Windsor Curling Club celebrates 100th with 'rocking' Centennial Gala

By Jennifer Hoegg

The Hants Journal/NovaNewsNow.com

When a handful of people gathered to discuss building a curling rink in 1908, they could not have foreseen the future popularity of their little club.

Saturday evening, 270 curlers, friends and supporters gathered at Kings-Edgehill School to commemorate 100 years of the club’s existence. Toasts were made to the heroes and tales of the past, including the Windsor curlers who threw rocks long before the 1908 meeting.

Future opportunity was the second theme of the evening. The club’s centenary year will also be a year of rebirth. After arson destroyed the WCC’s rink in late September, tremendous effort has gone into plans to finance and build a new facility. And the club expects to have a new rink ready for curling to begin in October.

The gala was a rare opportunity for members of the rink-less club to gather socially, along with supporters and past members. Many local luminaries attended the lively social event to show their support for the club’s efforts, including former premier and former Windsor resident Gerald Regan.

After a buffet dinner, attendees enjoyed a funny and moving keynote address by 1976 Brier Champion Jack MacDuff, a former Acadia University curler now battling Multiple Sclerosis.

MacDuff expressed his hope that future generations will embrace the game he loves. “The nice thing about the game of curling is that nice people play it, nice people watch it and nice people come to events like this.”

The “unforgettable personality” MacDuff was introduced by World Champion Nova Scotian curler, Nancy Delahunt, who has strong ties to the Windsor rink. Delahunt took the opportunity to congratulate members on their efforts and to pledge her support to the fundraising campaign.

Dignitaries praise club

Mayor Anna Allen and West Hants Warden Richard Dauphinee acknowledged the club’s centennial and its rebirth with presentations of plaques from their respective councils.

Allen thanked the club “for all that you do for recreation in the town of Windsor. We will carry on the tradition of the sport in Windsor.”

Dauphinee told the gathering that West Hants “feel very strongly about you getting a new club.”

Hants West MLA Chuck Porter brought greetings from the premier and government to the membership and added his praise to the organizers of “a great gala.” Porter hopes that the province will be able to offer support to the new rink through grants.

Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison, who donated several items to the silent and live auction, praised the club for its determination and organization. “If every group who came to me was as organized as the Windsor Curling Club, it would be a wonderful thing.”

The evening’s secondary purpose was to contribute to the club’s fundraising efforts. In addition to ticket sales, proceeds from a silent auction, pledges to ‘name’ one of the new stones, sale of raffle tickets, sale of pieces of the stones destroyed in the fire as mementos, and a live auction will go to the rebuilding efforts.

Highlighting the fundraising portion of the evening was a cheque presentation from Windsor’s Scotiabank branch, represented by Wendy Allen, for $10,000. Scotiabank and Molson were generous sponsors of the evening and contributed a great deal of support to the event, which far exceeded organizer’s expectations.

Emcee past president Kevin Matheson said, “tonight proves we didn’t lose our curling club, we only lost our building.”