Ajax, Ontario is a growing town in the Regional Municipality of Durham and 25 kilometres east of Toronto. Situated on the shores of Lake Ontario, it's bordered by the towns of Whitby and Pickering. Ajax has a short but very interesting history. In 1941 a Defense Industries Limited shell plant was built and the town was thus established as the town site grew around the plant. By 1945, the plant had employed over 9,000 people, created its own sewage and water treatment plants, filled 40 million shells for the Second World War, opened a school with a population of over 600, and also had 50 km of roads and 50 km of railroad. The plant site included over 12 km of land itself, and many Canadians traveled the distance to work there. The name "Ajax" came about with the first real British Naval victory of WWII. Commandeered by Commodore Henry Harwood, a fleet of British warships, the HMS Ajax, HMS Achilles and HMS Exeter routed and engaged the Admiral Graf Spree, a powerful German battleship near the Uruguayan port of South America's Montevideo. The name Ajax was chosen as the name of this community born from war. At the end of the war, the University of Toronto took over much of the D.I.L. plant and used it to house engineering students who had been recently discharged from the Armed Forces. The buildings were converted to laboratories and classrooms, and approximately 7,000 engineering students had received basic training by 1949. Ajax then became a planned community, mostly envisioned by the the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporations's George W. Finley. In 1954 the first Public School Board and Town Council were elected, and in 1973 the Village of Pickering and the Town of Ajax were amalgamated, thus creating part of the new Durham Region. Ajax officially came into being on January 1st, 1974. Many residents commute from Ajax to Toronto and other Durham Region municipalities for work, and the town has increased in population considerably since the 1980s. Other employers include DuPont, Volkswagen Canada, Dowty Aerospace (started in 1949), and many others. The town's growth also saw large shopping centres, new subdivisions and extensive high rise developments. Famous people who've helped put Ajax on the map include pop punk band Sum 41, NHL player Brent Burns, Rex Grignon (head of animation for DreamWorks), and Jeremy Booker, gold medalist in the 2006 Paralympic Games. With a quickly growing population and its close proximity to the downtown, single Ajax residents can enjoy all the amenities provided by Toronto without having to live in a large city. 25dates.com speed dating events are just one example of things for singles to do in Toronto; interested participants would first sign up on line to determine which speed dating even they'd like to attend, based on their sexual preference and age group. Some people even fit into more than one age group which doubles their chances of finding a mate! Upon signing up for an event of their choice, 25dates.com daters meet at a centrally located lounge, restaurant, or bar. Here they meet up to 25 potential mates in one night, and it's up to them to determine who they would like to see again. Two people marking down "yes" on their matchcards about each other determines whether they "match", and 25dates.com then exchanges their contact info for them 2 days later. Participants can choose as many or as few people as they like, and if they don't receive a match, they get to attend a complimentary event in the future.