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• held ten board meetings at monthly intervals. Individual directors try to attend as many other programmed events at the fort as their time allows. • convened meetings of our Precinct Advisory Committee to deal with issues such as an OMB appeal from the owners of 65 Grand Magazine St. for greater height; Councillor Layton’s proposal for a park at 28 Bathurst St.; and the completion of a computer model of the fort precinct by Samuel Vandersluis, a graduate student at Ryerson. His work was grant-aided by the George C. Metcalf Foundation. • expected our Finance Committee to report regularly on its oversight of our investment portfolio. • participated in planning for The Bentway (formerly Project: Under Gardiner) by attending community consultation and briefing sessions. The fort staff is also heavily involved in the project. • invited members of The Friends to a reception and chief curator’s tour of the new exhibits in the Visitor Centre. • accepted with regret Geordie Beal’s decision to retire after twenty years of exemplary service and wise counsel on the board; welcomed two new directors (Mike McDonnell and Tyler Wentzell) joining the board. • felt enormous pride in the Fort York Guard’s winning the arms drill, marching, and perfect volley competitions at Fort George, Niagara. The Guard also appeared in a commercial for Sick Kids’ Hospital. Responsibility for the Guard is shared between the City of Toronto and The Friends who provided about half its operating budget this year. • published four issues of The Fife & Drum, full of news and articles of interest about the fort. Some two dozen different authors had bylines in the issues of 2016. • received Heritage Toronto’s Community Heritage Award, with special mention of Fife & Drum, now in its twentieth year.
• asked readers of Fife & Drum with journalistic skills to volunteer for our Editorial Committee. • our volunteers in the Resource Centre devoted a day a week to organizing the collections of reference materials for the use of fort staff and visitors. Much of the last year was spent accessioning the research papers of David Spittal following his retirement. • revised the protocols covering our website in consultation with city officials, which will lead to a newly-designed opening page. • converted our Fife & Drum mailing lists to ‘Mail Chimp’ to take advantage of its stronger platform. In doing so, we weeded out several hundred obsolete addresses and now send about 2130 issues a quarter. Others receive F&D from friends or by groups they belong to. • began converting our membership records, including renewal notices, to an electronic data base. • said adieu to four members of the Guard who retired in 2016: Drum Major Eamonn O’Keeffe (an eleven-year veteran), Sergeant Conran Cosgrove (six years), Marika Pynn (four years), and Michael Locksley (four years). Their experience and contributions are going to be greatly missed. • tallied 80,000 hits on our website www.fortyork.ca, 360,000 hits since its launch May 2012. The site continues to be a source of donations; it enables new subscribers to sign up for our newsletter; and helps new members join and old ones renew their memberships. • having initiated citizenship ceremonies at Fort York eight years ago, we continue to assist with organizing two ceremonies each year. They are well-received and include speakers from governments and Indigenous groups, as well as past immigrants. The ceremonies are complemented by a memorable luncheon featuring moose or bison stew, as well as vegetarian options. • organized a supper on a cost recovery basis for current and past directors of The Friends. For comparison, our accomplishments for 1994-2015 can be found on our website http://www.fortyork.ca/about-us/ouraccomplishments.html
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