Our club arose from the Gastronomical Club which started in 1920 and carried on until at least 1922. Very few records exist from that time but one source notes that the idea originated with Claude Rupert of the E.R. Fisher clothing firm, which operated for many years on Sparks Street. The club met at Murphy’s restaurant on Sparks Street. The members were mainly geologists, biologists and staff of the National Museum (now the Museum of Nature).
A large number of the original group of geologists left Ottawa in the mid 1920’s to accept posts overseas. Most had returned by the end of the decade and the club was revived by 1929 under the leadership of Drs Fred J Alcock, Thomas Leslie Tanton, and BR MacKay. For comparison with other clubs in the Ottawa area, the Men’s Canadian Club was founded in 1903; the Ottawa Women’s Canadian Club in 1910; the Rotary Club of Ottawa in 1916; and the Kiwanis Club in 1917.
The Club met from around 1929 at the old YMCA building on the North East corner of Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue. The record shows that Dr Hugh S Bostock noted “I don’t know in what year this ‘Friday Luncheon Club’ was actually started, but I don’t think it had been going for many years before 1929. I believe Alcock was the man who started it and certainly he was the main spirit in it when I first went to it in the late 1920’s.”
The records cite a Mr. Goodman who wrote. "In 1934, Claude Rupert made a second attempt to found such a club. In April, about 15 geologists and others gathered at the YMCA at the corner of Metcalfe and Laurier for the first meeting of the Friday Luncheon Discussion Club." Six of the first 8 recorded Presidents from 1934 to 1946 were from the Geological Survey of Canada.
FLDC met in the old YMCA from 1929 until February 6, 1970 when the Y started to move into its new building at 180 Argyle Street (current location), and the Club met at the Dominion Chalmers United Church at the corner of Cooper and O’Connor Streets. FLDC has met at 180 Argyle since it opened except for a year or two in 2012-2013 when the Y was undergoing renovations and we met at the Royal Canadian Legion, Montgomery Branch at 330 Kent St. This may be one of the longest associations between the YMCA and any outside group.
In the early days the luncheon was a full course meal, but after a while some members complained that the meal was too heavy and expressed a wish for lighter fare, so the meal evolved to its current offering of soup, a choice of sandwiches, a light desert, and a cup of tea, coffee or juice. As a correspondent in 1984 blandly put it, the food was “adequate” – the real emphasis was fellowship and the speakers. Purchase of this lunch was the only cost to members. The small profit that FLDC made on sale of lunches and parking permits in the Y’s garage was our club’s only source of revenue to cover costs of meals, Royal Canadian Mint coins given as tokens of appreciation to speakers, and donations to the Y's Kids Program and in memoriam of members who have passed away.
FLDC was a male bastion for many years. In 2017, women were invited as members, and their numbers have grown steadily. In 2021-2023, Sarah Clarke served as the Club's first female President.
FLDC went silent after the March 6, 2020 meeting due to public health safety requirements arising from the Covid pandemic, but roared back to life in January 2021 by holding its meetings by Zoom.
Participation was in the range of 60 - 75, including a growing number from across Canada and some from Europe.
In the summer of 2022, FLDC sought to renew our historical close linkage to the Y, while recognizing the desire of some members to return to face-to-face meetings, the success of the meetings by Zoom, and the continuing concerns of other members about meeting in large groups. FLDC decided to return to face-to-face meetings at the Y, but also to open them to participation by Zoom. To cover our costs, and ensure equal contributions by members irrespective of how they attend meetings, FLDC instituted a small membership fee to achieve revenue comparable to the small profits that had previously been gained from charges for lunch and parking. Members attending at the Y were asked to bring their own lunches. Attendance at these hybrid meetings were usually in the range of 50 - 60, of whom approximately two thirds participated by zoom.
Individuals who would like to join FLDC but do not know a member are invited to come to a meeting and introduce themselves to FLDC members at the desk on entry into the meeting room. A member of the FLDC Executive will then introduce them at the meeting.
A large number of the original group of geologists left Ottawa in the mid 1920’s to accept posts overseas. Most had returned by the end of the decade and the club was revived by 1929 under the leadership of Drs Fred J Alcock, Thomas Leslie Tanton, and BR MacKay. For comparison with other clubs in the Ottawa area, the Men’s Canadian Club was founded in 1903; the Ottawa Women’s Canadian Club in 1910; the Rotary Club of Ottawa in 1916; and the Kiwanis Club in 1917.
The Club met from around 1929 at the old YMCA building on the North East corner of Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue. The record shows that Dr Hugh S Bostock noted “I don’t know in what year this ‘Friday Luncheon Club’ was actually started, but I don’t think it had been going for many years before 1929. I believe Alcock was the man who started it and certainly he was the main spirit in it when I first went to it in the late 1920’s.”
The records cite a Mr. Goodman who wrote. "In 1934, Claude Rupert made a second attempt to found such a club. In April, about 15 geologists and others gathered at the YMCA at the corner of Metcalfe and Laurier for the first meeting of the Friday Luncheon Discussion Club." Six of the first 8 recorded Presidents from 1934 to 1946 were from the Geological Survey of Canada.
FLDC met in the old YMCA from 1929 until February 6, 1970 when the Y started to move into its new building at 180 Argyle Street (current location), and the Club met at the Dominion Chalmers United Church at the corner of Cooper and O’Connor Streets. FLDC has met at 180 Argyle since it opened except for a year or two in 2012-2013 when the Y was undergoing renovations and we met at the Royal Canadian Legion, Montgomery Branch at 330 Kent St. This may be one of the longest associations between the YMCA and any outside group.
In the early days the luncheon was a full course meal, but after a while some members complained that the meal was too heavy and expressed a wish for lighter fare, so the meal evolved to its current offering of soup, a choice of sandwiches, a light desert, and a cup of tea, coffee or juice. As a correspondent in 1984 blandly put it, the food was “adequate” – the real emphasis was fellowship and the speakers. Purchase of this lunch was the only cost to members. The small profit that FLDC made on sale of lunches and parking permits in the Y’s garage was our club’s only source of revenue to cover costs of meals, Royal Canadian Mint coins given as tokens of appreciation to speakers, and donations to the Y's Kids Program and in memoriam of members who have passed away.
FLDC was a male bastion for many years. In 2017, women were invited as members, and their numbers have grown steadily. In 2021-2023, Sarah Clarke served as the Club's first female President.
FLDC went silent after the March 6, 2020 meeting due to public health safety requirements arising from the Covid pandemic, but roared back to life in January 2021 by holding its meetings by Zoom.
Participation was in the range of 60 - 75, including a growing number from across Canada and some from Europe.
In the summer of 2022, FLDC sought to renew our historical close linkage to the Y, while recognizing the desire of some members to return to face-to-face meetings, the success of the meetings by Zoom, and the continuing concerns of other members about meeting in large groups. FLDC decided to return to face-to-face meetings at the Y, but also to open them to participation by Zoom. To cover our costs, and ensure equal contributions by members irrespective of how they attend meetings, FLDC instituted a small membership fee to achieve revenue comparable to the small profits that had previously been gained from charges for lunch and parking. Members attending at the Y were asked to bring their own lunches. Attendance at these hybrid meetings were usually in the range of 50 - 60, of whom approximately two thirds participated by zoom.
Individuals who would like to join FLDC but do not know a member are invited to come to a meeting and introduce themselves to FLDC members at the desk on entry into the meeting room. A member of the FLDC Executive will then introduce them at the meeting.
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Speakers gift sponsored by
The Royal Canadian Mint