Saturday, January 26, 2008


We had a Britannia Neighbours meeting on January 24th ... In attendance were Pat, Ann, Eva, and Penny. Margaret and Jane sent regrets.
Penny reported that she checked the Britannia Neighbours mailbox at the Info Centre. Margaret usually checks, and it hadn't been checked in quite a long time; there were, shockingly, nearly two years of bank statements! And a few other things that should have been taken care of ... including some very old time sheets from Brit staff that had been put in the Brit Neighbours box by mistake. Penny will check regularly from now on.
We agreed that Penny will send an e-mail to Paul Storer at the City to restate once again that we have relinquished ownership of the two large Michael Rose carved benches but that we still own the "bench around the tree" and we would like the City to put it back. (The City removed it a couple of years ago in hopes that removing it would reduce crime in the area; later on, the two large carved benches were removed; we are hoping that because the larger benches are gone that the "bench around the tree" can be re-installed -- with legs, we hope, instead of just resting on chunks of wood.
We discussed how tidy the Greenway is looking lately and we attribute this to the fact that folks from The Kettle come and pick up litter regularly. We're not sure what the pick-up schedule is, but we are grateful and we agreed that we will deliver cookies and a thank you note to The Kettle soon. Ann said she would make a large batch of cookies and Penny said she would make a thank you card with a photo of the Greenway on it.
Penny will send an e-mail to Beverly Chew regarding the boulders that were installed in the Greenway by the City when the large carved benches were removed. There are three and we would like to keep one where they were put but to have the City put the other two at either end of a little path Greenway users have made through the garden. We think the placement of the boulders will encourage users to use the path provided rather than cutting across over plants and shrubs.
We also want to let Beverly know how much we appreciate the oak leaf removal she organized in the fall, and to suggest that she try to get it scheduled in every year. Who did it? Parks Board or City Engineering?
We discussed the East Van Tour of Private Gardens for this year. We are looking for gardens in the area bordered by Commercial to Nanaimo and 5th to 8th. Please volunteer your own garden or suggest spectacular gardens you think would be suitable. We think it would be a good idea to have a one-page or half-page newsletter for inclusion with the map for the Garden Tour to let folks know who benefits from the tour, where the money goes, what Britannia Neighbours is, that we are always looking for new gardens to include and for new "members". Ann and Penny will think about putting one together. We might call it "The Bzzzzzer" with a bee logo. We will include the URL of the Brit Neighbours Web site and the two blogs.

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