EDUCT News September 2014 Issue 43 The Newsletter of the Edinburgh University Club of Toronto [EDUCT] January 2017 Message from the President Upcoming Club and Alumni Events The 2017 Burns Nightcap When: Thursday, 19 January 2016, 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm (6 days before Burns). Where: The Duke of Kent, on Yonge Street, east side, at Roehampton Avenue, just north of Eglinton Avenue East. Parking underground across Yonge, or surface lot on Roehampton. Details: All are part of the entertainment. Cost: $40 for members and guests; $45 for non-member alumni. Happy Hogmanay! January is that Info: Chris Valley Ban, [email protected] 416-489-2011. time for reflection, when we think about people we want to keep in touch with. This is made easy for me University of Edinburgh Applicants Session as a member of EDUCT: I get to see When: Wednesday, 1 March 2016, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. my fellow alumni fairly regularly. For Where: Upper Canada College example, we may have met on 13 Details: The University is the organizer of this information session October, last year, at the reception for would-be Edinburgh students. As in past years, EDUCT held for the University Vice-Principal will provide some speakers to talk about their experiences at International, Professor James Smith, Edinburgh. All EDUCT members are welcome to attend to help when he and Professor Grant Jarvie answer questions from students and their parents during the spoke to us about the University’s reception. To help us with numbers, please let us know if you recent initiatives and the substantial plan to attend. We will then provide you with more details on gift from the MasterCard Foundation access and parking. in support of African students at RSVP: Alan Pearson, [email protected] 416-237-9874 Edinburgh. Other events you may have attended EDUCT Annual Dinner were Pearce Carefoote’s lecture on When: Friday, 31 March 2017, 6:30 pm. the history of literary censorship Where: The Great Hall, The Arts & Letters Club, 14 Elm Street, Toronto. on 27 October, or the wine tasting Details: Douglas Gibson, the renowned author and publisher, will be on 1 December, or our Burns’ Night our after-dinner speaker. Drawing from his latest book, Across on 19 January (yes, that quiz was Canada by Story, Mr. Gibson will help us to celebrate Canada’s impossibly hard!). sesquicentennial, by taking us on a coast-to-coast literary adventure. While stories of famous Canadian authors will form Looking forward to 2017, I am the backbone of the talk, we can expect to learn much more really excited about the EDUCT about our country’s geography and history too. For further annual dinner, which will be held 31 information, see the article on page 7 of this newsletter. Note – March at the Arts & Letters Club. Salmon will be the main course. If you have dietary restrictions To mark Canada’s sesquicentennial or do not like salmon, do let us know. we’ve asked Douglas Gibson, noted Cost: $85 for members and guests; $90 for non-member alumni and publisher, writer and public speaker, guests. to talk about what he is perhaps most Info: Simon Miles, [email protected] 416-466-8793 famous for: his relationships with and knowledge of Canadian authors (see p. 7). The setting and format for the Annual General Meeting evening are perfect for relaxing and When: TBA - A Sunday in late May or early June 2017. catching up with friends. Do come! Details: We are trying to arrange for the AGM to be held in association And do renew your membership (see with a lawn bowling or similar event. Details to follow. p. 21 for details). Victoria Crewe-Nelson [email protected] Do you know of other Edinburgh alumni in Membership fees for 2017 are due in January. If you have not yet Toronto? Please pass this newsletter on to renewed, please see page 21 for details. 1 anyone who might be interested EDUCT News January 2017 Inside this Issue Professor James Smith, Vice-Principal International, Welcomes Toronto Alumni at Reception • Professor James by Simon Miles Smith, Vice-Principal International, Welcomes On 13 October 2016, our University, with the assistance of EDUCT, hosted Toronto Alumni at a reception for Toronto-area alumni in the splendid space provided to us by Reception Torys. This is becoming an almost annual event now and a very welcome one at that. This year, we had been expecting to have the pleasure of a final visit from Sir Tim O’Shea and Lady O’Shea, prior to Sir Tim’s demitting • Dr. Pearce J. Carefoote office as Principal and Vice-Chancellor next September. It was not to be. Addresses the Futility of Sadly, Sir Tim was detained in Edinburgh on family matters. We have been Censorship assured that Sir Tim will try to find a way of squeezing in a visit here before he steps down. EDUCT wishes to assure Sir Tim that, while that would be • Around the World in Six much appreciated, we are very conscious of his horrendous schedule and Pinots would not want him to push himself even harder than he does now. • Douglas Gibson “Across Canada by Story” on Our Sesquicentennial • EDUCT Geography Centenary Fund: More generous donations • EDUCT Decennial Endowment Fund: Update • EDUCT Day Declared a Holiday For All Past Presidents • Professor Peter Mathieson to succeed Sir Tim O’Shea Our three speakers: Joanna Storrar, James Smith and Grant Jarvie as Principal and Vice- Chancellor Professor James Smith, the University’s Vice-Principal International, very ably stepped in. He was fully supported by the presence of Joanna Storrar, • Famous Alumni: Reginald Executive Director of the University’s North American Office, and Professor Fleming Johnston, British Grant Jarvie, Chair of Sport at the School of Education and Director of the Diplomat and Tutor to the University’s Academy of Sport. Last Emperor of China Following an initial socializing session in which alumni got to meet each • Welcome To Our New other, Joanna Storrar opened the formal part of the evening. Alan Pearson, Members EDUCT’s Past President and former COO of Torys, who was in Scotland at the time, was thanked by Joanna for having arranged for the fine facilities • Salam Hawa Introduces Her that enabled us to enjoy one of the last summer sunsets from the comfort New Book on Arab Political of a downtown locale. Our current President, Victoria Crewe-Nelson, was Identity also thanked for her part in making the event happen. • A Special Offer to EDUCT Professor James Smith opened his remarks by extending the University community’s congratulations to Sir Fraser Stoddart, one of three chemists Members who had just been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Dr. Stoddart earned his B.Sc. and doctorate at Edinburgh and in 1980 was • Treasurer’s Report honoured with a D.Sc. by Edinburgh for his research into stereochemistry beyond the molecule. (This award will be covered more fully in our May • Board of Directors issue.) • Are You On Our List? James, in addition to his role as Vice-Principal International, is involved in the teaching of international development at the University. Africa is of particular interest to him. Not surprisingly, he spoke with great enthusiasm 2 EDUCT News January 2017 about the recently announced Edinburgh student, in Dalry, just east of Edinburgh, with the intent, in part, $27 million support that has been of improving the health of the local people there. Some of his examples provided to the University by the also illustrate how his work with Bruce Kidd can aid the UN. Take, for MasterCard Foundation, based in instance, the empowering of vulnerable girls and the promotion of girls’ Toronto. (This grant was covered at rights and gender equality through the use of sports-based programmes in length in EDUCT News of September Cambodia. Taken together, Grant’s examples provided us with a fascinating 2016.) A short video was shown insight into the role of sport as a resource of hope in many communities of African students at Edinburgh throughout the world and its potential contribution to the bettering of speaking to the advantages of this humanity. support and the emphasis placed on ensuring the recipients return to After these stimulating remarks a drink was in order! We all entered chatter Africa to help improve the lot of their mode …and so ended another very enjoyable get-together of alumni. fellow citizens. James presented this outstanding grant as illustrative EDUCT thanks our three visitors for having come so far to meet with us, and of the exemplary work of Sir Tim Torys for the provision of the delightful space. in greatly expanding the financial support for students at Edinburgh during his tenure as Principal. He Dr. Pearce J. Carefoote Addresses the Futility of Censorship noted the significant contribution by Chris Valley Ban that EDUCT has already made, as a young club, in establishing its On the evening of Thursday, 27 October 2016, Dr. Pearce J. Carefoote, two funds and he encouraged us a librarian at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of to continue our good work in this Toronto, gave EDUCT a short talk about the history of literary censorship. regard. Dr. Carefoote has a gift for choosing his anecdotes and articulating them well. Recalling the childhood confiscation of his comic book, Batman, he Professor Grant Jarvie happened recognized early on the futility of censorship in action. to be in Toronto at the time of the reception. He is collaborating with Dr. Bruce Kidd, Vice-President of the University of Toronto, and another internationally respected figure in sports education.