Maple Leaf Ball 2012

On May 19, more than three hundred great Canadians will gather to celebrate two anniversaries – Her Majesty the Queen’s and The Maple Leaf Ball – which, from its inception in 1953, had been one of the glittering gems in the social tiara known as the London Season ...

Grand occasions don’t materialize out of thin air. At the time of the Maple Leaf Ball’s debut at the Savoy Hotel in 1953, the Canadian Women’s Club was already 20 years old. By which time the Club had already established a stellar reputation for volunteer work far beyond the call of duty, particularly during the war years.

It was on that truly impressive record that the ball was launched. And until 2002, this glamorous annual event attracted royalty along with countless members of the corporate aristocracy to dine, dance and contribute money to the causes the CWC supports through the Maple Leaf Trust – the war veterans and Canadian students studying in Britain.

Some eighty years after its founding, one can still marvel at what happened when a pair of lonely Canadian expats got together in London to discuss how they could bring a little more Canada into their lives here in Britain and share it with others.

It is out of such small things that big things grow. This is exactly what happened when, in the spring of 1932, two Canadian women met at the Piccadilly Club and discovered that despite the fact both had been living in London for many years, they had never managed to meet in all those years. Their auspicious meeting also convinced them that there must be many more Canadian women in the same boat. So why not start a club to link up Canadian women throughout the UK?

Which is what they did. On May 19, 1932, 70 Canadian women turned out to the first meeting and at the second general meeting on June 7, 1932, the Canadian Women’s Club was born. By the following spring, the membership had risen to 340. And with a sprinkling of prominent Canadians and an array of titles on the membership list, it was hardly surprising that the CWC became very, very popular with the press.

Over the years, the Club attracted high profile guests such as the Duchess of Gloucester, Lady Tweedsmuir (wife of novelist and former governor-general John Buchan), HRH Princess Alice of Athlone (later honorary president and patron until her death in 1981) and Mackenzie King who attended the CWC’s coronation reception for George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937.

The social whirl ended abruptly, however, with the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. From that day onward, the CWC distinguished itself through its extraordinary volunteerism which extended to making clothing and blankets for Polish refugees; assisting the Canadian Red Cross in myriad ways; distributing countless articles to hospitals, hostels and evacuees; churning out quantities of hospital supplies and comfort bags for men at the front and providing mobile canteens to serve Canadian troops stationed in Britain. The first canteen was paid for by members selling their silver. CWC members also provided at least 2,000 wireless sets to isolated search light units of the anti-aircraft command and to isolation wards in Canadian hospitals and first aid cabinets to Canadian flotillas. Oh, and they adopted a small Canadian warship, MTB 735, keeping its sailors supplied with books, magazines, records and Christmas presents.

Through it all – through the bombings and the deprivation – the CWC never lost its flair for a good time. It continued to put on tea dances for the thousands of Canadian servicemen and their wives and girlfriends.

After the war, distribution of relief supplies to civilians continued but, not surprisingly, the Club, like the rest of the country, suffered from post-war depression.

It didn’t last. By 1948, the Club had created the Veterans’ Support Committee (which later became the Maple Leaf Trust) for the 18,000 Canadians who remained in Britain. And it soon became obvious that more money was needed and that their regular fundraising schemes were not enough.

So in June 1953, the inaugural Maple Leaf Ball was held. It was a huge success and continued to be for the next half century.

Yes, those were the days.

And now this spirit of fun and volunteerism is about to be revived for the first Maple Leaf Ball to be held in ten years. “We hadn’t had one for ten years and we thought it would be a good tie-in with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee,” said Patty Bell, chair of the Maple Leaf Trust.

Fitting too that the Ball will be held at the Savoy, site of the first Maple Leaf Ball, she adds.

As such, the Ball provides the perfect opportunity to raise funds for the continued financial support of Maple Leaf Trust scholars, a commitment which began in 1967 after the Centennial Ball generated sufficient funds to establish a second charity, the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund.

“And we continue to support our veterans who, although their numbers are dwindling, their needs are increasing,” said Bell. This means providing them with such useful items as mobility scooters, walkers and stairglides, and sometimes providing financial assistance.

“As they age, these are the things we can help them with,” she said. “And if we can help them in any way, it’s a recognition of what they did in World War II.”

The upcoming Diamond Anniversary Ball, in support of the Maple Leaf Trust, is one more example of how the CWC and the Trust continue to provide opportunities for Canadian women to enjoy a full calendar of events together and to undertake work for the benefit of Canadians in the UK who may be in need.

The Ball will also add another sparkling chapter to an eighty-year-long history during which countless Canadians, together with Brits with an interest in Canada, have supported the CWC and later the Maple Leaf Trust in raising funds for their charities and contributing personally and generously to this enduring tradition of understated elegance, friendship and fun.

Visit: www.mapleleafball.org