General Information
Our Social Event Calendar shows you the activities lined up for the next few months, and represents some of the things that have made our club a success so far. Please note that this is subject to periodic revision, especially with Events scheduled more than a couple of months out. We will try to keep this Calendar up-to-date, but please check with us or subscribe to our free RSS feed or mailing list for late changes and more details of each Event.
Here's some news telling you what we have been up to and some articles that might interest you - submitted recently by our members, committee, and friends!
We encourage people interested in joining LYC-Toronto, or wanting to find out more about us and our membership, to drop-in on one of our events - especially the Potlucks.
These are our most well-attended events, and are the main events that the Club runs. Recent potlucks have attracted more than 60 people, including members and guests. We encourage first-time visitors to the Club to come along to this event in particular where they will have the opportunity to meet the broadest cross-section of our membership. During the last few years, we have been having some fun activities during the break between main course and desserts. These are usually fairly brief interludes (about 30 minutes on average) where we have been able to enliven the proceedings with such things as games, brief talks or presentations by guest speakers.
We no longer hold our potlucks on Mutual Street.
Up to and including December 2009, we are at St. Luke's United Church at Carlton and Sherbourne (no alcohol allowed). In January, we will be moving to St. Andrew's, near Yonge and Bloor and are still looking around in case we can find an even more suitable location. We try to hold our potlucks in the same location every month.
Our venue starting January 9, 2010
St. Andrew's United Church, 117 Bloor St. E. (south side of Bloor, between Yonge and Church St.). It is set back from the sidewalk at the back of an open air plaza between two tall buildings - Canwest and 85 Bloor E. Enter through the double glass doors on the left.
Usually we will be in the Central Room on the 1st floor, EXCEPT for the Jan. 9th Potluck when we will be in the Yonge Room on the 3rd floor.
Alternative entrance: 54 Hayden St. (next street south of Bloor running east from Yonge). Entrance through the double glass doors.
Parking: Surface parking lot just next to (east of) Canwest. Curbside parking on the south side of Hayden and on both sides of Church St. near St. Andrew's. Also, there is a municipal parking garage which you can enter from either Hayden or Charles Streets east of Yonge. Please note that Hayden is a one way street going east from Yonge.
Subway: Yonge and Bloor - Hayden St. entrance. Very close!
Other notes: Not a traditional looking church - it's very modern and from the Hayden side looks more like an office building. It is even closer to the gay village than St. Luke's. You may bring wine if you so wish.
We welcome your feedback on our new location.
Also, on a trial basis, in January we will be starting our Potlucks at 6pm, rather than at 7, since we may have to vacate the premises a little earlier than before. However, the first hour will be devoted to socializing: we plan to start eating dinner promptly at 7pm, but not before. So, if you are a little late, you won't miss dinner! Again, we welcome your feedback.
Admission Fees
Due to increased costs associated with renting our new venue, we regret that we now will be charging a small fee of $3.00 for Non-Members - starting in January, 2010. First-time Guests will not be charged the fee, but after that they will have to pay as Non-Members. As always, there is an additional charge of $10.00 for Members and Non-Members alike if you don't bring food!
| Potluck Admission |
Members |
Guests* (1st-time only!) |
Non-Members |
| With Food |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$3.00 |
| No Food |
$10.00 |
$10.00 |
$13.00 |
* "Guests" refer to anyone coming to the Potlucks for the first time: they do not have to be accompanied by a member.
To help mitigate the entrance fee for Non-Members, they will have each $3.00 fee automatically credited towards the purchase of a Membership - which they can of course always decline if they so wish. But we hope that people will decide to support the club by becoming a Member sooner, rather than later!
Other Events
If you are a member, we encourage you to volunteer to host your own events to which other LYC-Toronto members would be invited. You would be responsible for organizing the event from start to finish, although of course you can always ask for help and delegate some of the work. Apart from the Potlucks, the Committee will only organize a few special events from time to time, so it's up to the membership to come up with some exciting new things for the Club to do - it's your Club!
Some examples of member hosted events that have been great successes in the past are as follows:
- Dim Sum
- Bike Ride and Barbecue
- Discussion Groups (Coffee Nights)
- Bowling
etc., etc.
If you would like to host an event, please contact us so that the Committee can give their approval and schedule it in. Again, the whole point of our events is to learn something from each other and have a lot of fun!