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Thank You Heinz On January 13, 2016, West Vancouver lost a gentleman man who had a significant impact on the design of West Vancouver's parks and public areas for over 30 years -- Heinz Berger, L.M.B.C.S.L.A., F.C.S.L.A. Heinz was West Vancouver's Parks Manager until his retirement in 1983. A trained landscape architect, Heinz combined creativity, vision and the ability to think outside of the box. He wanted people and especially children to participate in nature not just observe it. if you've ever walked the Seawalk, golfed on the Ambleside Pitch and Putt, visited Memorial Park, wandered through any of West Van's many municipal parks or visited a children's playground, then you have experienced one of Heinz's works. Heinz created the idea of the adventure playground where children could participate in the play area, not just play on it. This allowed children to use their creative minds, to engage in their surroundings transporting a few well-placed pieces of driftwood into pirate ships, tree forts or castles. Heinz spoke at conferences all over the world on this concept. by David Barker Heinz was also economical. He used the driftwood from the beach; he went door-to-door collecting money to finance the first park in the British Properties, Glenmore; he used donated crushed oyster shells from the Great Northern Cannery for the access road to the Pitch and Putt; he even collected trees, bushes and plants from houses being demolished for apartment buildings; he went so far as to recycle toilets from these wrecked houses for the Pitch and Putt. Councils of the time must have loved him. I first met Heinz at a show the Historical Society put on to commemorate West Van's 2012 centennial. He related a couple of his memories of his time in the district. I told him that if he would put them on paper I would publish them in "Memories". Days later the first article arrived. I now have a folder of them telling the story behind many of the happenings in the community, enough to keep the newsletter going for quite awhile. All have been given to the West Van Archives. West Vancouver will miss this very creative and talented man. His influence on the look of West Vancouver is everywhere. Thank you Heinz for what you have done for the Municipality and its citizens. Heinz - 2015 - photo by Francis Mansbridge West Vancouver Seawalk - 2011 - photo by John Moir page 5