Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.04.2005, Side 5

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 22. apríl 2004 • 5
From 12 women to 300 families and the ICCT keeps growing

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Erla Pálmason Macauley and Birgitta Gillis were among the founders of the club and Erla was
the first secretary. They are honorary members.
A family away from home
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Toronto, ON
Though about 300 families
are now on the mailing list of
the Icelandic Canadian Club of
Toronto (ICCT) it was a group
of 12 women who started the
club in 1959. Fanney Peacock
was the first president. Leah
Salt has been the president dur-
ing the last two years but her
term ends in May. “This has
been a very interesting time
and I will continue to work for
the clubLeah says.
Since the club was estab-
lished, it has held a þorrablót
annually. “In recent years it
has become more and more
popular and we might have to
consider moving it to a bfgger
premises,” Leah says.
The annual Christmas fair
for children has also been well
received, as well as the club
picnics in the summer and other
events like an annual program
on travel to Iceland, Icelandic
movies, exhibitions, concerts
and visits with Icelandic musi-
cians, artists and aulhors.
The club publishes the
newsletter Falkinn six to
eight times a year and keeps
a webpage (http://icct.info).
G. Tómas Gunnarsson, Gail
Einarson-McCleery and Leah
Salt are the editors. Darla E.
Mckay is the webmaster and
Holly Garrett gives her a hand.
The club has a lending library,
a book club, holds language
lessons at various levels, and
awards yearly scholarships and
grants, as can be read on the
webpage.
“To raise money for our
club, we held raffles, tombo-
las, handicraft fairs, dances,
film and slide presentations,
musical offerings and speeches
on Iceland and our heritage,”
wrote Rósa Hermannson Ver-
non, the first Vice-President, in
a brief history of the club, and
according to Leah the fundrais-
ing events have not changed
that much since they started the
club about 45 years ago.
“Our main concern is to
get members and keep them
involved,” she says. “We try
to keep the children active by
providing something for them
and thus get them involved in
the club. People like Don Gis-
lason have been working hard
to get new members, and late-
ly we have seen many young
people becoming members. It
is difficult to keep a club like
this going in a big city like To-
ronto which has everything to
offer, but we look at our club as
a family away from home and
promote it as such.”
Visit us on the web at http://www.lh-inc.ca