Notes from today's meeting:

Announcements:

  • Our visitors were Alex from Toronto Earls Court Rotary and Fernando;
  • Don celebrated his birthday this past Thursday. Happy Birthday Don and best wishes for many more!
  • Reminder of the Night of 1000 Dinners for landmine removal on March 15th - see prior meeting notes for details;
  • We are looking for worthy candidates for Paul Harris Awards.  Please see Scott for more information.

Today's Speaker:

Cheryl from Colborne Lodge treated us to a fascinating history lesson on the background of High Park and how it came to be. Some of the highlights included the fact that the land was originally purchased in 1836 by John Howard, who also happens to Toronto's first city engineer, as a "country property". John's love of the park and for family led him to sell back to the City, based on certain conditions, the property we know now as High Park in 1876, but not all at once. In fact, it was not until 1930 that High Park came to be the size that it is now. John Howard's wife died of breast cancer and is believed to have been the first identified woman to die of this nasty disease.

Next Week:

  • Wayne MacDonald is tentatively to be our speaker next week;
  • The 50/50 pot lived for another week!!!