Columns
November 01, 2008 12:28 AM
Marney Beck
The Lions Hall in old Richmond Hill has a fond place in the minds and hearts of many residents.
You may know it as a place you have ‘done your duty’ such as voting in numerous elections, or maybe donated blood for Canadian Blood Services.
Many families consider it the familiar place to register for Girl Guides or Scouts (and often leaders of both organizations booked the same day for their fall registrations).
There have been enthusiastic Thinking Day celebrations to mark the birthdays of Lord and Lady Baden Powell, and a long succession of delectible dinners and special cultural events by many community organizations.
Still others consider it a rental facility they’ve booked for family reunions, happy baptism parties or more sombre wakes.
The square, plain hall has been a fixture on Centre Street East since the namesake Lions service club members fundraised and built their ‘hall for all’ back in 1952.
Without giving too much of a history lesson, the historical heritage of the facility goes far beyond its unassuming one-storey building of bricks and mortar.
The Lions Club members after the war decided a community hall meeting place was needed for the town, and a citizen questionnaire confirmed that fact.
At first the council of the day backed the project, but when councillors withdrew support because they worried about burdening taxpayers with future deficits (sound familiar?) the Lions members went ahead, bought the land, opened the hall in 1952 and gave it as a ‘gift’ to the town.
As the town’s history book ‘Later Days in Richmond Hill’ confirms, one of the first exciting events to be held at the hall was a public viewing of the coronation of young Queen Elizabeth II in the spring of 1953, on several new-fangled television sets brought in for residents to view the regal affair.
But history and emotions can’t trump physical decay and modern building and safety codes.
Over the years, successive councils had spent money on the Lions Hall to improve it, but more than six decades later, the hall is showing its age.
To put it bluntly, as council did back in May of 2007, the building “has reached the end of its economic useful life as a municipal facility”.
Pointing out that to restore the Lions Hall and Spruce Avenue Hall, which was also constructed in the mid-1950s, would cost $2 million, councillors determined that the Lions Hall was no longer safe and economical to heat and maintain, and rentals by community groups and individuals were stopped in September 2007.
Recognizing the special place the Lions Hall had in the community, staff were asked for a feasibility study on the use of the hall and property and a report on future uses as part of the 2008 capital budget.
Options to either “renovate and/or demolish and rebuild” were requested.
That decision is likely to be made and confirmed at the Nov. 3 council meeting.
No matter what our councillors decide, hopefully the intent and dedication of the generous Lions Club members will be honoured, if not through the same building, as least in some other tangible way.
Indeed, in May of this year, a recommendation to demolish the hall was deferred, and staff were asked to report on maintaining it on a limited-use basis to allow the Lions Club to use the building.
Town staff have also been looking at the hall as part of the overall 10-year capital review of the nearby town park and ball diamond site.
The Lions Hall has truly been a ‘gift’ to this community and has been part of the social life of Richmond Hill for decades.
We have many other state-of-the-art pools, parks and community centres, but few have the heritage and place in our hearts that the Lions Hall enjoys.