The Executive of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association Inc. is pleased to announce that they have awarded a special award to David Francis, in recognition and appreciation of his past contributions to the GHTA, at the club level, the association level, as well as at provincial and national levels. His leadership, commitment and overall enthusiasm for hiking has been recognized, as over the years, he contributed his time and skills as:
– founding member of the Alliston-Angus GHTA club, later more appropriately renamed Mad River club (he actually suggested the name!)
– first Mad River club president- dedicated and wonderful hike leader, especially as it relates to hiking with children and young adults
– GHTA Wilderness club president
– GHTA association president
– Hike Ontario president
– Director with Hike Canada
We also appreciate and currently hugely benefit from David’s past involvement and management of the Hike Ontario Certified Hike Leader program.
As the Executive realized that David is not a lifetime member, we agreed to offer him a lifetime membership. It seems that the recognition was well received by David, who wrote us back as follows:
Frieda, It was with great surprise that I received your letter on behalf of the GHTA Executive Committee bestowing on me a lifetime membership of the association. My relationship and service to the hiking community have brought me great joy and satisfaction as well as a great sense of achievement. It has been my privilege of meeting many wonderful and remarkable people who have worked together to build and maintain a remarkable network of trails. These have been put in place by some visionary founders. They have brought immense pleasure to millions of people over the years and it is with great delight when I use these trails to see how many other people are also using them. When I see a white blaze, I think of the many hundreds of volunteers who have painted these iconic trail markers, enabling many to hike from end to end, or just a short casual stroll in nature. It is heartening to see that so many new younger people are taking over and carrying on the noble tradition of trail management. Long live the Ganaraska Hiking Trail and our many other trail systems. David
Well deserved, David!
Frieda Baldwin, President
