Remembering Britannia

My family and my Uncle Bill's family (my mother's brother) used to spend two weeks every July at a resort on the Lake of Bays in Ontario called Britannia. My memory of that resort is not too good, since they went there before I was born. From all accounts, it was a wonderful place for a vacation. My father Nelson and Uncle Bill would play golf there for two weeks, and the rest of the family would hang out at the beach. According to my sister Susan, the place had a wonderful chef, and Susan and her cousin Judy would be waiting at the doors of the dining room when it opened for dinner. They were both very demanding, and no doubt a handful for the waitresses, who no doubt took turns having to wait on them. It was the kind of place where you had to dress for dinner. In the morning, someone would walk the halls ringing a bell and singing "Wakee wakee, rise and shine, breakfast is served at 8:00, not 9:00. Eventually, the owner passed away, and the son inherited the resort. He built a new building and raised prices up the wazoo. After that, the families went to a place called Lumina, also on the Lake of Bays, and then Torpitt Lodge, on Sparrow Lake near Orillia in Ontario, which I do remember. Britannia is long gone, as is Torpitt Lodge, although Lumina is still there. In the photo above, posing in front of the Lake of Bays at Britannia sometime before 1953, are, in the back row from left to right, my Aunt Elsie, Uncle Bill, mother Mary, and father Nelson. In the front row, from left to right, are my cousin Linda, cousin Judy, sister Susan, my maternal Grandmother Louise, and Grandfather Bill Spillard. Fun times in a long-gone era.