The first early snow of the season was a reminder of the winter sporting season approaching. The Bentley Curling Club executive have things lined up and are aiming at an Oct. 29 start-up date.
At the club’s annual fall meeting Oct. 10 dates of bonspiels were put forward.
“We were lucky. None of our dates conflicted with bonspiels in the surrounding area (so far),” said director Krista Turner. “And we got them in first.”
They have scheduled the yearly Farmers’ Bonspiel, Seniors’ Bonspiel, Ladies’ Bonspiel, Bonspiel and the closing Mixed Bonspiel.
There are two new ones added to the list. An “Anyone Can Curl” bonspiel will be tried Jan. 25 to 27 and takes over the usual Ma & Pa Bonspiel spot. The idea is to have two adults with two youths on each team and have a fun bonspiel.
The other new one is called Fire & Ice and is being hosted by the Bentley Firefighters Foundation on Feb. 15 to 17. Invitations have been sent out to firefighting groups in central and southern Alberta and it is hoped there will be a favorable response.
Also new is grades 7, 8, and 9 Bentley School students making more use of the rink. Teacher Marla Kolybaba made a presentation explaining what she wants to offer her phys-ed classes and the need for volunteers to be at the rink on the Fridays to help supervise.
“This is (considered) recreational education — sports you can do for life which this (curling) is,” she said.
She was pleased with the co-operation of the curling executive and their offer to let the school have ice time when they needed it and at no cost. The club will also provide some of the equipment the students require.
It will be interesting to see how the new lighting installed in the spring over the ice surface will look.
The bylaws were updated. Membership fees will remain the same — a real deal when compared to most other clubs. Brian Sautner returns as head ice technician/lobby caretaker. Applications for a lounge attendant are being considered.
Tickets are available for the side-by-side quad raffle that is ongoing with the draw the end of December.
Club president Norm Rieu appealed to the membership for volunteers. There are many ways throughout the year that help would be appreciated whether helping put in the ice, organizing and running bonspiels and regular leagues, and more.
A volunteer director is still needed and would be a welcome addition to fill a vacancy left by Lynda Haarstad-Petten who has moved on to other commitments and will be missed.
If you can volunteer some time or are interested in what the club offers and would like more information contact the club at 403-748-4303 or any of the executive: president Norm Rieu, vice-president Kyle Brink, treasurer Tilly McKenzie, and directors Martin Wilson, Colin Scholze, Dennis Duncan, Krista Turner or Gerald Peterson.
Following the meeting people began to sign up for leagues before going back out into the snow — a reminder of things to come.