A Short History of Camp Robin Hood


Edited from an article written by Marlene Sachter, Former Owner & Director


Yes, Robin Hooders, there really was a Sherwood Park! That’s where it all began more than 50 years ago.

A teacher, Don Franco, and two friends, the Roses, social workers, decided that the children in their own neighbourhood of North Toronto should have a place for special summer activities. Camp Robin Hood’s first summer was 1946 making it the first privately established day camp in Canada. They started with 20 children, a few staff besides themselves, no transportation, swimming instruction at Sunnyview School, and rainy day programs at St. Clements Church. When the Roses retired and as the camp grew, more staff were needed to handle the increased numbers of campers and two new partners were added – Marlene Sachter and Bob Weaver.

A nursery program was added and CRH was the first private day camp to accept and integrate children with special needs into our regular programs. By 1960, we had outgrown our Sherwood Park home and had to find another site. At this time we were also flirting with operating an overnight camp in Algonquin Park, but after 2 season’s we realized that our efforts would be most effectively concentrated on our first love – day camping.

Our first big move was to Maryland Gardens (known as Sportsland Park) at Highways 400 and 7. This large park and recreation area boasted the largest man-made pool in the world – in fact it was an Olympic-sized pool in width and many times that in length. CRH had a large private acreage on the site plus 1/3 of the pool. It was here that, with Larry Bell on staff for the first time, our swimming program really started to become the remarkable and prime activity for which CRH has become so well known and widely recognized. On this site we also added canoeing to our program. In the winter of 1964 the owners of Sportsland Park informed us that the property was going to be redeveloped the coming summer to make room for the proposed Highway 407, and we would have to find other quarters (it only took 40 years to build that highway!).

What a mad rush! We looked all over – King, Caledon, Buck Lake, etc., etc. We finally settled on our Markham site and with unbelievable hours put in we were able to open with one pool in operation, the pond ready for canoes, the barn “passable” for rainy days and a tent city waiting for our campers. As the years passed, Marlene Sachter, Don Franco and Bob Weaver retired, leaving CRH in the caring, capable and creative hands of Larry Bell, Pearl and their family.

Our site has since continued to grow into the wonderful camping complex you now see on Reesor Road. We have added buildings, playing areas, climbing walls, miniature golf course, playgrounds and additional pools to our site. The introduction of MVP Baseball 14 years ago has seen us create Robin Hood Sports Academy. These great sports programs have been consistent with our desire to create an environment that allows children to play and learn and develop good social skills in a fun-filled environment. Throughout our history, we have never abandoned our goal of providing Summer Fun, Family Style. We know we are valuable contributors to family life. In fact Larry’s family, too, has grown with the camp. Larry’s daughter Sari and her husband Howie Grossinger are now the owners and directors of Camp Robin Hood and have made camping the focus of their professional life.

Children have always been our focus and with the encouragement of our many clients, we have added new programs as adjuncts to Robin Hood. Sol Birenbaum, our home grown program director at Camp Robin Hood is now the co-owner and director of Camp Walden. Since acquiring Camp Walden 5 years ago, many Robin Hood campers are also experiencing overnight camp at our beautiful camp just northeast of Bancroft, Ontario. Madawaska Camps also joined the Robin Hood family in the past 5 years. Operating at Camp Walden, in the last 2 weeks of the summer, Madawaska offers sports and specialized volleyball instruction. The Robin Hood Leadership Centre provides programs for schools that help them meet curricular needs and train leaders. There is still much to do and you can be certain we will be there to meet the challenge.

We welcome you to our Family!

Please watch our History of Robin Hood video below narrated by our Senior Director Larry Bell.