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Page 9 West Vancouver Historical Society May 2005 West Vancouver Museum 6l Archives Special Lecture: The Future of Hydrogen Guest Speaker: Dr. Geoffrey Ballard Tuesday, May 24,7:00 p.m. Sentinel Secondary School Theatre, 1250 Chartwell Drive Admission: $20.00 Program Code: 235266 This is the museum’s special fundraising program with Dr. Geoffrey Ballard, who will give a first-hand account of the journey from laboratory to a future ‘hydrogen economy’. Dr. Ballard is credited with leading the world in the development of fuel cell technology, which promises someday to replace the internal combustion engine in serving our energy needs. This lecture is part of the North Shore Moves school program initiative looking at transportation and environmental sustainability. North Shore Moves: Paddles to Fuel Cells The West Vancouver Museum, & Archives is proud to present an exhibition entitled North Shore Moves: Paddles to Fuel Cells, which runs until November 5, 2005. The opening reception of this exhibition will be held at the museum on May 17th at 7 pm. The history of transportation on the North Shore offers rich and interesting stories. From people power to innovative new technologies this exhibition examines the use of canoes, ships, bikes, ferries, buses and trains that traversed land and sea, and explores emerging technologies that help reduce the use of energy by replacing the internal combustion engine. Today the North Shore has become a world famous destination for mountain biking and other types of recreation transportation. “I think it’s important that we celebrate the variety of transportation used in this region, and that we act now in promoting more environmentally conscious modes” says museum Education Coordinator Greg Robinson, who has launched a new education programme about transportation with a hope of raising awareness about environmental sustainability. In addition to the opening-event talk by Dr. Geoffrey Ballard, mentioned above, there will be a series of outdoor public programs. A Squamish Canoe Exhibition will take you on a trip along Ambleside Beach. Pedaling West Vancouver, a guided bike program, will provide information on how to ride a bike safely in a city environment, while highlighting several historical sites, including the Lions Gate Bridge, the Ferry Building and the Gertrude Lawson House. Please note the museum gallery hours: Labor Day to June 15, Tuesday through Saturday Noon to 4:30 pm. From June 16 until September 5, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Peter Hall was the Major Mover in This Project At the request of the West Vancouver Heritage Advisory Committee the West Vancouver Historical Society undertook to establish the Lions Gate Bridge as a National Historic Site in November of 1999. In the spring of 2000 the formal application for designation was sent to Ottawa. The society was advised in May of 2000 that before the application could proceed the permission of the bridge owner would have to be obtained. Under the direction of Peter Hall application was made to then Premier Dosanjh as the provincial government were the owners of the bridge. The request was passed on to the Ministry of Transportation’s Regional office in Burnaby. In March of 2001 they denied the consent we sought. Soon after the 2001 change of government Peter approached MLA Ralph Sultan, who suggested that we write to Premier Campbell. With Ralph Sultan’s assistance this was done in January 2002. In the following month a meeting was held with the Ministry of Highways in Burnaby. We were informed then that they would recommend that our request be granted provided that we received endorsement from the District of North Vancouver, Translink, the City of Vancouver Park Board and the Squamish Nation. All four groups supported our application, which was submitted to the Ministry in October 2002. (It should be mentioned that Bud Langley did a superb job in getting the support of the Squamish Nation.) The consent of the Province was finally obtained in January 2003. Interestingly, the Ministry’s new Regional Director, Wayne Keiser, then wrote to Ottawa actually requesting that NHS be granted. Peter makes a point of thanking Gerry Borden of Parks Canada both for his help and advice, and MLA Ralph Sultan for his unwavering interest. (He suspects Ralph may have been instrumental in breaking the log jamb and getting the heritage designation announced after sitting around Ottawa for two years.) Your executive committee wish to thank Peter Hall for his dedication in this project. Without him the job might never have been done. OUR MARCH SPEAKER At the last minute I have removed a small item from this space to replace it with a much more important one. Since our March general meeting I have had three calls, two of which centred on the small attendance of the March gather- ing, but all three of which wanted to express their thanks for the fine talk given by Andrew Pottinger, community relations advisor for British Pacific Properties. The turnout was disappointing, especially in light of the effort spent to stage the meeting. -TT