16th annual Caledon Council golf tournament to benefit community

Written By KIRA WRONSKA DORWARD

The 16th annual Caledon Council Community Golf Tournament, primarily in support this year of The Great War Flying Museum was another great success, with 245 golfers in attendance at this year's event, held last Wednesday (Sept. 4), supporting the cause. 

This year, the Tournament was chaired by Coun. Nick DeBoer and Ward 1 Coun. Lynn Kiernan. In the past years, the charity event has raised over $1.2 million for deserving causes in the Caledon community, including Meals on Wheels and the Doug and Doreen Beffort Legacy Scholarship, initiated in 2018, which gives out two annual scholarships to Caledon students pursuing post-secondary education in the field of education.

“Everything is organized by a lot of volunteers,” says De Boer. “It's only a success because of our sponsors and volunteers who make it happen.”

The event is held every year at the Osprey Valley golf course in Alton, which donates the course for the day, and the golfers take up both the 18-hole courses. “I think everyone enjoyed it today,” continued De Boer. “It's cool and blustery, started out a bit wet, but the sun beat through a few times. Overall, a very enjoyable day.”

Kevin Hayashi, the Event Coordinator, commented “it's really interesting this year with The Great War Flying Museum. It's the only one of its kind in Canada. They inspire a love of aviation through the lens of the First World War. They're undergoing a hanger expansion, which will enable them to host larger [tour] groups and display their aircraft better.”

The Great War Flying Museum is an entirely volunteer-run, not-for-profit membership organization. “Our volunteers,” says Curator Nat McHaffie, a pilot herself, “include some of the best mechanics and pilots in the country.” The first building in the museum is the hangar itself which is undergoing the expansion, “so we can have each of every type of aircraft on display so the public can see it,” The second building is an artifact museum that includes some exceptionally rare pieces. “It tells all the background information to the airforce,” concludes McHaffie. 

The museum's goals are first, to honour all the men and women who participated in aviation in the Great War, and secondly “to inspire people in aviation, especially early aviation.” The third goal, “to have a good time with all our buddies,” as McHaffie puts it. “It's a good group to work with.”

The museum was founded in 1970 by a group of Brampton Flying Club members. All of the founders were mostly private pilots with a love of aeroplanes. Annually, they receive 4,000 visitors and 40,000 to 50,000 off-site air show viewers. As the cocktail reception at the Osprey wore on around four o'clock, the museum provided an air show of four WWI era planes that flew over the golf course.

Hayashi also added, “it's one of the big things about the Tournament, it's an opportunity for the councillors to raise funds for the community. It's a good community event where the Council can connect these corporations in Caledon with the community. It's also a good opportunity for us to show off some of the great pieces of Caledon. So for anyone coming in golfing, they're going to experience beer from Caledon Hills, pumpkin doughnuts from Downey's Bakery…we're showing off one of the most picturesque areas of Caledon [at Osprey Valley].”

Lynn Kiernan, Vice-Chair for this year's event and Ward 1 Councillor (the Ward Osprey is located in) calls the golf course and her ward “the jewel in the crown of Caledon. Osprey is such a great community partner…having said that, it takes a lot of people to put this together. It's called the Caledon Council Golf Tournament, but a lot of thanks needs to go to the behind-the-scenes people. We in Caledon are the proud parents of that Flying Museum in Caledon, and that's what this is about: giving back to the community. I think Caledon is great at that. I'll be honest, I'm a proud Caledonian. I've lived in Ward 1 since 1963. So community was always important in our lives because you had to rely on community. This is community on a larger scale, right here.”

Mayor Allan Thompson was present for the entire event. “To me,” he said, “the success of this event is we are able to raise money for the community that we can't do with tax payers' dollars. We've raised over $1.2 million that's gone right back into the community. This is a great networking forum for staff and business owners, for the economic development of the Town, as well as the farming community. It's great connections for them. As well as the golf course, we get to display all that Caledon is, so to me it's a win-win-win.”

Of the remaining discretionary funds raised that will go to other community charities, community members will have an opportunity to submit their individual applications to Council starting in December with a January 30th deadline. To apply, please visit the website at Caledon.ca/golf or inquire through the Mayor's office.