Cape Breton's Magazine

The Staff at the opening of the Buchanan Memorial Hospital, Neil's Harbour:left to right, Shirley Grant (Direc? tor of Outpost Hospitals, Red Cross), Janet MacDonald Dowling, Thelma Rideout MacDonald, Ivy Organ Jackson, Annie Warr Buffett, Shirley Williams Buffett, Kathleen Wilkie (Administrator). Insert, 1953 Ribbon-cutting. had jumped up to close to $100,000 by the time we started to build. Well, this is the effort of the quarry workers. Now, the quarry workers--they were people from all over that north country. And outsiders, too. Once the union decided it, everybody had to pay. Or at least that's the way un? ions operate, they all pay. Then we went after the brass of the com? pany, you see, and we said, "The union has done this for us." They didn't do as well as the union did, but they did pretty well, just the same. They gave a sizable dona? tion. And the gypsum company offered to do the excavation. Now even at the prices of those days, the excavation (would) cost 7 thousand bucks. They sent their big bull? dozers out, and simply leveled the land and dug the basement and everything--it was all ready to build. What they had to dynamite, they dynamited. They did the whole thing. So that was the company dona? tion. Later on they sent another bulldozer out to lay out the grounds for the sewage system. Every fellow I met on the road, and I fig? ured he had a pocketful of money, I'd say, "Listen, how about 20 bucks for the new hospital?" And they'd give it to you, just like that. Never even called me an S.O.B. for doing it! But they got excited about it. For years they had heard about this. Bell Buoy Restaurant Seafood * Steaks * Poultry * Sandwiches Fully Licensed * Luncheon & Children's Menus Baddeck, N.a 295-2581 LES TROiS PIGNONS Information, Community & Cultural Centre June, Sept. & Oct. / Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. July-August / tfonday-Stinday 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. *P.O. Box 430, Cheticamp, N. S. BOE IHO (902) 224-2642 224-2612 ADMISSION CHARGED * BUS TOURS WELCOME OFFERS: information on the Cheticamp area, Acadian history, genealogy and culture tours of the ELIZABETH LEFORT GALLERY displaying magnificent tapestries and hooked rugs tours of the MUSEUM featuring a fine collection of artifacts HAPPY 200th BIRTHDAY CHETICAMP! (23)