Presenting - The Balmy Beach Club - Legend by the Lake
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Susannne_Pacher]Susannne Pacher
No neighbourhood portrait of Toronto s Beach community could ever be complete without one of the true institutions in the area: the Balmy Beach Club, a private social and athletics club founded in 1905, has been a real anchor of the local sports and recreational scene, and continues to thrive today as a favourite gathering place for many of its members. During a recent interview with Glenn Cochrane, he took me briefly into the Balmy Beach Club and stated that this is the best patio on Toronto s waterfront bar none . When I headed out on the patio and saw the sweeping 180 degree panorama of Lake Ontario with a view
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To find out more about this revered institution I set up an interview with Ken Bingham, long-time member of the Balmy Beach Club, and the official historian of this institution. The Balmy Beach Club, a non-profit organization, is a social and athletic club that came into existence in 1905. It has about 1400 members in two membership categories: the social membership provides access to upstairs facilities, including the bar, lounge, patio and banquet hall. Social members are able to
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The fitness membership includes the privileges of the social membership and additionally provides access to the fitness room, the squash courts, sauna and change rooms on the lower level of the building. With this level of membership it is
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For more than a century the Balmy Beach Club has been noted for its athletic teams which started out with canoeing and lawn bowling, and were later expanded to add other activities such as curling, hockey, squash and volleyball. Ken explained that the land for the Club was donated by Sir Adam Wilson, an Ontario Chief Justice in the second half of the 19th century. The land for the Balmy Beach Park was incorporated in 1903.
The first club house, a beautiful two level structure with large wooden verandas, opened in 1905, but
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While Ken was grabbing me some extra papers with historic information I took the opportunity to talk with Chris Buckley, the current president of the club, now serving his second term. Chris works full time in sales, and in his spare time he oversees the club and chairs the board. He informed me that this is a volunteer position, and that a Board of Directors is responsible for the main athletic sections (canoeing, lawn bowling, volleyball, hockey, rugby and squash). Chris further explained that membership is actually rather reasonable for a private club:
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Chris Buckley indicated that he is very interested in increasing the membership of the Club since a larger roster of members also helps to defray the costs of running the club. Sometimes the Balmy Beach Club holds open houses and invites the community at large to get to know the club, its facilities and recreational opportunities. He indicated that the club is very open and welcoming, and has members from as far away as Brampton and Mississauga, but there are also a number of international
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The sports teams themselves run various fundraising events to cover the costs of insurance and other necessary funds for their sports activities. A very popular fundraising event is a volleyball tournament, and participants often show up outfitted in funny costumes. One time a team was dressed up as gladiators, another time they were pretending to be waiters with bowties from the Goof , the affectionately nicknamed historic Garden Foods Chinese restaurant just up the street.
The club itself also gets involved in charitable activities on behalf of the Beach community. The club sponsors local high school baseball, lacrosse and hockey teams, and
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I inquired into general information about the club, and Chris informed me that the opening hours are Monday to Sunday from 6 am to 1 am. He chuckled and said the bar closes when the president goes home . New developments are also in the works: the city wants to build additional volleyball courts on the sandy beach right in front of the club. Toronto has actually become known as the beach volleyball Mecca in Canada with a variety of leagues and
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World caliber athletes have been coming out of the Balmy Beach Club for a long time. International rugby players have been developed at the Balmy Beach Club, and Chris adds that there are eight senior players that played on the Canadian national rugby team, while six Balmy Beach junior players
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What Chris really enjoys about being a member at the Balmy Beach Club is that the club is very inclusive and includes members of all backgrounds and age groups. He enjoys being friends with 18-year old youngsters while he also appreciates the older members, many of whom have been part of this club for several decades. He said it is very sad when some of the older members pass away, and the entire club mourns the departure of long-term club members. He adds that he has football pictures from high school that depict three generations of Balmy Beach
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Chris had to go and handed me back to Ken, and we set off on a tour of the building. Ken first took me into a large multi-purpose room on the Western side of the building which houses a variety of plaques and sports jerseys. This is where most of the social functions are held, and occasionally the room is also used for indoor lawn bowling. Ken indicated that the Balmy Beach Football team won the Grey Cup twice in 1927 and 1930. Several wooden plaques highlight the Canadian champions in canoeing / kayaking, lawn bowling and football/rugby that came out of the Balmy Beach Club. The long lists are impressive.
One plaque in particular honours the Olympians
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Lifetime club members also get honoured here, and some active members have been with the club for 60 or more years. The Balmy Beach Club truly provides social and recreational opportunities for an entire lifetime, and its members have a deeply felt loyalty to this institution. Many a courtship
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Just outside the multi-purpose room is an area full of plaques, the Balmy Beach Club Hall of Fame, honouring some of the distinguished athletes from the club. In a hallway just to the left of the entrance hall there are a number of certificates, including original certificates from the 1920 Olympic Games in Paris, the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the 1952 Games in Helsinki as well as the 1960 Olympic Games in London, all donated by Balmy Beach Club members who were actual participants in these historic competitions.
Ken
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Our official tour had concluded and Ken took me back upstairs. In addition to the club s history I was also interested in some of the individuals that make this club run. I had already talked to the president, Chris Buckley, and I thought I d find out a bit more about the historian himself. Ken Bingham was born right in the area and spent 25 years of his life living on Fernwood Park. He joined the Balmy Beach Club in 1950 and is also one of the lifetime members. Prior to his retirement he used to work at Inco s head office, a company that also generously sponsored some of the
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Ken introduced me to two long-term Balmy Beach Club members and handed me over to his colleagues as he had to go. The famous Jim Mossmann, four-time Canadian Olympic coach, has been a member for an unbelievable 72 years. Naturally he was also inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame for his athletic achievements. Today he says he lives in a condo close by and mainly comes down here to socialize.
Another long-term member, John McCullough, was just inducted as a lifetime member last night. He has been a member since 1943. His friends were joking and referred to him as a walking encyclopedia. John says that
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The friendly face behind the bar is Jamie Reynolds, also a Balmy Beach Club member and the maintenance manager. Jamie is also responsible for ordering the supplies, the drinks and snacks for the bar. The Balmy Beach Club is a licensed establishment and serves quick snacks and pre-made sandwiches. Jamie has been a member since 1964, started off paddling, then played rugby from 1967 to 1987. Today Jamie is a talented lawn bowler. He explains that the natural sequence of sports at the Balmy Beach Club starts with
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Another true fixture at the Balmy Beach Club is Barb Kelly, who works part-time in the club s administration since she retired from her long-term job with a paper mill. Barb Kelly is also a life-time member and joined the club in the mid 1970s. She has been on the Board of Directors for the last 12 years and was the first female on the board. Originally the Balmy Beach Club was closed to women as there were no lockers or showers for females, and finally
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Barb has been paddling since she was a child, and on May 4, 2007 she will be inducted in the Balmy Beach Sports Hall of Fame as an athlete (she is an outstanding lawn bowler) and a major contributor of the club. Barb explained that eight times a year she runs a Euchre Meat Roll which is basically a fundraiser for her lawn-bowling team that involves a vacuum-packed piece of meat as a prize giveaway. Barb has participated in many dances and social events at the Balmy Beach Club since she was a young girl.
Last but not least I got a chance to meet the person who really runs
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Charlene adds that the club is financially self-sufficient and has never asked for any funds from the city, who officially owns the land that the
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One of the things that Charlene has instituted at the club is a more inclusive policy. More than 30 years ago, the club was open to men only. After shower and locker
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Considering all this history and the people behind it, the club is definitely the Legend by the Lake , and in Charlene s words it is the
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Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions( http://www.travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences & interesting life journeys, interviews with travellers and travel experts, cross-cultural issues, and many other features.
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