Ching Chatter

Volume XXVIII, Issue 2 January 2020

LOOKING FORWARD TO A NEW DECADE

MESSAGE FROM THE PREZ … - Phil Marlow

Firstly, on behalf of our board members, I would like to wish everyone a Safe and Happy Holiday Season! As we transition ourselves half way through our curling season, I would like to remind everyone of our Practice Ice Times (Tuesday evenings at 9pm; Thursday afternoons 12:30-2:30 pm and Sunday mornings 9:00-11:00 am & 11:00-1:00 pm). There has been a great deal of usage thus far, so if you need to brush up on your delivery or need extra practice time for upcoming events be sure to Register on the Website. I can confirm, the City of Brampton has installed new signage and alarms at the exits near the Locker Rooms, but do not forget, - Store It and Lock It! In addition, you will have noticed a change in the City of Brampton Bar Management and as such, we will continue to work closely with them to address any concerns we may encounter. If you have any feedback or concerns, please continue to send them to my attention for follow up. As we now move into January 2020, we will be conducting a Try Curling Now session in conjunction with our Adult Learn 2 Curl program on Sunday January 5 between 3:00 - 4:30 pm so if you know anyone that may be interested in either program, ask them to register on our website.

GOVERNANCE – Shelley Higgerty

The Board is putting the finishing touches on a new constitution for your approval. This new approach to our club will allow us to focus more attention/accountability on growing the sport and our club. Our intention is to finalize in early January and post it on the website soon after. Keep an eye out for a general meeting in late January/early February to come together for a 'non legalese' description of what we are proposing as an alternative to our existing constitution (it's on our website).

IN THIS ISSUE:

Mixed Report ................. page 2

Business Women’s Report page 2

Day Ladies Report .......... page 3

Daytime Open Report ..... page 3

Men’s Report.................. page 4

Instruction ................... page 4

Youth Report .................. page 5

CurlON/TCA Report ....... page 5

Curling History ............ page 6

Upcoming Bonspiels ....... page 6

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MIXED CURLING REPORT – Meagan Wright

Here we are again, halfway through the season, and 2020 just around the corner! Congratulations to the winners of the first two draws of the season: Draw 1: Dan Nadon, Heather McGinnity, Jeanette Burnside &

Peter Armata (Thursday) Ken McHugh, Hank Markslag, Mary McLeod (Friday @ 7) Dan & Pat Dempsey, Douglas McGlynn & Alana Del Greco (Friday @ 9) Dave Duff, Joyce Fung, Martin & Emilia Mueller (Sunday)

Draw 2: Ryan & Melissa Pearce & Cathy Kovacs (Thursday)

Ian Wingrove, Roselle Marentette, Tien & Lauren An (Friday @ 7) Paul & Shelley Brannen, Georges & Christine Mendes (Friday @ 9) Martin Post, Patricia Keffer, Jackie Mitchell & Daniel Gordon (Sunday).

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MIX IT UP BONSPIEL – Doreen Thompson

On Saturday, November 9th, the first club bonspiel of the season was held. Mix It Up (run by Sunday Mixed) had 40 curlers who played three 4 end games. This bonspiel is to encourage new curlers to come out and try the bonspiel experience and they certainly did!

First Place - Back end: Phil Marlow and Anne Marie Ruddell; Front End: Marcus Anthes and Cathy Thompson (both part of Learn to Curl!) Second Place - Back End: Al Freeman and Kathy Hay; Front End: Stu Scheffer and Cara Rahman (Cara is another Learn to Curler) Third Place - Back End: Doreen Thompson and Matthew Thompson; Front End: Joe Bernard and Kim Bernard (occasional curlers).

A Share the Wealth Draw was held to honour Joe Bodhaine.

A total of $280 was donated to Jump Start at Canadian Tire. Many thanks for the hard work in the kitchen to Patricia Keffer and Leslie Moir, as well as to Martin Post as draw master, and Phil Marlow and Xandra Busche. And big thanks to Shelley Higgerty who hung out all day to encourage our brand new Learn to Curlers! A great start to our bonspiel season!

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BUSINESS WOMEN REPORT - Chris Nowak

All the teams have successfully finished our round robin games before the break at Christmas. Our 16 teams will resume in January and continue as we finish this 1st set of round play. Dec. 18 featured our Christmas snack night and all enjoyed yummy and festive treats.

Our Business Women’s Bonspiel scheduled for January 25th is filling up fast so we encourage others willing to join us to consider registering soon. It is a Robbie Burns theme and many of our gals have already planned their tartan attire.

The Diamond team represented our Club at the Travellers Club Championship Playdown in London. The team of Barbara Diamond, Ruth Pritchard, Fiona Diamond and Catherine Diamond held a record of 2 & 2. Well done ladies and congratulations.

We encourage our ladies to promote our league as we do need to boost our teams back to a healthy number. Please consider doing so as you talk amongst your friends.

Cudos to our brand new team of Ilaria Venditti, Ilena Marsella, Emilia Mueller & Helene Montminy who are showing great enthusiasm and how much fun it is in learning the game. Ladies you are true examples of team spirit!

BONSPIELING WITH TRUDY Here's a photo of Jeanette & I curling with

Lynn Wilson & Anne Heppel from Woodstock, at the Meaford Spiel on

Saturday, Nov. 2nd. We had a great time & won our draw & now there is meat in the freezer. Saw some former Ching friends who are now curling in

Collingwood - Cathy Holowitz & Elaine Klassen.

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DAY LADIES REPORT - Valerie Williams As we move into the New Year, please be reminded that we return to curling the week of January 5th and that the registration for the Tullamore Mixed Spiel happening on Saturday, February 1st is now open and on our website. Good luck to everyone in the second half of the season! The Day Ladies completed their second draw on December 10th and on December 17th enjoyed 6 ends of ‘fun’ curling followed by a Christmas Pot Luck lunch.

The winners of the 1st draw were: Isabel Kennedy (Skip); Patricia McKinnon (Vice); Rachelle Ford (2nd) and Kerry Smart (Lead). The winners of the 2nd draw were: Lynda Earl (Skip); Bob Coyle (2nd) Janice Fenty (Lead). (Colleen Cicci was named Vice but wasn’t able to play in this draw).

On January 10th we will be hosting the Mini Majors League and on Wednesday, January 22nd we are running our annual Winter Freeze Senior Women’s Bonspiel. The various committees are already hard at work to ensure this will once again be a successful bonspiel. This year the league chose the Charity – Caring and Sharing, run by North Bramalea United Church, and through the generosity of our members – and also those who came out to spare – we donated $290.00 which will go a long way towards making one family’s Christmas just that little bit brighter.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

MESSAGE FROM DEBBIE MUMA Thanks to the Day Ladies for their support of our program.

We supported 94 families. That represents 135 adults (18 and over) and 176 children ( 17 and under).

This is a photo of all the gifts ready for delivery. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

DAYTIME OPEN REPORT – Joe & Jean Pether and Doreen Thompson The Daytime Open League finished their 2nd draw on the 12th of December 2019. The first game of the 3rd Draw

is to begin on the 19th of December followed by a Pot Luck Christmas Luncheon. The League will start up again on the 9th of January 2020 & is successfully fielding 6 sheets of ice with an excellent mix of curlers.

The winners of the 1st draw were: Wendy Bodhaine (Skip), Dale Boulianne (Vice), Jean Pether (2nd) and Wolfgang Pechmann (Lead) The winners of the 2nd draw were: Patricia Keffer (Skip), Juli Roslin (Vice), Deanna Quintieri (2nd) and Steve Ward (Lead)

Looking forward to the last half of our Curling season in 2020.

Goldline Curling Supplies Thank you Phil Marlow for arranging to have pop-up stores for Goldline at our club during the curling

season. Not since Don Hlady left our club, have we had the convenience of having an equipment guru in our midst. Your knowledge & expertise is much appreciated.

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MEN’S REPORT – Ed Mathewson The Men have now had two successful events. The Oscars/Goldline Bonspiel was well attended with a full 12-team draw in the 1st and a manageable 8 teams in the 2nd draw. Reports from attendees indicated a good time was had by all. Just last week, the men had their Annual 2 on 2. There were 46 participants and when all was said and done, the pairing of George McNally and Mark Meacoe took home 1st prize. In league play, Playoff spots have been earned as follows:

Monday Night A – Draw 1 Team Hodgson B – Draw 1 Team Burnside C – Draw 1 Team Cann A – Draw 2 Team Hodgson (Opens additional A spot in draw 4) B – Draw 2 Team Cann (Opens additional C spot in Draw 4 C – Draw 2 Team Pawling

Tuesday Night A – Draw 1 Team Rosengren B – Draw 1 Team Matheson A – Draw 2 Team Rosengren (Opens additional A spot in draw 4) B – Draw 2 Team McGaugh

On the Bonspiel Circuit: -At St George’s Pair of Jacks Bonspiel, hosted by the Humber Seniors, our old guys headed by John Keast with Paul Roslin, Bill Matheson & George Mendes won their draw & a whole whack of steaks. I wish everyone all the success for the second half of our season and see you in the playoffs. Hoping everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

CHING CURLING INSTRUCTION As you have been notified, the Review Clinics that the club had been hosting throughout the curling season

have been cancelled. The reason? “Since we must book the ice time with the City, we are incurring an ice fee of $558 per clinic and to help offset this fee we have been charging our members a $10 fee, however due to the low attendance/participation the amount of funds collected is not enough to support this initiative.”

We wish to thank the many instructors who have given up their time to help our fellow curlers improve their skills. In past years, regulars Rik Aikman, Al Freeman, Audrey Greenwood, Shelley Higgerty, Laura McIntyre, Don Smith & Liz Solomon have consistently volunteered their expertise. We even set up a video analysis to help in the instruction. We would be amiss if we didn’t thank the many individuals who offered their services when instructor numbers were low.

Perhaps in the future some arrangement can be made so that we can continue to enhance our curling skills, making our game more competitive & enjoyable to all.

The long & short of it.

COMING TO CHING IN THE NEW YEAR Sunday January 5 between 3:00 - 4:30 pm

Try Curling Now – For people who wish to try out our sport

Adult Learn 2 Curl – An 8 week session of instruction

See the Ching website for registration & info - https://chingcurling.com

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YOUTH REPORT - Laura McIntyre

The youth program is in full swing for the 2019-2020 season with some very enthusiastic children. The Hit, Tap & Draw program was very successful & the children did very well. Thank you to Ken McHugh and Wayne for helping out with the testing.

Our last day of curling before the holidays was filled with one hour of curling and then lots of food. Thank you for the numerous donations from Val Williams who provided salsa and nacho chips, the Sunday morning curling group for desserts and the many treats parents brought. A good start to the curling season.

CURLON UPDATE – WWW.ONTCURL.COM – Pearl Quan CurlON has been working hard this year in offering the CurlON Club Members value. Here are some things that you may not know and may like to take advantage of:

FREE Skills Analysis Clinics – dates and locations are posted in the locker rooms and the bulletin

board in the ice rink. You can pick up a card with all details on the clinics.

CurlON 50-50 Lottery – you, your family, friends, co-workers etc... can participate in the CurlON

50-50 lottery in support of youth programming. Each week there is a draw and the winner will

receive 50% of the prize money and the other 50% of the prize money is divided by the clubs

that are participating in support of youth programming. We are a participating club. There is a

draw each week.

o Tickets are $10 for 7 tickets or $20 for 20 tickets

o Go to the website to purchase your tickets – https://ontcurl.com/5050-2/

Membership Registry with CurlON – register yourself with CurlON to receive membership

discounts to retail companies each month, a copy of the CurlON Chronicle every six weeks and

to stay informed in Ontario Curling

o To register go to https://ontcurl.com/register/

CurlON also ensures we have the necessary information to be compliant with any Provincial Legislation laws. One law that we should be aware of is the Rowan’s Law: Concussion safety. This is an informational/awareness law. Any participant in any sports under the age of 25 must be informed of the law. For more information here is a link to the awareness of the law:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-government-concussion-awareness-resource-e-booklet-ages-15-and-up

Also, moving forward, CurlON’s has a new set of bylaws for the Association that changed the voting structure from a voting member system to a system that has each club have a vote (One Club = One Vote). This will allow our club to have a direct vote into CurlON.

We also have a login portal so that we can keep informed of the activities that we can benefit from CurlON..

As always, if you wish to participate in any CurlON Competitions (now known as the Trillium Series) for this upcoming curling season, please check out the CurlON website (www.ontcurl.com) or the competition posters in the locker rooms or the bulletin board in the ice rink.

TCA UPDATE – WWW.TORONTOCURLING.COM TCA has posted all their competitions on their website (www.torontocurling.com). TCA is currently looking at the survey results of the curling clubs to see what they can do to help

curling prosper and grow across the Greater Toronto Area. Have a great rest of the curling season!

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THOMPSON TOWER – A PIECE OF CURLING HISTORY – Nina Szymanska Duddingston is located within Edinburgh, towards the east of the city and close to

Holyrood Park, that contains the highest peak in the city, Arthur’s Seat (251 metres ). We primarily went there to have lunch in the oldest pub in Scotland, the Sheep’s

Heid dating from 1360! In the area are some magnificent gardens, Dr. Neils’ Garden, created from wilderness starting in 1963 on the loch shore.

It is within these gardens that the Thompson Tower is located that houses the curling club museum. We visited Duddingston in August this year, 2019 with my step daughter Fiona who lives in Edinburgh. We were wandering around the gardens when we learned about the curling connection and the head gardener had the keys to the collection so let us in!

The rest is history! There was so much to absorb so I simply took photos to read later [Ed:- If interested in perusing the rest of the posters, contact Juli Roslin]. It is definitely worth a visit! See the websites for the Dr. Neils’ gardens, Duddingston Kirk, the Sheep’s Heid pub and The Queen’s Scottish residence Holyrood Palace. Arthur’s seat is quite a climb too. Been there….done that !!!!

UPCOMING BONSPIELS Look on Ching’s website https://chingcurling.com for more information & registration.