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What The Friends Do: Our Accomplishments for 2008 ~ raised substantial funds to benefit Fort York through donations, dinners, memberships, and our parking ventures; also secured grants of $15,000 from Toronto Culture and $15,000 from the Government of Canada for summer youth employment. ~ put 17 young men and women in uniform for the summer as the Fort York Guard and Drums to march, drill, and animate the site. Off-site they served as honour guards and represented us at battle re-enactments at Forts George and Erie. ~ published four issues of The Fife & Drum, our quarterly newsletter, and three of Drumroll, to promote special events at the fort ~ ran full-page ads in issues of Spacing magazine to make the ‘new’ Fort York better known ~ increased our mailing list by 15% after covering off attrition, and made dozens of changes-of-address. ~ attracted gifts that included a portrait of John Graves Simcoe by Charles Pachter, a medical device for the Soldiers’ Trade exhibit, and donations in memory of Robert Nurse to be used to light the model of H.M.S. Nancy in the Blue Barracks. ~ held our tenth annual Georgian dinner with 140 attending to raise funds for the Guard ~ co-operated on major book launches at the fort with Robin Brass Studios (Capital Coach House Press (HTO: Toronto’s Water) ~ rolled out our new logo through various media ~ took over our web address from a trustee, surveyed users of the website and then ~ operated lawn-parking west of the fort for 44 event-days in spite of wet grass which hurt revenues ~ co-operated with 80 volunteers who cultivated vegetables and herbs in plots community-based initiative backed by Hellmann’s, Walmart, and Evergreen ~ welcomed three new directors to our board ~ organized a day-long workshop with directors and staff to kickstart renewal ~ created a data bank for directors on Google Docs ~ met monthly as a board and another dozen times in committees and task forces. every special event and function held at the fort
Simcoe’s Illusion by Charles Pachter, a gift to the fort, will hang above a mantel in the Blue Barracks. Pegged timbers from the Queen’s Wharf are on temporary display below. (Courtesy of Charles Pachter) in Flames: The American Attack on York) and embarked upon its complete redesign and the Grand Prix being cancelled this year on the fort’s north ramparts as part of a of our strategic plan One director at least, often more, attended
Simcoe’s Illusion by Charles Pachter, a gift to the fort, will hang above a mantel in the Blue Barracks. Pegged timbers from the Queen’s Wharf are on temporary display below. (Courtesy of Charles Pachter) in Flames: The American Attack on York) and embarked upon its complete redesign and the Grand Prix being cancelled this year on the fort’s north ramparts as part of a
~ initiated a day-long series of meetings with the director-general lunch where he met Toronto colleagues ~ formed a task force to develop a response to a TTC proposal the design of a replacement for the Bathurst Bridge and the ~ spent funds for several purposes, including the operation of the operations ($20,000), and supplies for the on-site Research Centre ~ loaned $75,000 to the Fort York Foundation to cover startup ~ contacted ten more British regiments whose predecessors were leads to our shared history. The Public Record Office, London, the fort ~ continued to provide three days of volunteer time every week research files, photographs, etc. in the Research Centre of National Historic Sites, Parks Canada, and convened a to run a streetcar line across Fort York; continued our interest in Strachan Avenue rail-crossing studies Fort York Guard and Drums ($100,000), office rental and ($3000) expenditures at Fort York – only 2 of 29 to go. Most replied with helpful remains the richest, untapped source for fresh information on
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