On February 23^rd the guest speaker at our Programme was Jason Ramsay-Brown. His book covers all of Toronto but many of Scarborough’s parks and ravines are written about. He pointed out that these ravines are open air museums to our natural heritage and local history. Many are not well marked with signs and may even be hidden.

He spoke about the Doris McCarthy Trail “Gates Gully” in the Scarborough Bluffs area, which was a smugglers haven in the 1830’s for many items including tea, tobacco and leather.

Gates Gully

One of his favourite parks is the “L’Amoreaux Park North Passmore Forest” and its 600-year-old Alexandra aboriginal site where 800 Huron-Wendat people lived. It is located north off of McNicoll Ave. east of Birchmount Rd.

L’Amoreaux Park

He summed his talk up by saying that the easiest and best way to protect these natural history areas is that you should try to stay on the trails when using these parks and ravines.

The Scarborough Historical Society hosts programmes on the 4th Tuesday of each month from January to April and from September to November. All programmes begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Bendale Public Library and are free and open to the public.

The guest speaker at our January 26th programme was Terry Reardon. He spoke about his book “Winston Churchill and Mackenzie King – So Similar, So Different”. Churchill was a strong voice in Britain prior to the WWII and did not support British Prime Minister Chamberlain’s policy of “appeasement and containment” towards Nazi Germany. When Churchill became British Prime Minister in 1940 he became the world’s most important symbolic figure of resistance. Churchill had a charismatic personality and put in hours of work making his speeches flawless to encourage a desperate nation.  King and many other world leaders supported Chamberlain’s policy. However, in 1936 he had Canada begin a program of rearmament. King lacked the oratorical skills of Churchill but in 1937 he made it known to British leaders that Canada would support the Empire in a war in Europe. Once the war began, King had Canada supply food, munitions and money to the hard-pressed British economy, train airmen and provide combat troops. He also applied pressure to bring the U.S. into the war.  Political views in both countries had changed after the war.  Churchill lost the 1945 election while King retired from politics in 1948. It was a good history lesson for all in attendance.

The Scarborough Historical Society hosts programmes on the 4th Tuesday of each month from January to April and from September to November. All programmes begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Bendale Public Library and are free and open to the public.

Scarborough Arts teams up with Scarborough Archives for YEARBOOK, its latest participatory visual exhibition. Drawing on portraits and writings found in Scarborough high-school yearbooks from the past fifty years. This exhibit excavates the ongoing significance of the original social networking tool through an inter-generational exploration of Scarborough”s popular history.

March 10 – 31, 2016  at Scarborough Arts, 1859 Kingston Road, Scarborough

Important Dates
• Opening Reception: March 10 (6:00 PM)
• Panel Discussion: March 12 (1:00 PM)