Group Archives | Page 3 of 3 | Sweat Equity – The Grimsby Homebuilding Co-operative 1953

Lunch break on the site

Most often the men would rush home to eat before heading out to the site. On an early spring day, these fellows enjoyed a welcome snack at break […]

The Lakedale Co-operators

Doug Wilson of the Lakedale group captured colour photos of his fellow co-operators. Together with photos collected from families and footage by John Blake of Sherbrien-Cathedral Heights co-op, […]

Teachers and students 55 years on

Meeting at a co-op anniversary exhibit held at St. Joseph’s Church in 2015, teachers and students felt a real connection as they shared memories from all those years […]

Auxiliary Fundraising

A keen interest in their church and school communities meant lots of volunteer work for co-op Moms and Dads of all faiths. Volunteering became part of their lives, […]

Awarded for leadership

Many in the co-op neighbourhood took the courses, which included instruction on public speaking. This education only deepened people’s commitment to each other and to the community. Being […]

Shingling in the Lakedale Co-op

Some jobs were simply backbreaking and others required skill. Sometimes work could be dangerous. Supervisors and inspectors were on hand, but men who had never done construction found […]

Teamwork was key

Working 30 hours on the co-op site per week, over and above their regular jobs, the builders focused first on grunt work. Eventually, they took on some of […]

Sweat equity begins with land clearing

The men were so anxious to begin the building phase, they cleared the land themselves. Later, they would mix their own concrete, haul and lay bricks for basements […]

Social gathering in 1954

They would soon embark on the project of a lifetime – building homes together. Although people of all ages participated, many were young and newly married, some with […]

Mary Arnold with co-op builders in Reserve Mines, Nova Scotia

Arnold, a Quaker and an American activist in housing co-operatives, went to study the work being done at St. Francis Xavier University’s Extension Department in 1937. She remained […]

Father O’Brien and Father Sherlock

Father Sherlock (later Bishop) and Father O’Brien (later Monsignor) gathered with small groups in Hamilton to discuss co-op homebuilding. After visiting Marrocco’s flagship co-op building group in Ottawa, […]

Mid-winter on Marysfield Drive

In the hamlet of Wildfield, on a street named Marysfield Drive, 14 mostly Catholic families from Parkdale formed the Family Home Builder Co-operative Ltd. They chose to build […]