Current News
Welcome to our website!
The Friends of the Schoolhouse web site will keep you informed about The Old Britannia Schoolhouse and the activities and events planned by the Friends' organization. We encourage
you to check this site often. New information will be added monthly.
March is Maple Syrup Month
If you are lucky enough to have a sugar maple on your property and have the patience to tap the tree and boil the sap, you can make your own syrup. Until it was cut down in preparation for the LRT construction on Hurontario Street, we had a maple at the front of the school that children tapped every year.
Maple Syrup Cookies
Margaret StoreyIngredients:
- ½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup of dark brown sugar
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions:
- Mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy in one bowl.
- Add vanilla and egg and mix well, then add maple syrup and mix well again.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together, slowly add to butter mixture and mix just until incorporated.
- Fold in walnuts.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Good News
The Britannia Schoolhouse will be open again for visitors on the second Sunday afternoons of April, May and June. Our gardens should be blooming after a long, cold, snowy winter. Come and enjoy an afternoon of history and nature.
Remembering Eva Ardiel
1930 – 2025
The Friends of the Schoolhouse will forever be grateful for Eva’s friendship, knowledge, enthusiasm, and dedication to preserving the history of the Old Britannia Schoolhouse. Eva will always be the “face” of the Friends of the Britannia Schoolhouse! She had the vision and the determination to keep the schoolhouse as a living history classroom for the students of Peel. She was an inspiration.
Eva was the schoolmistress at the Britannia Schoolhouse for many years, recreating the life of children in a one-room schoolhouse in the late 1800s. Students came for a day to role-play a school day of a hundred years ago. Eva developed a program for them that was interesting, exciting, and so different from what they were experiencing in their 20th and 21st-century classrooms. Following her retirement, she supported and guided the schoolmistresses and schoolmasters who followed in her footsteps.
Eva was the driving force that established the Friends of the Schoolhouse organization, and she continued to advocate for the preservation of the schoolhouse and its program for children. She was actively involved in all the Friends’ activities until she moved to Kingston several years ago. Even then, she stayed in touch and was always willing to offer help and advice when asked.
Eva will be greatly missed. The Friends are dedicated to carrying on her efforts to preserve her beloved schoolhouse.
Coming Events
Open Sundays are the second Sunday of the month from 1 until 4 pm in December, April, May and June.
Time to Renew Your Membership
Our membership year runs from January to December. Membership forms for renewal or new membership are on this website. Click here to get the form.
Echoes of the Past
This book, written and published by Friends of the Schoolhouse, documents the history of all of the rural one room schools that existed in Peel County. Full colour, 208 pages, $30 It is available at all our events or from any member of the Friends of the Schoolhouse Executive. There is a $10 charge for mailing.
Book Talks
Since the book, Echoes of The Past, was published in May 2016, the writers have been giving illustrated talks to historical societies and other interested groups. We talk about the book and tailor each presentation
to suit the audience and the one room schools that were in their local area.
If your group would be interested in having a presentation, please contact Daryl Cook dlcook@rogers.com for further information.
Come and Join Us
If you have a couple of hours a month or only a few hours once or twice a year you could help us support the schoolhouse and its programs. The executive committee meets on the second
Tuesday of the month from September to June to conduct the business of the Friends of the Schoolhouse and to plan programs and events. Our meetings are from 4 to 6 in the afternoon at the schoolhouse. Volunteers help on an occasional basis
with our events and in the gardens. Not only do we support a worthwhile cause, we have a lot of fun doing it. Email our Executive Director Shirley Hoad at shoad@bell.net, if you have a few hours to spare
and an interest in helping preserve a community treasure for future generations of children.
Mark Your Calendar
To see a list of our year's events go to the Events page.
Researching our Roots
There is still much more to discover about the Old Britannia Schoolhouse and other early one room schools. Read below for a wish list of "Wanted" items that will help us learn more about our historic schoolhouse.
For use in a book on one-room schools in Peel County:
- Minute Books
- Cash Books
- Class Photos
- Report Cards
- Prize Ribbons
- Medals
- Certificates
- Shields
- Contracts
- Trustee Memorabilia
- Teacher Memorabilia
- Newspaper Clippings
- School Registers
Your contribution will be acknowledged. Materials supplied will either be returned to you or donated to the Peel County Archives on your behalf.
SLATE Group
SLATE stands for So Let's All Talk Education (in a one room school), or as one witty person suggested, being truly Canadian, So Let's All Talk Eh! Each year for a day in the spring people involved in working or volunteering in living history one room schoolhouses get together to exchange ideas and learn from each other. We meet at a different schoolhouse location each year which gives everyone the opportunity to experience how living history is presented in a setting different from their own.