Toronto Timex Sinclair Users Group: A History

In October 1982 a short advert appeared in the classified section of the Toronto Star, asking persons who might be interested in forming an interest group for a computer called the ZX81 to contact Pete. It gave a phone number.

The advertisement was placed by Pete Harvey. About a dozen persons responded, and this was the genesis of what was shortly to be called the Toronto Timex Sinclair Users Club.

I was one of those responding to the advert. The very first meeting was held in a bar, and for some reason I was unable to attend. At this meeting it was agreed that there was sufficient interest to warrant further meetings. The next meeting was held at Pete Harvey’s place. Initially we may have met every week, though it may have been once every two weeks. Once or twice the meetings were at my place.

However the group was growing to such an extent that a new location was urgently needed. It devolved on Pete to make new arrangements. In the beginning these locations were varied. I recall that we met on a couple of occasions in a side room of a bar at Eglinton and Yonge streets (Pete thought this was ideal!); once in a spare room in an apartment basement; in a small room in a public library; in a large hall in the same library.

The group continued to grow, to such an extent that a more permanent location was felt necessary. Pete arranged for a meeting place in the North York Community Hall, meetings were scheduled on a regular basis on the first and 3rd Wednesday of each month. Rent was $15 a meeting, if my memory serves me correct.

At one of the earlier meetings it was agreed that the annual membership dues should be $20. Pete Harvey became the first president and treasurer, while I offered to be club secretary. The club name was agreed on.

At about the same time there was a consensus that the club should publish a newsletter, and that it should be a bi-monthly issue. This was done, with Stan Piotrowski becoming the first editor. There were three issues the first year. Members would pick their copy up at the meeting.

We decided to place a further three-day advert in the Toronto Star newspaper. This brought out more persons interested in the computer. The local Timex dealer, Gladstone Electronics, was given information about our club, to hand out to customers. Small slips of paper containing information about our club were put into Timex books on newsstands and libraries. These produced additional members.

A ‘letter to the editor’ telling of the club brought further responses, including a number of out of town inquiries.

Those were heady days. The club had grown to about 80 members by the end of the first year, and our meeting place was becoming crowded. Attendance was about 45, and the room had seating for only about 40. Latecomers had to stand. Many members brought their ZX81s and other equipment to show off and talk about. The early ones found a table to put their equipment on; latecomers had to make do as best they could.

One member, Ian Singer, had a sort of dealership of Timex equipment, and used to fill orders for software and hardware.

In the beginning there was no structure to the meetings. Members brought their ZX81 equipment, and showed it off and discussed it. There would be a general discussion, moderated by Pete Harvey.

I can especially recall one member, John Castillos. John was quite a character. He had a heavy Spanish accent, and was by nature an excitable person. When he got onto a topic he would get so carried away that it was almost impossible to make out his conversation! John was our tape librarian. He operated the library on the basis that you would give him a blank tape with a request for a program, and he would bring a copy to the next meeting. If you contributed a program, then you could get a second program from the library.

Then suddenly John was gone, much to our consternation. One of our members got a letter from him some time later, saying that he had had to leave rather suddenly. John was an avid Egyptologist, and one of his original programs is an elaborate filing system relating to Egyptian mummies!

I forgot to mention something. John had a P.O. box, and he had offered it as a club address. After he left, we simply continued using this P.O. box, paying the annual dues on it as they came due.

Meetings continued to be held twice a month through 1983. However, probably due to Pete Harvey’s easygoing nature, the meetings had not progressed much beyond being “a bunch of guys chewing the fat about computers”. I used this phrase in an open letter to the club membership in October ’83. In this letter I suggested the club could and should be offering the membership much more, and requested anyone who shared these sentiments and was willing to serve in an active capacity to contact me.

The upshot was that an interim executive was elected, with a six month mandate to get the club operation onto a sound footing.

Greg Lloyd became president; John Roach, Treasurer; Martin Mauk, librarian; Ian Robertson and Brian Hammond, Activity Directors; Harold Goodwin, meeting chairman; Chris Hart, Out-of-town members; myself as Secretary. Stan Piotrowski continued as newsletter editor.

Pete Harvey’s interest had drifted towards the Commodore, and he dropped out of the club.

The new executive put new life into the club. Demonstrations were arranged for each meeting, the club finances were re-ordered, a set of club bylaws were drawn up and accepted by the membership. Application forms and membership cards were prepared. The tape library was reorganized and a paper library was created. We started a newsletter exchange with other Timex clubs. In June of ’84 the interim executive was confirmed for a further year.

We had been meeting in the community hall for about 18 months when we had to move into new premises. It was a cause for macabre hilarity that our new premises were a former funeral home! It was a distinct improvement over our previous location, what with deep carpeted floors and a tasteful decor. Never mind that our storage cupboard was in the embalming room, or that the elevator we used to bring our club equipment from the basement up to the second floor, was designed to move coffins. We felt comfortably at home!

Many members had converted to the TS2068 computer by then, and our meetings used to alternate between ZX81 and 2068 demonstrations. A TS2068 library was established.

Meetings continued to be twice a month, with attendance probably about 25 per meeting. But problems were brewing. The sole Toronto dealer was closing up shop. No one seemed to be selling Timex computers any more, and membership started to decline. Where the club had reached a high of 130 members, it was now falling off rapidly as existing members either looked to other computers, or simply lost interest. Curiously enough, while the local membership was declining quite rapidly, the number of members from out of town was actually increasing.

This was cause for concern, since servicing these members took considerable time and effort. In addition to mailing the newsletter, it involved sending programs tapes from our library, and supporting them in other ways. Nevertheless, we have continued to do this, expanding recently to support for Larken owners. OOT members now outnumber the in-town members by about 2 to 1.

In 1987 we had to vacate our premises once more. The funeral home was actually a temporary location of the Community Centre, until their new building was built. The move to the new Community Centre building involved a hefty rent increase, one that we felt unable to afford. A search for a new meeting place was urgent. Our president found a suitable meeting place in a high school classroom. This was the Forest Hill C.I., where we continue to meet.

A number of members were into QL computers, and some QL demonstrations were held. However the QL section has never been a very active group. A far more vigorous section has been the Larken owners. More precisely, the TS2068 Larken version.

For some reason our club has always had a very enthusiastic Larken following. Probably a dozen members started with the first vintage Larken system. Since then they have upgraded to the current version, and numbers have grown to where there sure more Larken systems in the club than all other disk systems combined. At the risk of bragging, I would say that we are the premier Larken club in North America.

In October 1987, when nominations for a new executive were due, there was a familiar ring. No one could be found who was willing to stand for office. It was proposed that in light of this, further meetings be suspended, commencing in January. A letter outlining this proposal was sent out to all local members.

At the following meeting sufficient members came forward to serve as club officers that meetings were able to continue.

This brings us up to the present, at the start of 1989. Club membership stands at about 66 members. Our meeting attendance averages about 15. We have purchased a Larken system for the club and this has stimulated considerable interest at meetings. Our ZX81 section is showing signs of increased activity.