Showing 819 results

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : 4-H Club Year End

Cookstown Public School was quite active last Saturday afternoon as over 100 women and girls attended the 4-H activity day, put on by 4-H girls from Bradford, Ivy, Beeton, Everitt, Bond Head, Tottenham, and Hill and Valley groups.

The girls put on charades about etiquette, discussed judging and arranging of flowers, and gave plans for arranging a birthday party, and voted on next year's projects which will have a definite focus on living involving spring cotton reviews.

In the afternoon the girls record books were on display for the mothers to enjoy, and they also showed their decorated boxes which were made to hold reference files. Plays and exhibits were offered in both serious and funny presentations in order to draw attention to the fun that can be enjoyed while serious learning is taking place.

Most of the theme centered around manners, etiquette and table setting. Comments were made to the girls by visiting home economists to assist them in future clubwork, and the Bradford leaders Mrs. Swan and Mrs. Klop were quite proud of the achievements of their girls.

Projects awards were given to DonnaLee Lloyd, Nancy Jean Clubine, Lynda Slingerland, and Cathy Lewis. Achievement awards were given to Judy McArthur, Lyna McVety, Susan Robertson, and Ellen Masin, and Linda McArthur. Now the girls can go on and work toward receiving County and Provincial awards in the years to come.

Retiring After 31 Years Brings Her Mixed Emotions
By John Slykhuis

After 31 years of teaching about 1,000 pupils at Bradford Public School, Barbara Stewart is retiring at the end of this school year. It's a thought that brings a mixture of emotions for her. One one hand is the anticipation of doing the things she has been dreaming of for years: travelling extensively in winter and relaxing at her cottage in Minden in summer. On the other hand: "I'm going to miss the children," she admits, "And the staff too. I have many good friends here." Her last class, she says, is particularly special. "I'm really enjoying this last class. This is one of the nicest classes I've ever taught." This Grade 3 class, like the one she started with in 1941, is small and close, almost like a family. She had 13 children to teach in a small one room schoolhouse in Markham Township that first year, and they represented all eight grades. Five years later, she started at the old Bradford Public School, and she has been here ever since. There are so many memories here for Miss Stewart that it is difficult for her to pick out any one, but one does stand out in her mind. Several years ago, the Lions Club of Bradford brought over a crippled girl from India, Vanita Khubchandi, to have an operation at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. While here, she attended Miss Stewart's Grade 7 class. "She came every morning in an ambulance on a stretcher. She had to lie flat on her back all the time...The children really took to her." Then the day arrived for her operation. "The biggest thrill was the day she walked back into the classroom. Oh, the children were so excited. They had a party for her." Miss Stewart still hears from her occasionally and reports that she is walking well and has just finished high school. There are other memories too: walking through snow bank in the early years only to find out when she arrives that the school was closed; teaching her favorite subject, music; and taking the girls' choir to Newmarket where it won first prize. She taught a huge 45-pupil Grade 4-5 class a few years ago ("that was the most challenging and the most rewarding"), and watched the growth of children just arrived from other countries ("It was most rewarding to see them learn the language and go on to do well"). And what about the modern school system? "Well, I approve of the new standard of reporting the progress of a child. But I would far sooner talk to the parents. It's better than any report card. You find out so much more about the child." She adds however, "I believe in marking. I don't see how you can teach without it." Home for Miss Stewart is Markham, where she spends every weekend with her family, and until recently she was the organist at the Markham Presbyterian Church. "I retired as the organist last June. I guess you could say I'm tearing up all my roots...no, routines. I'm tearing up all my old routines." Although she is leaving Bradford for good at the end of this school year, Miss Stewart has reassured her friends that she will be coming back often to visit.

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : Former Teacher Gets Queen's Jubilee Medal

Miss Barbara Stewart, former Bradford public school teacher, has been awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal.

Miss Stewart, who retired last year after 36 years of teaching, said from her Markham home Friday, "I don't know how I got it or who recommended me. It came by registered mail last month and it was a complete surprise."

She joins Bradford lawyer Charles Evans as a recipient of the medal, awarded to persons who have made outstanding contributions to the community.

She said she had just returned from a trip to Germany, and would soon go back to Bradford public school for a day to tell the students about her trip.

As for retirement, "I'm just loving every bit of it."

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : Firemen Handle A Call A Week
By John Slykhuis

The 23-man Bradford volunteer fire brigade handled 46 fire calls during 1976, Fire Chief Harold "Butch" Boyd reports.

That's almost one fire a week, and while most of those blazes were of the minor variety, they kept the men busy.

In addition to protecting Bradford and part of West Gwillimbury, the Bradford firemen also participate in one practice a week, every Monday evening.

The weekly drill includes fire extinguishing practice, movies, and lectures on new fire fighting techniques - all designed to keep the men abreast of the new technology.

The department is equipped with four trucks, a 1955 pumper truck, a 1969 pumper, a 1975 water truck, a 1969 rescue van, all crammed with the latest equipment including power packs, resuscitators, ladders and thousands of feet of hose.

Last year the men also acquired pager communicator units, eliminating the noisey fire alarm downtown and ensuring that every fireman gets the fire call.

Chief Boyd said that when someone detects a fire and calls the emergency number, 775-2121, a switchboard operator hooked into the pager system will immediately call the firemen.

According to Chief Boyd, one of the major causes of fired in Bradford is careless smoking and he urges families to "sit down and plan a route of escape when there is a fire."

He said not enough people plan for such an emergency, and therefore they needlessly endanger their lives.

He had a special message for Bradford residents who live in high rise apartment buildings.

If you detect fire, sound the alarm. If you are in your apartment and you hear the alarm, firs feel the hall door. If it is hot, don't open it.

If smoke begins to trickle under the door, stuff wet rags under it.

The chief said the most dangerous part of any fire is the smoke, which actually causes the majority of the fatalities.

In his 40-year career with the Bradford fire department, Harold Boyd has seen a lot of fired but he remember the February 1, 1959, blaze as the most severe.

"That was a rough one," the chief recalled. "It was so cold, we had to get buckets of hot water from housewives to thaw the equipment."

That fire destroyed the entire block of stores between Evans and Evans to the old Bank of Commerce building.

It took the men all afternoon and most of the night to extinguish it.

The Bradford fire department was well-equipped to handle that blaze, and now, 18 years later, Chief Boyd said, it is better equipped and trained than ever.

It's a comforting thought.

This article was found in the Bradford Womens Institute Scrapbooks.

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : Leone Cook of Bradford died last week at the age of 76.

Mrs. Cook, wife of the late Fred. C. Cook, participated in the opening of the senior public school named for her husband last month.

An active member of Trinity Anglican Church, she played the organ, taught Sunday School, and worked on the Altar Guild.

She also played the piano at the monthly service at the TLC nursing home.

A spontaneous, moving speech by Mrs. Cook, the first of her life, was the highlight of the official opening ceremony of the school.

She received a bouquet of carnations from the students of the school and a standing ovation.

The funeral service was held at Trinity Anglican Church on Saturday, and Mrs. Cook was buried in St. Paul's Cemetery at Coulson's Hill.

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : Mayor Gordon: "I'll be tough"

"I'll be tough when I have to be tough," Bradford Mayor Roy Gordon said after taking the oath of office in the community centre Monday night.

Mayor Gordon succeeds Joe Maganni Bradford's mayor of 16 years who announced his retirement last fall.

"I want the people of Bradford to get involved in the operation of the town," Mayor Gordon told the 60 people who braved snowy streets to attend the inauguration. "We need to be told if we're doing things right or wrong."

Mayor Gordon, along with the rest of council, was sworn in by lawyer Charles Evans described by Mr. Magani as the "Father of Bradford."

Councillors sworn in were Zyg Fenik, Sandy Hudson, Rick Wright and John Zima. Reeve Ken Wood and Deputy-reeve Milt Hambley also took office Monday night.

Budd Robson, Gordon Bantam, James Church, and Keith Stevens were sworn in for another term on the Bradford Public Utilities Commission.

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : Town Gathers for Joe Magani

"I don't know if I really deserve all this, just because I gave a stinkin' 20 years of my life to the town." - Joe Magani, January 28, 1977.

More than 180 persons were on hand at the Bradford
Community Centre Friday night to honor "Uncle Joe" Magani on his retirement from 20 years in Bradford politics, the last 16 of those as mayor.

Reeve Ken Wood was chairman for the evening, and he opened the meeting by introducing head tables guests, and then handed the microphone over to Charlie Evans, former reeve, county warden and town solicitor for Bradford.

Mr. Evans conveyed apologies on behalf of former Ontario Lieutenant-Governor Earl Rowe who was unable to attend because of the storm.

"Earl told me to say he's sorry that he and his wife couldn't come because he would have loved to be here tonight," said Mr. Evans.

He went on to read a message from Mr. Rowe: "Joe should be commended for his tremendous service to the community of Bradford, and Bradford is a much better place because Joe Magani lived here."

Mr. Rowe's statement was greeted by warm applause from the audience.

Continuing, Mr. Evans said, "I sure would like to pay tribute to our guest of honor. I sure would have liked to see Joe's mother here tonight, but I understand he ordered there was no way she was to come out on the roads tonight.

"Joe's mother would sure be proud and pleased with her little boy tonight," he added, and this was also applauded.

He pointed out that Mr. Magani had been involved in municipal politics for more than one-eighth of Bradford's life, and that he had been mayor for more than one-ninth of its life as a municipality.

"I have been close friends with Joe for a long time, and any good things for Bradford, one of the guys in there on top was Uncle Joe," he said.

Mayor Roy Gordon was then called upon to present Mr. Magani with a set of monogrammed golf clubs.

Mr. Evans quipped, "Well, Joe, I gave you lessons with these (the clubs) 30 years ago, and I'll be glad to give you more lessons."

The microphone was then turned over to the guest of honor, and he said, "I heard a few rumours about this...that's beautiful. First of all, I want to thank you all. That's a beautiful gift... I don't know if I really deserve all this, just because I gave a stinkin' 20 years of my life to the town."

"I don't know if you know it or not, but these (golf) clubs are the best in the world. I really love all of you, and I think you're fantastic people. I just don't know how to thank you."

Chairman Ken Wood then called on Bradford Fire Chief Harold "Butch" Boyd to make another presentation.

Mr. Boyd said, "We have a little gift here for Uncle Joe. He's been tellin' me what to do for the last 20 years and I've had to go along with it...And now I've got him on the spot, I don't know what to say."

The gift from the firefighters was a gold-plated fire helmet naming Mr. Magani as honorary chief of the Bradford Fire Department.

"By the way, ladies and gentlemen, we've got the best fire department in the province of Ontario. And I said that before I got this gift." said Mr. Magani. "You know, I've always wanted one of these," he added as he placed the helmet on his head.

Spotting former fire chief, Ted Gapp in the audeince, he said, "Hey Gapp, now I'm in the same class as you."

Mr. Gapp replied, "Joe, you always backed the fire department 100 percent, but I remember one time when I was manager of a ball team and you thoght you were a ballplayer."

Mr. Boyd said, "Joe, the first good Sunday that you're home I'll let you wear that hat and drive the fire truck."

Mr. Magani replies, "I really thank you from the bottom of my heart."

He went on to introduce his daughter, Denise, and her husband, Mike Gasko, as well as other relatives and close friends. "But you know, the closest family I have," he said with an expansive gesture, "they're all here."

Mayor Gordon was then introduced, and he said, "I think Joe Magani is a super guy, and I can't say enough about him. He's a lovely guy, and I'm not gonna miss him because I'm gonna get him to do a whole bunch of things."

Turning to Mr. Magani, he said, "I think you're the father of Bradford."

Simcoe Centre MPP Art Evans said, "I have played golf, baseball and hockey with Joe, and we've been on council together. Joe was a driving force behind our centennial.

"But I probably know a few more things about Joe than you do," he added, and recounted a couple of anecdotes about Mr. Magani.

Mr. Evans told about one morning when a group of gentlemen shaved all the hair off the former mayor's chest.

Noting that "those are big shoes Roy Gordon has to fill," Mr. Evans recounted another story about the time they sent Mr. Magani's golf shoes floating down a creek.

In concluding address, he said "Joe mentioned those golf clubs were the best in the world. Well, I think Joe Magani's the best in the world."

West Gwillimbury Reeve John Fennell said, "Joe always laid his cards on the table. We always knew what Bradford wanted and what West Gwillimbury wanted.

"Joe was always as close as the telephone, and we knew we could always get some good advice. I hope you'll have many happy years here in Bradford, and knowing you, you'll be involved. So if you can't phone us, maybe you can write us," he said, and presented Mr. Magani with a pen and pencil set on behalf of the township council.

Former county warden and West Gwillimbury reeve Orville Hughes said, "I know they talk about you and I retiring, Joe, and I hope they mean from politics. Because unless you made a lot more money in politics than I did, we're not ready to retire yet."

Chairman Mr. Wood adjourned the meeting, and the evening continued with dancing till the early hours.

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : Bradford High Thanks Women's Institute for Tree
By Carol Simone

The Bradford Women's Institute has received a thank-you note from Bradford District High School for the mountain ash the institute donated for the school's Arbor Day project.

The women chose a mountain ash because it also provides berries for feeding wild birds in the area.

The women discussed their upcoming trip to Toronto to see a musical at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, and Mrs. H. Steyn and Mrs. S. Klop volunteered to work on the York County hospital cart for the next while.

Guest speaker for the meeting was district president Mrs. Paul Tipping who told the group how women's right have changed over the past years.

The next meeting will feature a pot luck lunch at the home of Shirley Carter. New members are always welcomed and this will be at 1 p.m. on June 20 at Apartment 106, 200 Holland Court. The topic will be educational and cultural.

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : A Glimpse of History

When Lucy Shepherd (nee Fairbank) lived in the old Steel House at Steel's Corners (Highway 11 and Concession 14), she and her siblings discovered a dusty, calfbound volume in the attic of the home.

They played with the book, wrote in a few I.O.U.s and admired the elegant handwriting. It wasn't until years later, long after the Steel House had been torn down for the widening of Highway 11, that Shepherd realized she had something out of the ordinary.

The book turned out to be the Day book of blacksmith John Steel. Dating from 18855 to 1869, it itemizes the daily and monthly accounts of residents like Robert Kneeshaw, Joseph Fennel, James and Robert Bell.

Prices ranged from 10 cents to mend a pitchfork and 25 cents to replace a horseshoe, to $1.75 for repairs to a "thrashing mashen" (threshing machine). The accounts also contain a price list for construction materials for a new home in the late 1860's - including $123.41 for lumber, $19.50 for hardware, and $11.51 for the glass and "putey".

The prices seem unimaginably low by today's standards, and it is a surprise to note that over the 14 years spanned by the accounts, the blacksmith's prices did not go up.

Municipality :
Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
Lot :
Concession :
Description : When I was about 18 years old I worked for the Bradford Fish Company which was owned by a man by the name of Jack Spencer who lived on Barrie Street. This was about 1924 or there about. At that time we were living on the 14th concession of West Gwillimbury about three miles from Gilford.

The main fish that we were fishing for was carp, a fish that was in great demand by the Jewish people. The carp was a fish that lived mainly on the roots of wild rice which was quite plentiful in the bay at that time. They also ate the rice that fell off the stalks when ripe. For this reason the carp had to burrow into the bottom of the bay and into the mud to get their food. This is why the flesh had a muddy taste when eaten, although I have eaten carp and the gentleman that was the cook for the company seemed to know how to cook it. He used to boil it right in quart sealers. He may have added something to it but he never told us his secret. I really believe that a lot of the cheap salmon that was available in those days was really carp.

At the end of the road at Gilford the company had three buildings - cook and bunkhouse, a boathouse, and a large building just north of the Gilford road which was used as a work shop and a place to store ice used to pack the fish. The fish had to be alive when they reached their destination as they had to be killed by a Rabbi. The carp was a fish that would live for a long time and when packed in ice would live when shipped away as far as New York.

When the ice was 24 inches deep (and I have known it to be 30 inches), we would have to store about a thousand blocks and when packed in sawdust and well covered it would last until well on into the next summer.

We had a large ice crusher in this building which would crush the ice into small particles with which to pack the fish. The fish were shipped in boxes that held 100 pounds. They were about three feet long and around 30 inches wide usually made of hardwood lumber. When it was stormy or too rough to fish on the open water we used to put in our time at making these boxes.

In the fall the first thing to do before the bay froze over was to drive down poles into the bottom of the lake in the areas where we intended to fish under the ice. Then we built a platform and a shelter large enough to hold the machinery and a large reel on which the nets could be stored. A slide was built from the front of the platform down to the bottom of the bay. This was used to haul the net up onto the platform.

As soon as the ice was thick enough to hold a man (about two inches of good blue ice) the first thing to do was to run ropes under the ice out to each of the corner posts that had been driven into the bay before freezeup. This was accomplished by using a pine board about six inches wide and around 10 or 12 feet long with a rope attached. Starting at the platform we would cut a hole and put the board under the ice and with a pike pole shove it as far as we could in the direction of the first corner post. Then we cut another hole and gave the board with the rope attached to it, another shot forward. This was done until we reached the first corner post, about 500 feet away from the platform. With a pulley we continued joining the posts by rope.

By the end, we had a way of pulling the net out from under the ice. The nets were known as seine nets and were about 300 yards long with lead weights on the bottom of them so that it would sweep the bottom of the bay. Cork floats were on the top of it to make it float to the top of the water.

As the net was hauled around to each of these posts a man had to be there to take the rope out of the pulley and put another rope, which was attached to the front of the net, through the pulley. When finished, we had a net that would sweep a swath at least 300 yards wide in a semi circle.

The fish would as a rule, swim back towards the centre of the net so if the net was pretty well all back to the platform before you saw how many fish you were pretty near certain that your catch wasn't very large, perhaps only two or three hundred pounds.

Of course there are almost always certain fish in the catch that had to be thrown back as it wasn't legal to fish with a seine net for game fish such as muskilunge, bass, pickerel or whitefish. Sometimes you would get no carp at all but maybe three or four hundred pounds of mullets or suckers and perch. These were all saleable. We also also used to get a lot of what we called dog fish. There was no market for them so we just threw them out on the ice for the gulls to eat. The proper name for them was Ling and I understand that now in some places they are called a delicacy and there is quite a demand for them.

The largest haul of carp that we got while I was working there was something over 40 tons in one haul. It took us two days and one night to empty them out of the net.

As we did not always have orders every day for fish, we had to make wide slatted crates 12 foot by 6 foot that sunk in the ice and down in the water When the fish were stored in them the fresh water flowed through them at all times. This way if we had a few days when we didn't get many fish but had some orders, we always had the crates of fish to fall back on.

Our main camp and cookhouse was situated just at the mouth of the river where it enters the bay. Our cook was a man from Bradford, George McDonald. We received $15 a week and our board which in those days was considered pretty good wages. On Saturday night when we were paid the first money I spent was to stop at he Gilford store and buy 25 cents worth of chocolate bars, six for 25 cents and about three times as large as what you would pay 45 cents for today.

As soon as it looked like the ice was going to break up in the spring we would carry a long pole with us in case we happened to step on a place where the ice was rotten. I remember one chap who worked with us used to walk to the store at Gilford almost every night and one night when the ice was getting soft in spots, he decided he wanted to go to the store and he wanted someone to go with him. We told him it was too dangerous and he said we were afraid and he was going anyways. So off he went and about 300 yards from the camp with us standing the veranda watching him, down he went. Well he got out all right and when he saw us watching he didn't turn back but kept right on going.

The same chap thought he was a little bit better than the rest of us. Most of us, when we were finished for the night would take off our hip rubber boots and walk around in our stocking feet, but he had to wear a pair of slippers all the time. So one night when he had gone to the store someone got some tacks and nailed his slippers to the floor. Well when he came home we were all in bed but not sleeping and he went to put on his slippers and the air was blue so he just ripped them up and left the tacks in the floor.

When we fished in the spring and fall in open water we just loaded the net into a seine boat and with a couple of men rowing the boat, a couple more would lay the net out. I remember one time when fishing in the open water the net got caught on a log or a stump and we had to pull it all up by hand. By the time we had it loaded, the back end of the board was just about two inches out of the water. That was one time that I would much sooner have been on dry land.

In the spring of the year when the water was fairly high the land which is now built up with cottages used to flood and the carp would go up into the water holes there and on the marsh to spawn. We used to have to go around with dip nets and catch them.

The female fish were called sows and they often weighed as much as 35 lbs. It didn't take many of them to fill a box.

If we only had an order for five or ten boxes, we would ship them by express but I know we would sometimes get an order for a freight car load.

The first foreman that I know of when the business started was Foxy Bantam. He was the father of Helen Bantam and Gordon Bantam. He was killed one Sunday while driving around the lake in a motor boat when a thunderstorm came up and he was struck by lightning.

When I worked there the foreman was Edmond Gibbons who now lived in Lefroy and is well over 90 years of age. He was an older brother of Leanord Gibbons who lived in Bradford.

Mr. Spencer quit the fishing business in Bradford and sold out to the late Dodger Collings who carried it on for a year or two. I think when Mr. Collings was running the business the dealers from Toronto used to come up with water tanks and transport the fish that way.

As the lakeshore property was developed around Gilford, and the reeds and wild rice were cut down, the carp population declined. It is now pretty well cleaned out.