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Our Secretary, Lucy E. Smith, wrote up the following account of our September meeting. If you weren't one of those lucky 73 in attendance, I think you'll agree that Lucy has put you front row centre with the following report. "Nostalgia was running rife throughout the General Meeting on Thursday, September 29, 1988, in Pauline Johnson School Music Room when our esteemed Municipal Archivist, Rupert Harrison, painted a vivid word picture of the beginnings and the demise of the West Vancouver Municipal Transportation fleet, with many ancecdotes of what happened in between the years 1909 and 1946. For many of the 73 members present, memories were revived of the "West Vancouver", "Sea Foam", "Doncella", "Sonrisa", "West Vancouver No. 5", "West Vancouver No. 6", "Bonabelle" and "Hollyburn". Prior to the feature of the evening. Jack Leyland, President, conducted a short business meeting, during which he told the membership that we had obtained the necessary permission from the School Board to construct a small dark room at one end of the room we presently occupy. David Wilson hopes to have this in operation within the next month, after which he plans to conduct classes for those interested in helping with the photography end of our activities. Two members of the North Shore Historical Society, David and Elizabeth Grubbe, were introduced and it was announced that our Vice-President, Hugh Johnston, will be speaking to that group on November 9th. Hugh mentioned briefly that, with the assistance of George Smith, he had discovered the remains of the Walking Dudley of the old McNair Fraser Timber Company railway, and suggested that others might care to join him on a search for further evidence of old logging operations on Saturday morning, October 1, 1988. Hugh Adddison then introduced Rupert Harrison, giving a thumb nail sketch of his early life from his birth in Glasgow, through his schooling in West Vancouver, to his retirement in 1979 after 41 years in the Municipal Hall. As the Municipality could not let such a valuable member get right out of sight, he was made Municipal Archivist in 1980. Who among our old-timers could not feel a thrill of pride in our gallant little fleet and the equally gallant crews when Rupert recounted the story of the one fatal accident that occurred in all those years when, in dense fog, the inbound S.S. "Princess Alice" struck the "West Vancouver No. 5", which was right on-course as it was proceeding through the 1st Narrows towards Ambleside. There was more than one hero that day as Captain Darius Smith hacked away with a fire axe in a vain attempt to free a trapped passenger, risking his life until the last possible moment before the vessel sank. Meanwhile Mate George Hayes and Deckhand Arnold Garthorne assisted the other passengers to evacuate the vessel while F. W. Merrick stayed at his post in the engineroom, with water up to his knees until he had closed off every valve in his beloved engines. Because of this action, when the vessel was ultimately raised, it was possible to transfer the engine to the "Bonabelle" which was built to replace it! While everyone is happy that the "Hollyburn", the last of the fleet, is still in operation with the Harbour Navigation Company, some of us remember with particular affection the strong little "Sonrisa" (which means "a smile") ploughing through the tide rips with waves crashing over its bow but proudly lifting its head as it maintained its course to reach the dock right on time."