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.

Fall Newsletter

Our latest newsletter is now available on the Newsletter page. Click here to find it.

The Christmas Cake

This is a story about Christmas preparations in the village of Britannia when young Will was confused about Christmas Pudding.

Christmas was almost a month away, but already there was excitement and activity in the kitchen. Will’s mother and three sisters were busy making the Plum Pudding. This was an important occasion and everyone in the family had to take a turn stirring the heavy batter. Will was very confused. The final result looked nothing like the puddings they often had as a treat for dessert. His friends called the same dessert Christmas Cake, but that made no sense either. Cake was the two layer concoction filled with jam and covered with icing that Will had on his birthday. More confusion! Some people called this birthday cake recipe “sponge”. It certainly looked nothing like the sponge Will used to groom his horse. When Will asked his mother about this strange name, she told him that this is what it had always been called. Her mother, grandmother and great grandmother going back generations had made Plum Pudding at Christmas.

There was one person Will thought would be able to explain this. His teacher at the little one room school seemed to know a lot so he was sure she would be able to answer his questions. The next day before classes began he asked the teacher why the treat they had only at Christmas had such a strange name. There didn’t seem to be any plums, it was not at all like a pudding or a cake.

The children had been talking about Christmas traditions, so that afternoon the teacher asked if anyone was making Christmas cake at home. Nearly all the children said they were. Some had not yet started but were looking forward to baking it. It was definitely a holiday tradition. What was the story behind it? Here is what she told them.

The confection known by different names was once a nutritious treat after a period of fasting. It was originally plum porridge made of oats, plums and water. This was centuries ago. Gradually other fruits were added along with honey and it became a pudding instead of a porridge. Sometime around the sixteenth century bakers began replacing the oats with flour and eggs, creating a more cake like texture. Since this was always served at Christmas, a variety of spices which had become available with increased travel and trading with the East were added. This was a reminder of the wise men who came from the East.

Will began to understand that what began as an oat porridge with some plums, gradually changed to a pudding with flour and eggs and finally to something more like a cake with various dried fruits and spices. The traditional recipe evolved over the centuries from a porridge to a pudding and finally to a dense fruit and nut filled cake. He was glad his family was baking the cake-like version instead of the porridge or pudding even though they continued to call it Christmas Plum Pudding.

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.

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.