Month: June 2019

Burr House Awarded 2019 Bert Hunt Heritage Award

The Richmond Hill Historical Society is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2019 Bert Hunt Heritage Award is Burr House.

Burr House is being recognized for the remarkable achievement of 45 years of enrichment to the community, helping to shape the Cultural Heritage of the City of Richmond Hill. From the early preservation and subsequent restoration of Burr House, established in the Town of Richmond Hill in 1974 ~ through to 2019, Burr House along with The Richmond Hill Spinners & Weavers and Hill Potters Guilds, has made an ongoing contribution to the conservation and preservation of Richmond Hill’s heritage and an effort to raise awareness about the value of that heritage to the community and its citizens, making Richmond Hill a better place.

The Guild Hall at Burr House (photograph P. Wilson)

The Society offers this award as a Public Declaration to the citizens of the City of Richmond Hill, of Burr House’s continual and ongoing cultural service to the community.

This award acknowledges outstanding contributions to the preservation of Richmond Hill’s past and efforts to raise awareness about the value of that past to the community and its citizens. It also acknowledges the contributions made by the late Bert Hunt to heritage conservation efforts in Richmond Hill over many years. For complete details about the award and the outstanding contributions of Bert, please visit our awards page.

Burr House Spinners and Weavers (Photograph P. Wilson)

The award was presented to Burr House at the Society’s Strawberry Social held on the evening of June 17th, 2019. Learn more about Burr House and all of their events and activities by visiting their website.

Ted Barris Returns!

Book cover of Ted Barris' book Dam BustersMark your calendars!

The Richmond Hill Historical Society is very excited to welcome back journalist and author Ted Barris. Ted will join us on Monday, November 18, 2019 at 7:30 to talk about his latest book The Dam Busters: Canadian Airmen and the Secret Raid Against Nazi Germany.

On May 16, 1943, 133 airmen took off in 19 Lancaster bombers on a night sortie, code-named Operation Chastise. Hand-picked and specially trained, the Lancaster crews flew at treetop level to the industrial heartland of the Third Reich and their targets – the Ruhr River dams – whose massive water reservoirs powered Nazi Germany’s military industrial complex. Dam Busters recounts the dramatic story of these Commonwealth bomber crews tasked with a high-risk mission against an enemy prepared to defend the Fatherland to the death.

Ted is a perennial favourite, having presented to the Society in the past on some of his earlier books. The Dam Busters is Ted’s nineteenth book, the latest in a long line of critically acclaimed publications.

In 2011 Ted received the Veterans’ Affairs Commendation and in 2012 the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. His book The Great Escape: A Canadian Story received the 2014 Libris Best Non-Fiction Book Award.

Please note that this is a fundraiser for the Society so there will be a $10 admittance fee for both members and guests attending Ted’s talk.

For more information about Ted and to learn about his other books, please visit his official website at tedbarris.com.