MEYERS 2017 MESSAGE

Dear fellow Bootmakers,

Well, here I am as the 2017 Meyers. How the heck did that happen?

I have been a Holmes fan since discovering him in my early 20’s. I sort of always knew that there was a SH fan club in Toronto but it was not until I directed a play featuring the great detective that I was motivated to join. I have a theatre (and graphic design) background—which keeps me pretty busy. My initial reason for joining was purely self-serving—I wanted to increase the audience for my show! But I thought that if I just showed up at a meeting to promote the play it would be seen as just that and would be less effective than if I was seen as a true enthusiast. So, even though the play was near the end of the year I joined at the beginning of the year and came to all of the meetings. That was 2013 and I have stuck with the group ever since, and severed as Vice-Meyers in 2016.

As I said, my background is in the theatre and I have served on the board and as president of a few theatre groups. But being Meyers is quiet a different skill set and so I approach this duty with some trepidation. I am not as “plugged in” to the Sherlockian world as most of you. I’m working on getting up to speed but I ask for both your patience and your help. Please feel free to email me (meyerstoronto@yahoo.ca) with your suggestions and advice. I especially need help with booking speakers!

Due to the eloquence and “balls” of our 2016 Meyers, James Reese, in a letter to the library, we are back this year at the Toronto Reference Library’s Beeton Auditorium. And even with some of the restrictions—the time change to 1:00 in the afternoon and the limit to only three meetings—I think we all agree that this location is preferable. (This is why our December meeting on the calendar is “TBD.” If anyone has any ideas on where we can go please let me know.)

And speaking of venues, our annual Blue Carbuncle Dinner will again be held at the York Masonic Temple on January 28th. In my opinion, this location has served us well in the last two years and so “if it ain’t broke…” (And James reminds us that Sir Arthur was also a Mason.) But if the members don’t participate we will lose the location and money. SO, WE REALLY NEED EVERYONE TO COME TO THIS EVENT!

Everyone knows that a group is only as good as what the participants put into it. One of the major mistakes many community groups make is assuming that the elected president and board are responsible for everything that goes on in the group. But the president and the board are there to “lead,” not to do everything. The Board is not the group—the Members are the group!

I look forward to an interesting and exciting year to come. Here is your 2017 Bootmakers Executive Board:
   •   Mike Ranieri (Meyers)
   •   James Reese (Past Meyers)
   •   Thelma Beam (Membership Secretary)
   •   Peggy Perdue (Library Liaison)
   •   Philip Elliott (Treasurer)
   •   Kathy Burns (Archivist & Secretary)
   •   Mark Alberstat (Editor CH & Director-at-Large)
   •   Peter Calamai (Director-at-Large)
   •   Dave Sanders (Keeper of Awards & Director-at-Large)
   •   Karen Gold (Lassus & Director-at-Large)
   •   Harold Oades (Director-at-Large)
   •   Charles Prepolec (Director-at-Large)
   •   Ashley Morford  (Director-at-Large)

Sincerely,
Mike Ranieri

MEYERS 2016 FAREWELL

My Dear Fellow Bootmakers:

First of all, please accept my apologies for not being here for the last official meeting of my Meyers year. As most of you know, I am in Africa at the present moment for a peacekeeping mission.

I sincerely believe we’ve had a good year for the Bootmakers. We have continued to increase our membership. We’ve continued to publish that most scholarly and entertaining work, Canadian Holmes. We’ve had a year of very interesting programs, including a Victorian “medicine show,” and a memorable Blue Carbuncle dinner and brunches at the York Temple.

One of my goals as your Meyers for 2016 was to provide opportunities for us to meet and discuss Sherlockian things through affordable venues. I wanted to keep costs down for our members while still maintaining the necessary ambience for such significant events as our Annual Awards meeting and Blue Carbuncle Dinner. In this, I believe that we succeeded. We also organized forays to the theatre, the latest of which will be "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol" tomorrow afternoon at the Scarborough Theatre. As usual, we made sure our members got a discount!

One of our crowning achievements this year was to get back to the Beeton Auditorium in the Toronto Reference Library for a large number of our meetings. I’d like to thank Peggy Perdue for her support.

Of course, we would not have a Bootmakers society without the contributions of all our members. So at this very moment I ask that my profound thanks be accepted by the members of the executive for their wise counsel, to Philip Elliot for serving as our most responsive treasurer, to Mark and JoAnn Alberstat for their editing of Canadian Holmes, to Angela Misri for her stunning depictions of the Bootmakers on Facebook, to Chris Redmond for putting us on Twitter, to Donny Zaldin and Barbara Rusch for their superb hosting of our Silver Blaze CAN-AM event, to Karen Campbell for her most stimulating and entertaining quizzes, to Karen Gold for her most clever and uplifting Sherlockian songs, to Doug Wrigglesworth for his kind mentoring and being our salvation on so many occasions when it came to audio-visual equipment, and to our many wonderful presenters, to include the aforementioned Doug, along with Don Roebuck, Dave Sanders, Donny Zaldin, Barbara Rusch, Dave Drinnan, Chris Redmond, Cliff Goldfarb, Hartely Nathan, Bruce Aikin, Philip Elliot and upon occasions, yours truly. My profound thanks also goes to those who have served as "Mrs. Hudson," to include Angela Misri, Donny Zaldin and Barbara Rusch, and my very own “Mrs. Hudson” Edith Reese!

I especially ask that my profound thanks be accepted by all of you Bootmakers, for electing me as your Meyers and reposing the trust in me that goes with that important office. My profound thanks also goes to Mike Ranieri for taking up the reins of Meyers for 2017, and for stepping up to the plate to host this meeting—and to Thelma Beam, for her mentoring and very hard work in the background, to include serving as our new membership secretary.

Finally, please join me in expressing the profoundest thanks to my wife, Edith Reese, who gave me her fullest support during this eventful Meyers year, including serving as Mrs. Hudson tonight, and helping me with the research and marketing of my new Sherlockian novel, “A Scandal in Toronto.”

Thank you all—and have a good night and a great 2017 Sherlockian year!

James Reese

THE ANNUAL BLUE CARBUNCLE AWARDS DINNER

Please plan to come and join your fellow Bootmakers for an evening of Sherlockian camaraderie and good food as we honour our own. In order to make this event affordable we need at least 50 guests. So we really need everyone to participate so that we can continue providing this traditional awards dinner.

Saturday, January 28, 2017
Drinks at 6:00 PM and Dinner at 7:00 PM
The York Masonic Temple
1100 Millwood Road, East York
More details to come!

THE FILMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Clips from the movie vaults featuring the most frequently portrayed character of the Silver Screen. An entertaining evening of film and story presented by Doug Wrigglesworth, and internationally recognized scholar of Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

An evening in support of the East Gwillimbury Public Library. Hosted by East Gwillimbury Public Library Board with support from Freinds of the East Gwillimbury Library and with the cooperation of the town of East Gwillimbury.
Thursday, January 26, 2017 at 7:30 PM

Town of East Gwillimbury Civic Centre
19000 Leslie Street, Sharon
Admission $10 for Presentation, Q&A, and Refreshments
Tickets available at both the Holland Landing Library and Mount Albert Library
Question? email info@egpl.ca

BOUCHERCON 2017

Grab your passport and join us at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto, Canada for Bouchercon 2017, where we’ll be celebrating all things mystery.

Our volunteer team is busy planning events starting with pre-convention tours on October 11 and running through the Anthony Awards on Sunday, October 15!

Already—just under a year away—we have readers and authors registered from every continent except Antarctica (know any penguins who are avid mystery fans?). So we’re getting pretty excited.

We’ve just added a couple of pre-convention tours—Ghost walks, The Toronto Public Library Conan Doyle collection—and look forward to adding a Niagara Falls/wine country tour very soon. In addition, we’re going to be co-sponsoring a Nero Wolfe Banquet with the Wolfe Pack.

We look forward to seeing you there.