Bill’s Truths

 

  • Tribute to Peter Mansfield (Originally published on the INTO website in April 2015
    Peter Mansfield passed away at his home at about 6:00 pm on March 24th. The National Trust movement lost a champion and a pioneer with Peter’s passing. Peter was passionate about The National Trust, he was passionate about Cornwall, and about his community. Peter trained in law and then land management before joining the National Trust as ...
  • Domestic Violence in Saanich
    It was about 3:30 pm on September 10, 1971. I was about to finish day shift. It had been a quiet day but I had some paperwork to finish off. I had been working as a ‘one man’ car, the East Car and had just pulled into the back of the station. ...
  • You saved my life! You saved my mother’s life! You saved my son’s life! You are amazing!
    I have heard all these things, many times in the past month. The detailed stories, the shared tears and heartfelt thanks cannot fail to move us. These people are not referring to me, but to the BC Ambulance Paramedics that I have been working with as we canvass for signatures on ...
  • Don’t believe everything you read on Social Media
    About a week ago a good friend of mine who is an ‘activist’ shared a news story with her Facebook friends.  She was absolutely disgusted by what she had read in the post that had been sent to her, and she wanted all of her social media friends to “spring into action” in response to ...
  • Democracy hijacked? When ‘Friends of’ groups are really the opposite.
    As most of my friends and acquaintances know, I love the Capital Regional District’s Parks, and my wife Gerie and I visit one CRD Park facility or another at least 3 times a week. I have spent a good portion of my life working to create new parks and conservation areas, and many of them ...
  • Fire in the Cariboo
    More tales from the Grasslands. Conservation field work – protecting special places – is often long hours and often full of surprises.  Some days more than others…       Fire in the Cariboo Spring 1997: We had made our way up through the Gang Ranch on the long dirt road that eventually crosses the Chilcotin River at Farwell Canyon Bridge. ...
  • Tales from the Field…
    Conservation work – protecting Special Places – doesn’t just happen by itself. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance. It takes a lot of miles traveling on the back roads of our great country. And sometimes it takes a little creativity. Here, Bill Turner tells of one creative encounter from his days at ...
  • The Michelangelo Test
      It is said that the sculptor Michelangelo considered it a productive day if there was a pile of marble chips on the floor at the end of the day. I like to think of this as the “Michelangelo Test” for a good day – a day where I have made progress toward my goals. I may ...
  • Never Turn Back
    “You never fail until you stop trying.”                                 ~ Albert Einstein   I have a Sweat Shirt that I bought in St. Ives, Cornwall in 2012.  I bought it from the Royal National Lifeboat Institute in a little shop within the St. Ives Lifeboat Station.  I bought it because, even in June, the day was fiercely cold with ...
  • The man with a gun (PTSD in the 1960’s)
    He gestured for me to sit down, across the table from him, on one of the kitchen chairs. He was a man of about 50 years. He was pretty drunk. His voice was slurred. On the table was a nearly empty bottle of scotch. Problem was that he was gesturing with a 357 magnum. It was ...
  • Never treat a burn with butter! (Life of a first responder before the provincial ambulance service).
    The father met me at the door, his face was white with fear. He was at the same time glad to have help and disappointed I was a police officer and not driving an ambulance. He quickly lead me into the kitchen (he didn’t need to, I could have found it because of the screams)! ...
  • Christmas 1972
    Christmas 1972 was fairly typical for me.  At the time I was a Constable assigned to the Community Liaison and Traffic Section of the Saanich Municipal Police.  The job of the section involved a combination school liason work and traffic enforcement.  I was working for Sgt. Bill Chisholm and did mostly administrative work and support.   I was ...
  • The Dawn Patrol
    This morning, December 15th, 2014 was a beautiful day in Victoria.  At about 8:20 am my wife and I drove to Elk Lake Regional Park via Highway 17.   As we joined the highway we saw Mount Baker shining in the morning sun.   A beautiful and inspiring sight.   That view reminded me of another morning, about ...
  • Democracy Matters
      When we first wrote the bylaws for The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, in 1996, I made sure that we followed the model of the National Trust in the UK, an organization I had admired for about thirty years.  In particular, I wanted to ensure that TLC would have a strong democratic foundation – owned ...
  • Why Abkhazi Garden matters to me
    Why Abkhazi Garden matters to me. – by Bill Turner   I first saw Abkhazi Garden in 1999 shortly after it had been sold to a developer.  The development proposal, which had approvals from the City of Victoria, was to build 12 townhouses on the site of this unique and beautiful garden – a plan that would have ...
  • Why I care about Ross Bay Villa
      Why I care about Ross Bay Villa – by Bill Turner I first learned of Ross Bay Villa in early 1999 when members of Victoria’s heritage community raised the alarm.   This amazing house – one of only 10 surviving 1860s houses in the region – had been the subject of a failed attempt to open a neighbourhood ...

Comments are closed.