Our History 1949-2009
Who We Are
In the early days of 1949, Clark Martin, James Clark, L.B. Pollock, Art Dawson, W.E. Purdy, M.W. Connell, Dan McGenerty, J.A. Sinclair, George White and W. Erwin Winch came together with the idea to build an arena in Keswick. These men would become the FOREFATHER’S of the Optimist Club of Keswick, which held their charter night at Sunset Lodge on July 27th, 1949, with 30 members.
The first accomplishment of the club was the North Gwillumbury Memorial Centre. It was built in memory of those killed in World Wars I and II. Natural ice was used for many years, and finally in 1964, artificial ice was put in. In 1996, the property was sold and the arena was demolished. The Town of Georgina built a new two pad arena on Wexford Ave near Woodbine Ave.
In 1960, an unused school portable would become the first clubhouse, which would have additions added throughout the years. Our clubhouse became our local library’s meeting place for children’s programs and activities. It also played host to many youth organizations such as Brownies, Girl Guides, Cubs, Scouts, and Sea Scouts. Not to mention our own club events such as Rod and Gun, Archery, youth dances, Christmas parties and meetings. Our hall was the focal point for our Walkathons, Highland Games, Youth appreciation festivities, Bike safety, Respect for Law, Red Cross Blood Donor Clinics, family fish outs, oratorical contests, Whipper Watson Snow a rama for Crippled Children, many fundraisers and dances.
The all male Optimist Club changed in 1993, when Central Ontario District Governor Alex Ansell from Aurora inducted Sheril Thomson as our first female member. Lauralee Reily joined in 1994 and since then we have had many women join our club.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we lost our hall in July 1996. Coupled with a decline in membership, our club seemed destined to vanish. Seven dedicated members made the commitment to rebuild our club. We began to meet in the homes of members or in restaurants and started to rebuild the club. On March 29, 1998, our club inducted 13 new members into our Optimist family at a mass induction ceremony at a zone meeting.
Sheril Thomson went on to become Central Ontario District’s first female Governor in 1998-1999. Frank Tuttle was Governor in 2005-2006 and this year we are honored to have Paul Thomson as our Governor. Our club has also had its share of Lt. Governors: Roy Galloway, Gavin Morton, Fred Herdman, Art Pollock, John Hopkins, Leif Eriksen, Clare Robbins, Paul Thomson, Ron Peebles, Sheril Thomson, Frank Tuttle, and Lauralee Reily.
