almost been met, members of Hamilton Rotary were told yesterday.

Curator of the Flatts facility, Mr. Richard Winchell told Rotarians meeting at the Hamilton Princess that he expected to announce success very early in the New Year. The end, he said, was "very close''.

With that accomplishment efforts would then concentrate on doubling public membership by 1996.

"...there are presently two and a half thousand members and over one hundred volunteers ... this is just a small portion of Bermuda,'' he said.

Mr. Winchell noted that the Aquarium was founded in 1926 by the Bermuda Government.

Although Bermudian families enjoyed the facility, its curator said that when it was created "the primary focus was tourists and today, it is still the most visited attraction on the Island.'' In the 1940s, a natural history museum was established and today "that museum has become irreplaceable. Parts of the collection go back 50, 60 years. It has become a very valuable resource for our understanding and appreciation of Bermuda's flower and fauna.'' In the mid-1980s, Government provided a second floor for the museum to enable better care for the Island's natural history collection and made space for a library which is available to students but is primarily a resource facility for scientists, volunteers and workers.

Mr. Winchell said the zoo was incorporated into the facility in the 1950s, bringing in flamingos, parrots and a variety of other creatures.

In 1978, the Bermuda Zoological Society was organised and worked to get the public involved in the process, its operation and long-term direction "...to instil an awareness, appreciation and understanding of the environment.'' Today, Mr. Winchell added, between six and seven thousand students visit the facility each year and the insight they gain is considered to be an "integral part of the primary school's curriculum'' by the Department of Education.

He said that recent projects were intended to take the facility through the next six years -- one involved green turtle tagging, the longest such project running in the world.

A second project aimed to supplement a collection of deep sea creatures, showing those which are collected either live or placing them in the museum of natural history.

A third project would show living corals and reefs to the public. Its aim was to make the viewer "feel as if you're right there''. Shown will be a view of the open ocean, a very close-up view of sharks and a viewing of a reef cave.

"We believe it is important, by showing the world around us we can develop in individuals an appreciation of that world and an interest in its continuing health,'' ...so that Bermudians will have "a living replica of Bermuda's most important natural resource, that is, the reef that surrounds us.'' Mr. Richard Winchell.