my clients buy and sell homes here, I’ve always felt that I’m not just selling a home, I’m

a lifestyle. When I move someone into a new home, the process doesn’t end with me handing them the keys; I’m involved in connecting them with their new community

community. I was fortunate to grow up in Eagle Harbour and my husband, in Horseshoe Bay.

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