The Banquet is over, the Champions have been crowned and we’ve packed away our curling gear after another successful season. I have no doubt that you’ve enjoyed a beer or two on the patio during this nice spring weather, or how we like to refer to it in the curling world, dry-land training has begun!
Before we officially close the book on the season I wanted to congratulate all of you on a hugely successful year, in both competition accomplishments as well as big changes within the club.
Our Bantam/Junior teams were especially successful with the team of Alex Simonits, Bryan Freve, Matt McGuire and Ryan Proc capturing a 2nd place finish at the Bantam Boys Provincials and then following that up with a 5thplace finish at the Ontario Winter Games. Emily Lloyd, Lindsay Geerkins, Danielle Hudson, and Emily King represented Highland Secondary School this year and captured 1st place at the provincials and the championship. Finally, the young team of Chelsey Reimer, Kyra Kastrau, India Jackson, and Victoria Reimer qualified for the Bantam Girls regionals!
This year also saw a lot of club changes. We re-launched the Dundas Curling website which has been extremely active. Friday Night Curling, which saw a large increase in participation on its own, officially launched its musical events nights which are open to any Dundas Member and frankly are a great time – if you have yet to attend, I strongly recommend putting them in your schedule for next year! The first annual Combine Spiel took place and was widely praised for its unique format and excellent organization and also gave people the ability to live out their dreams of being a farmer. We enjoyed a large influx of new curlers, especially in the 35 and under category, over the course of the season. We saw about twenty people take advantage of our Olympic Membership offer and well over 120 rookie curlers participated in our Saturday Dinner Events, including 72 in our final event of the year.
Of course, none of this could have been done without the hard work and dedication of our volunteers and our sponsors. A big thanks goes out to our:
Board Reps – Paul Winslow (2013) and Mark Boag (2014 and on)
Curling Committee – Bo Tkachuk, Dave Stanyar, John Price, Ken Goll and Larry Vollick
League Conveners – Clive Sedgwick, Judy McNaughton, Cathy Smith, Marg Cunningham, Linda Spratt, John Price and Jan Olson
McNally Bonspiel Conveners– Larry Vollick, Dave and Sue Stanyar, John Price
Ladies Invitational Bonspiel Conveners – Karen Marcinkowski
Combine Spiel Conveners – Mike, Derek and Linda Blonski, Phil Sheriff and Pete Child
Sponsors – McNally Construction (Dave Stanyar), Ernst & Young (Bob Neale), John Deere Canada (Mike Blonski), Dundas Lock and Key (Richard Dix), Good to Go Tire (Sandy Price), Barb Knapp, John Klein, Home Renovations by Barbara (Barb Boag), Kastrau Landscaping (Peter Kastrau), RM Signs and Engraving, and Sleeman Brewery
Everything being said, I’m very excited about the upcoming season and you should be too! We have many more positive changes in store and are still committed to providing all members an enhanced curling experience unequalled anywhere else. Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you all in September!
