Remembering Christmas Past in Mississauga’s Erindale Village
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Erindale Community Hall, 1946
Editor’s Note: I spent some time trying to figure out what this week’s article would be about. Given the time of year, we typically focus on something nostalgic and reflective of Christmas, winter’s past, holidays and gathering. My inspirations for the article are often inspired by the ambience of our office, located within the historic Robinson-Adamson House, also known as The Grange. Thinking about imagined past Christmas observances that this historic building has seen over its many years usually inspires thoughts of nostalgia. What must past Christmases have been like for young Eleanor, Richard Willoughby, Anna and Wolstan Dixie in the early 1850s? They were likely the first children to celebrate Christmas here – the eldest children of Doctor Beaumont Wilson Bowen Dixie and his wife Joanna Skynner. Were stockings hung with glee on the mantle, and did they gathered around the fire to listen to their father’s Christmas tales of St. Nicholas? Thinking about their lives and what little we know of those early years, and of the tragedy that would befall the family in 1854, sent me down a path on other stories reflective of Christmas past for inspiration. In doing so, I inadvertently stumbled on an article about Christmas in Erindale Village written by my own late mother, Delamary Esme (Barker) Wilkinson (1940-2023). I thought it was a neat memory-piece to share again here. She wrote this story in the late 1990s about Christmas in her beloved Erindale Village in 1941, and it was previously published in the Erindale Herald newsletter from the Erindale Village Association.
Erindale School children at Erindale Community Hall, 1944
In 1941 war was again raging in Europe. Many British children were evacuated to faraway countries such as Canada. Here in Erindale an entire girls’ school from Whitby in Yorkshire England, 75 students and their teachers, were our wartime guests. Thanks to the generosity of the Evans family, their spacious and gracious summer estate “Glen Erin Hall” on Mississauga Road became an ideal haven, a place where our visitors could relax and enjoy a safe and happy childhood far away from the dangers back home.
Erindale folk were welcoming, kind and generous hosts. Friendships were quickly formed which have stood the test of time, and our guests were frequently entertained. At Christmas, anticipating that the girls would be missing their families greatly, the Erindale Branch of the Canadian Red Cross hosted a Christmas Party at which our visitors were given many small but useful gifts. The Port Credit Girl Guides, under the direction of their leader Mrs. Rodney Adamson, dressed 20 dolls which they presented to the younger girls. In return, the entire St. Hilda’s School staged a Christmas Nativity Play followed by refreshments, donating all proceeds to the British War Victims’ Fund. This event took place in our own Erindale Community Hall and was very well attended, enjoyed and appreciated.
Girls from St. Hildas School, at St. Peter's Anglican Church, Erindale, 1943
On Christmas Day, St. Peter’s Anglican Church was chosen by the CBC to broadcast its annual Christmas Day Message to a weary and despairing world. This service was carried coast-to-coast in Canada and relayed across the British Empire by the BBC. One can well imagine the great joy this broadcast gave to the families and friends of St. Hilda’s School in faraway Yorkshire, and the pride felt in Erindale for being chosen as the location for this important and significant event. It brought a measure of fame to our little village, as it was the first time that a small rural church had been chosen for this honour. The Service was not altered in any way. The Church Organist, Miss Bessie Adamson, played the organ, and the rector, Reverend George Banks, gave the sermon. The girls and teachers of St. Hilda’s sang their regular Sunday hymn. This special Christmas is still very much alive in the memories of our ‘Oldtimers’, and the ‘Girls of St. Hilda’s’, who still occasionally visit their wartime church, sharing happy memories of this of their sojourn in our tranquil community.
May the spirit of the Christmas season, Peace and Goodwill, which was so much in evidence in Erindale in 1941, continue to be present in our community this year and in the years to come! Merry Christmas!
