Barbara Dickson was the guest speaker at our October 27th programme. She is the author of “Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo”. Her book is an insight into the day to day life about working at GECO (General Engineering Company (Canada) Limited), the World War II munitions plant in Scarborough. She has included many photos and in-person interviews with former workers at the plant and it was interesting to hear that Mary Pickford made a visit to the site.
172 buildings were erected in 3 months in 1941 and turned the area into a “mini-city” that included a hospital, 2 fire halls, a bank, and the fuse-filling sheds. It was the largest fuse-filling plant in Canada and between the years 1941 and 1945 a total of 21,000 workers (mostly women) filled 256 million munitions. Many of the members who attended the programme had personal connections to the workers at GECO and enjoyed the presentation.

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.