An 81-year-old Long Branch widow will undergo less stress this Christmas after a City by-law infraction to pave her gravel driveway was quashed.

Zandra Forbes-Roberts , who lives on Walnut Crescent, received a hand-delivered  mail last August 15 from City officials ordering her to pave her gravel driveway as it is an alleged by-law infraction.

“I am glad it is over. It was a lot of stress that I do not wish on anyone,” she said. “Having to deal with the City is not easy.”

The alleged infraction was rescinded on December 9 by members at a Standing Committee Zoom hearing.

The long-time area resident has been living in the same house for about 50 years. The home is a former area cottage, with no basement, which was built in 1910 and still in good shape, she said.

“I am a senior living on a fixed income so the paving of the driveway will cause financial hardship, as it will cost between $6500.00 to $10,00,” Forbes-Roberts told a panel. “ I have always made every effort to maintain my property in good order.”

The case has generated a lot of attention with more than 430 people signing an online petition against the repavement.

She presented to City officials 38 photographs of homes in her area with gravel driveways.

“I am a senior living on a fixed income so the paving of the driveway will cause financial hardship, as it will cost between $6,500 to $10,00,” she told a panel. “ I have always made every effort to maintain my property in good order.”

Forbes-Roberts said the 110-year-old cottage home has had flooding issues and the gravel absorbs the excess water,

“I feel that I am being unfairly targeted, as there are approximately forty houses in my neighbourhood with gravel driveways,” she said.

By MEGAN RAMPERSAUD

The Etobicoke Community Concert Band held its much-anticipated 30^th annual holiday concert “To Much Tinsel” in the auditorium at the Etobicoke Collegiate Institute.

The December 12 concert was conducted by the Artistic Director John Edward Liddle and fans enjoyed classic Christmas songs as, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” “Silent Night,” “Sleigh Ride” and many more. Attendees were invited to sing along to the Christmas songs and celebrated the season with treats during intermission.

The evening featured a special reading of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” by former Etobicoke MP Jean Augustine, who was last year’s special guest.

“I’m always very happy to participate in any community events… I think it’s important for us to bring young people along so that they could participate, they could learn from, they could be mentored by some of the older musicians in the band,” Augustine said.

She said the songs brought a fresh cultural and religious spirit of Christmas over the years. “If you walk through the room I’m sure people here are all religions and all nationality, but we all gravitate around the Christmas spirit… these men and women who are a part of the community are bringing that joy to us.”

This year’s holiday concert was special to Liddle as the band is celebrating its 30^th anniversary. “It’s an honour to still be doing it… COVID-19 has destroyed a lot of bands and our audience was older, so there was a three-year spread where nothing was happening,” he said.

The band consists of about 40 volunteer musicians of all ages. “So now we’re in a rebuilding phase with regards to audiences and letting everybody know we still exist,” he said. Liddle explained that no person is left out and the goal is for ‘the community to feel life with music for a couple of hours.’

Band president Althea Robinson plays second clarinet in the band, which ‘holds a very special place personally and is very community focused.’ She looking forward to continued growth now that the band is in its third decade.

“It’s a privilege and honour to have Jean Augustine narrate for us, every year we try to have a special guest read but we were lucky to get her again … it’s a fan favourite because it’s something we do every year,” she said.

Robinson spotlights inclusivity, explaining that ‘any degree of musical talent is welcomed.’ Those who are interested in volunteering as a musician, can e-mail them by visiting its website.

Four Etobicoke teachers have been awarded the prestigious Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence for positively changing the lives of their students.

“Every year, educators spark curiosity, build confidence and change the lives of their students,” said awards spokesman Eric Dumoulin.

He said The Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence in STEM and Excellence in Early Childhood Education recognize their outstanding contributions.

This year 70 recipients from across the country were honoured with awards for their creativity and dedication.

The top Etobicoke educators teach at Beaumonde Heights Junior Middle School, Thistletown Collegiate Institute and Silver Creek Pre-School.

Teachers Chev Cheney and Pawanjit Kaur Wander, of Beaumonde Heights, in the Islington and Finch Aves. W. area, took top honours for teaching excellence.

“Cheney turns student voice into a tool for change,” according to a release. “Through podcasts and media projects, he teaches them to speak up and impact their world.”

Wander puts inclusion and social justice front and center as her students ‘speak up, express themselves, and engage in their community. She shows them their voices can transform society.’

Thistletown’s Keith Hoare is described as making science exciting and accessible to his students.

“His hands-on experiments push his students to think differently,” organizers noted. “His teaching turns curiosity into a driver of success.”

Nicholson was recognized for Excellence in Early Childhood Education, and awakening  scientific curiosity through hands-on experiments.

“Her students ask questions, tinker, and discover for themselves. Her classroom becomes a lab of wonder,” they noted.

The Prime Minister’s Awards recognize teachers and early childhood educators for their achievements in education.

Nominations for the 2026 Prime Minister’s Awards are now open and the deadline is January 14.

Treena Evans  and hubby Bob Carrol are working to keep at risk members of the community warm and safe this winter.

Evans has owned the Spin Me a Yarn store for eight years at 2855 Lake Shore Blvd. W., and is involved in a range of charities.

Her store is well-known to area crafters for helping residents stay out of the cold.
Outside the store are plastic bags containing home-made items as toques, gloves or scarves tied to a pole and available free for those who are suffering from the cold.

All the items in Project Warmth are knitted or crocheted with love by dozens of volunteers, some in a social room in the store.

“We have been doing this for three years,” Evans said. “Most of the items are gone overnight taken by those in need.”

She shows a “ thank you” note left by someone who took items to fight the deep freeze.

“Anyone in need can come and take one,” Evans said. “The items are placed in plastic bags and are for those who are cold.”

Bob said he got the idea from a social media post by another yarn shop years ago.

“People in the community know the items are here and take it to stay warm,” he said.

Evans said more younger people are getting into the craft since COVID.

“It is good for concentration and mindfulness,” she said. “There are many benefits to crocheting and knitting.”

The store is busy this holiday as people stock up with wool, yarn, needles and other accessories.

Customers like the social space for crafters to knit and crochet;  a place for people to learn new skills and where people can gather and share their projects.

“We carry a wide range of Indy dyed yarns from local and Canadian dyers and we focus on bringing in new yarns every month,” she said.

Today the couple are loading dozens of  boxes into a vehicle in a Shoebox Project, in which the boxes are filled with gifts for at-risk women in shelters.

They are also involved in a drive making blankets for pets in shelters.

You can visit the store at spinmeayarn.ca

A well-known community volunteer, former teacher, Rotarian and Caribana bandleader is being mourned by family and friends.
Former high school teacher Courtney Doldron passed away in mid November. He was 75.
Doldron was a member of the Lakeshore Charitable Foundation that works with students and has twinned Toronto schools with three schools in the Philippines.
He visited students at one of the schools there last February and was presented the Distinguished Service Cross at the International Assembly in Cebu.
An educator, he taught at the Toronto public and Catholic school boards for a number of years before retiring in 2009 as a Co-operative Education Facilitator.
There was no relaxation for Doldron as he gave a lot of time to charity work.

He was best-known for leading his own band of revellers for many years with Caribana, now known as the Caribbean Cultural Committee.
Doldron also received the Queen Elizabeth 11 Platinum Jubilee Medallion recently in Toronto for his years of service to the community.
He was active in the Rotary Club and was an Assistant Governor with Rotary District 7070 in Toronto.
The father of three grown daughters was a former president of the Ontario Multicultural Association, Bayview Village Association and founder of Afri-Americas Foundation.
He never lived to see a dream come true. He was booked on a 17-day cruise in December to Argentina, Antartica and Falkland Island.
“May the good Lord bless and keep me for this period of my life,” he wrote on social media.
His friend Paul Rampersaud said: .He has been a long standing friend and supporter who we have worked with for over 25+ years. Truly will be missed in the Caribbean scene and culture.”

Local muralist Allison G. has been working on an almost block-long mural on the side of a Shoppers Drug Mart on Fourth Street.

It has taken about three weeks for the Long Branch artist sometimes working through the elements to finish the project that was sponsored by the Lakeshore Village BIA.

“This is the largest work that I have done,” Allison said during a break on a sunny day. “People seem to like the work as they walk by.”

She estimates it took about 1,000 cans of paint to create the huge work or art, that runs from Lake Shore Blvd. W., north to a laneway.

The wall before was previously covered with graffiti and other innuendo.

The massive artwork seems to depict the lake, with a bike path and cyclist and a lot of nature.

The shelves of a beloved Sobeys grocery store at the Kipling and Queensway Mall are empty as the store will be permanently shut on October 24.

About 60 of the employees, many who have been there for a long time, will be transferred to other stores, be laid off or retire.

Large signs announcing the closure are posted on the huge windows of the store. Inside nearly all the goods on the shelves are gone. The floors are gleaming.

The Sobeys has been a fixture at 1255 The Queensway for decades, and was hugely popular for its large parking lot.

An application is being heard by City Council to demolish and replace the mall with 13 towers up to 65 storeys tall, along with over a hectare of new public parkland and a potential elementary school.

The 7.4 hectare site will also include a large circular ramp that will link The Queensway to the Gardiner Expressway if approved.

A second community Sobeys store is slated for closure at 125 The Queensway plaza, near Park Lawn Road, where seven condos are proposed ranging up to 50 storeys high. The proposal is going through the hearings process.

Sobeys is planning to build a huge new Sobeys and Longo’s grocery stores and shopping centre with other stores at 1061 The Queensway, just east of Islington Ave. Sobeys own a major stake in Longo’s and the stores will be massive and side by side.

The Sobeys Longo store will take years to construct as it too has to be approved by City Council.

Sobeys has said the moves are “part of our strategic plan to enhance our offerings and better serve our customers.”

Sobeys is a proudly Canadian business, which was formed in 1907 as a small meat delivery business in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, and has grown to more than 1,600 stores across the country.

The company is one of the largest grocery chains in Canada, which through its franchise affiliates employ more than 128,000 people.

Canadian military historian Mark Carmichael will be speaking about his new book days after Remembrance Day on November 11 at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 101.

Carmichael will talk about his book Heroes of the Great War, Untold Stories of the Men of the 116^th Battalion at 2:30 p.m. on November 16 at the 3850 Lake Shore Blvd. W. branch.

The author, who has historical ties to Local 101, is expected to read from the book, which is a collection of 25 biographies of soldiers from the Great War.

“While they are predominantly from the 116th Battalion, a fighting unit in the 3rd Canadian Division, they represent the average soldier who volunteered to fight for his King and Empire,” according to promotional material.

Each bio covers a different battle, from Courcelette to Vimy Ridge or Passchendaele to Amiens, according to a review.

Some of the stories detail the relentless battles against PTSD and others take you to their times at rest, evenings of joyous laughter spent with the Dumbells.
“These are stories of our ancestors, the men of the selfless generation, who fought for the freedoms we enjoy today,” according to a review. “It brings the names carved in granite back to life and outs them in the palms of your hands.”

Carmichael is a military history blogger and member of the Central Ontario Branch of the Western Front Association.

The book is available on Amazon and other stores online.

Justice is sweet.

Toronto Police have cracked a group whose members stole high-end perfumes and colognes from area stores for resale online and in flea markets.

Police have arrested one man and are searching for another who allegedly operated a fragrance theft racket that stole high-end perfumes from luxury stores in Sherway Mall and others.

Police issued a warrant on October 13 to search a Milton home during which 1,880 bottles of high-end perfumes and colognes were seized that was worth about $319,000.

Officers of 22 Division’s Major Crime Unit began an investigation involving multiple thefts reported by various luxury retail establishments across the city.

In most cases the stolen bottles of different fragrance were sold at flea markets or online.

Police said the wanted man is in his 20’s, about six feet tall, about 180 pounds, with a thin build and a goatee. The suspect is known to wear Adidas Yeezy 700 sneakers.

Issam Ahmad, 23, of Milton, was arrested and charged with: trafficking of property or thing obtained by crime exceeding $ 5,000, possess proceeds of property or thing obtained by crime exceeding $5,000 and possess proceeds of property or thing obtained by crime for trafficking exceeding $5,000.

He is slated to appear at an Ontario Court of Justice on December 1.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2200, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.