By-Town

These days, every penny counts so a discount of even a few dollars on a needed item can make a difference. Here’s a list of current/verified senior’s discounts you may be able to take advantage of, especially as the holiday season approaches! If you know of others, please share them and we’ll update this list on our website.
 
Best Western
Bulk Barn
Cineplex
Denny’s
Giant Tiger
Global Pet Foods
Goodwill
Landmark Cinemas
M&M Food Market
Mandarin Buffet
Michaels
OC Transpo
Parks Canada
Pet Value
Rexall
Salvation Army Thrift Store
Shoppers Drug Mart
Telus
The Bay
Various banks
VIA Rail
Wyndham Hotels
Mastermind Toys (sign up for Perks program and identify as a grandparent)

Your Heritage Club is very proud to offer a national Scholarship Program to the dependents of members. Now in its sixth year, scholarships have been given to 19 recipients, and last year the value of the individual awards was increased from $1000 to $2000 each. Reviewers say the qualifications of the applicants are always impressive, making it a difficult evaluation process. Congratulations to the 2023 winners: Abbygale Davidson (Humber Chapter), Margaret Fallscheer (Parkland Chapter), and Christian Shimmin (Van Fraser Chapter).
 

PLEASE NOTE — REGISTRATION IS CLOSED FOR THIS LUNCH…

This is the last call (registration closes September 12) for the October lunch registration. More details here. If you want to join us for this fabulous dining experience, please send an email now!

Our holiday activity will see us return to a favourite spot – the Sucrerie de la Montagne in Rigaud! Sucrerie de la Montagne provides an authentic Québécois holiday, country-style festive gathering, with delicious food and amazing entertainment! A fun evening is guaranteed.
 
A traditional all-you-can-eat Christmas feast will be served family-style at harvest tables: harvester’s barley soup, farm-style crusty bread, meat pie from Quebec’s Beauce region, maple-glazed butter turkey, traditional meatball stew, wood-fired baked beans, maple-glazed carrots, old-style mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pickles. Dessert is traditional sugar pie and golden pancakes. Tea and coffee are included.
 
After dinner we’ll enjoy live music and sing and dance the night away! Join us for this wonderful holiday evening of food, music, and laughs. The actual cost of this event would be $127 per person but your club is sponsoring a part of the cost and the event tickets will cost only $75 per member (reminder that your spouse is considered a member).
 
Date: Friday, November 17, 2023
Schedule:

• 3:30 p.m. – bus leaves Riverside United Church
• 5:00 p.m. – arrive at Sucrerie de la Montagne
• 9:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. – leave Sucrerie de la Montagne
• 11:00 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. – estimated time of return to Riverside United Church

Register now, please and thanks, registration is limited to 40 seats. Please note, the venue is fully accessible – we will be dropped off at the door of the hall!

Fun, fun, fun!

We’ll be meeting at Stacked Smoked Meat and Grill for our November lunch. Join us on Thursday, November 2 at 11:30 a.m. As always, please register via email if you plan to attend so the restaurant can plan for our visit. See you there!

What are we all wearing? A special gift for AGM attendees… very cool branded sunglasses! 

We had a great indoor, in-person AGM meeting today. It was great to see 30 members enjoying a yummy (partially sponsored by the club) pizza buffet and being able to catch up with former colleagues and new friends. We’ll supply a full summary of the AGM in the next newsletter.

We’ll be dining at Algonquin College’s Restaurant International for our October lunch. The restaurant provides a hands-on learning laboratory for students in the college’s culinary and hospitality programs and earns wonderful reviews from guests. Unfortunately, the restaurant is unable to provide us with their final menu as students work out the menus based (as much as possible) on locally sourced, seasonally fresh ingredients, and it is finalized just before the month begins. We realize that for our food-sensitive folks that won’t allow you to register until we have an actual menu but, to help with the planning we will open registration for those members who can commit without knowing the exact menu. What we do know:

• Date: Thursday, October 5 – doors open at 11:30 a.m, service will begin at noon.
• The soup will likely be a butternut squash soup.
• Entrée choices will likely be a choice of salmon, chicken, or a vegetarian dish (we just aren’t sure how they will be prepared!) with seasonal vegetables.
• Dessert will likely be a chocolate lava cake/brownie.
• FYI, here is their current menu…
• Cost will be $40 per person, paid in advance (see payment ‘how to’ information at the bottom of this note), and will include the three-course meal, tea or coffee, taxes and tip.
• There will be a cash bar offered.
• We will not be able to offer refunds if your plans change but will do our best (as we hope you would too!) to sell your ticket(s).

So, if you are up for this wonderful adventure, and seeing the exact menu isn’t a concern, register now via email. Please note, you must pay in advance to be registered.

Final call, registration closes August 15, for the golf tournament. More details here.

Details for the AGM (Thursday, September 7 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at KS on the Keys) are here. However, please note, like the picnic, interest in the September lunch seems to be very low. If you plan to attend the AGM/September lunch, please register ASAP (registration will close August 15) so we can determine if we will proceed with the lunch/meeting or not. Your club is sponsoring a portion of your lunch and we’d like to see as many members as possible. Please register now, if you plan to attend. More details here.

Please note, the picnic scheduled for next  week (Thursday, August 3) has been cancelled. Perhaps the Thursday before the long weekend is playing into member’s availability for the activity or maybe the picnic itself, now that COVID allows for more indoor activities, has just run it’s course, but we’ve had very few registrations for the event and have decided to cancel. We hope to see everyone at the AGM in September! 

We’ve received a few nominations, but there’s still time to nominate a favourite charity for support from your Heritage Club. Each year we ask our members to nominate registered charities that are important to them to receive $500 from the chapter. The chapter supports a minimum of two charities annually. If you have a favourite charity you’d like us to support, please send a note, sharing a few words why you’d like us to help that group and if you have any involvement with them (not a requirement). Please send an email, by August 10, nominating your charity and perhaps you can be a Heritage Club hero to them! Members in good standing, for the current and past year, may submit organizations for consideration. Learn more about our Community Involvement work, and nominating a charity, here.

Congratulations to Lynn Knight, the winner of the $50 Giant Tiger gift card. Her Canada Day celebrations were, well, as Canadian as can be — in the UK!

Great pictures of Lynn and Denis’s celebrations and a couple of extra pictures of some of the executive’s day…

Our August lunch will be our annual picnic. Join us on Thursday, August 3 (rain date Friday, August 4) for our third annual picnic. We’ll gather at Vincent Massey Park. We had planned to use the same spot as last year but there have been a few requests to move the location nearer to the washrooms. When you register, please let us know which location you prefer (washrooms or same as last year)…
 
Once again, we’ll have members bring their own food and drink, and chairs, but the club will again supply individually packaged snacks (chips, pretzels, popcorn, etc.) and desserts. And, of course, there will be door prizes! One of the complaints about our lunches is that the restaurant setting doesn’t really provide the opportunity for “mingling” with each other in a quieter setting. We think this picnic provides that opportunity and hope many of you will join us. Please send an email to register your attendance.
 
We’ll also use the picnic as an opportunity to get to know each other a little better. When you register your attendance, you will be asked to answer a few questions about yourself. At the picnic you will be given a sheet asking you to find “the person who has met Celine Dion” or “the person who has slept in an igloo” or “the person who was born in Glasgow, Scotland”, etc. No obligation to play, of course, but if you do and you complete your card, you will receive a special prize!

Get ready to golf! Join us at Emerald Links on September 12 for our annual golf day! As always, our event is set up as a fun, fun, fun day and absolutely no golf skill is needed. We’d love to see some first-time golfers or new-to-our-tournament friends join us. Come on out and join in the fun – hit (or not…) a few balls, share a few laughs, enjoy a drink and delight in a good meal – all in the name of fellowship, golf silliness and fun.
 
New this year – register a member who has not played in our tournament in the past five years, or ever, and get your first post-golf drink paid for by the club! We’d love to see some of our old friends, or meet some new ones, at this tournament.

• When: Tuesday, September 12 at 1:00 p.m.
• Where: Emerald Links Golf Course
• Cost: $70 (club sponsoring a portion) for By-Town Heritage Club members. $90 (actual cost) for non-members.  

To register, please send an email ASAP so we can begin planning. Let us know if you have a foursome ready to go or if you wish to be placed with other golfers and if you will be staying for dinner. Dinner will be ordered from the (limited) menu (below)  and is not included in your golf day payment. Please register and pay by August 15. Payment information is here.

Some pictures from our fabulous July lunch…