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Page 2 GENERAL MEETING NOVEMBER 26, 1991 The President opened the meeting with a progress report on the move to the Gertrude Lawson House. He thanked ail the members \;ho had helped in moving the equipment, furnishings and supplies from Cedardale Centre to the Gertrude Lawson House. He also recounted a frustrating morning, not without its funny side, spent trying to cope v;ith an unfamiliar and malfunctioning alarm system during which time he managed to lock himself out of the building and, to his chagrin, had to bolt across to the Municipal Hall for a spare key. He reported that The Great Flea Market and Recycling Sale had brought in approximately $4000.00 - a great effort by many people. He also noted that there is still a substantial shortfall in funds covering the restoration and renovations of the Gertrude Lawson House due not only to the contracted costs exceeding the original estimate, but also to unforeseen costs incurred while the v/ork v;as in progress. Jim MacCarthy introduced the guest speaker, Mr. Donald Graham, to more than eighty members and guests who had turned out to hear Mr. Graham's most interesting and entertaining talk on "Point Atkinson and Other Lighthouses of the West Coast". No one V7ent home disappointed as few people are better qualified to speak on the subject than Donald Graham. Timely, indeed, was an article appearing in the Dec 21st issue of The Vancouver Sun under the heading LIGHTHOUSE GUARDIANS LAUDED FOR RESCUE RESPONSE. Reporter Stewart Bell writes: "On Boxing Day 1987, Dave Murray was windsurfing in West Vancouver with a buddy when a storm whipped up out of nowhere and carried them towards the entrance to Howe Sound. It was 3 p.m. and it was cold. The winds tired them out and they thought they would have to spend the night on their boards, drifting with the wind and the tide until they either bumped into land or were sighted in the morning. But as they were swept past the Point Atkinson light station, the lighthouse keeper's wife spotted them and sent out a radio call. They were both rescued and treated for exhaustion and hypothermia. Now, Murray, 40, is bothered by reports that Transport Canada is considering phasing out lightkeepers at 14 West Coast light stations - including Point Atkinson - and replacing them with machines. In his book. Lights of the Inside Passage, Donald Graham writes that West Coast lightkeepers provided special assistance to the public 4,770 times in the six-year period ending in 1986. The incidents ranged from "special weather reports, given any time on request, to providing first aid to a child carried off by a cougar near Car-manah, to say nothing of keepers who pulled men out of the water and off overturned hulls" writes Graham who is lightkeeper at Point Atkinson. He also argues that automation is less reliable and cost-effective than the current system, despite Treasury Board estimates which predict the cost of the equipment maintenance will be offset by the savings in lightkeeper's salaries.