Sutton Curling Club opens for the winter season
.By Manfried Helmuth Starhemberg
My friend Diane Owen, a long time member and officer of the Sutton Curling Club invited me to visit last Saturday.at this year's "open house at the club. I had never set foot in a curling venue so this was all new to me. There is a tournament sized 146 foot rectangle of impeccably manicured ice, polished "sliders", the stones players will move about the ice, as well as a great array of ice brooms. The facility has a banquet hall which can be rented for special occasions, with a free bartender available for the asking.Roomy and rustic, I can envision a birthday or anniversary party here with some good ice time available at a small extra cost.
Diane Owen scheduling events
Actually, Diane Owen is in charge of rentals of the ice. It costs only $ 200.- for four hours with all the sliders and brooms supplied. Thus, if a group has four skips, for that amount ,4 groups making up 16 people on the ice, the cost per person is $ 12.50. The club supplies everything else from ice maintenance to electricity. This sounds like the greatest sports bargain on the planet to me.
The club is one year older than I am, it was founded in January of 1947 and originally was curling on an outdoors hockey rink on the same site as today's facility. The first president was Mr. Ed Curley which struck me as hilarious. Obviously with the name "Curley" a soccer club was not on the radar. Curley's curling club built the building and got its first ice making machine in 1954 and the club has been operating from October to mid April ever since. It is registered as a not-for-profit organization.
Currently there are 40 members who are all volunteers. "Nobody gets any pay here" explains Diane. "Everything gets done by the volunteers, from ice maintenance to bartending and sometimes during a "Bonspiel" or when we have a Bloody Mary Breakfast, it can become quite hectic".
Bonspiel? I never heard that one but the word is in common use in curling and is of gaelic origin, meaning "the great game" which in normal language is called "tournament". Curling Sutton, last year, held a big Bonspiel with clubs from all over Quebec competing here.
"Visitors are welcome to Sutton Curling Club to watch a match. You can also try curling for yourselves on Friday evenings for a fee of $10 for non members or $2 for memebers. All you need is a clean pair of running shoes and warm clothing.We will supply the broom and slider" explained Diane Owen.
The spacious hospitality room and bar have long been a favorite spot for the "after curling" activities and has seen all sorts of events from retirement to engagement parties. For information and reservations call: 450 538-3226
My friend Diane Owen, a long time member and officer of the Sutton Curling Club invited me to visit last Saturday.at this year's "open house at the club. I had never set foot in a curling venue so this was all new to me. There is a tournament sized 146 foot rectangle of impeccably manicured ice, polished "sliders", the stones players will move about the ice, as well as a great array of ice brooms. The facility has a banquet hall which can be rented for special occasions, with a free bartender available for the asking.Roomy and rustic, I can envision a birthday or anniversary party here with some good ice time available at a small extra cost.
Diane Owen scheduling events
Actually, Diane Owen is in charge of rentals of the ice. It costs only $ 200.- for four hours with all the sliders and brooms supplied. Thus, if a group has four skips, for that amount ,4 groups making up 16 people on the ice, the cost per person is $ 12.50. The club supplies everything else from ice maintenance to electricity. This sounds like the greatest sports bargain on the planet to me.
The club is one year older than I am, it was founded in January of 1947 and originally was curling on an outdoors hockey rink on the same site as today's facility. The first president was Mr. Ed Curley which struck me as hilarious. Obviously with the name "Curley" a soccer club was not on the radar. Curley's curling club built the building and got its first ice making machine in 1954 and the club has been operating from October to mid April ever since. It is registered as a not-for-profit organization.
Currently there are 40 members who are all volunteers. "Nobody gets any pay here" explains Diane. "Everything gets done by the volunteers, from ice maintenance to bartending and sometimes during a "Bonspiel" or when we have a Bloody Mary Breakfast, it can become quite hectic".
Bonspiel? I never heard that one but the word is in common use in curling and is of gaelic origin, meaning "the great game" which in normal language is called "tournament". Curling Sutton, last year, held a big Bonspiel with clubs from all over Quebec competing here.
"Visitors are welcome to Sutton Curling Club to watch a match. You can also try curling for yourselves on Friday evenings for a fee of $10 for non members or $2 for memebers. All you need is a clean pair of running shoes and warm clothing.We will supply the broom and slider" explained Diane Owen.
The spacious hospitality room and bar have long been a favorite spot for the "after curling" activities and has seen all sorts of events from retirement to engagement parties. For information and reservations call: 450 538-3226
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