We are coming into our last three weeks of curling, followed by our exciting Tournament of Champions and I have to stay, it’s been a pretty great season. Lots of great bonspiels just about every weekend, whether at our club or at our neighbouring clubs. I really hope you all have enjoyed the season.
The last 3rd of our curling season has seen an increase in our overall membership to 693 people. This includes, which is exciting for our future, 97 members under the age of 20, our future stars. It’s great to see more and more people out to enjoy this fabulous Canadian sport of curling.
Thank you to Dwight and his crew again for the great quality curling ice. In this regard, as many of you may be aware, Dwight Hermiston, our long time Ice Technician, made the decision this past week to depart from the club. Dwight has been the Club’s Ice Technician since 2006, thirteen great seasons of curling ice. I’m sure we all appreciate those 13 years so much. Dwight has devoted so much of his time and worked hard to ensure that the quality of his curling ice was the best it could be. Dwight will be remembered by the membership for not only his ice, but also for his keenness on ensuring efficiency in his operations. For the short time I have known Dwight, I have found that he has always strived to ensure the best for the club. This being in many ways, ie. efficiency in his delivery of the ice, helping to save money for the club by improvements on electrical consumption costs, by the setup of the Ice mistress, and most recently, the new vinyl ice mats and so on. I personally will miss some of the enjoyable conversations we’ve had. I hope you all wish Dwight and of course Monica all the best on their future endeavours. We will certainly miss them.
Herman Overdijk, who some of you will have already seen working on the ice, will be taking care of our ice surface for us to the end of the season. I am confident he will do a great job.
I would also like to thank Dave and Tina and bar team for keeping us all refreshed with beverages. Also, thank you Rhonda and Ron again for the great meals. You’ve all made our time at the curling club a great experience.
On behalf of your board, and I am sure all of the membership, I would like to thank Bob Smith our long time Drawmaster at our club and Gail Smith of course. This is Bob’s final year as our Drawmaster. Since coming to our club from the Barrie Country Club, when it ceased curling operations, Bob and Gail have been a large part of our curling club community with their own curling plus numerous volunteer hours. Bob (assisted by Gail) has been our Drawmaster, providing us with a level of knowledge, expertise, and results that I believe are second to none in the industry. Bob has brought this to us at his own expense by providing his computer, printer (plus ink), paper, and accessories, never taking any payment to cover these essential items that he uses to give us his fabulous results. This all happens behind the scenes where nobody notices. The organizers of these events simply turn the job over to Bob, and, at the end of the event he hands off the results and quietly leaves the building until the next time. I believe Bob's last bonspiel as Drawmaster will be the Snowbirds bonspiel on March 30, 31. I am sure all our members will be behind me in sincerely thanking Bob and Gail personally for their countless hours of time they have donated over the years. We will surely miss his expertise in this regard when the Bonspiels start taking place again next year.
I would also like to thank those who have worked hard to provide well attended and successful bonspiels for the club. These include:
February 9, 2019 – Family and Friends, Convenor: Mara Horie
February 23, 2019 – Pelee Island Wine Spiel, Convenor: Chris Hauschild
March 2, 2019 – Beef and Beer Bonspiel, Convenor: Christine Pearson
March 6, 2019 – Harry Armstrong Memorial Bonspiel, Senior Men’s
March 16, 2019 – BCC St. Patrick’s Event, Convenor: Michele Craig
Still forthcoming are the following:
March 23, 2019 – Open House for Future Members
March 30 & 31, 2019, Women’s Snowbird, Convenor: Brenda Roden and the Women’s Section
April 4, 5 and 6, Tournament of Champions, sponsored by Brooker Link.
Another important date to remember and for you to book in your calendars include our up-coming vote by the membership related to the direction that you want your Board to approve the Ice Pad expenditure. This will be held on April 1, time to be confirmed. As well, the date and time for our annual meeting will be confirmed shortly. Regarding the Ice Pad project, subject to approval by our membership, in advance of the formal vote by the membership, we will be posting duty rosters around the club and on our website to get an understanding of club volunteers available for the ice pad project.
Please see the club calendar for more details of all the above noted events.
Your board has also been working hard to ensure the future of our club as related to the ice pad. Chris Hauschild and his Committee have been very busy moving forward with the Capital Fund Raising Program and the Ice Pad Works. We had 2 very successful Town Hall Meetings on Wednesday March 13 from 3:00 to 4:00pm and from 6:00 to 7:00pm. A good summary of these 2 meetings was sent out by your manager, Melanie Hughes on March 16th.
Once again, thank you to Melanie Hughes for her weekly news blasts. These blasts have been a great way for keeping us informed.
On the matter of safety on the ice, head protection is so important. In that regard, it’s good to see more curlers sporting head protection. I am pleased to see more of our members wearing head protection. To add to this, it is also so important to ensure stability
John Foster
President, Barrie Curling Club
Fundraising – let’s hit $100K!
We now have a plan in place to replace the floor and have secured a loan to go along with our fundraising and savings. We are not going anywhere! At the Open House we asked members and friends to contribute to one more round of fundraising and donations. You may ask why donate if we have a funding plan? The answer:
The proposed membership increases presented at the meeting are the most reasonable we came up with to cover the costs – if we lose a few members due to fee increases, our financing will be a bit tighter.
We have more capital works in the near future. If we apply and receive Trillium funding for a new ice plant or other works, we do need to match funds it provides.
We have 500 members and to date 99 donations have been made (about 140 members). We all can’t afford to donate the initial ask nor was it expected. However, we hope that most can afford at least a little bit so we can reach the $100,000 mark between the donations to the National Sports Trust Fund and the floor fund (proceeds of leagues, events and non-tax receipt donations).
We are a great group of members. Together we have gotten through this year, solved a problem, and will look forward to a great BrokerLink Tournament of Champions, summer floor construction, all leading to a continued thriving history at the BCC.
We want to extend our sincere thanks to one of our local businesses. On Saturday February 2, 2019 the club hosted the Oatley Vigmond Curling Challenge. The partners very generously gave the club a cheque for $1,000 for our Ice Pad Fund. Click Here for a link to their article summarizing the day and some great pictures.
BONSPIELS & EVENTS
March 24, 2019 - Open House & Registration Day - 1:00pm to 6:00pm Volunteers are still needed - see the sign up sheets around the club
March 30 & 31, 2019 – Women’s SnowbirdConvenor: Women’s Section
Two full days of curling with many teams from other clubs. Three eight end games, great meals, costume contest and a dance!
April 1, 2019 - Special Members Meeting to approve Ice Pad Proposal - 6:00pm *Proxy forms are available if you cannot make it in person...please see the email dated March 19 from the Manager.
June 8, 2019 - 9th Annual BCC Family & Friends Gold Tournament - Circle Pine Golf Course 1pm Shot Gun Start - $90 per person ($55 for Circle Pine Members with season pass) Includes: 18 holes of Golf, Power Cart, Dinner, Prize Table
To Register email Rob Taylor at tippytaylor53@gmail.com
Our club events provide the greatest contribution to the Club’s Fundraising efforts. This year’s fundraising will go toward our BCC Capital Fundraiser which includes putting away money for a new ice surface.
On the weekend of February 9th Barrie curling team of Bill Irwin, Kevin Daniel, Rick Parkinson, and Jeff Flanagan curled in the senior Challenge round in Whitby.
This competition had 2 teams advancing to provincial playoffs. The team
went undefeated to "A" finals but unfortunately lost the "A" final and "B" finals.
Congratulations to Marc Desrochers, Jennifer Omand from Barrie with Shawn and Ashley from Stroud who won the Sweetheart Bonspiel in Shelburn in February.
Congratulations to Team Bolsby: Skip-David Bolsby, Vice-Errol Hemple, Second-Brian Welch, & Lead-Jeff Greavette for winning the Wednesday Night Men's league second draw. Good Luck in the Tournament of Champions. Many thanks to our sponsor Dennis Brown of Flags Unlimited.
Fred Nicholl Wed Night Men's League Convenor
Congratulations to Norman Speake, Doug Wishart, Deb Orth-Brown, and Richard Lagace who won the Pelee Island Wine Spiel on February 23rd. This bonspiel was a huge success and helped contribute $800 to the Ice Pad fund and another $500 to the lottery fund.
2019 Beef and Beer Bonspiel
Congratulations to Draw 1 Winners, the team from Guelph: Ryan Lavell, Steven Larmer,Donald Skinner, Trevor Fraser and Congratulatoins to the Draw 2 Winners from Tam Heather: Ryan Pearce, Dave Heasman, Shelley Van Erp, Mike Brooks
Please send us a picture of your winning team or team accomplishments and we will add them here for all to celebrate together.
Junior/Little Rock Program
The Youth Program is in it's final week of the 2018/2019 curling season. On Sunday March 24 we will hold our annual Optimist Club Sponsored skills competition in which all youth curlers will have their final assessment of the year and will be presented with medallions and certificates to commemorate the closing of this years curling.
The season began in October with a 30% increase in Youth Program membership over the previous season. The dividing of the Juniors/Little Rocks into three groups which included the Intermediates allowed room for significant growth in all our curlers.
This year, thanks to the efforts and commitment of our curlers parents, Youth Program coaches and you, our supportive members, we feel our program has finally come into its own. Some of the first and older products of the program (our competitive men's and women's teams) this year played in many events outside the club plus held their own very well against some of our clubs best adult curlers in the Tuesday evening CYO Leagues. This is just the beginning. Many of our 11, 12, and 13 year olds are already very near the same caliber as their senior counterparts and, as you can imagine, are getting better every day.
Once again, thank you to our members for their support and we will see you at the Tournament of Champions on April 6 as 16 of our curlers will take to the ice to provide what we hope will be the two most exciting games of the event.
Al McKenna & Rob Abrams
2nd VP BCC Junior Teams Head Coach
Summary of Town Hall Meetings
March 13, 2019
Board members present for both meetings were John Foster, Chris Hauschild, Jeff Flanagan, Barb Wright. Paul Monahan and Rob Taylor were also in attendance for the 6pm meeting.
President John Foster opened each meeting and introduced the Ice Pad Committee members:
Chair: Chris Hauschild
Assistance by: Barb Wright, Al McKenna, David Horie, Jeff Flanagan, Paul Monahan, Rob Taylor, John Foster, Melanie Hughes
Technical Committee: Peter Lamers, James McNabb, David James
John Foster reviewed the repair and replacement options:
a. Total replacement on top of current floor. Hire an engineer and project manager to handle the project. Costs averaged $320K.
b. Removable pipe system laid on top of current concrete floor, removed each spring. Cost, approximately $150K. Would need to be removed each spring and installed each fall.
c. Put additive in current brine to seal the leak. A temporary fix. Cost ~$70K. Temporary fix only.
d. Hands-on approach – Essentially option A with help from club members to reduce labour cost. Would need to buy materials, retain Project Manager. Cost approx. $220K plus contingency, total approx. $240K.
The Board voted to proceed with this option – best long-term option and can see big savings if the membership contributes labour. Timeline 11 weeks, need 1700 hours of volunteer labour. Peter Lamers has volunteered to be the project manager, with help from others who can be on site. Start as soon as ice is removed and ground is thawed (early to mid May). Will be posting a duty roster in the next couple of weeks to start recruiting workers.
Jeff Flanagan spoke about the financing.
Very exciting news – we have approval from Meridian Credit Union for a loan of up to $200K. This means there is no question we have enough money to go ahead with the ice pad project. There will be curling next year, with a brand new ice pad.
Spoke with about 10 different financial institutions regarding lending needs, cash flow, results, etc. The only proposal was offered by Meridian.
Terms: Up to $200,000, 5-year loan, interest rate 5.38%.
We had also looked at a debenture proposal and did some legwork on that. This is a viable option, but the Board feels it is better for the club to borrow from Meridian. More flexibility (don’t have to borrow full amount vs. must pay back full amount of debentures), and less administrative work (would have to report to 40+ debenture holders, issue T5s every year, etc.).
If you have been intending to make a donation but were perhaps waiting for more information before proceeding, that is understandable. Please make your donation now, which will help the club borrow less.
Next steps:
Need to host a special members meeting to approve the ice pad project. The by-laws and purchasing policy require approval at a members meeting for expenditures over $60,000. This process was used some years ago for approving the stucco.
Proposing the special members meeting will be Monday, April 1st, 2019. Stay tuned for notice of the meeting to vote and approve the expenditure.
Chris Hauschild spoke about fundraising efforts:
Fundraising has been ongoing since late November.
We have collected 98 donations, for a total of approximately $55K. It would be a big help to bring in more donations from the membership.
No funding available from the City yet, but Tourism Barrie just reached out to get us connected with the subcommittee.
The hope is that, after this project is complete, we will continue to build reserves so we have money on hand for the next project.
John Foster talked about next year’s fees:
The fees have been calculated to reflect the need to pay back the $200K loan over 5 years, Ie. There is a fee in addition to curling activity fees, which will be used to pay down the debt, plus start a reserve fund.
Membership fees will go up approximately 2%, plus OCA fees (unchanged for 2019-2020), plus capital (regular operations and maintenance), plus major infrastructure fee (to pay back the loan), plus HST. This was in an effort to not increase the fees any more than is strictly necessary. Any amount collected in major infrastructure fees in excess of what is required to make payments on the loan may be used to further pay down that debt, or build a reserve fund.
Question & Answer Period Q: How much do we have on hand now for this project, and how much do we have to keep in reserve? A: We have the following amounts available for use with this project (please note, numbers are approximate): $50,000 raised through donations and currently held in trust with the National Sport Trust Fund; and $100,000 in cash on hand. This includes cash from the club’s GIC and money raised previously and this year through club fundraising activities such as the book sale, bonspiel proceeds, contributions from leagues and individuals, and the projected surplus from operations due to increased membership numbers. Total on hand: $150,000. This will leave the club with $75,000 on hand from cashed GIC's, which is the amount the bank, auditors and Board believe should be kept on hand to cover any cash flow requirements.
Q: Are there plans to update the local media with this news? It would be nice to spread the word in the community. A: We will be updating the local news outlets with this story. We cannot do so until the membership has voted in favour of spending the funds necessary to complete the project.
Q: Will the major infrastructure fee continue to be added to the cost of curling dues once the loan is paid off? A: This additional fee will likely continue to be a cost of maintaining a membership at the Barrie Curling Club, so that we can build a reserve fund and manage our assets based on their expected life cycles, rather than have to raise funds on an emergency basis.
Q: What are the terms on the loan? A: We have been approved by Meridian to borrow up to $200,000, paid back over 5 years, with an interest rate of 5.38%. They have also offered a line of credit for $25,000. Meridian requires a general security agreement, that the club moves all of their banking activities to Meridian, and that the club makes a deposit to guarantee the line of credit. They do not require any personal guarantees.
Q: What kind of work will the volunteers be expected to do? A: The total volunteer workload is estimated to be 1,700 hours over an 11-week period. Volunteers will be asked to do work such as laying foam insulation, putting chairs (metal forms to hold the pipes) in place, cleaning up, and more. Specialized work such as concrete work will be hired out to contractors. Volunteers will have to wear safety boots and the club will provide protective wear.
Q: How long do you expect the new ice pad to last? A: The current ice pad has lasted 65 years. The club in Picton that just replaced their ice pad with the help of volunteers expects theirs to last 35 years. We are hoping for 25-35 years.
Q: Will the new floor be usable year-round? A: Yes, it is our hope to bring in additional revenue to the club by renting the rink area during the curling off season.
Q: Does this project include any accessibility improvements? A: We hope to include accessibility improvements as a separate project in the future.
