The Lambton Park Remembrance Trees

Twelve local men from this part of Toronto died in the First World War. Six trees went into the ground for them on 11 November 1919, the very first Remembrance Day, planted on the lawn in front of Lambton Park Community School. Two silver maples and four Norway maples went in with a silver-plated shovel, because the two men invited to turn the first sod, Princes Edward and Albert of England, could not make the crossing. The mothers of the fallen planted the trees themselves instead. For most of a century the planting sat unmarked. Bonita Nelson, a descendant of two of the twelve, Reginald Gage and Sydney Moyle, nominated the trees for heritage status in 2016, and a plaque inside the school now carries all twelve names. The register places the six trees along the school's Bernice Crescent frontage, reachable from the public sidewalk without stepping onto school grounds. The last confirmed sighting is the 2016 nomination itself, so ask at the school if you want certainty before you go, and tell us what you find. A tree planted for twelve names deserves better than an unconfirmed pin.