Events
From our great Speaker's Nights featuring experts on local and national history to specialty event programming, our goal is to entertain and educate. Here is a sample of some of the events being held in the coming months. Come join us!
Thursday, October 26, 2017 - Speaker's Night: Bomb Girls...Trading Aprons for Ammo!
During the Second World War, over 21,000 patriotic men and women worked with high explosives filling munitions for the Allied Forces at a top-secret facility located in Scarborough, Ontario. Over 170 buildings comprised the site, along with over four kilometres of secret tunnels which remain as mysterious today as they were over seventy-five years ago. What was it like to work in a munitions factory during the War? Does the recent TV show, “Bomb Girls” accurately portray the lives of women working on the home front? “Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo” provides an in-depth narrative about the girls behind the guns and will appeal to every Canadian who honours those who fought for their freedom, both on the battlefield and at home.
Speaker BIO: Author and speaker Barbara Dickson has lived in Scarborough, Ontario for over half a century. Imagine her surprise when she learned there were over four kilometres of abandoned tunnels under the city, less than a kilometre from where she lived. With a little digging, she discovered these tunnels once belonged to a top-secret WWII munitions factory comprising 172 buildings spread over 346 acres. Its dubious company name, the “General Engineering Company” or GECO (pronounced GEE-KO) for short, kept both the curious and the more unscrupulous in the dark.
At the time, Barb was about to start her next novel. Creepy long-forgotten WWII tunnels seemed the perfect setting. So began ten years of research which afforded Barbara the opportunity to become a local historian and GECO aficionado. While she completed the fiction novel she started out to write, she found a new passion in educating the public about the incredible work carried out by over 21,000 courageous Canadians at GECO. She also has become a champion in preserving its legacy. Her book, “Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo,” was published in October, 2015, and offers a unique, intimate, and extraordinary glimpse into the lives and hearts of these dedicated Canadians.
Barbara is a professionally trained public speaker and author who has entertained, educated, and enlightened audiences for almost two decades. In addition to GECO, Barb speaks on a variety of other topics including overcoming adversity such as living with multiple sclerosis. Barbara was diagnosed with this often-debilitating disease in 1992, and her first book, “Mountains for Maddi” is a story of hope about a young woman who lives with MS.
Barb’s latest projects include working on a sequel to Bomb Girls; a non-fiction book about honouring the Irish nineteenth century legacy in Canada; and an intimate look into her 21-year old daughter’s heart transplant journey.
She hopes you’ll enjoy learning more about Scarborough’s Bomb Girls — truly one of Canada’s best kept war secrets.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
During the Second World War, over 21,000 patriotic men and women worked with high explosives filling munitions for the Allied Forces at a top-secret facility located in Scarborough, Ontario. Over 170 buildings comprised the site, along with over four kilometres of secret tunnels which remain as mysterious today as they were over seventy-five years ago. What was it like to work in a munitions factory during the War? Does the recent TV show, “Bomb Girls” accurately portray the lives of women working on the home front? “Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo” provides an in-depth narrative about the girls behind the guns and will appeal to every Canadian who honours those who fought for their freedom, both on the battlefield and at home.
Speaker BIO: Author and speaker Barbara Dickson has lived in Scarborough, Ontario for over half a century. Imagine her surprise when she learned there were over four kilometres of abandoned tunnels under the city, less than a kilometre from where she lived. With a little digging, she discovered these tunnels once belonged to a top-secret WWII munitions factory comprising 172 buildings spread over 346 acres. Its dubious company name, the “General Engineering Company” or GECO (pronounced GEE-KO) for short, kept both the curious and the more unscrupulous in the dark.
At the time, Barb was about to start her next novel. Creepy long-forgotten WWII tunnels seemed the perfect setting. So began ten years of research which afforded Barbara the opportunity to become a local historian and GECO aficionado. While she completed the fiction novel she started out to write, she found a new passion in educating the public about the incredible work carried out by over 21,000 courageous Canadians at GECO. She also has become a champion in preserving its legacy. Her book, “Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo,” was published in October, 2015, and offers a unique, intimate, and extraordinary glimpse into the lives and hearts of these dedicated Canadians.
Barbara is a professionally trained public speaker and author who has entertained, educated, and enlightened audiences for almost two decades. In addition to GECO, Barb speaks on a variety of other topics including overcoming adversity such as living with multiple sclerosis. Barbara was diagnosed with this often-debilitating disease in 1992, and her first book, “Mountains for Maddi” is a story of hope about a young woman who lives with MS.
Barb’s latest projects include working on a sequel to Bomb Girls; a non-fiction book about honouring the Irish nineteenth century legacy in Canada; and an intimate look into her 21-year old daughter’s heart transplant journey.
She hopes you’ll enjoy learning more about Scarborough’s Bomb Girls — truly one of Canada’s best kept war secrets.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
Thursday, November 23, 2017 - "Show and Tell"...with Etobicoke Historical Society Archivists
This month’s meeting will be a “SHOW and TELL” where YOU the MEMBERS put on the programme. So dust off those old treasures and get them out of the closet and bring them to the meeting and tell us about your personal history and artifacts. Don’t be shy to tell us about why you keep that childhood toy, or that family spoon, medal or jewelry that you can’t part with, or that favourite picture you cherish, or other historical momentos such as newspaper clippings and the story behind them. We know our members have interesting stories to tell us. COME OUT AND SHARE THEM WITH US.
There will be display tables available on which to place the presented items during the evening. Presenters should keep their presentations to approximately 5 minutes in length which will then be followed by a short question and answer period. Thanks to our Archivists Jill Berni and Philip Enros, some fascinating items from the EHS Archives will also be on display during the meeting.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
This month’s meeting will be a “SHOW and TELL” where YOU the MEMBERS put on the programme. So dust off those old treasures and get them out of the closet and bring them to the meeting and tell us about your personal history and artifacts. Don’t be shy to tell us about why you keep that childhood toy, or that family spoon, medal or jewelry that you can’t part with, or that favourite picture you cherish, or other historical momentos such as newspaper clippings and the story behind them. We know our members have interesting stories to tell us. COME OUT AND SHARE THEM WITH US.
There will be display tables available on which to place the presented items during the evening. Presenters should keep their presentations to approximately 5 minutes in length which will then be followed by a short question and answer period. Thanks to our Archivists Jill Berni and Philip Enros, some fascinating items from the EHS Archives will also be on display during the meeting.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
