↗ View this article in the original PDF newsletter
What the Friends of Fort York Do: Our Accomplishments for 2010 • undertook to decorate the Assembly Room in the Blue Barracks with framed views of 19th-century soldiers at their leisure • published four issues of our quarterly newsletter, Drum, currently sent to almost 3000 subscribers The Fife and • continued with design and development on our new website, expected to be up and running in early 2011 • surrendered the lease on our office at the Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina, which had been sublet for the preceding year because we weren’t making enough use of it • operated event car-parking on the Common for the last season before things are scaled back to allow for construction of the Visitor Centre, the Strachan Avenue bridge over the rail corridor, and the pedestrian-cycling bridge linking the Common with the parks north of Wellington Street. Our parking operations usually have employed 15 students on a part-time basis • welcomed two new members to our board and bid regretful adieu to retiring director Phil Goldsmith • fielded a Fife and Drum Corps and Guard of 23 young men and women. We covered 80 percent of the $155,000 spent on wages, uniforms, and equipment. The Government of Canada and City provided the balance • worked closely with the Fort York Foundation to kickstart fundraising for the new Visitor Centre, loaned it startup funds, and provided five of our most experienced directors to its board • continued filing and organizing the fort’s books, reports, and image-collection housed in the Resource Centre on the lower level of the Blue Barracks. A scanner, computer, and file cabinet were purchased to augment the equipment there • convened a splendid 12th annual Georgian Dinner to raise funds for the Guard • assisted with research for the new kitchen garden inside the northwest bastion that was realized over the summer with help from the Evergreen Foundation and Toronto Culture staff • co-operated with the City’s Parks department on the last upgrades to Victoria Memorial Square, a part of the Fort York National Historic Site. These improvements have been ongoing for seven years • placed full-page advertisements, each different, in four issues of magazine Spacing • convened a successful Directors’ dinner for members of the Friends’, Foundation, and Management boards and fort staff • maintained a watching brief with regard to the TTC’s plans for a streetcar line that would breach the National Historic Site by cutting across it north of the Armoury • volunteered as greeters and organizers to work alongside fort staff and Management Board members at the biannual Citizenship ceremonies, “Parler Fort” book-lecture series, etc.
Original printed pages
