Thank you to those of you that partook in the Sticks and Stones Bonspiel making it a successful event. And, thank your convener, Rob Taylor.
Well our first week of team curling is upon us. Hope you all have a great start to the season. From Melanie’s membership email, it was great to hear that most all of the leagues are full. Curling is certainly becoming more and more popular every year and it’s great to be a member for sure.
Thank you to Dwight and his crew for putting together yet again the best of ice. Especially with the somewhat difficult start associated with the brine loss. I received an up-date on the brine loss today and all is good, no further loss has occurred now that the temperatures are down to the required operating temperature for the season.
From the October 6th communication about our ice plant, we will certainly have more updates to come soon. Chris Hauschild has been working hard meeting with experts in the industry of curling rink ice plants. The Board is going to have some solid information on the ice plant system to provide clear and concise decisions for our future. We will continue to look to our members with expertise to join our mitigation and communications committee and the ice plant and ice pad upgrade capital fundraising committee.
I trust by now most all of you have met Melanie Hughes our new club GM. I’m sure you will all agree that Melanie is doing a fantastic job. Her end of week news blasts to the membership are very informative. Thank you Melanie.
I hope you’re all making use of the BCC web site. That’s certainly one of the best ways to keep up to date on all activities at the club. There is a lot to do and a lot to know, so please visit the club calendar, ie. Octoberfest Bonspiel on Oct. 27, Gord Smith’s Roast n’ Toast on Nov. 3, and much more.
We held on Annual meeting on October 2 which was a good opportunity for the membership to hear about what your volunteer Board Members are doing for the club. Thank you to all the Board Members, Conveners and club members that attended.
One of my targets this season is to promote head protection for curling safety. In that regard, I will be sporting a nice black shinny helmet. Though I have not yet wiped out on the ice since I started curling 5 years ago, I see someone fall just about every time I am out curling. And though not often does anyone get seriously hurt, thank goodness, why take a chance. I do believe it is better to be proactive rather than reactive. We certainly do not want anyone to have a serious head injury because of not wearing head protection. Safe curling to all. I hope you all have a great curling season.
See you on the ice. Cheers,
Your president, John Foster
UPCOMING BONSPIELS & EVENTS
October 27 & 28, 2018 – Oktoberfest Spiel Convenor: Heather Kennedy
Enjoy a full day of curling, German food, games and dancing (and of course, BEER) Costumes are encouraged! Register now at the club or email Heather at heatherloukennedy@gmail.com for more info.
November 3, 2018 – Retirement Dinner for Gord Smith Contacts: Dave Horie and Michele Craig
Join us as we honour (and possibly roast) Gord! Sign up at the bar.
November 9, 2018 – Senior Ladies Spiel Convenor: Charlene Strudwick
A weekday bonspiel just for the senior ladies!
November 10, 2018 – Saturday Night Jitney Convenor: Mark DeGeer
The first of three Saturday night parties hosted by the Events Committee! Theme to be determined.
November 16, 2018 – Mary Lynn Gray Bonspiel Convenor: Ladies Section
A ladies bonspiel with two 8-end games, lunch, prizes and a “Get Your Motor Running” theme!
November 24, 2018 – Christmas Bazaar Convenor: Michele Craig
Our annual fundraising bazaar! Vendor Registration is now open! Spread the word!
December 8, 2018 – Wes Jones Turkey Spiel Convenor: Martha Tersigni
A fun two game day where half the participants take home a turkey! This Jitney fills up fast!
December 31, 2018 – New Year’s Convenors: Dave & Mara Horie
Ring in the New Year with family, friends and fellow curlers! Curling, a light dinner and dancing!
Curling Broom Donations
Christmas is coming and now is the time of year we starting thinking about that new lightweight broom we've been eyeing for the past two seasons. If you are considering replacing that performance broom (the one with the oval head) or, if there happens to be a new broom in your Christmas stocking, please consider donating the old, gently used broom to the curling club. We will refurbish the head and have the broom put to good use along with our other brooms used for teaching new curlers or for ice rental curlers. Please recycle, it's a huge benefit to the club! Thank You.
LEARN TO CURL – INSTRUCTORS NEEDED & THNK
Our Learn to Curl (LTC) program has started with a bang this year: 17 people attended the weekday LTC on October 9, 10 and 11; and another 8 participated in the weekend camp on 13 and 14 October. All who attended are members of the club – most are new members and have joined a league; and the rest are sophomore curlers who honed theirs skills. Thanks to Donna Cooper, Mike Maynard, Paul Monahan, David James and Lee-Anne Widawsi-Hauschild who volunteered their time. It’s programs like these that have provided us with membership numbers we have not seen in several years!
Our Sunday Learn to Curl has 68 registrants – equaling the number from last year. We do need volunteer instructors for the LTC and would love some help from anyone who is able to coach/assist new curlers. Fear not – when we conduct the demonstrations, we break things down into the steps and as long as you follow the steps we demonstrate, the new curlers will be well served. It’s a rewarding time for instructors, and it will actually help your game as you teach others the fundamentals. If interested, please contact the LTC Instructor Coordinator Rob Taylor (tippytaylor53@gmail.com) or myself if you wish to volunteer your time with this awesome program. HAUS (haus@barriecurlingclub.com)
BCC Book Exchange
Anyone who loves a good book should check out the Book Exchange, now located in the BCC board room. There are hundreds of hard and soft cover books by many popular authors and you can get any of them for just $2 each. All proceeds are going directly to the BCC Capital Fund.
Retirement Dinner for Gord Smith
You are all invited to Gord Smith’s Retirement “Roast n Toast”, to be held on Saturday November 3.
Cocktails 5:30, Dinner 6:30, Dancing to follow.
Come out to share a story about Gord, be it a nice toast or an entertaining roast! Sign up at the bar, cost is $40 per person.
By-Law Amendments
For the 500 or so of you who didn't manage to make it to the General Meeting on October 2nd, please note that those in attendance approved a number of amendments to the BCC By-Laws. One of the amendments was a minor administrative issue, but the other three involved a shift to the use of modern technology. Prior to recent changes to the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act we were obligated to mail out all notices of General Meetings and Annual General Meetings. The Act now allows organizations such as ours to use electronic means to inform its members of such events. The amendments proposed and approved at the October 2nd General Meeting have changed our by-laws to allow us to do this, as well as allowing members to propose agenda items by electronic means. For those members who have no e-mail address on file we will continue to send notices to their mailing addresses.
If you have any questions on these amendments, please feel free to contact Paul Monahan, the board member responsible for by-laws. paulmonohan@hotmail.com
Barrie Rotary Club and St. John Ambulance Barrie Simcoe Muskokaare pleased to present the 11th FREE CPR CLINIC! We invite you, friends and family to participate in this event to Learn to Save a Life!
This free clinic will teach you how to perform adult and child CPR, what to do when someone is choking and how to use a defibrillator (AED). We recommend attending even if you have participated in the past to practice your life saving skills.
DATE: Saturday November 10, 2018
TIME: 9:30am to 11:30am or 1:00pm to 3:00pm
LOCATION: Lampman Lane Community Centre, 59 Lampman Lane Barrie
(Accessible by public bus transit and free parking onsite)
To pre-register, please email BarrieSimcoeMuskoka@on.sja.ca or call (705) 726-0991 with the participant’s First and Last Name and email address. Each session is limited to the first 125 registrations.
We will also be offering free blood pressure checks and car seat inspections at this years clinic. If you would like one of our certified car seat safety team members to educate you on your child restraint system please let us know at registration.
We hope you can join us this year at the Free CPR Clinic.
The 2018/2019 curling season is postured to get underway and promises to be one of the best our curling club has seen in recent years. That is also reflected in the number of curlers returning to and joining the Youth Program for the first time. We are presently up 20% registered Youth Curlers over the same time last year and we expect that number to increase somewhat over the next few weeks.
We are very excited this year for our upcoming Youth Programs as we will be seeing a number of changes within these programs such as the addition of our Intermediate League. This league is designed to act as a bridge for our advanced Little Rockers to promote skill development in all areas of the game as they prepare for their upcoming years in the Junior League. Many of our young curlers who now have been curling 4 – 5 years are ready to take on the challenging roles of skipping and vicing a team and our Intermediate Program will afford these curlers that opportunity.
Our coaches are being trained as well. On October 20, 21 it will be off to school for the majority of our Youth Program Coaches as they attend a special private ‘Club Coach Clinic’ being presented to us at the Barrie Curling Club by the Ontario Curling Council (OCC). This clinic will be designed specifically for our coaches, highlighting the finer points of curling instruction with a focus on Youth Curling.
Our Competitive Under 18 Girls and Boys teams will be front and centre this year as well. In an effort to help our competitive teams gain valuable experience in a competition environment, our girls team will be playing in the Ladies Tuesday evening CYO League at 6 p.m. while the boys team will go on the ice that same evening in the 8:15 Open CYO League. Our many thanks to the curlers and conveners of those two leagues for acknowledging the value our Juniors bring to our club and enabling our teams to gain the valuable competition experience these leagues bring. You will also see a number of our young curlers sparing in the regular leagues throughout the season. As one member said “I love watching them play, I don’t look forward to playing against them!” Our Youth Curlers are the future of curling at our club and Canada wide.
Shoes. Shoes. Shoes. As anyone who has raised a family can appreciate, growing children can grow in and out of two, even three shoe sizes in a single year. Our young curlers families have been and are in that situation and we all know too well what a great difference a good pair of curling shoes can make in our game. Over the past couple of years, many of our members have graciously donated their gently used curling shoes to our Youth Curling Program so that the shoes may live to curl another day. If you are considering starting the season with new shoes or even if you find a pair of new shoes under the tree at Christmas time, please consider donating your old ones (that may still have some life yet to live) to our Youth Program rather than having them collecting dust in the closet, or worse yet, headed for the landfill. Please recycle and reuse.
Thank you to all our members for your encouragement and support of our Youth Curlers.
The BCC Youth Program
Don't forget, Oktoberfest is coming up quickly! October 27th, starting at 9am, enjoy a full day of curling, German food, games, dancing and of course, beer! Email Heather at heatherloukennedy@gmail.com to register today! Cost is $70/person. Dust off your lederhosen and drindls, costumes are encouraged!
