GHS - Newsletter
June 2009 Issue #58
Our masthead photo features our youngest member, Olivia Newport. Here’s why:
“Adelaide Hunter Hoodless: Educator and Reformer is an award winning Heritage Project by
Olivia Newport. Olivia is a 12 year old grade 6 student at Corpus Christi School. The idea for the
project was initiated when Olivia attended a Glanbrook Heritage Society meeting and heard
about Adelaide Hoodless from a member of the Stoney Creek Women’s Institute. Olivia researched
her project for historical information by visiting and speaking to the curators at the Erland Lee
Museum in Stoney Creek and the Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead in St.George.
Olivia’s school holds a heritage fair for grades 4 to 6 students. The fair provides the opportunity
for the children to exhibit and present their projects to students and parents. The projects are judged and the school winner represents him or herself and the school at the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional
Historica Fair. Olivia’s project was selected and went on to the Regional Fair where the projects
are displayed and scored by various judges. The scoring includes display, research, and the ability
to present and answer questions about their project.
Of all the projects, Olivia’s won 1st place. This provides her with the opportunity to represent our
region and the province of Ontario at the National Historical Fair in Ottawa this July.”
Congratulations, Olivia, from the Society!!
Another item to note in the masthead is the address. Our mailing address for the Society
has changed from P.O. Box 88 to 4280 Binbrook Road. Post office and postal code are unchanged.
The rental charge for a box has now gone to $120 per year - too much!
While we’re talking money, there are a couple of items that we want to cover. With a couple
of major programmes that we’ll address later, there was a need for a laptop computer and scanner
requirement. That prompted an eight hundred dollar purchase and we’re now under way with them.
To maintain some (minor) cash flow, we would like the 2009 memberships ($15 for a year) to be submitted.
To be diplomatic about this, we’ve published two newsletters, whose contents are the same with the exception of a note to those members who, according to our records, still need a 2009 renewal.
See the end of the newsletter.
Now, we’ll get on to the “projects.” The laptop requirement was prompted by the photo collection
at Barton Stone United church. This was put together by Gordon Allison in the 1980's and ‘90's,
consisting of over 3,000 items, mostly photos and news clippings about the church, its members
and the Ryckman’s Corners area, which includes a portion of the former Glanford Township. Over
time, the collection has started to deteriorate and some preservation must be done. Eventually,
major conservation should be done, but that’s not our immediate concern. The “compromise” is that
the Society has offered to scan the material, catalogue the entries and provide an electronic
copy to the church. Portable scanning is necessary since the church is reluctant to have the collection
leave the premises. No problem - we’ll go to them!
Therefore, a laptop and a scanner, plus a lot of volunteer time. We have found three photos
that are of particular interest to the history of Glanford. Two are of a now-demolished house on
the former Hendry horse farm, Upper James near Twenty Road. It’s listed in our building inventory
but more photos are always welcome. The third photo is an Allison house at Ryckman’s Corners,
c. 1940, approximately at the corner of Upper James and Kennedy. Help with a database is still a
requirement, so - if you can help, then, our request is: HELP!!
The second project has been interesting, to say the least. It started over two years ago as an
update of the 1984 inventory of historic buildings. No problem, just verify what’s there and what
isn’t. It wasn’t that simple but to illustrate what we’ve run into, consider the two photos below.
Do these houses look like pre-1920 houses as per the criteria? They were not in our inventory and the
problem arose when the address of one showed up on an earlier survey, listing the construction date as 1865, no other information. The history, as we found out from the current owners, was that these two
buildings were once joined as one, a general store on Hwy. #6 at Haldibrook Road. It was moved to
Airport Road in the 1950's, split in two and here’s the result. No wonder we’re losing hair over the
update. The good news is that, of 460 entries, we have less than 20 to verify.
A third major project is the sorting and eventual publication of Hugh Brown’s collection of
material on the Glanbrook war veterans. We’ve done a preliminary estimate and “Volume 1", or
WWI, has over 160 double-sided pages of information on the vets (We’re not even thinking
of WWII yet!!). Some help is required for these and other Society job lists, so don’t hesitate
to volunteer to assist.
Browsing through the Society’s photo collection, we found this one, taken November 9, 2000.
It’s the last Glanbrook Township council, before the “a” word took effect.
Here’s an update on the summer/fall social events for the Society. We usually take things
easy over the summer so it’s a shortened list.
Monday, June 22: Annual strawberry social at the Villages of Glancaster club house, 7:00 PM. It’s
quite easy to find; Twenty Road west of Upper James, between Garth Street and Glancaster Road.
As you enter the complex, the club house is directly ahead, can’t miss it.
Friday-Sunday, September 18-20: Binbrook Fall Fair. Each year, the Society has had a display table
for this weekend and we’ll be looking for volunteers to play host at our display. It’s usually
three hours at a time. Hours are (approximately) 5PM-10 PM, Friday; 10AM-10PM, Saturday;10AM-6PM, Sunday.
Monday October 19: Monthly meeting, Orchard Court, 2800 Library Lane, Binbrook, 7:30 PM
Monday, November 16: Monthly meeting, St.Paul’s Glanford Anglican church, 2869 Upper
James St., Mount Hope, 7:30 PM.
No note, so your membership is ok.