Young families moving into Applewood Acres quickly found a need to ‘meet their neighbours’. While it was a new and exciting time living in the first major subdivision west of Toronto, there was a void created by living this far from the centre of the ‘big city’ of Toronto.
Organizations, clubs and social groups sprouted quickly. There were bowling leagues, music groups, card clubs, and service organizations, such as the Dixie Lions Club, which was established here in Applewood Acres. Another group, the Applewood Acres Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE) got its start in May 1955 when Mrs. T. Teddler of 2080 Russet Road was elected Regent. In 1956 Mrs. G.S. Shipp was appointed as Honorary Regent.
The major social activity on most weekends in the very early days would be chatting across property lines with your neighbours. Then, fences started to develop rapidly. One group in the Johnathan Drive area, got together to ‘pool’ their money and co-operatively build their fences. Mrs. Storen, at 945 Johnathan Drive , recalls those early days when a group on her street got together to build their fences. Everyone knew someone who could supply materials at a reasonable discount. In all, about $170 was raised to complete the fencing job. That was for paint, wood, nails and other bits of needed hardware.
Mrs. Storen recalls how the fence-building project turned into a social club known as ‘Club 50’ which became the social highlight for many area families for several years. Club 50 provided the young families with their social outing without having to travel to Toronto. The members would be close to home and the baby sitters all knew where everyone was. Club 50 organized about eight dances every year from the mid 1950’s to the early 1960’s.
The dances would be organized by a committee of four couples drawn from the membership list. Everyone would take a turn. The events were all held in the banquet hall above Chreston’s Restaurant in the Applewood Village Shopping Centre.
The first Home and School Association was established November 5, 1953 when 55 members elected Ken Creber as President. Alan Boyd of 1351 Primate Road and William Cochrane were elected Vice Presidents, K.A. Grant of 2093 Bloomfield (Stanfield Road) was elected Corresponding Secretary while Alf Houston of 2070 Harvest Drive was elected Secretary. Doug Appleton of 2119 Primate Road was elected Treasurer. Both Mr. Creber and Mr. Cochrane lived on Glenwatson Road in Orchard Heights.
Seven months later, on May 20, 1954, outgoing President Ken Creber welcomed Mr. Appleton as its newly-elected President. The significant thing about this meeting was that the principals of two new schools were first introduced to the community. Mr. Eric N. Trewin, Principal of Orchard Heights was introduced as was Mr. G.W. Finlayson, Principal of Westacres Public School. Since the children from Orchard Heights and Applewood areas first went north to Dixie Public School, the association executive included residents from both areas. The Home and School Association in Applewood flourished and is, in fact, the only community group to be continuously active since its inception.