Posts with the George Bain tag

Barris Beat

For want of a Saturday donut

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Saturday shoppers lined up for a first taste of Little Thief baked goods.

Grand openings haven’t happened much during the past few years around here. The pandemic has made certain of that. So, when we learned that the former Bredin’s Bakery location would reopen last Saturday morning at 10, as the new donut specialty shop – Little Thief Bakery Co. – scores of us lined up outside to buy our weekend supply of fresh bread and pastry.

When I arrived about 9:45, there were probably 50 or 60 people ahead of me. For most of the next hour those of us in line saw happy customers departing the store with their bags and boxes of goodies.

“Did you leave us anything?” we kept asking. (more…)

Barris Beat

Flag Day dreaming

Written by Ted Barris on . 1 Comment
Feb. 15, 1965 – Red Maple Leaf flag unveiled for the first time. Radio Canada International photo.

It was a crisp, cold winter day. The sunshine was minimal. But the group of spectators on Parliament Hill was unexpectedly large. People in Ottawa sensed if they didn’t attend they’d miss some history. Next to a flagpole specially erected outside Parliament, then prime minister Lester Pearson arrived. Indeed, he did make history. The Red Ensign, Canada’s flag for a century was lowered for the last time. And Canada’s new flag was raised in its place.

Fifty-six years ago, last Monday, the Red Maple Leaf flag flew nationally for the first time. As noted in his book I Stand For Canada: The Story of the Maple Leaf Flag, Rick Archbold quoted Globe and Mail columnist George Bain who witnessed the flag-raising that day.

“And the feelings that a flag is a flag is a flag,” Bain wrote, “were dispelled, because it looked bold and clean, and distinctively our own.” (more…)

Barris Beat

What makes a kid’s summer?

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
My sister Kate  and I got an introduction to cottage life at the Globe and Mail cottages on Lake Erie in the mid-1950s.

I might have dismissed the email, but the subject line caught my attention. “A Quick Past Memory,” it said. A fellow named Bryan Graham contacted me this past week to remind me that his dad and mine had known each other on the job 60 years ago. He explained that he’d tripped over my name in a military newsletter and decided to get in touch to tell me about our families’ connection.

“My father, Al Graham, was a district manager in Waterloo for the Globe and Mail in the mid-1950s,” Bryan explained.

Of course, since my father Alex had worked as a reporter and then columnist for the Globe back then, I took a bit more time reading his note.

“The Globe and Mail owned a property on the shores of Lake Erie with 12 wooden, very basic cottages and a small recreation building,” Bryan continued. “I’m confident our families spent a summer or two there together in the ’50s.” (more…)