Showing 45 results

Bramalea Parent Co-op Nursery School was originally created as the Bramalea Parent Co-operative Association, a group of nine parents from the Bramalea community, led by Anne Phillips. With the cooperation of the Greater Metro Toronto Parent Co-operative Preschool Council, the program was initiated "after some months," in September 1973, running two days a week.

The organization reached two milestones in September 1974. The first was growing to its maximum capacity of 42 children, spread between morning and afternoon programs, an enrollment cap that it maintained until at least 1991. The other occurrence was incorporation, incorporation was complete by February 1975. The co-op corporation became a registered charitable organization in July 1976. The group chose to become a formal affiliate of the City of Brampton in 1977, which afforded it various privileges, such as an exemption from Day Nurseries Act.

but also required the filing of board minutes, annual meeting minutes, and financial statements with the City.

The co-op had programs in music, creative arts (in partnership with Sheridan College), and Parent Education. The latter's involvement with the Toronto Association of Individual Psychology led to the creation of the Peel Parent Education Committee, formed of representatives from the Peel Children's Aid, Peel Family Services, Region of Peel Social Services department, the Brampton Public Library system, the YMCA, and Bramalea Parent Co-operative Nursery School. The organization also produced nine half-hour television programs, "Parents are People", aired on Rogers Cable 10.

The program expanded to three days a week in 1980, and five mornings a week in autumn 1985, split between two-day and three-day programs. With the creation of Junior Kindergarten in the autumn of 1989, enrollment declined and staff was decreased.

Al was born in the City of Toronto on February 3rd, 1924 to Fred and Violet Betts. He was named Alfred like his dad; however, to avoid confusion he was called Al. He spent his formative years growing up in the north part of the city.

Al enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1943. He trained in Medicine Hat, AB, Chatham, NB, and Charlottetown, PEI as a Navigation-Bombardier on the Lancaster bombers. During the Second World War he was stationed in Bournemouth in the south of England.

Al’s passion was photography. Family legend has it he became interested in photography when he scooped up an old Kodak “Brownie” camera that had been tossed away. Always the curious individual he took it apart, repaired it, and started experimenting with photography.

After the Second World War he began working at Toronto Western Hospital where he met the love of his life, Helen Colville. They wed in 1950 and lived in Toronto before leaving the city in 1956 for Streetsville, then in Toronto Township (now Mississauga). By the time they moved to Streetsville, their first two children, Doug and Marylyn, had been born.

In 1958 a second son, Brian, was born and Al was working at A.V. Roe in Malton. Here he had the privilege of working on the Avro Arrow project in the Photography Department. He took several of the iconic pictures of the Avro Arrow in production and in flight. This job was short-lived, however, with the cancellation of the Avro project in 1959.

Al started A. Betts Photography in Streetsville around 1965. During this time Al and Helen completed their family with the addition of Stephen and Cynthia. The entire family settled into the three bedroom bungalow on Vista Boulevard in Streetsville. He gave back to the town by initiating the Bread and Honey Festival, helping with the Boy Scouts, and being the official photographer for the local Streetsville newspaper. He was active as a professional photographer to ca. 1983.

As the children grew older, Al had more time to travel the world with Helen (and sometimes with their children in tow). Their travels took them throughout North America, Europe, as well as Central America and the Caribbean.

Al passed away peacefully, with family by his side, on Friday, January 20th, 2017, at the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga.

Avondale Recreation Centre is 55 Avondale Boulevard, a structure in front of Victoria Park Arena.

As of 2019, the building is home to 758 Argus Squadron and Peekaboo Child Care - Avondale.

Maureen Adams was a children's librarian and puppeteer who lived in Brampton. She is best known for the 1950s family troupe "The Adams Marionettes", which performed across southern Ontario.

Studying at the University of Toronto, she earned a Bachelor of the Arts and a Bachelor of Library Science, working at libraries in Niagara Falls, Welland, Saskatoon, and Leeds, England. Once in Brampton, she was a teacher-librarian at Ridgeview Public School, McHugh Public School, and Agnes Taylor Public School.

She introduced puppetry into schools as an extracurricular activity, and taught workshops in Brampton and Toronto. She was a Charter member of the Ontario Puppetry Association, member of the Puppeteers of America, and co-founded the Puppetry Guild of Halton/Peel, of which she was President. (The guild made many appearances at the Peel Heritage Complex during kid's events in the 1990s.) A member of the Brampton Arts Council, she received Arts Person of the Year from the organization in 2006.

She met her husband John Adams while in library school, and married in 1952. They had three children.