The First Annual General Meeting of VHEMI
The Van Horne Estate on Ministers Island Inc. held its first annual general meeting on the evening of March 2, 2006 at the Anglican Church Hall in St. Andrews.
Ardeth Holmes, the outgoing chairperson of the organization, gave the report for the year. In it, she emphasized the work of those who had laboured in the volunteer field in years past to maintain the community's connection to Ministers Island. The current organization is working hard with government to obtain the necessary staff and operational infrastructure to become the island's operators. You can read the full report here.
Tony Huntjens, the MLA for our area, was present to bring greetings on behalf of the government. He also presented a cheque for $30,000 which enables us to assist in restoration work on the bathhouse. There will be a celebration of this event later on this spring.
Reports were presented by others as well. Here, John Neilson presents the work done over the past year by the Access Advisory committee. This committee worked hard at enabling those who wished to hike the trails on the north end of the island to do so. They have prepared GPS-based maps as well as establishing safety guidelines for this activity.
Also presenting were David Foster, who works with the island's caretaker Wade Veinotte, and Marie Hanson, one of the island's tour guides. They spoke of the work they do which as usual surpasses by a wide margin anything the casual observer would expect.
The meeting concluded with the presentation of gifts to Tony, Marie, Susan, Wade and David. A question-and-answer session completed the evening.
"If you approach a big thing, make an extra effort and do the biggest thing."
Sir William Van Horne