From the Hack
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From the Hack - Nora Peter
On the weekend the Tillsonburg Curling Club honoured Les Peter with a reception at the club after his induction to the Tillsonburg Sports Hall of Fame as a builder for the sport of curling.
Many curling friends and family were on hand to congratulate Les as the first curler to receive this honour. I think Les was overwhelmed by the number of people who showed up at the club to give their well-wishes…. The club by the way is looking super with the bar renovations, men’s locker room and kitchen facelifts that have been completed over the summer! Once again a big thank you to all the volunteers who spent time working on those summer projects.
The curling season is underway with all leagues into their first draws. People are saying the ice is pretty fast and curling well. The curl clinic held on the weekend was well attended by some of our new members. Thank you to Bill Young and Helen Cull for organizing it and doing the instruction. The Tuesday afternoon Mixed curling got started this week everyone is welcome to join the league don’t worry about being a couple this league is there to offer another daytime option for curling to all club members. Win Cull and Jean Donck are the conveners. Rec League is up and running with 22 teams curling, I notice some new team names but I think teams have changed their names just to give themselves a ‘new’ look although I’m not sure Sheet Stains is an improvement over Housebroken! There were several new faces out on the ice which is great to see. The men’s and ladies league are into their first weeks of play and still have a few spaces to fill in, check the club website to see times and contact people for those leagues.
Coming up in November 16th the club will be reviving the Host/Guest Mixed Bonspiel with new sponsor Harvest Retirement Community. This was always a very popular bonspiel and with a new sponsor the club hopes to see a full slate of 16 teams signed in for this fun event. Teams are made up of one or two club members and 2 or 3 out of club curlers or non-club guests with the Mixed, 2 men 2 women format. So take a look around and invite friends or family that curl at another club or friends who might like to try curling, or who used to curl to be your guest and enter a team in the bonspiel.
The format for the day will be two 4-end games and one 8-end game with games of ‘skill’ off ice as well. Dinner, lunch and prizes are included in the $160 entry fee. Secure a spot in the spiel by submitting the entry fee to Win Cull or Nora Peter no later than Nov. 9th. For more info see the posters on the bulletin board at the club, visit the web-site or call Win Cull at 519.842.3417 or Nora Peter at 519-688-2328. Also coming in November the club will host the Junior Mens and Womens OCA Playdowns on the 22-23rd.
A curling story for you – Les and I recently spent time in Budapest Hungary and being the curling fan I am I had found out that there is a curling club in Budapest and I put it on the list of things to visit while we were there. After some helpful phone calls by the Tourist Information people (who had never had this request before) we found our way to the club (a $35 cab ride). The club is only a 2 sheeter and is the only club in Hungary and it operates September 1st through June 15th.
When we arrived at the club the warm welcome we received proved that curlers everywhere even if you don’t speak the same language are social people and enjoy talking curling! That evening we watched the national women’s team practice, they were getting ready for a big spiel in Baden Switzerland and we met one of the celebrity members of the club- Zoldt Kiss is the World Mixed Doubles Champion, he and his partner won the gold medal in April in Fredrickton NB.
Zsolt and his father spent time with us, talking curling, bought us a beer, gave us pins and a banner and exchanged e-mails with us. Zsolt was sure to tell us that the Canadian representatives were in the same pool as the Hungarian team and they defeated them and moved on undefeated out of their pool. He commented that Hungary has their first gold medal at the World level and might ‘catch up to Canada soon!’
I picked up the Extra End magazine at the club the other day and found his picture in there with the other World Champions. We chatted (well Les did as I can’t speak the language) to several club members who were quite interested that we had just come out to visit- those crazy Canadians they were probably saying after we left. It was a fun night and we were glad we took the time to see the club.
It just goes to show you that curling rocks around the world!