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January 1995 WEST VANCOUVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY Page 7 A MEMBER CONTRIBUTION By: May Loudon The Phyl Munday Nature House â€"At Lighthouse Park Publisher's Note: We anticipated printing this article in our March issue to coincide with our Feature Presentation Report and the dedication of Pt. Atkinson as a Historic Site. With the dedication and the coincidental opening of the Museum this proved impossible because of space considerations. We apologise to May for the delay in publishing what was a particularly timely, and still very interesting article. May Loudon is a Past Chairman of the Phyl Munday Girl Guides Nature House at Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver and remains actively involved with the organization. In his Feature Presentation of January 27,1994, Professor Angus Gunn brought back many memories of Phyl Munday, some of which I would like to share with you. My earliest memory of being in the company of Phyl was taking part in a girl guide leader nature walk in Whytecliff Park, West Vancouver. We went expecting a little hike and found ourselves absorbed for one and a half hours studying a nurse log. We were absolutely fascinated by all that Phyl had to tell us. That is why I can say that Phyl was the first person to inspire me to study nature and of course why I named the Nature House in Lighthouse Park, the Phyl Munday Girl Guide Nature House. Nature study at Whytecliff park formally began in 1969, the Nature House was officially opened in 1985. The Phyl Munday Nature House was opened and is operated with volunteer help, community support came from friends of guiding. Rotary members. United Church and the Parks Department. Our most recent grant came from the Provincial Girl Guide, Phyl Munday, Environmental Grant. TheGoodsirs - Phyl Munday *The strength of the hills is His also.” At ‘Open Houses’ during 1993 almost 5,000 people passed through the Nature House, all with questions about the Park and about Phyl Munday. These Open Houses are hosted by volunteers from the Nature House Committee and the Lighthouse Park Keeper. Some West Vancouverites may remember Paddy Copeland, Keeper of the Park for many years. One day doing his rounds he met Phyl on her way into the Park to do some nature training with Girl Guide leaders. She was carrying her famous little moss gardens and a double beaded salmon berry cutting. Paddy reprimanded her, saying “No picking in the Park!” Phyl had to say, “Excuse me I brought it from my garden.” This famous double headed salmon berry is in the Native Garden at U.B.C. with Phyl’s name on it, the gardener at UBC, A1 Rose, gave us a cutting and it is planted behind the Nature House in Lighthouse Park. Phyl was in the Girl Guide movement for 60 years and attained the highest award in Guiding - the Beaver. Incidentally Paddy and Phyl became great friends after that meeting and he carved the sign above the door of the Nature House which has been dedicated to her memory. The Phyl Munday Nature House in Lighthouse Parir continues to do its work with a committee of enthusiastic volunteers, mainly West Vancouver Division Girl Guides committee of leaders. Nature training sessions continue for Girl Guides, Brownies and their leaders. Open House from 2 pm - 4 pm on Sundays proves to be a popular outing for families, young and old, who enjoy the hands on activities and learning about the park. Many hundred volunteer hours go into the open house days, the training, the upkeep of the Nature House and continuance of nature displays, all going back to 1985 when the house was officially opened. In the past year we have been working on an extension to our Nature Room, opening up a comer section, extending the mural telling the story of our surroundings, forest and rocky sea shore, and within the space one can follow the “Web of Life” a hands on educational fun experience. Nature House news is all very exciting for we who have become ‘hooked’ so to speak! We are committed to help and learn more about our natural surroundings, however Nature House news is not all ‘good’. A few years ago we found a dead bald eagle in the park, we obtained a special license to have him prepared as a display in the Nature House. It takes considerable effort to obtain permission from the Federal Wild Life Branch, get a permit, find a taxidermist to do the job and, of course, $200-$300. On Christmas Day or Eve 1993 ‘Robson’ our eagle was stolen from the Nature House. We had buttons made for the children saying “I met Robson”. You can imagine the feelings of the committee at such a selfish act None-the-less we continue to look for opportunities to make the Nature House interesting, fun and, above all, inspiring for young minds to follow through and learn more about the natural world around us and to conserve it !r