History of the Toronto Forest-Hill Rotary Club

History of the Toronto Forest-Hill Rotary Club

Contributions by Charlie Fenton, Don Eyes, David Ing and Bohdan Buczko July 2010

Chapter 1- The First Year- 1952-53

It was 1905 in the windy city of Chicago, when lawyer Paul Harris brought together men of differing vocations, trades, and professions, to form the first Rotary Club. Forty-seven years later, on Monday September 15 1952, Wilf Taylor and Gel Bridgen, two members of the Rotary Club from Toronto met with a group of local businessmen from the Village of Forest Hill to discuss the establishment of a Rotary Club in Forest Hill. The meeting was held at the home of Gel Brigden and the local businessmen present included Walter Barber, an appliance store owner; John Hawkins, a lumber wholesaler; Morey Sparling, a life insurance agent; and Don Wilson, a bank manager.
Wilf Taylor outlined the objects of Rotary to all present. He emphasized the hope of the Toronto Club that in Forest Hill, they would be chartering a Rotary Club which would set an example for Rotary with regards to the quality of its members, the enthusiasm and loyalty of its members, and the fellowship in service of its members.
On September 26, a second meeting was held which included not only those present at the first meeting but also the Rotary District Governor, Stanley Everson, a member of the Rotary Club of Oshawa. The District Governor emphasized the importance of fellowship and the high standards which should be set by a club when considering new members. Everyone present at this meeting signed up as prospective member of the new Club and a formal application for a charter was completed. Annual dues were set at $25 with an initiation fee of $30. It was decided that the weekly meeting would be held at noon on Thursdays. At this meeting, the following provisional officers were appointed:
President- Walter Barber
Vice President- Morley Sparling
Secretary- John Hawkins

Treasurer- Donald Wilson

Directors- Christopher Thompson

-Leonard Briard

-Floyd Snetsinger

-W. Gordon Frazer

A third organizational meeting was held under the auspice of provisional president Walter Barber. By this time sufficient members had been recruited and enrolled to allow the prospective Club to formerly apply for a charter at a cost of $100. Provisional officers were elected as permanent officers and in addition, Manson Sloan was appointed Sergeant-at-arms. Final arrangements were made for the club to hold first meeting the following week and each succeeding Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at Benny’s Restaurant, 925 Eglinton Avenue West.
The first meeting of the Club was held on Thursday, November 6, 1952. The charter President, Walter Barber, welcomed 19 charter members to the Club. At this meeting, the President discussed Rotary and how the new club was expected to meet the goals and aims of Rotary.
The Club’s official charter meeting was held as planned at Benny’s Restaurant on November 20 at 6:30 p.m. This evening meeting established the first of what was to become a tradition in the Club of holding assembly or business meetings in the evening. In addition to the charter members, also present were Joe Galdar, a past director of Rotary International, and District Governor Stan Evanson, who presented the Club with its charter. The Club received several gifts from Rotary Clubs in District 707 including:
A bell and gavel from the Toronto club,
A Rotary banner from the Peterborough Club,
A speaker’s rostrum from the Oshawa Club
A Union Jack and staff from the Fairbank Rotary Club, and
A United Nations flag and staff from the Armour Heights Rotary Club.
These were all gratefully accepted.
The charter members of the Rotary Club of Forest will were
Walter C. BarberLeonard Briard
Morley SparlingPhillip Ahier
John HawkinsLeonard Archer
Donald WilsonJohn Bennett

Manson SloanGeorge Bilton

W. Gordon FraserCurrey Bulmer

Christopher C. ThompsonHugh Cameron

Floyd SnetsingerJack Coopman

Wilfred GilesD. Allan House

Donald McKagueJohn Nagel

Sutherland Urquart

The first project of the newly chartered Rotary Club was the purchase of a special stool for a crippled child. Funds were raised by selling tickets for a “turkey draw” which was held on December 11, 1952. Although this initial support was modest, it was the beginning of the Club’s long close association with the Crippled Children’s Society- now known as The Easter Seal Society. This association has seen the Club support the Society not only with financing but also by the purchase of various pieces of equipment and volunteer work by some members.

On January 15, 1953, eight new members were inducted into the Club bringing the membership to 29. At the same meeting, the Club initiated the tradition of having piano music for the member’s enjoyment during their meal. During January, the Club also established another tradition by publishing and mailing its first Club paper or bulletin to all members. In February, the Club initiated its first ladies day meeting which in later years was held at lunch on the Thursday closest to Valentine’s Day. Traditionally, this luncheon meeting was sponsored and run by the wives of the members who formed their own group known as the Inner Wheel. The name of the ladies group was derived from the Rotary emblem which is a wheel.
On April 23, 1953, the Club held its first large fund raising project, a car raffle. Throughout the following years, the Club held car raffles on many different occasions, some of which were more financially successful than others.
The Rotary Club of Forest Hill’s first year of operation saw the establishment of a membership base committed to ensuring that the Club had well established roots which would help it to grow and prosper in the future. Many Club traditions were formulated during the first year, and most of these are still observed
Chapter II- The Fifties

As noted in Chapter 1, the Club’s first major fund raising event involved selling raffle tickets for a new car. The Club purchased a 1953 Dodge Regent Sedan for $2,312. After paying for the car and various other expenses associated with the raffle, the Club realized a profit of $2,405. Strangely enough, despite the fact that the cost of a new car increased by three or four times in the 1970’s and 80’s, the actual profit on car raffles during these later years was about the same.
During the 50’s, attendance at the weekly meetings was excellent and in fact, during many of those years, the Club’s annual average attendance exceeded 90%. During 1957, the executive even went so far as to approach members who consistently left meetings after the lunch, but before the speaker had given his address. It is obvious from the attendance records, as well as from this little anecdote that attendance during this period of the Club’s history was very important and the attendance rules were stringently enforced.
During 1957, the Club supported a Careers Day at Bathurst Heights Collegiate and Vocational Institute. The Club became involved in various international student projects which were a major activity of Rotary International. The club has continued its active support in this aspect of Rotary’s international service.
It was during this decade that the club first had a Salvation Army Officer as a member. As a matter of fact, in 1957, two Salvation Army Officers were members of the Rotary Club of Forest Hill!
In 1958, the Club became a 100% member of the Rotary Foundation; a designation based upon achieving a certain monetary level of support. This was the beginning of a long history of support for the Rotary Foundation, one of the major service activities of Rotary International.
During 1953, the Club mailed out 4,600 letters to local households asking support for the Easter Seal Campaign of the Crippled Children’s Society. This annual project saw the participation of all the members in a one night envelope “stuffing bee”. In addition to preparing the 4,600 letters and Easter Seals for mailing, it was the major fellowship event of this year. This annual project continued into the 1960’s and ended only because the Crippled Children’s Society took over the Easter Seal mailing from the various service clubs who had previously done the job.

By late 1953, the membership of the Club had grown to 44, a net increase of 23 over the original 21 charter members. In just over one year, the club had doubled its membership!
In 1954, the Club in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Toronto Sponsored a Hollywood Ice Review at Maple Leaf Gardens, selling 996 tickets for a profit of $326. The fund raising report on this project noted that half of the tickets were sold by only 17% of the members with 21% of the Club members selling no tickets and 62% selling the other half.
In the late 1950’s, the Club moved its meeting place from Benny’s to the North Toronto YMCA on Eglinton Avenue, east of Yonge Street. In 1959 the Club moved to the Penthouse Room of the Noshery Restaurant on Eglinton Avenue about two blocks west of Avenue Road. The Club continued to meet there until the later 1970’s. During 1959 it is interesting to note that lunch cost $1.50 for a full course meal. By 1980, a meal such as this was costing members $8.00.

The closing of the 1950’s found the Club prospering on many fronts. Its membership had more than doubled in its first eight years and was on an upward trend. Many of the Club’s ongoing projects found their successful beginnings in the 1950’s. This decade saw the building of a solid foundation of activities and services for the Rotary Club of Forest Hill. The standards and achievements established by the charter members of the Club during the 50’s became the basis for the Club’s operations in the following years. They continue today as a tribute to the charter members to whom the Club will always be grateful.
Chapter III- The Sixties

The 1960’s saw the Club membership grow to a high of 70 members in 1969. Attendance at meetings was still good with between 55 and 60 members and Rotarians attending weekly.
The year 1966 was significant in the Club’s history because the Club’s name was changed from the Rotary Club of Forest Hill to the Rotary Club of Toronto- Forest Hill. This change in name was made to recognize that the Village of Forest Will had been amalgamated with the City of Toronto in 1967. The new name more closely described the Club’s association with the City of Toronto.
During this decade, many more of the Club’s new members came from outside the residential and business district of Forest Hill. Although each may draw its members, the increasing mobility of individuals living in and around Toronto made it difficult to enforce such a rule. As the years passed an increasing number of members had their place of business and their residence outside the Club’s so called membership district. They were able to become members and attend the weekly meetings because of the easy access to the Club by public transportation or their own car. It was evident that they were members because of the food fellowship found in the Club and because of the size of its membership which enabled them to get to know all the members.

In 1966, our Club forwarded a resolution to Rotary International for presentation at the International Convention proposing that the good health of mankind should become one of Rotary’s prime objectives. Although the resolution did not make it to the floor of the convention, it is interesting to note the progressive thinking of our Club at the time. This is borne out by the fact that in 1980 Rotary International adopted the 3H Program of Heather, Hunger and Humanity, a program encompassing some of the ideas out Club proposed 14 years previously.

The sixties saw the initiation of a variety of fund raising and fellowship events. These included the sale of Christmas Cakes, a night at the races, and a party for crippled children, an annual B.B.Q. and a bridge night. Some of these continue to this day, while others have been replaced by other events.

In 1969, the Club founded its first Interact Club at Upper CanadaCollege. Subsequently, a combined Interact Club was formed at Bishop Strachen- Havergal College. At the time our Club was a forerunner in the formation and support of our youth through Interact, a club for teenagers established by Rotary in high schools. This support continues to the present. Three other clubs in the district 7070 area have followed out example and established Interact Clubs.

The 1960’s saw the recognition of Rotary-Ann’s as part of Rotary. This organization which is composed of the wives of Rotary members and meets on a periodic basis is called the Inner Wheel. Rotary-Anns sponsor their own events as well as assist their Rotary husbands in other fund raising and fellowship events. Apparently, the term Rotary-Ann arose when a Rotarian took his wife to a meeting for the first time and her name was Ann!

In 1969, out Club’s method of Supporting the Crippled Children’s Society changed. Previously, our Club raised and disbursed funds on behalf of the Society; these funds being segregated from other funds raised and disbursed by the Club during the year. In 1969, the Club’s participation in the work of Crippled Children’s Society became more indirect. The Club was no longer responsible for raising and disbursing funds. Instead, funds raised by the Club were forwarded directly to the Society, and the Society in turn made available to the Club, a lump sum amount to be disbursed by the Club on the recommendations of the Society. Although many members disagreed with this chance in our participation, the Club’s support of the Crippled Children’s Society continued as in prior years with donations of funds and equipment.
By the end of the decade, initiation fees had been increased to $75 with $10 of this amount designated for Rotary International. The annual fee was $50 and the luncheon costs ranged from $3.00 to $3.50.

In August of 1965, the Club arranged for a meeting to be held on the Harbour Commission boat, Shiawassic. The meeting was to begin at 12:30, end at 2:00 p.m. and was to include lunch aboard the boat. Believe it or not, the cruise had to be cancelled because of the fog and the members ended up eating lunch at the Harbour Commissions office. One month later, at the Harbour Commissions invitation, an evening meeting was held on the same boat which included members and their wives.

The 1960’s witnessed a lot of inter-club activities in the Toronto area. Corn roasts, barbeques and race nights were open to all Clubs. In October 1965, 25 members of the Toronto Club attended out luncheon. All told, there were 95 present including 48 visiting Rotarians and guests including the 25 noted about from the Toronto Club. This was the largest attendance at a regular meeting out Club has to date.

One of the major projects undertaken by our Club in the 1960’s was support for the Harold King Farm at Keswick, a rehabilitation centre for ex-prisoners. Not only did out Club provide funds for the Centre, but also gifts of clothing, equipment, a refrigerator, and even an old used car were donated. There was a lot of participation by members of the Club on this project during the years 1964-1966. This was a project which saw many of our members involved directly with visits to the Centre as well as meeting with Harold King, his wife and the men they were trying to help. Unfortunately, the Harold King Farm had to close shortly after the death of Harold King, its founder and moving force.

In 1965, the Club held its 11th annual fishing trip. This was strictly a fellowship event and included Rotarians, sons, and friends. Throughout the years, Club members stayed at a number of fishing camps and as is true with all fishing trips, sometimes the stories were larger than the fish. The Club held its last regular fishing trip in 1975. Not only had interested waned, but many of the members were saddened by the tragic drowning of one of the Club’s members during an earlier trip. It was not until 1982 that the Club once again organized a fishing trip.

In addition to the projects previously discussed during this decade out Club was involved with several large fund raising and charitable projects; one the likes of which has not been seen since.

In association with the Rotary Clubs of Toronto-Armour Heights, Toronto-Eglinton, Toronto-Fairbanks, and Toronto-Willowdale, out Club oversaw the raising of $465,000 to build the Rotary School for Retarded Children in North York. This syndicate of Rotary Clubs also had active support from the Metropolitan Toronto Council, the Department of Education of Ontario and the North York Board of Education. This project was unique because it was the first school for retarded children to be established in Toronto which was not sponsored or developed by the Retarded Children’s Association.