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Fading History Vol. 1Fading History Vol. 1 - stories of historical interest, touches on a wide range of topics. Each of the 15 chapters tells a different story. There are chapters on great football players, golfers, the once world-renowned 400-bed Workmen's Compensation Hospital, a 2000-seat Broadway music theatre under a tent at Dixie Plaza, the history of AVRO and the Arrow, CF100 and C102, the AVROCAR (flying saucer), and the manufacturer of the Lancaster bomber. Plenty of pictures make all the chapters come alive. The story of the great Toronto Argonaut player Teddy Morris, who just after the war years, lived on the 6th Line, Malton (modern Mississauga). Teddy took the Boatmen to six Grey Cup wins. Another footballer, Port Credit's Bobby Cunningham Jr, was a standout player for the Montreal A's in their 1949 Grey Cup win. Bobby Jr. later took up golf and played on the PGA tour. After one season on the PGA tour Bobby Jr. joined his father at St. George's as assistant golf pro and then became the club's pro when his father retired. The chapter on Bobby Cunningham Sr. tells of his dominance as a golfer at the turn of the century and eventually became a golf pro at Mississaugua Golf and Country Club, and later moved to St. George's Golf and Country Club. Broadway stars were often seen in Dixie Plaza during the summers of 1958, 59 and 60. The likes of James Garner, Eve Arden, Roddy McDowell, Red Buttons and many more, entertained audiences when Music Fair presented theatre under the big top on a circular stage located behind Dixie Plaza. Many of the teenagers living in the Port Credit and the Applewood areas of Mississauga were employed during the summer months as apprentice actors. This usually meant they did all the behind the scenes work in make-up and costume departments. A few, however, did manage to land roles in some of the productions. Other chapters include the history of the Workmen's Compensation Hospital (WCB), a hospital designed to treat those injured in the workplace. The hospital had a rehabilitation clinic where recovering workers would learn new trades. Tragedy struck the hospital just two years prior to its relocation to Downsview when Dr. Rex Hylton was shot and killed by a disgruntled patient. The murder rocked the medical community as Dr. Hylton was a pioneer in the development of prosthesis for hands and legs. The WCB opened in 1947 when it moved into the vacated military base where the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) was located during the war. The BCATP was the most ambitious military program ever put together by any country in the history of mankind. More than 231 military bases were opened across Canada at the start of the war. Canada is responsible for the training of more than 150,000 pilots from the British Commonwealth countries. The Malton base was first operated as the No. 1 Operational Training Base where pilots received their first 50 hours of training. Later it became a navigation-training base. |
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Books: Fading History Vol. 1
ballads of the turf and other doggerels
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