Bruce Kidd, a Toronto local who served as UTSC’s principal from 2014-2018, looks back on his early experiences in the Highland Creek Valley, where he often played with day camp-mates as a young boy.
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0:05
But I grew up in the beach, very close to the waterworks, on the then border between Toronto and Scarborough. And for us, that was a seamless border.
0:17
I played sports on teams in Toronto; I played sports on teams in Scarborough. I’m proud to say that one year, I pitched my softball team to a Scarborough championship. So I had loyalties on both sides.
0:33
I mean, this is amazing. I got to know Highland Creek and the grounds around Miller Lash probably as a seven- or eight-year-old, because I went to day camp, the Broadview Y, when they were developing the Don Valley Parkway,
0:57
they moved all of the recreational and athletic facilities that were in the Don Valley to other locations. The Broadview Y had to move its day camp for boys from the Don Valley, where I started day camp, out to Highland Creek and
1:21
we took the Kingston Road streetcar all the way out to West Hill and then walked down the hill, and we had so much fun at that camp. We swam in the river, although it wasn’t very deep.
1:41
We had all manner of games, and given the natural environment, the program was adapted to outdoor activities like camping and so on and so forth.
1:57
And I mean, remember, I was a seven- or eight-year-old boy. And the highlight of every year, and I was there for at least two years,
2:08
on the last day or towards the end, they would recreate the battle for Quebec City, Montcalm versus Wolfe, where the British troops scrambled up the hill through the woods and then attacked the French on the top.
2:35
They would give us an earlier version of paintball, little paper bags filled with flour, so you could throw them at each other, and if they splashed flour on you, depending on where it was, if it was below the waist, you were injured; if it was above the waist, you were dead.
2:55
Anyway, and that was so much fun. And guess where that hill was? (Bruce laughs) [Christine:] I’m picturing it, yes. [Bruce:] So I already had this fond, fond memory of that valley.
