Category: Annual General Meeting

President’s Message (January 2022)

Well, here it is – 2022 – a year we all hoped would be much better than 2021 or 2020, and a year that might yet meet those hopeful expectations. Experts are telling us that the Omicron variant could soon be peaking and that new cases and hospitalizations could start moving down. We can only hope that they are right and that with more and more people being vaccinated and boosted, we can start to imagine getting back to some form of normal. I certainly have my fingers crossed – I have a real hope that “some form of normal” will be with us soon.

I do hope that you were all able to enjoy the holidays. I know that, in our case, we found ourselves coping with testing and hoping the results were always negative, and cheering the right result that allowed us to spend quality Christmas and New Year’s time with children and grandchildren.I think we appreciate and value that time more, now, when we can’t assume that we can get together whenever we want.

As usual, the main purpose of this message is to remind you that this coming Monday, January 17th, 2022 at 7:30 PM is our regular meeting time, and that this month, it is also our Annual General Meeting. This is an important meeting, as it provides an opportunity for the Executive of your Society to report on the past years’ activities and for our members to vote on a slate of Directors to manage the affairs of your Society for the coming year. I’m sure no one will be surprised to see that our activities over the past year have been really limited, but that makes it even more important that we ready ourselves for a year to come that will hopefully see the Society begin to transition back into its normal robust and face to face self.

After the reporting and the voting, we will again devote some time to a “Bring and Brag” session, when we will have a chance to present and describe some family treasures that we think our colleagues might enjoy. I know that the “Bring and Brag” session last year went really well. We saw some really interesting material and some of us got some new information about our treasures. This year, I thought I would share a couple of items from my Banff days.

So – please join us for our AGM. Any guests wishing to attend this virtual meeting on Zoom is invited to contact us at r.hillhistsoc at gmail.com.

On another subject that I tend to deal with in each of these messages, I am pleased to see that membership fees for 2022 are coming in, mostly by e-transfer. This is certainly the most convenient way for us to receive these funds (no trips to the bank, in particular), and it must be more convenient for our members, as well. So please keep it up. If you haven’t paid for your 2022 membership yet, please consider doing it through an e-transfer to our account with the TD Bank. You will need our email address – r.hillhistsoc at gmail.com, and it would be really helpful to include information about the year the dues are for, as well as your address, email address and telephone number – all information that will help us stay in touch.

Thanks for your attention. I do hope to see you there.

2022 Annual General Meeting

The Richmond Hill Historical Society’s Annual General Meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, January 17, 2022 at 7:30 PM. The Zoom link and other AGM details will be provided to members prior to the meeting. Please join us in voting in the 2022 Executive Committee for the new year, and hear how your Society has been coping during 2021 – another very different year.

After the official voting is completed, our favorite Bring & Brag will begin. BRING out your precious treasures that you would like to BRAG about! Any items of interest – if you think we’d be interested, dust them off and share with the members. It might also be an opportunity to learn more about your treasure – we have a very well-informed membership.

Nomination Deadline: December 31, 2021
If you would like to nominate someone (or yourself) for a position on the Executive Committee, please send your nominations to the Society at r.hillhistsoc at gmail.com.

The AGM is an important part of the Richmond Hill Historical Society’s year. We hope to see you there to help the Society begin a new year – hopefully one that will see the return of some normalcy.

Message from the President (January 8, 2021)

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! I hope that you all found a way to celebrate the Holidays in the midst of lockdowns and Covid-19 protocols. I expect that this year was much quieter than usual, and that our wishes for the future were based on the arrival of vaccines and the hope they represent for a return to more normal times. I think we all hope that next year at this time, we’ll be describing festive family gatherings on Christmas Day and New Year’s celebrations with family and friends. From the Society’s point of view, I know that I will be looking forward to our traditional Christmas party complete with good food and great entertainment. Our Zoom event last month was a lot of fun, and Santa Claus was wonderful, but it couldn’t compete with the real thing.

The main purpose of this message is to remind you that our next meeting is coming up on January 18th, and, as usual, it will be our Annual General Meeting. What won’t be usual, of course, is that it will be a Zoom meeting, and the reports from the various Executive members will be much shorter than usual – not much happened, after all. It will still be important that as many of you attend as possible, though, as we will still have to nominate and vote on our 2021 Executive. A big job of the new Executive will be to figure out how to get the Society up and running again when we finally have the opportunity to meet again in person, and we can begin planning for speakers, fund-raising events and simply how to renew connections.

As usual, at our AGM, we will be including a “Bring and Brag” opportunity on the agenda, where members bring items of historical value to them and brag about the item’s origins and its place in their lives. The variety and value of the items never fail to be interesting, so please give some thought to what you would like to brag about, and bring it to the meeting. It’s a Zoom meeting, so you just have to carry it to your computer!

So, please mark your calendar for the Society’s AGM on Monday, January 18th, at 7:30 PM.

We need to know if you will be attending so please let me know if you will be attending by emailing r.hillhistsoc at hotmail.ca

One item of Society business that I would like to report on is our successful effort to set up an opportunity for members to use e-transfers. We were particularly interested in making it easier for members to pay their annual membership fee, rather than trying to pay cash as you try and get into the hall at one of our regular meetings. I know that e-transfers won’t work for everyone, but we feel that even if a few can take advantage of it, the process at the entrance to the hall will be eased. We’ll provide more details, later.

In the interest of helping us keep busy through the next few months, I have been able to gather together some information on events that are scheduled in Richmond Hill this winter – all virtual, unfortunately, but I’m really pleased that the organizers have figured out how to carry on with these events in spite of lockdowns.

The first item involves Zoom talks being presented by our Richmond Hill Public Library, that we thought might be of interest. On Jan. 13th at 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM, the Library is presenting Virtual City Tour: Toronto, and on Jan. 16th at 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM, they are presenting British Home Children: Sharing the Stories. You have to register to participate in these presentations, so I am including the links, below:

Virtual City Tour: Toronto | Richmond Hill Public Library

British Home Children: Sharing the Stories | Richmond Hill Public Library

The library also encourages participants to fill out a survey regarding their experience with library activities, so I have included a link for this purpose, as well: Survey

The Village of Richmond Hill Business Improvement Area has developed an event that you might well find interesting, and it will actually get you outdoors. Known as “The 2020 Skillage in the Village Scavenger Hunt,” the BIA has created a virtual scavenger hunt that contains several clues, all regarding unique time periods in the history of Richmond Hill. The event will be available until the end of January, and looks like it would really be worth considering. I have included, below, some material from the BIA on how to play:

Who? Play alone or as part of a small team (physically-distant). All ages.
What & Where? Go back in time, solving over 100+ clues from Richmond Hill’s past & present.
Locations in the vicinity of Yonge Street (Major Mackenzie Dr. to Crosby Ave.)

How? Click the link. www.hidden.live
• Register to play. Create a profile.
• Start playing. Once signed up, select an image.
• Each image will have something missing from it.
• Your job is to go to the location, find & fill in the missing answers.
• Correct answers = points.
• Team/person with most points at end of the Scavenger Hunt wins.

Why?

FUN! Learn about Downtown Richmond Hill – the Village that became a City.

Prizes:

Winner(s) get 1 of 2 Gift Certificates ($250 each) for a BIA member store of Your Choice (see Business Directory on website)

Taking pics? Tag us #skillageinthevillageRH

Only available until January 31st, 2021. Sign Up Now & Start Playing!

One event that I know is still in the planning stages is Richmond Hill’s Annual Winter Festival. We do know, of course, that the Festival will have to happen in a virtual format this year, so please keep your eye out for details on this event. It has been a fixture in Richmond Hill for many years, so I am sure that the tradition will continue, in spite of Covid-19.

Another event that we have come to associate with the end of winter in Richmond Hill is Councillor David West’s annual Maple Syrup Festival. It too will be in a virtual format this year, and is scheduled for Sunday, March 21st, 2021, so please save the date, and watch for details.

Thanks for your patience – this message is a bit longer than most of my messages, but I was anxious to let you know about a few events that might help make the winter months this year a little more interesting, and I particularly wanted to remind you about our AGM on Jan. 18th at 7:30 PM. We’re keen to get a good turnout, so please keep it in mind, and don’t forget to let me know if you will be able to attend.

I’ll see you on the 18th at 7:30PM. And don’t forget to let me know if you will be attending or not.

Jim

2020 Annual General Meeting

Nomination Deadline: December 31, 2019

The Richmond Hill Historical Society’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday, January 20, 2019 at 7:30 pm in Wallace Hall at the Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church.

Please join us in voting in the 2020 Executive Committee for the New Year and hear how well we are doing as a Community Society.

After the official voting is completed our favourite annual Bring & Brag begins. Bring along your precious treasures that you would like to BRAG about! Any items of interest – Old or new, if you think we’d be interested dust ‘em off and share with the members!

NOMINATIONS

If you would to nominate someone (or yourself!) for a position on the Executive Committee please send them to r.hillhistsoc at hotmail.ca before December 31st, 2019.