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Junction Seniors

JUNCTION SENIORS

A project of the Junction Residents Association (JRA)

Junction Seniors gather twice a week for an informal hour of conversation:

  • on Tuesday mornings, 10-11 am, at Agora Cafe, 3015 Dundas St. W. (between Pacific and High Park)
  • on Friday afternoons, 2-3 pm, at Pascal’s, 2904 Dundas St. W. (halfway between Keele and Pacific)

Drop by if you are interested in creating a social network of neighbours.  See resources below and, if you’d like to join our mailing list for occasional email announcements of other events, write seniors@junctionra.ca

Contact:  Eleanor Batchelder, 647-235-0843, or seniors@junctionra.ca

Aug. 3, 2012:  Here’s some more organizations that provide activities for seniors in our area:

Four Villages Community Health Centre sponsors a number of programs, including yoga, legal education, housing help, etc.  For a full descriptive list and a monthly calendar of events,  click here; phone is 416-604-0640.  Here are some most likely to appeal to seniors:

4CATS MEETING: 4CATS (Four Villages & Committed Action Team for Seniors) meets monthly to help identify the needs of seniors and advocate for the improvement of services in the community.  If you would like to get involved in issues important to seniors, contact Junko for more information.

FRIENDLY NITE @ GOOCH: Drop-in for older adults 50+. Two Wednesdays a month from 6 – 8 pm in the Gooch Recreation Room (3725 Dundas St. W., near Scarlett Rd.). For more information contact Junko.

KNITTING GROUP: Knit, chat, and make friends at this peer drop-in program. Beginners and experienced knitters welcome! Thursdays from 1:00 – 3:00 pm at Four Villages Dundas Site (3446 Dundas St. W., behind Shoppers Drug Mart). For more information contact Michelle.

WELLNESS GROUP: Older adults participate in gentle exercises to stay fit. Beginning in September program will run: Tuesdays, 10:30 – 11:30 am at Four Villages Bloor Site (1700 Bloor St. W., east of Indian Grove) and Fridays, 10:30 – 11:30 am at Four Villages Dundas Site (3446 Dundas St. W., behind Shoppers Drug Mart). For more information contact Jennifer.

Lawn bowling, anyone?

A nearby lawn bowling club is actively seeking players:

*  West Toronto Lawn Bowling Club, Baird Park, Humberside Avenue and Keele Street, is eager for new members: http://www.thewestbend.com/twbca/download/wtlawnbowlingclub.html

Other local groups with regularly scheduled activities:

Annette Recreation, 333 Annette St. (bet. Evelyn and Laws), 416-392-0736  –Annette CRC offers a number of good fitness classes.  It’s not trivial to find them on the website: for Osteofit, click on Fitness & Wellness, then on Older Adult.  Also in the F&W tab are yoga, pilates, tennis, etc.; price per season for these classes are posted.  For the “open”  fitness classes (MWF morning and MW evening), go to the Drop-In tab.  For these classes, there are several payment systems, depending on how often you want to come and how long ahead you want to pay for.

Of course, there is also an indoor pool with a full schedule of classes and leisure swim sessions, and there is a social group for older women that meets weekly, Wed. 1-3 pm, from Sep. 28.  This group enjoys games, and likes to bring and share food!  For more information on all of this, call Keith Storey, Community Recreation Programmer, 416-392-7545 or kstorey@toronto.ca.  He is eager to build up the schedule at Annette, for all age groups, and welcomes ideas.  (This info as of September 2011.)

Syme 55+ Centre, 33 Pritchard Ave., 416-766-0388 — This centre has an extremely rich program for seniors, including meals and bus trips.  When you consider that the #79 bus passes right in front of it and this bus runs frequently, it’s very convenient.  (“#79 Scarlett Rd” runs from Bloor up Runnymede past St. Clair and turns left onto Pritchard; avoid #79B, however; see bus schedule online.)  Membership is $25 a year.   See monthly calendar at http://www.syme55.com/page2.php, Travel Tour brochure at http://www.syme55.com/TravelTours.php

Swansea Area Seniors Association, 95 Lavinia Ave., 419-392-1953 — An active program, including trips, though perhaps not so conveniently located for Junction residents. Membership is $12 a year.

LA Centre for Active Living (formerly Loyola Arrupe Centre for Seniors) moved in December 2012 from Bloor St. W. to 55 Rankin Crescent, just northeast of Bloor and Symington (see their website for directions and map).  They have quite a varied calendar of activities, open to anyone 55 and over. Membership is $15 a year. For information, call Melissa at (416) 452-4875.

Librarian Pam Mountain recommends the Tea and Books afternoons at Annette St. Public Library, 145 Annette Street, held on the third Monday of each month, 2-3 pm.

… and further away:

•  Academy Walks, see http://www.allto.ca/talks.html for schedule for 4/24 – 5/28, all over the city.  On Mon 5/28 they’re doing Bloor West Village and Swansea to Lakeshore, meeting at Runnymede Station at 10 am.  This is a project of the Academy for Lifelong Learning at U of T, so you can also check the schedule there for talks, Weds 4/11 – 5/16, coffee at 9:45 am, speaker at 10:20 am.

•  Knox College Summer Program has four one-week courses in August at the U of T: see website http://www.knox.utoronto.ca/summer-program/ or ask me to email a pdf announcement to you.

… By the way, there are a number of post-retirement “life learning” programs in the city.  It would be a service to our little community if someone were to make a nice summary of them — I could post it here.  Here are a couple of barebones listings on the web:

Page last updated: May 6, 2013.