A group hoping to save the former Murray family homestead in Anmore as a national historic site is relieved that Anmore village council has given them more time to make their case.
"I think we have been given a reprieve," said Elaine Willis, a member of the Anmore Heritage Society.
The group will now come up with a business plan and a design for turning the former home of Margaret and George Murray into a museum and coffee shop as well as for a second option for making the building part of a new Anmore village administrative centre.
Elaine Willis and Joerge Dyrkton said the group will also work on an application for Heritage Canada funding.
The goal is to have the business plans ready by mid-December and the two say they are pleased the village council opted not to knock down the 100-year-old building.
"The village doesn't have any money for a new village hall so why not keep everything in place until we have the Heritage Canada grant and an action plan for either option A or B," explained Willis.
Dyrkton said the building has national heritage value and should be saved because Margaret Murray was a significant B.C. pioneer and early feminist who challenged authority and whose newspapers were vital to the community. The Murray's publications were the Chinook in Vancouver, the Bridge River-Lillooet News and the Alaska Highway News in Fort St. John.
Mementoes of the couple's early newspapering days, such as press equipment, papers, a book and an oral history still exist and could be part of a collection remembering the important role newspapers have played in Canadian society, Dyrkton said.
"If you don't preserve the past then there is no way your children can explore the future," Dyrkton said.
To contact the group, email in[email protected]. A website, www.anmoreheritagesociety.ca will soon be up and running.
