Sapphire magazine Sir Frederick Banting Day

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Locations around the world turned on blue lights to mark World Diabetes Day and nowhere is the occasion taken more seriously than in Alliston - birth place of Sir Frederick Banting, the discoverer of life saving insulin.
The event happens during a time when there is a serious effort to restore the Banting homestead and turn it into a public used facility that will preserve the story of Sir Frederick Banting and endorse healthy living and diabetes prevention.
Plans also call for the property to be used for agricultural purposes.
A large turnout at the Alliston event showed the support for the project.
Visitors gathered in the recently refurbished drive shed were there was information booths on diabetes prevention and living with the disease.

There are also plans to preserved and maintain the other buildings on the property includign the main house, the piggery, main barn and hen house.
The drive shed is of particular interest because of its unique octagonal shape.
Sir Frederick Banting is considered a hero worldwide for his discovery of life saving insulin - a discovery that dramatically changed the lives of many people and saved the lives of millions more.

Banting was born at the Alliston homestead on November 14, 1891 and lived ont he property until 1910.
He studied medicine at the Universtiy of Toronto, then went on to serve in the First World War and was wounded during the Battle of Cambrai.
Banting began his scientific research with assistant Charles Best.
HIs discovery led to him receiving the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1923.
World Diabetes Day is an annual event that draws awareness to the the disease and its prevention and serves to honour the memory of Banting world wide.