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Greetings all. Here are four ways to beat the mid-Winter blues.........

1) Visit HVRA's revitalized website at www.harbordvillage.com.

If you haven’t visited HVRA’s Web site recently, please take a look (go to www.harbordvillage.com). Thanks to the efforts of our new webmaster, Harbord Village resident Wendy Smith, the site has been transformed. The new site is easier to navigate but the big improvements are in the content and the layout. Much of what is at the site has been updated. Our intention is to keep things there as current as possible and as useful as possible to HVRA members.

HVRA’s Web site has some truly appealing and useful features including:

* Photo slideshows celebrating the Fall Fair and the Pumpkin Festival
* An interactive map showing details about every tree in Harbord Village
* Access to all HVRA newsletters and numerous other documents relevant to Harbord Village
* Copies of recent media reports that touch on Harbord Village

Wendy’s work on the Web site continues. If you have suggestions about the site, please contact her at wendy@wendysmithtoronto.com.

2) Attend the first-ever Harbord Village-wide Heritage meeting at 7:30pm, Tuesday, February 9th at the Kensington Health Centre at 25 Brunswick.

While all of Robert, Willcocks and Russell Streets, along with parts of Spadina and Brunswick have being officially designated by the City of Toronto as Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs), it is time to both consider expanding to other streets and educating residents in our existing HCDs about grants and other opportunities. All those with an interest in heritage preservation are welcome to attend.

If you would like more information, or notices of future meetings, please contact us Sinclair at rory.sinclair@rogers.com, or 416-543-2785.

3) Join the Community Swims every Saturday afternoon from 2-5 pm at Central Technical School, starting as early as Febuary 6th.

Friends of Community Schools will be hosting the Family Swims every Saturday from 2 to 5pm until the end of June, starting as early as Feb.6th. This is good news, as many Harbord Village residents expressed support for saving the large pool at CTS when it was threatened with closure in December. Kudos to Susan Purvis, Fernanda Pisani and her tireless pool committee for their efforts.

There will be a cost of $2 per person. On the Saturday (i.e. most likely February 6th) all monies raised will go to support the relief efforts in Haiti. There will also be an opening 'pool party' that afternoon. The pool is in a separate building from the main school and west of the Art building on Lennox. The entrance is 20 metres south of Lennox and Lippincott. To receive further news about this (and hopefully other community swims), contact centraltechpool@gmail.com.

PS. The shallow, wheelchair-accessible pool at Kensington Community School has also been saved!

4) Rower's Pub Reading Series - 7:30pm this Monday & the 1st Mondays of every month at Harbord House, 150 Harbord.

Each month features 3 of Canada's finest poets. On Monday, February 1st, there will be readings by Di Brandt, Dayle Furlong and Matthew Tierney. To learn more about these poets, and those scheduled to give readings in early March, April and May, visit www.rowerspubreadingseries.com.

Hope this helps you beat the blues!

Tim Grant, HVRA chair