2012

• organized on-site parking for a final season before responsibility was transferred to the Toronto Parking Authority. For over a decade our operations have enabled as many as thirty-five students each year to earn money for their education, working either as parking attendants or Guardsmen (whose wages we pay in large part).
• posted our new website in May. Since then it has had almost 30,000 hits and attracted more than 125 people to subscribe to our Fife and Drum newsletter or join The Friends.
• assisted through a link on our website with the recruitment of seventy-five new volunteers who made their debut at Luminato.
• fielded a paid Guard of twenty young men and women plus six volunteers under age sixteen. The Guard travelled to Fort George for the Soldiers’ Field Day Drill Competition, and was assisted with costs to go to Queenston on October 13 for a grand re-enactment of the battle where Sir Isaac Brock fell in 1813.
• provided Guards of Honour for the Garrison Ball in January and the visit of HRH Prince Charles and PM Stephen Harper to the Fort York Armoury in May.
• published five numbers of our Fife and Drum newsletter and e-mailed it to more than 3300 addresses. Included were articles on the Fort York Armoury, the Centennial of the War of 1812, and Barrack Master Henry Evatt.
• organized another successful Georgian Dinner for ninetysix people featuring dishes of 200 years ago, many prepared by the Fort’s Volunteer Cooks and served in the style of the period. Profits from the dinner support the Fort York Guard.
• celebrated the spectacular installation of The Encampment as part of Luminato in June; also welcomed other events organized by the City of Toronto’s 1812 Bicentennial Committee to animate this special year.
• advertised Fort York in four issues of Spacing magazine, building on a series initiated in 2008.
• helped sponsor two Canadian citizenship ceremonies where some eighty people received their certificates.
• copied for the record photo albums of activities from 2001 to 2011 loaned to us by a long-serving FY Guardsman.
• held board meetings monthly, and turned out at every special event and function held at the fort.
• continued to support the site’s Resource Centre by finishing catalogue of the slide collection; by adding to the shelves a large bequest of military books from former MPP Donald C. MacDonald; and by producing the first draft of an index for The Fife and Drum.
• sponsored three Parler Fort events during the spring.
• welcomed three new directors to our board and saw four others retire. We intend to fill the one vacant place on our board with a colleague having an accounting background.
• held a Directors’ Dinner in April for current and former directors of The Friends and Foundation and FY staff.
• nominated several of our past and current board members and senior staff to receive Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medals; seven are known to have been honoured.
• co-operated with Ryerson University graduate students in their study of possible uses for the Fort York Armoury when National Defence no longer has need for it, and turns it back to the City.
• continued a watching brief on issues related to development in the fort’s precinct, particularly along Niagara Street and in the Ordnance Street lands off Strachan Avenue. A Precinct Advisory Committee, established to help us, functioned only intermittently.
• advised the Site Administrator on the placement of existing and new flagpoles in a relandscaping of the site concurrent with the building of the Visitor Centre.
  
  

2011

• invited former members of Fort York Management Board to join us after Council stopped appointing advisory boards for city museums; in the process we secured three new directors
• expended $160,000 on a Guard and Drum Squad of 28 young men and women to animate the site. Once again, they participated and won awards on CNE Warriors' Day and in re-enactments at Fort George, Niagara.
• worked with the fort staff to establish a kitchen garden in the northwest bastion and with over 80 volunteers who tend 38 raised beds in the community food garden on the north ramparts
• published a quarterly newsletter, The Fife and Drum, and sent it by e-mail to almost 3000 addresses. Issues included pieces on horseracing and music and at the fort, the Smith lumber mill (now co-op housing) at Strachan and Wellington, book reviews on Isaac Brock and Stanley Barracks.
• ran three full-page ads supporting the fort and 1812 Bicentennial in award-winning Spacing magazine
• held our 13th annual Georgian Dinner where Lt-Gen. Jonathon Riley, Master of UK's Royal Armouries, proposed a toast to Isaac Brock, the subject of his latest book
• successfully urged Council to exempt Fort York from a study to combine local museums with Heritage Toronto and Preservation Services branch based on the fort's size and significance
• saw seven years' work bear fruit when title to Victoria Memorial Square was transferred from the Government of Canada to the City, and landscaping of the park completed
• held a Directors' Dinner for those closely connected with The Friends and the fort
• put eight more images in process to decorate the walls of the Assembly Room, Blue Barracks
• held 11 monthly board meetings. One director at least, often more, attended every special event and function held at the fort.
• continued to operate parking concessions concurrent with major events at Exhibition Place
• overcame problems in securing an acceptable design for our website, then refocused our efforts in concert with a new designer
• sponsored 6 events in the Parler Fort series and helped plan a new series of ads in the Toronto Star advertising each event
• co-sponsored two ceremonies where up to 40 people received Canadian citizenship
  
  

2010

• undertook to enrich Blue Barracks Assembly Room with views of 19th century soldiers at leisure
• published four issues of our quarterly newsletter, The The Fife and Drum, for almost 3000 subscribers
• continued with design and development on new website, to be up and running in early 2011
• surrendered the lease on our office at the Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina, which was sublet for the preceding year because we weren't using it enough
• operated event car-parking on the Common for the last season before things are scaled back to allow for construction of the Visitor Centre, the Strachan Avenue bridge over the rail corridor, and the pedestrian-cycling bridge linking the Common with the parks north of Wellington Street. Our parking operations usually have employed 15 students on a part-time basis.
• welcomed two new members to our board and bid regretful adieu to retiring director Phil Goldsmith
• fielded a fife and drum corps and Guard of 23 young men and women covering 80% of the $155,000 spent on wages, uniforms and equipment. Federal government and City provided the balance.
• worked closely with the Fort York Foundation to kickstart fund-raising for the new Visitor Centre, loaned the Foundation startup funds and provided five of our most experienced directors to its board
• continued organizing the fort's books, reports and image-collection housed in the Resource Centre in the Blue Barracks. A scanner, computer and file cabinet were purchased to augment the equipment there.
• convened a splendid 12th annual Georgian Dinner to raise funds for the Guard
• assisted with research for a new kitchen garden within the northwest bastion created over the summer with help from the Evergreen Foundation and Toronto Culture staff
• co-operated with the City's Parks department on the final upgrades to Victoria Memorial Square that have been ongoing for six years. VMS is a part of the Fort York National Historic Site.
• placed four full-page advertisements in issues of Spacing magazine, each ad being different
• convened a successful Directors' dinner for Friends, Foundation and Management boards and fort staff
• maintained a watching brief on TTC's plans for a streetcar line that would breach the National Historic Site by cutting across its southwest corner north of the Armoury
• volunteered as greeters and organizers to work alongside fort staff and Management Board members at the biannual Citizenship ceremonies, 'Parler Fort' book-lecture series, etc.
  
  

2009

• celebrated the 15th anniversary of our founding in 1994 with a blockhouse-shaped cake; Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone cut the first slice
• raised substantial funds to benefit the fort through donations, dinners, memberships, and parking ventures; also secured grants of $15,000 from Toronto Culture and $11,000 from the Government of Canada for summer youth employment
• spent funds for purposes that included the operation of the Fort York Guard and Drums ($140,000), office rental and operations ($25,000)
• published four regular issues of our quarterly newsletter, The Fife and Drum, including essays: on Charles Fothergill's museum on the Garrison Common and on the making of our model of the Nancy; also issued three numbers of Drumroll, to promote special events at the fort
• completed the lighting and enhancement of the model of H.M.S. Nancy in the Blue Barracks using donations in memory of our late director, Robert Nurse
• staffed and operated the parking concessions on the lots and lawns west of Fort York for a total of 59 event days between April and October; began a programs of monthly parking for condo construction workers and overnight parking for condo residents/workers. Coordinated parking activities with an archaeological dig on the parking lot.
• sold out our eleventh annual Georgian Dinner to raise funds for the Fort York Guard and Drums. Many of the recipes and some of the actual dishes that were served came from the fort's kitchens.
• strongly supported the City's position on the design of a replacement bridge on Strachan Avenue. As a result the Georgetown rail corridor will be lowered to preserve the existing pattern of streets below King, allowing turns on Wellington eastbound to give access to Quality Meats' plant on Tecumseh Street which otherwise might be forced to close.
• continued to provide two or three days of volunteer time weekly to organizing and cataloging the fort's collections of books, research files, photographs, etc. in the Research Centre
• put 26 young men and women in uniform as the Fort York Guard and Drums to march, drill, and animate the site. They also served on 15 occasions as honour guards off-site and represented the fort in battle re-enactments at Fort George in Niagara.
• maintained and updated our electronic address list. 2600 recipients now get our mailings.
• embarked on a review and reconfiguration of our website
• held monthly board meetings and met another dozen times in committees and task forces. One director at least, often more, attended every special event and function held at the fort.
• co-operated with 80 volunteers who cultivated vegetables and herbs in plots on the fort's north ramparts as part of a community-based initiative backed by Hellmann's, Walmart, and Evergreen
• ran full-page ads featuring less well-known aspects of the fort in three issues of Spacing magazine
• joined with the Fort York Management Board and fort staff in holding two ceremonies to confer citizenship on some 80 new Canadians
• sustained our opposition to the TTC's proposal for the Western Waterfront LRT to cut through the Fort York National Historic site which would breach its integrity
• had extensive discussion on our strategic directions and the organizational form we need in lieu of permanent staff to co-ordinate our efforts
• commissioned the embroidery of new colours for the Guard
• planned to prepare a background report on the Fort York armory to assist with planning its future
• met with neighbouring landowners and developers to affirm our interest in having great public spaces and well-designed buildings in the area
• participated through representatives in the work of the 1812 and Visitor Centre Steering Committees
  
  

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 The Fife and 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 in Flames: The American Attack on York) and 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 embarked upon its complete redesign
• operated lawn-parking west of the fort for 44 event-days in spite of wet grass and the Grand Prix being cancelled this year which hurt revenues
• co-operated with 80 volunteers who cultivated vegetables and herbs in plots on the fort's north ramparts as part of a 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 of our strategic plan
• created a data bank for directors on Google Docs
• met monthly as a board and another dozen times in committees and task forces. One director at least, often several, attended every special event and function held at the fort.
• initiated a day-long series of meetings with the director-general of National Historic Sites, Parks Canada, and convened a lunch where he met Toronto colleagues
• formed a task force to develop a response to a TTC proposal to run a streetcar line across Fort York; continued our interest in the design of a replacement for the Bathurst Bridge and the Strachan Avenue rail-crossing studies.
• spent funds for several purposes, including the operation of the Fort York Guard and Drums ($100,000), office rental and operations ($20,000), and supplies for the on-site Research Centre ($3000)
• loaned $75,000 to the Fort York Foundation to cover startup expenditures
• contacted ten more British regiments whose predecessors were at Fort York—only 2 of 29 to go. Most replied with helpful leads to our shared history. The Public Record Office, London, remains the richest, untapped source for fresh information on the fort.

2007

• secured the 1813 colours of the York militia for Fort York when St. James's Cathedral decided to de-accession them. Our undertaking to raise funds for conservation has attracted pledges of $10,000 to date.
• put 17 young men and women in uniform as the Fort York Guard and Drums to march and drill for the summer, thereby animating the site. They also served as honour guards off-site and represented the fort at battle re-enactments at Forts Niagara and Erie.
• established an office in the Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina, to replace one at Ernst & Young to which Joe Gill, our past chair, had access
• published four regular issues of our quarterly newsletter, The The Fife and Drum; also an extra edition specially for residents in the 950 condo units at 219 and 231 Fort York Blvd.
• converted most of our newsletter mailing lists to an electronic format. At the start of the year more than 1100 copies of each issue were being mailed to street addresses; by yearend 90% of the 1450 copies we sent were delivered to e-mail addresses.
• inaugurated Drumroll, an electronic bulletin sent on an occasional basis to promote upcoming
• events at the fort
• engaged in extensive discussion that led to the selection of a new logo for the organization
• welcomed six new directors to our board
• held the ninth annual Georgian Dinner which was a sellout success
• raised substantial funds for the benefit of Fort York through donations, dinners, memberships and our parking ventures. In addition, we succeeded in securing grants for summer youth
• employment of $15,000 from Toronto Culture, $35,000+ from the Government of Canada and a Walmart Evergreen grant of $10,000 for community gardens.
• spent funds on a variety of purposes, including the following: operation of the Fort York Guard and Drums ($110,000), start-up funding for the Fort York Foundation ($30,000), office rental and operations ($15,000), support for the fort's exhibits program ($75,000), staff overtime during performances of "The Fort at York" play ($5000), purchase of pre-1801 Union Jacks for the flagpole outside the fort's west gate ($1500), acquisitions and supplies for the on-site Research Centre ($1000)
• asked that the new Bathurst Street bridge planned for construction in 2009 be named in honour of Sir Isaac Brock to mark the Bicentennial of the War of 1812, hard on the heels of our success in having Council adopt pedestrian and cyclist-friendly design criteria for the new structure
• contacted 17 present-day successors of British Regiments stationed at Fort York before 1870 in a search for new information, of whom seven were able to respond by sending materials
• provided two or three days of volunteer time weekly to organizing and cataloguing the fort's collections of books, research files, photographs, etc. in the Research Centre
• purchased a number of small items for the Research Centre, including vintage postcards of Fort York, original newspapers reporting on the Battle of York, and books to support WWI student programs
• staffed and operated the parking concessions on the lots and lawns west of Fort York for a total of 49 days between April and October
• asked the Minister of Culture, so far without success, to confirm what we know informally: is Fort York a registered archaeological site under the Ontario Heritage Act and does it, as a result, enjoy ministerial protection from unregulated land disturbance?

2006

• held first meeting of Communications Committee (there have been 4 to date)
• deputed to Works Committee supported by City Beautiful Roundtable and Pedestrian Committee on the adverse impacts of replacing the Bathurst St. bridge. Committee recommended to Council the design of the replacement be pedestrian and cyclist-friendly, and that it enhance Fort York.
• committed substantial time on a weekly basis to organizing fort's collections of books and images
• enrolled 23 students, both male and female, in The Guard and The Fort York Drums
• held eighth annual Georgian Dinner
• published four issues of The Fife and Drum
• signed a letter of intent to lease space at 215 Spadina after weighing all alternatives

2005

• expanded substantially the content on our website; resolved to regularize its registration
• saw Council adopt names for neighbourhood streets and Callwood Park put forward by our committee, and Fort York Blvd. in place of Bremner for the whole length from Spadina Ave. to Lakeshore Blvd.
• invited June Callwood to a meeting to explain her ideas for her eponymous park
• held seventh annual Georgian Dinner; second Directors' Dinner
• participated in design exercise for Blocks 32-36, Railway Lands, at the Centre for Landscape Research
• published 3000 copies of Fort York: Adding New Buildings which received Heritage Toronto's Award of Merit
• turned out four issues of The Fife and Drum
• ramped up involvement in the Environmental Assessment on rebuilding the Bathurst Street bridge
• met George Baird to discuss how to organize an architectural competition for a Visitor Centre design

2004

• advocated the boundaries of the Fort York-HCD adopted in 1985 be enlarged to coincide with FYNHS, which Council has enacted
• moved that all city-owned property within HCD brought under management of Toronto Culture
• integrated The Birthplace of Toronto, started by staff in 2003, into The Fife and Drum, and published three issues
• worked on Public Realm plan with dTAH and on Business Plan with consultants retained by Culture
• explored getting office space in St. Lawrence Hall with Trillium support
• held sixth Georgian Dinner honouring Laura Secord and Beaver Dams; also first Directors' Dinner
• co-operated in developing the Statement of Commemorative Integrity
• urged City to get on with designs for entering site off Fort York Blvd. Funding approved in '05; road built in '06
• Held first meeting of History & Archaeology Research Committee (there have been 23 to date)
• congratulated Jo Ann Pynn well in her new job, and welcomed Dave O'Hara as her successor
• took first steps towards establishing Fort York Foundation

2003

• launched a new website <www.fortyork.ca> using a domain name reserved by Peter Twist in 2001
• participated in three-day design charette on massing of buildings south of Fort York
• led a committee of Culture staff and neighbouring landowners to propose streetnames
• held fifth annual Georgian Dinner
• began all-volunteer parking operations on the Common during Molson Indy and CNE
• celebrated the bounds and significance of Fort YorkNHS as established by National Historic Sites Board
• met senior TPL staff to advocate locating a branch library at Bathurst and Fort York Blvd.
• published three issues of The Fife and Drum
• fielded 16 students in The Guard (11) and Drums (5); discussed creating a military band at Fort York
• began agitating for a sign bylaw to protect Fort York, which Council enacted in 2004

2002

• organized several lectures as part of Fort York-series at RCMI
• partnered with Culture staff and Parks Canada in a 3-day workshop to re-assess national significance of Fort York. This required preparation of extensive supporting materials, including Metes and Bounds report.
• held fourth annual Georgian Dinner, this year marking King George III's birthday.
• welcomed seeing Fort York Blvd. opened between Bathurst Street and Lakeshore Blvd.
• articulated as part of an EA process a formal position on aspects of Front Street Extension affecting Fort York
• published three issues of The Fife and Drum

2001

• co-operated with consultants retained by City to prepare the Fort York and Garrison Common Parks and Open Space Design and Implementation Plan
• expended time and costs ($30,000) of opposing at the OMB a proposal by H&R to change the 1995 Part II OP (to which we had contributed much) to permit higher buildings, leaving density unchanged
• held third annual Georgian Dinner
• secured donations amounting to $50,000 from Ivey Foundation, George Weston Limited and others for 'Soldier's Trade' exhibit, the first new exhibit at Fort York since Officers' Mess completed in 1993

2000

• organized four lectures at RCMI in the ongoing Fort York series
• talked of a website. No further action taken until 2003.
• advocated successfully as member of Front Street Review Committee for the Front St. extension crossing the rail corridor north of Fort York in an underpass rather than on an elevated structure
• helped with Fort York's first "Doors Open"
• held second Georgian Dinner
• marked millennium on July 1 by organizing re-enactments at Sunnyside and Kew Beach of the invasion by US forces in 1813. Involved some 300 re-enactors, five tall ships and ten long boats. Participated after dark in Harbour Parade of Lights. Held a more modest Festival at Fort York that same weekend
• published in association with the Fort York Management Board 1000 copies of Fort York: Setting It Right, which won awards from Heritage Toronto and Canadian Society of Landscape Architects.
• convened a group to study fort's requirements for new buildings, including a Visitor Centre, and exhibits
• persuaded David Newlands to complete his report on ROM's 1973-75 Fort York archaeological project
• noted with satisfaction the second acquisition of land from CN, a 2.13 ac. parcel along fort's north edge

1999

• contributed significantly to consensus on how Toronto's heritage resources should be managed, which saw Fort York get its own Management Board of seven citizens chosen by Council and up to six ex-officio members. Five Friends of Fort York directors served as an interim Board until bylaws for new board are created.
• organized a series of five lectures at the RCMI
• staged the third Fort York Festival around a Napoleonic theme with 260 re-enactors and 110 volunteers but attendance, estimated at 1500, was lower than the previous year
• held inaugural Georgian Dinner for 130 guests. Catered by Jessup aided by volunteers, Fort York staff
• reported membership of 180
• formed broadly-inclusive 'Revealing Fort York' task force to formulate planning principles that would guide development proposals
• began planning for a Fife and Drum corps of younger volunteers, to be known as Fort York Drums
• co-operated with Jessup Food & Heritage on CELTFEST, a day of Celtic traditions, food and music

1998

• granted status as a charitable corporation, able to give tax receipts for donations
• welcomed the Lieut.-Governor and other dignitaries to dedicate the Heritage Flagpole at the west gate
• encored the successful Fort York Festival, this time with 200 re-enactors, musket drills, a steer-roast, pancake breakfast, etc. Approx. 110 volunteers lent a hand. Attendance estimated at 2000.
• reported membership of 115
• took a lead in bringing Jessup Food, acclaimed for its facilities at Ft. Henry and Prescott, to Fort York

1997

• staged first Fort York Festival on Victoria Day weekend which attracted attendance of 1500
• created a Vision-centred Business Plan for Fort York, in co-operation with Heritage Toronto [former THB]
• urged the Mayor and City planners to acquire from CN 1.34 ac. along the north side of Fort York.
• asked Council to rename Bremner 'Fort York Blvd.,' which it adopted for Bathurst-Fleet section in 1999
• reported membership of 75
• fielded a Summer Guard of seven plus a uniform technician, thanks to grants from federal government
• held a Fall environmental cleanup day along the south ramparts in which neighbours joined in
• hosted members at a reception at RCMI
• inaugurated the Fort York series of six lectures at RCMI sponsored by two investment firms

1996

• The Friends of Fort York and Fort York Volunteers amalgamated in April.
• planned first Fort York festival but did not carry through on it
• founded The Fife and Drum newsletter, published three issues, and developed mailing list of about 400.
• reported a membership of 40
• were partners in a two-day Ideas Workshop on Fort York underwritten by our corporate neighbours that attracted 100 high-profile participants. Mayor Barbara Hall chaired a session. Proceedings were published.

1995

• Fort York Volunteers developed mission statement and began planning for Summer Guard. Secured $27,000 from federal government for 10 positions plus supervisor; Royal Insurance gave $15,000 for uniforms.
• Fort York Volunteers gave substantial input to Fort York Business Plan undertaken by Economic Planning Group with funding from Bathurst-Strachan Working Group. Business Plan approved by Council in November.
• The Friends sunk their energies into the Bathurst-Strachan Working Group, which reported to Council. Won its support for a complete reworking of the B-S Part II OP on fort-centred principles.
• The Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common incorporated as a non-profit corporation without share capital in May. The possibility of a merger between The Friends of Fort York and Fort York Volunteers was on the table.
• both groups lobbied public figures hard to support the fort

1994

• The Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common made its debut in April before Land Use Committee asking that approval of Bathurst/Strachan Part II Plan be deferred until an alternate fort-centred vision was developed. Originally thirteen members, later expanded to seventeen, we resisted having a big membership because servicing it would take energies from the political agenda.
• devoted much time through Spring-Summer to lobbying City and Metro councillors, lining up editorial support in the press
• took major role in meetings of Bathurst-Strachan Working Committee chaired by Dale Martin, which reported in Apr. 1995, to find a basis for a new and better Part II OP.
• published Revealing Fort York and Once More Unto the Breach: Defending Fort York in the 20th Century to make fort's sad history of neglect and abuse better known
• Historic Fort York Volunteer Committee ('Fort York Volunteers') was founded in November, dedicated to animating the fort