The Lychgate Group All About Us   |   Current Activities The Lychgate Group is a group of women which meets once a month for fellowship and service to St. John’s and our wider church community, through fundraising and outreach. We also offer interesting guest speakers on topical subjects and cultural outings so that every meeting offers variety and enrichment. Now that you know what we are all about, we invite women looking for a fun and focussed church group to join us in 2007 - 2008 for another year of fulfilling activity. We meet every second Thursday from September to June at 7.30 in the Garnsworthy Room. If you would like to join, please call co-chairs Ellen-Jean Dewberry or Frann Harris through the office. Or speak to any member of the Lychgate Group. The Lychgate Group began in the seventies and many of the members have been with the group that long. We are efficient and creative fundraisers and support as well many of the other church groups and their activities with our ideas and our helping hands. Current Activities Lychgate ends the year with two wonderful events June Party The June Party was held this year at the home of Frann Harris and Steve Francis. They graciously welcomed us into their lovely home and beautiful spacious garden. Each member of Lychgate brought an appetizer, a salad or dessert to be served with a wonderful cooked salmon. Many hands made light work – although Frann might not agree! Many former Lychgate members, who have since moved further away and whom we don’t see very often, came to join us for the evening. Our special guests for the evening were Rev. Pat and Fr. Drew and his wife Carolyn. It was a wonderful time to catch up with old friends and relax with new ones. An enduring and worthwhile Lychgate June tradition. May Outing Instead of a regular meeting in May, a group of 12 Lychgate members attended the dinner theatre run by Famous People Players. To anyone who isn’t acquainted with the work of this theatre group, the writer heartily recommends it – especially if you are looking for a group outing. The young people involved with the dinner theatre first of all serve the meals, (which were delicious by the way), in the elegant dining room; they work in the kitchen and clean up afterwards. Then they go upstairs to get into their costumes and get ready to entertain the guests with a wonderful show of song, dance and comedy in blacklight theatre style, using big bright puppets against a black background. The show is very professional and will make you smile and laugh and be nostalgic. It will also touch you with the enthusiasm of these young performers. Although the show is suitable for children, it is not necessarily children’s entertainment. Each of the young people involved is challenged in some way, so our support of this theatre gives them great employment opportunities and a chance to learn an incredibly creative skill. I would give this evening a five out of five. ***** Highly recommended. Previous Lychgate Events THE OCCUPIED GARDEN On Thursday, April 10 in the evening, fifteen Lychgate members and 30 other parishioners and friends attended a reading and power point presentation about Nazi-occupied Holland as researched and written about in a new book called The Occupied Garden. During the question period following the presentation by Kristen Den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski, parishioners asked questions of the two sister-authors and provided fascinating comments about their own WWII experiences in Europe. After the Q & A, participants enjoyed refreshments prepared by Lychgate members. Lychgate, which sponsored the special evening, wants to thank everyone who participated and lent support to the community-building event. To find out more about the book, please keep reading. The Occupied Garden: Recovering the Story of a Family in the Wartorn Netherlands by Tracy Kasaboski and Kristen den Hartog ISBN: 978-0-7710-2622-5 (0-7710-2622-6), $29.99 Pub date: March 18, 2008 A moving, revealing memoir about a man and his young family during the Nazi occupation of Holland, as told by his granddaughters, one a beloved novelist. At once a memoir and a social history of a time, The Occupied Garden is the story of a good but poor man, a market gardener, and his fiercely devout wife, raising their young family in Holland during the Nazi occupation. Pieced together by the couple’s granddaughters, who combed through historical research, family lore, and insights from a neighbour’s wartime diary, the story chronicles how the couple struggled to keep their children from starving, but could not keep them from harm, and reveals the strife and hardship endured not just by them, but by a nation. These experiences, kept from subsequent generations of the family, were almost lost until, long after their deaths, the path of the couple through the war and on to Canada was uncovered. A personal and intimate account within the larger context of a terrorized nation, this is also a story of the bonds and strains among family, told with the haunting, evocative prose for which Kristen den Hartog is known. Praise for The Occupied Garden “In this heroic gesture of recovery of family history, the authors not only recreate their grandparents’ world, but the horror of life in Nazi Occupied Holland. History is retold in relentless detail through the tragedies lived by people who become as real to us as our own family. The Occupied Garden is a triumphant refusal to accept the silence that erases the past.” – Rosemary Sullivan, author of Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille Kristen den Hartog is the critically acclaimed author of Water Wings, The Perpetual Ending, which was a finalist for the City of Toronto Book Award, and Origin of Haloes. She writes this book with Tracy Kasaboski, her sister, a “closet writer” who first inspired den Hartog years ago with her own dramatic childhood stories. Den Hartog lives in Toronto, while Kasaboski makes her home in Deep River, Ontario. Christmas Party - 2007   |  Vimy Ridge Memorial Vimy Ridge Memorial At the Lychgate meeting in January 2008, our Parish Administrator, Jan Allward spoke to us about and showed slides of her visit to Vimy Ridge in April 2007. At that time, there was a ceremony to rededicate the newly refurbished Vimy Memorial which was designed by a member of Jan's family, Walter Allward. Jan attended the ceremony with her sister. Walter's grandson was also present. Jan showed us slides of the massive refurbishment process and told us many anecdotes about the original construction of the memorial, Walter Allward's involvement, and the ceremony itself. Walter Allward is buried in St. John's graveyard and a plaque honouring him and his work was recently unveiled at his grave. Jan Allward's presentation to the Lychgate Group was fascinating, moving and very, very informative. She has done a lot of research and we were very pleased to have the benefit of her research and personal reminiscences. Here are two of the photos which Jan took the day of the rededication ceremony in April. They are close-ups, front and back, of one of the large statues of the memorial which is called Weeping Woman/The Spirit of Canada. Many thanks, Jan. Christmas Party - 2007 Christmas Party - The Ladies Go Red! The Lychgate Group finished the year in convivial fashion with a Christmas party at the home of the outgoing co-chair Elizabeth Snell. The atmosphere was very Christmassy with lots of fresh snow outside and a beautifully decorated tree inside. The ladies enjoyed some drinks   The women brought their bags of Christmas gifts for LOFT, part of our outreach at this time of year, and then tucked into some delicious fare. They enjoyed some yummy desserts. The women enjoyed alot of good conversation as well. Our special guests for the evening were our deacon Catherine Keating and Carolyn MacDonald. We were very pleased to have them with us for this very special evening. A short business meeting followed dinner, at which new co-chairs for the next two years were chosen. Ellen Jean Dewberry and Frann Harris will bring their considerable skills to the leadership of our busy group as we continue to enjoy fellowship together, support each other spiritually and emotionally, and seek in all ways to support St. John's York Mills. ---------------------------------------------------------------------Cabaret The Lychgate Group helped organize and promote the recent (October 27) Cabaret evening at the church. Musical selections by our wonderful soloists were organized and accompanied by Robin Davis to the delight of a full house. Items were bid on for a silent auction. Lychgate sold the tickets, set up the room and organized the delicious desserts which are always a highlight of the evening. Everyone the writer spoke to praised the evening for the musicianship of the performers and loved the musical choices, which ranged from Manhattan Transfer to Noel Coward. Over a hundred people were present and over $5000 was raised for the church. Following are a few photos which will demonstrate how much fun the evening was for everyone involved: The food is a great success... Our emcee Stephen Monk... Lychgate works behind the scenes... Our happy bartenders... Rev Drew MacDonald holds up the bar... Lychgate member Frann Harris peruses the items at the silent auction

Home | Contact Us | Map | Top