1 Upcoming St Thomas Curling Club News March 2020 Events A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Where to start, well let’s just say it’s been a year. While I believe that everything we had planned went very smoothly on the surface it was not without its challenges. It was sort of like a swim- ming duck. All looks very peaceful on the surface but underwa- ter things were moving at a furious pace. Just a few weeks before the Provincials, I was called into the Annual kitchen by the ladies league and informed that the dishwasher General was making funny sounds. A service call resulted in the information that a new pump was required for the dishwasher Meeting and it might seize and stop working at any time. A new pump Date and Time was ordered and it was installed only days prior to the Seniors. During the installation a rusted locking nut was discovered and, To be announced of course, it broke during installation. The $1.28 part is not stocked and so it had to be overnight shipped to the installer and the installation was finished mere hours before the Seniors began. Crisis averted. The club hosted its second Tier 55 Bonspiel of the year in January and a full complement of 24 teams from SW Ontario competed. The Senior Men’s Kitchen Krew handled the meals and this event went off without a hitch. The land sale has progressed smoothly and has passed every stage of approval from City Committee to City Council to area residents. The contractor has started clearing the land. 2 The club partnered with Roy Inch and Son’s and club member Peter Inch in hosting our first Chamber of Commerce Business After 5 in mid February. We had about 125 local business people and politicians in the club, many for the very first time. The building was viewed very favourably and we may have some additional rentals down the road from local businesses who liked our facility. The Senior Provincials went off basically without a hitch. At the closing banquet on Saturday evening each team was introduced and had a chance to speak. The comments about our club, the volunteers, Kevin and his staff came from everyone. One of the City Council members took me aside after the banquet and commented on the sincerity of the comments from each of the teams as to how they had been treated by the club and by the city in general. He was very impressed in all the efforts. Praise like this will go a long way in helping the club as we work with the city for next year’s event. Our dehumidifier has been shut down since mid-October as it is starting to fail and was blowing fine black particles into the air that were ending up on the ice.. This is not unusual to shut the unit down as we have an excellent building and Kevin is able to make good ice for us without undue humidity in the building. This cannot happen next October and a new humidifier has been ordered. Plans are to keep the ice in for a few more days than normal to allow heavy equipment onto the ice surface to remove the old unit and install the new one in the ceiling at the south end of the club. And then the season came to a sudden grinding halt. It was all over the news, this new virus and the rapid increase in cases day to day and week to week from other parts of the world. The Board met, and decided to get ahead of this curve of increased cases and close the club the very next day. It gave me no pleasure to present this to the Board and to accept their recommendations that we close, but it was the correct decision to make. It must be noted that the London club and Highland followed suit. According to the curling community over 100 clubs have closed early along with all the National and World Championships that were planned. Let’s hope this passes and come October it is but a distant memory. It has been a pleasure to act as the President of the St Thomas Curling Club this year. I look forward to seeing you all in October. Have a wonderful summer Mike Langley 3 BAR The bar has continued to perform well and remains on budget. Sales have been as expected and our bar staff has done an admirable job. Costs could have increased as many suppliers are now charging delivery fees for smaller orders. It has been quite the challenge to order appropriately to keep these charges to a minimum and yet not get over stocked with product that takes a while to sell. A job well done by all. The chair of the Senior Provincials was provided with average bar sales for the days of the week that the event would be running on and I am happy to report that sales greatly exceeded the amounts spent by our club members on a regular basis. The event definitely made money for the club through the bar. All in all our bar staff has done an excellent job this year and they are to be congratulated for their efforts. Mike Langley -Bar RENTALS Rentals have continued strongly this year and January and February, our two biggest months, went very smoothly. In addition to the big bonspiels we hosted, Teen Center and Big Brothers as examples, we had a good number of outside rentals. Smaller groups of 12 to 30 people, who contacted us about using the club as a fun night, learn to curl event. I attended a number of these to greet and to aid in a bit of on ice instruction to get them underway. A good time was had by all and I think we might well see some new members on Guest Week next October Mike Langley –Rentals FACILITIES REPORT During the winter months the following items have been repaired or replaced: the beer tap cooling pump system replaced kitchen dishwasher overhauled purchase of new carpet for front & rear entryways. Installation of carpet at rear entry hall and stairs completed. The installation of carpet in front entrance will be completed before fall repaired or replaced 3 emergency lights electrical receptacles and a light installed in ice plant room shoe racks purchased for front entry new entry mats purchased for all doors fluorescent light covers purchased and installed in ladies & men's change rooms and in hallway Brad Kellestine, Facilities Chair 4 ICE Kevin and his crew continue to provide us with excellent playing conditions. I do visit many clubs in Ontario (and some out of province/country) throughout the curling season and have done so for many years - we are extremely fortunate at our club to have the playing surface that we do – I would rate it in the top percentile. So please let Kevin and the crew know what a fine job they are doing. At the end of a game usually half of us will be happy the other half not so much!!! However, in reality win or lose our ice is really good. Kevin has also managed to keep within budget for ice maintenance and prep. The board passed a motion to purchase and install a new dehumidifier which will be done before the ice goes out this season so that the required installation equipment can be used without disturbing the sand floor and related refrigeration pipes. The old dehumidifier has exceeded its life expectancy and is no longer functional. A dehumidifier is needed in order to install the ice in the fall and to regulate humidity periodically throughout the summer and the days leading into the installation. Four quotations were received for the new equipment and installation. Before the board made the final decision references were checked and referrals were confirmed. The board certainly feels that due diligence was done and the right decision made for our club. A new electrical supply line and related electrical equipment are required for the operation of the new dehumidifier. Currently one of our club members has volunteered to do the work, if possible, in order to reduce overall costs. Again – hopefully there will be more to report at the AGM. Colin Sinclair –Ice THANK YOU This year was the first in a few years where our club hosted two CurlOn events. These events generate needed money for capital projects but also provide us with the opportunity to show- case our club and our members. We should all be very proud of both. Your Board of Directors would like to thank its members for generously volunteering as league executive members, league convenors, Kitchen Krew, bonspiel and event organizers and also volunteering in whatever capacity required for our special events. Our club functions under the guidance of mostly volunteers with the exception of our ice staff and bar staff. Everyone should be very proud of their accomplishments this year and look forward to an even more exciting season in the fall. Rest up as we are going to need your help again!! THANK YOU! Your Board of Directors 5 SENIOR PROVINCIALS The events, held at the club Feb 19 – Feb 23, 2020, were, by all accounts, a success thanks to the 60 plus volunteers that made it happen. The teams advancing to the Canadian Senior Championships are the team from Thornhill skipped by Sherry Middaugh and, on the men’s side, the team from Ottawa skipped by Howard Rajala.