At Club’s AGM, Graham Allen reflects on his four years as President

Our April 10, 2022 Annual General Meeting was well attended with over 100 registered. As with the previous two years, the meeting was held on Zoom, due to COVID-19 considerations. Graham Allen, President of the Toronto Bruce Trail Club reflected on his past four years at the helm of the Toronto Club. He welcomed David Royle as incoming President, as well as two new board members, Neal Stein and Tom Swales. Graham reported that the club’s finances are in good order, and with the new online hike registration, introducing credit card transactions has eased the burden on hike leaders. He thanked the board and all volunteers for their hard work and notable accomplishments in 2021, among them:

  • Created a new mobile-friendly website plus a hike registration and calendar platform that is compatible with the other 8 clubs
  • Launched a member survey to help us understand priorities and needs of club members
  • Responded to changing government regulations as the club managed its group hiking programs. Winter coach hikes returned in 2022 along with the annual spring Hiker Initiation Program and the fall End-to-End hike
  • Participated in three meetings with other club presidents and maintained strong communication with the Bruce Trail Conservancy
  • Increased our membership from the previous year. We also experienced a significant demand for our badge programs (youth, section end-to-end, side trail and winter).

He also mentioned “We have a strong Land Mgmt Committee which includes biodiversity, land securement, trail maintenance, and land stewardship.

As part of the BTC’s mission to preserve a ribbon of wilderness for everyone forever TBTC assisted in the purchase of three new properties and a soon to be main trail reroute through the Duff Pit property which will remove the trail from Sixth Line & Hwy 7.

There are many accomplishments over the last four years but as President I am most proud of our commitment and action to Diversity and Inclusion to better represent our membership and the GTA.

It has been a pleasure and honour to be your President.”

The Nina Carlisle Volunteer award recipient was Rose-Mary Mitter and David Rowney was the Todd Bardes Volunteer award recipient. Trail maintenance Certificates of Appreciation were given to Jude & Helen Keast,(5 years), Peter & Gail Pritchard (5 years) and Rose-Mary Mitter (20 years). The outstanding Trail Maintenance Volunteer of the Year was John Borley.