arey power prevails

Eleanor

y REMEN.BER when it was
“s born.

Tt must have been in the late ‘70s,
because my husband and I were liv-
ing in the pink place on the sea-walk
in West Vancouver. Id just left

‘working in his office, having per-

.. Suaded him that my 18 years of

“ devotion to the retreading business

- had bought me the time to pursue

- .my_own psyche for a while. I wanted
_| to write and I wanted to be a famous
™ ballet dancer and I wanted to teach.
; old men to cook.

: Well, when the West Vancouver.

. Seniors Centre opened its doors,

” only a good block away from our
apartment, I had my chance to offer
-classes in cookery for any senior
~ males who had lost their wives and

“| .were living on tomato soup, or who

~ were still happily conjoined but were
looking for a new interest to jazz up
‘their retirement years.
There were quite a few of them,
it tumed out. We had classes there

‘for a long time, and I finally discard-

ed the idea of a career in dance. The
“ Kitchen was pretty basic but so were
. My men, and we thoroughly enjoyed
. our cookery adventures.
. : Ha! A q@ansformation has taken
place. Now, the Kiithen’s an enor-
_™mous space, with an elaborate cafe-
' teria facility and huge windowed
areas for eating while you visit. It
. makes for lovely light, and the great
smooth pillars lining the walk out-

side offer support for vines, making
a most pleasant ambience.

But there’s more room every-
where. They contrived to add al} of
12 feet to the activity room. The
number of members has grown mas-
sively and the classes in Tai Chi and
line dancing and other exercises
have swelled. The only thing that
looks the same to me is the lovely
reception area.

That's how I describe the gener-
ous space right in the centre of
everything, you see if as soon as you
pass the registration/information —
desks. The furnishings are the same,
with wicker and chintz, very simple
and inviting. You can have 4 cup of
tea or read the book you brought
with you or wait for your friend
while you enjoy the plantroom,
which is at its far side. There’s water
piped into the plantroom now — this
is one of the improvements the vol-

_unteers are grateful for. Used to be,

they'd have to organize a water can
brigade.

I was a bit confused, because I
got hung up on that “We're Going to
Raise the Roof” slogan they used
when they first started the project. I
fully expected to see two storeys
when I went to get oriented, But the
price for that convenience would
have been something stratospheric,
with escalators, and in the end the
original building was simply extend-

ed in several directions. Very suc-
cessfully. --.

Fortunately, the original centre
had lots of open area around it, so

- there's nothing patched or clumsy ,

about the look of it now. The billiard
room is larger, meaning more tables
available, and it’s not in the same
place, There is an enormous new
space for meetings and concerts and
also extra washroom facilities and
storage areas, and all the many vol-
unteers are blissed about that.

The municipality and the mem-
bership of the centre agreed to split
the estimated price of $1.2 snillion.

.. That's a lot of money, and of course |

it-wasn’t quite enough, and what to
do? Members nixed the idea of pro-
fessional fundraisers and shouldered

it themselves, using all their various
talents to bring in the necessary dol-
lars.

Basements were cleaned out of
stored. unused possessions that were
contributed to several auctions.
Anyone with a saleable talent was
pressed to exercise it. Some mem~-
bers hired themselves out as movie
extras, tuming their wages over to
the Cause. They organized dinners
for sale, they quilted and tatted, they
got into the spring bulb business,
thanks to the municipal nursery.
They took every chance to lay their
plans before service clubs and busi-
nesses and government and raised
more than $600,000. Whooce!

Then the price was jacked up.

Instead of the $1.2 million they’d
fixed on, it became $1.5 million. It
looked as though some of the =~
improvements they were longing for
would have to be sacrificed. But the

, membership wasn’t willing to give
“ up, so they shoved their hands deep

into their own pockets and in a cou-
ple of months they had the extra that
was required, -

Grey Power, it's called.

You plug it in, you better stand
well back. It’s invincible.

Pharmacist

CAPSULE
COMMENTS

It would be nice to have an
“anti-aging” pill, The closest we
have to that today is a seyular
program of aerobic exercises.
Positive effects include lewer blood
pressure and increased bone mass,
plus burning off more calories. The
end result is better health and
reduced risk of early death.

Talking to you about your medica-
tions is an important part of our
job as pharmacists. it's a job we
thoroughly enjoy. Let cus pharma-
cists fill your next prescription.

DAVIES PHARMACY
1401 St. Georges 985-8771
145 W. 16th St. 987-4411

PETER BARKER

Denturist * 20 Years Experience

231 Lonsdale Ave., N.Van, i

986-8515

Notice!
West Vancouver Masonic Hall Society

invites

expressions

of interest by

22 November 1995 for possible sale or
redevelopment of the valuable property at:

ILIONS GATE)
HOSPITAL

A Caring Community
Calendar

Diabetes Support Group
Wednesday, Nov. 15
7:30 P.M. Seminar A
A support group for anyone
with diabetes, family/friend
welcome. Topic: “Festive
Foods”, with Dianne Allan,
L.G.H. dietitian. For more
information call Barbara
Munroe at 984-5752.

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2 West Sun Room ©
A nurse and a dietitian
review how heart attacks -
happen, the recovery period,
and advice on changing...
lifestyle habits. For people’
who recently experienced a
heart attack or diagnosis of
angina and their families. |
For information call Patty :
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Schizophrenia
Public Meeting |:
Nov. 22/7:30 P.M. ~:
Medical Day Centre Gym.
Join Jenna Scott, genetics .
counsellor at Children's
Hospital, topic: The Genetic
Factor in Schizophrenia. +». *
Hosted by the B.C. Schizo-
phrenia Society. Printed
‘ materials available. For.
infortnation call 926-0356.

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