News in Brief

A new group aimed at fostering community input is being created by 55 Division’s Toronto Police Liaison Committee. The inaugural meeting of 55 Neighbourhood Residents Group will be held Thursday, March 7 at Gerrard/Ashdale Library from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Police are specifically hoping to attract members of all of the East End’s many residents associations, from Danforth to the lake, and west of Victoria Park. For more information, call P.C. Rob McDonald at 416-808-5579.
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Council recently approved the creation of a parkette at the corner of Kingston Road and Dundas Avenue. A decision to close Edgewood Avenue between Dundas and Kingston, was made after it was determined the street’s temporary closure last year caused little impact to traffic flow. The short section of roadway will retain access to driveways from Dundas, for the few residents on the short block.
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Community Centre 55, 97 Main St., will host its annual Breakfast with the Easter Bunny on Saturday, March 23 from 8 to 9:45 a.m. There will be two seatings, each including breakfast, crafts and an egg hunt. The first seating begins at 8 a.m. and the second at 8:45. For more information contact evonne@centre55.ca.
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Local artists interested in taking part in the Danforth East Arts Fair, to be held Sept. 14 and 15, have until March 29 to submit an application for the discounted fee of $175. The final deadline is May 31, at which point it will cost $200 to enter. The Arts Fair will again be held in East Lynn Park on Danforth Avenue, west of Woodbine Avenue. For more information, and an exhibitor package, visit deca-arts.ca.
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The Toronto Stars Girls Field Lacrosse House League is running a series of “Try It Nights” at SATEC @ W.A. Porter Collegiate Institute, 40 Fairfax Cres., for girls aged eight to 18. The program will be offered Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m., until March 27. For $5 per night, or $10 for the whole program, young women who are keen to try out Canada’s national summer sport can find out if joining a lacrosse team is something they would like to do. No experience is necessary. A Girls Field House League will run in Scarborough from April through June, and a second program, for high school girls in Grades 9 to 12, will run one afternoon a week during April and May. Beginners are welcome. For more information visit www.starslacrosse.ca
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A couple of East End schools scored high grades for improvement in the Fraser Institute’s 2013 Report Card on Ontario’s Elementary Schools. Kimberley Public School and J. G. Workman Public School both showed marked improvement in their academic performance over the past five years. Numerous other Beach schools repeated their previous high performance as well. The annual Report Card rates over 2,000 schools based on data accumulated from  reading, writing and math tests administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). For more information, or to see the complete list of all elementary schools, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org.
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A series of 10 Ecumenical Bible Studies will be held at St. John’s Norway, Anglican Church, 470 Woodbine Ave., Mondays, March 18 to June 3, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The Minor Prophets – Hosea to Malachi – will be the topic, with discussion led by The Honourable Mr. Justice Blenus Wright, M.A. in Religious Studies and M.A. in Law. There is a $30 fee which covers all sessions. Late registrants are welcome. Ample parking is available on site. For more information call 416-694-5969.
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Amy’s Place Handmade, a pop-up turned retail store at the corner of Beech Avenue and Queen Street, will hold a March Break candle-making workshop for children aged five and up, along with their parents, on Wednesday, March 13. The event involves using ‘up-cycled’ materials and costs $30 per session. For more information and registration details, visit amysplace.ca or facebook.com/amysplacehandmade.
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Our friends to the west, in Leslieville, now have their own Business Improvement Area. City Council designated Queen Street East from Empire to Vancouver Avenue as the Leslieville BIA. In a poll taken last fall, a majority of businesses supported the establishment of a local BIA.

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