Male & Female Archives | Page 3 of 3 | Sweat Equity – The Grimsby Homebuilding Co-operative 1953

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 […]

John and Margaret Dalgleish with two of their three children, 1956.

John recalled that he and Margaret would host prayer meetings in their home, inviting anyone interested in starting a church in Grimsby. They held the first church services […]

The Hill family

Derwyn joined the co-op while working as a plasterer in the family business (The Hill Brothers). In 1963 he was ordained after completing courses at Knox College, so […]

A visit to the neighbours

Albertine would battle the red clay all the years of tending her magnificent vegetable garden.

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 […]

Charlie and Patricia

Charlie and Pat met in Ireland, emigrated with friends to Canada and settled in Hamilton in the early 1950s. Charlie had worked with friend Jim Burns at Co-op […]

Cathedral High School meeting, 1953

At a single meeting, over 500 people showed up to hear about building a home of their own. Not all would continue once they learned of the mandatory […]

Komadoski family

Feeding the workers The Komadoski family, Helen and Mike, had moved into their co-op home while the co-op was still in progress. She remembers cooking for some of […]

Barb and John Colleary in their co-op-built home, 1995.

Barb, who was living in a noisy location in Hamilton, was thrilled to think she would be living by the lake. Barb: We used to walk right […]

Charlie and Patricia Gallagher in their co-op- built home 1995.

Charlie recalls the crowding and the carpooling that they didn’t anticipate but certainly learned reliance on each other. Charlie: Yeah, a lot of people backed out when […]

Adele and Bob Walsh with son in Hamilton, 1955

Adele and Bob were among the many couples who gathered at the local high school to hear about co-operative homebuilding. They would eventually join 81 families in forming […]