On April 7^th   the 2015 Ontario Volunteer Services Awards were presented in a ceremony at the Brighton Convention and Event Centre on McNicoll Ave., Scarborough, Ontario.  Six of our society members each received a pin and a certificate denoting the number of years they have served as volunteers. They have accumulated a total of 85 volunteer years among them.

The society members who received the awards are shown in the picture.

(from the left) Scott Woodland, Jan Howe, Don Allen, Lynda Wills, Gary Strutt, John Barton

We applaud them for their dedication and commitment.

Ted Barris (author, journalist and broadcaster) was the guest speaker at our April 28^th programme. His most recent book is The Great Escape: A Canadian Story. Contrary to the 1963 movie “The Great Escape” many of the main characters involved in planning the escape and the digging of the tunnels for the escape were Canadians. His book and his talk were based on his many interviews, his research, letters, and personal photos. On March 24th , 1944 eighty prisoners escaped from Stalag Luft III near Sagan, Poland into the forest beyond the wire.. It was great to hear the true story and I won’t be able to watch the movie again without thinking about the Canadian involvement.

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.

Our programme on March 24^th was “The Noronic Fire” of 1949. The guest speaker was Tim Irish, a forensic expert, whose presentation took us through the time leading to the outbreak of the fire, the design of the vessel, the massive response of the Toronto Fire Department, and the aftermath. He included stories of individuals involved in fighting the tragic fire and the search and rescue.  Many in attendance personally remembered the fire.

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 speaker at our February 24^th programme was Sandra Joyce who is an author and the Director-at-large for the British Home Child Group International.  Up to 120,000 British children were sent to Canada from 1869 to 1939 to work as indentured farm workers and domestics. She related stories about their placement across Canada with some of them suffering horrifically and some doing well. Quite a few society members in attendance were descendants of a home child and about 1 in 10 Canadians is a descendant of a home child.