A Belated “Welcome to 2014 at the Whitby Curling

Club”

It sure has been an interesting winter. The snow….the

ice…. the cold! I must say that it’s not too often that

you go ONTO the ice to warm up! Not sure if you

were aware but the club did not come out of the ice

storm unscathed. Power did to go down for a while.

On the good side, it did not impact on any events at

the club as we were closed during that time. On the

bad side, it did impact us with the seasonal ice melt.

Jamie and Stephanie were forced to temporarily sus-pend the process, and then try to catch up once they

had the ability to actually melt the ice. Their efforts

were very much appreciated as the ice was back in

place for the annual Skins Game just before New

Year’s.

Speaking of the Skins Game, we had yet another suc-

cessful event this year. Thanks to Ryan Slobojan for

stepping up and taking on the event. And a special

thanks to former members Jim and Joan Cushnie, who

ran the event so well for so long (and were even will-

ing to do again this year!). It was nice to see them

finally get a chance to play without worrying about all

that math. We had a special treat this year. A team of

junior curlers from South Korea were in the GTA for a

month looking for opportunities to play. My team was one of the lucky ones who got a chance to play against

them, and we had a terrific game. It proved all the

more special when my daughter Melissa got to play

them in a junior spiel in Bradford a week later. I don’t

think I’ve seen a happier reaction to a raffle prize win

in my life than when their coach won a bucket of beer,

gratefully donated by the Cool Beer Brewing Compa-

ny.

Overall the club is doing reasonably well this year.

Membership is up slightly from last year notwithstand-

ing a slight decrease in certain leagues. We continue

to attract new members. Plus I know that some of the

members of our Novice League have expressed inter-

est in joining certain leagues. On a personal note, I took over the Novice League this year from Malcolm

Macaulay (the brains behind the idea) and have thor-

oughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with the new

curlers. The slides might not be there quite yet, but

the spirit definitely is! It’s been a very rewarding expe-

rience and hopefully we will continue to grow the

league to develop new members.

Revenues are also up slightly from last year. To all

of you I say thank you for your support and “keep

drinking”! With that in mind we have several up-

coming events that I would like to remind you of.

There’s the new Olympic Spiel on February 8th

(thanks to the Cavanaugh’s and their team for

stepping up on this one), our annual Silent Auction

on February 28th, a new club Euchre Tournament

on March 1st (thanks to “Ben and Jerry” for taking

on this one) and the generally low-key Shamrock

Bonspiel on March 15th (once again put on by Jo-

Ann Jordan and her squad of misfits). Oh, I should

mention that Ben and Jerry are actually Ben and

Kyle, new Friday night curlers who have embraced

the spirit of the Whitby Curling Club (and some-

day hope to also master the art of curling). As I

have espoused many times before, none of this

would be possible without the support of many

volunteer members, and we remain eternally

grateful. Keep an eye on upcoming announce-

ments to get your volunteer hours from Casey.

Finally I would be remiss if I didn’t talk a little bit

about the ice. As I mentioned earlier the ice

storm did interrupt our seasonal ice melt and re-

freeze. And notwithstanding Jamie and Stephanie

did get the ice up and running in time for the next

draw, they have never been happy with the result.

I know they’ve tried many things over the past few

weeks. Unfortunately, with the continuing cold

weather they have not had much success. Hence

last week a reluctant Jamie came to the Board and

asked if we could give them 48 hours to redo the

melt and freeze. Our apologies and thanks to

those leagues that were impacted by this; however

we felt that this was the best thing for the club. I

know the membership will appreciate it in the long

run.

Signing off for now, I wish you all “good curling”.

Andrew

President’s Message

Your Board of Direc-

tors are:

President: Andrew Gray

V ice Pres iden t : Tracey

Macaulay

Member at Large: Vacant

Treasurer: Mike Elmhurst

Secretary: Sheryl Tavoularis

Bar & Kitchen: Malcolm

Macaulay

Property & Ice: Paul Slean

Advertising & Marketing: Janice

Brooks

OCA Liz Winters

Curling Development: Jeff

Whelan

Membership: Bryce Jordan

Fundraising: Ian Cavanagh

Inside this issue:

OCA 3

Friday 4:30 Mixed

Curling 3

Women’s Club

Championship 5

Business Women 5

Senior Men 7

2014 Olympic Open

House

7

Fundraising at the

WCC 10

Volunteers Needed 10

Notes from Casey 11

Monday Night Men 11

Marketing & Adver-

tising 11

WCC Youth Curling

Program 13

Mixed Curling 14

Page 2 January 2014

Page 3 January 2014

Happy New Year A reminder to all: All of the OCA information has been posted on the OCA board which is located at the south end of the club as you go out to enter the ice. I have also posted one in the La-dies Locker room. Please check the calendar for your event, or go on line at: http://www.ontcurl.com/Images/up_images/z6%202013-14%20Comp%20Poster.pdf to find any events you may be interested in. All entries must be submitted prior to or on the Zone Closing Date on the Calendar posted here. There are a couple of important changes to be aware of. All entries must be done on line and paid for at the time of entry. Another change is all players, coaches and chaperones must provide the OCA with a signed waiver form. I have left copies of the forms on the OCA board. This form needs to be completed only once by each person participating in an OCA event for the club. I have also left an information sheet there with a web link, my e-mail address and in-structions for sign up. If anyone would like me to e-mail a copy of the information to them please contact me at lwinters@rogers.com. Please copy any of the information you may need but please remember to return it to the board for others to refer to. Don’t forget to copy me at the time of registration so I can confirm the information the OCA requires. We had 1 men’s team enter the Intermediates for the Club the weekend before Christ-mas. Thanks to: Skip – Gary Downs, Vice – Tom Worsley, Lead – Blayne Pascoe and 5th man – Bob Win-ters. We had 3 men’s teams enter the Fairfield Marriott this past weekend. Thanks to: Skip – Ian Jackson, Vice – Sean Jackson, 2nd – Dennis Jay and Lead- Steve Crabbe Skip – Steve Tooze, Vice – Bob Fick, 2nd – Todd MacNutt and Lead – Ryan Slobojan Skip – Ian Cavanagh, Vice – Jeremy Way, 2nd – Matthew Bennett and Lead - Dave Way I have not personally heard from the players so I will guess that a good day of curling was had by all.

Friday 4:30 Mixed Curling

January 11 we are hosting the Bantam Boys and Girls Zones. There will be 4 girls teams and 4 boys teams. We have one boys team entering out of Whitby: Ben Mitchell and his team, Ryan Mitchell, Scott Mitchell and Noah Mitchell. Good luck to all the curlers. Good Curling everyone Liz Winters, OCA Rep, WCC

This league started off successfully with 12 teams and many spares. It was great to see many familiar faces and have new members join as well. The winners of the first draw were: First Place -- Ian Jackson, Gayle Jackson, Ray O’Toole, Betty O’Toole Second -- Ted Birchard, June Boon, Doug Suter and Donna McIntyre Third-- Bob Winters, Liz Winters, Ruth Middleton, San-dra Gough Congratulations to all! The 4:30 Mixed has enjoyed many fine and delicious meals from our 3 caterers, served Fridays at 7pm. The attendance has been great and a reminder that all mem-bers and friends are invited to attend.

Page 4 Rock Talk

Winner to represent our club at

Dominion Club Curling Championship

What an exciting year in curling! Enthusiasm is always

greater during Olympic years! While we may not be at

the Olympics in Sochi this year, we have an opportunity to

represent our club at the Dominion Club Curling Champi-

onship this fall in Cornwall, Ontario. To ensure you have

an opportunity to represent the Club at this event, you

will need to participate in the WCC Women’s Club Cham-

pionship!

Are you: A full or one league female member in good

standing of the Whitby Curling Club? Have you played

2/3’s of the draws or the full season of Sunday Night La-

dies during the season of the playoffs? If you answered

YES to these questions, then you are eligible to partici-

pate !

Forms are available outside the Managers Office and are

due by March 1, 2014 by either hard copy or email, to the

Playoff Coordinator, Sheryl Tavoularis sher-

yl.ann@rogers.com. If you do not have a full team but

are interested, please sign upon the board in the Ladies

Locker Room and the committee will attempt to help you

find a team.

The 2013/14 Women’s Dominion Curling Club Champion-

ship Representative for Whitby Curling Club will be deter-

mined by a playoff on April 5 & 6, 2014. The winners will

participate in the Dominion Zones in October 2014 (dates

WCC Women’s Club Championship April 5 – 6, 2014

Tuesday night Business Ladies League had a wonderful first draw which wrapped up in December just before Christmas. The draw winners were Team Arbour (Laura Arbour, Terri LeDressay, Aileen Walton and Belinda Solly). In second place was Team Esselink (Jackie Esselink, Denise McMillan-Cavanagh, Joanne Arbour and Cailan McDougall). Team Tavoularis captured third place finish (Sheryl Tavoularis, Karen Bemister, Janet Graham-Davison and Kelly Taylor). Congrats to all the winners. We finished 2013 with our annual Christmas dinner and charity loonie auction. The ladies had so much fun throwing their loonies into the bowls and trying to remember their draw numbers. As expected, bottles of booze and the Men of Curling Calendar made the most money. We stockpiled nearly $700 in coins in this Fun-raiser, a portion of which we have donated to the Durham YWCA womens' shel-ter. The remainder will be returned to the club at the end of our Curling year. The League's second draw started again in January with 12 teams. We are looking for-ward to our COLOUR MY WORLD Bonspiel on March 1st which should add a bright splash of colour to our white winter. There are some spots available in this bonspiel so please contact Belinda Solly soon if you are inter-ested.

to be confirmed). There is no entry

fee for playoffs. All entry fees to

the Dominion will be paid by the

WCC. The date for Provincials has

been set for October 31 – Novem-

ber 2, 2014! Please note, if you

participate in the Club Champion-

ship you must be available to rep-

resent the Club throughout the

Playdowns in the fall.

Looking forward to your registra-

tions! Should you have any ques-

tions about the event, please feel

free to contact members of the

committee: Sheryl Tavoularis, An-

drea Lawes, Sarah Gray, Tracey

Macaulay, Karen Bemister

Business Women’s

Page 6 Rock Talk

Senior Men

Whitby Senior Men are continuing to enjoy this season’s curling. The second Special Event for this season was a “skins” game on Thursday, December 5th. This event was fully booked and included a delicious hot lunch upstairs in the dining room. There were two teams tied for first place, winning all their skins! The third Special Event was on Tuesday, January 7th and the curling rules were modified for the popular “3-2-1” game. The winning team was clearly outstanding. The fourth Special Event is scheduled for Thursday, January 30th with more crazy curling rules. These events make curling more interesting and you still have to make your shot! Wednesday Interclub curling also continues to attract many senior men to experience curling in other area curling clubs. The teams that win their game get lottery ticket prizes. Just recently, one team from Whitby won $900 in their lottery ticket winnings. Congratulations. Senior Men competitive Friday morning team curling is now starting their third draw. A number of teams have moved either up or down into another division based on their team curling performance. To discourage slow play, competitive teams now play under the clock and, yes, some teams actual-ly get dinged by the bell. The Senior Men’s website continues to be an extremely use-ful source of information on all Senior Men’s curling activi-ties. This includes current schedules, team standings, special event results, updates and photos on various programs. The Senior Men again collected cash and cheques for the Whitby Salvation Army’s Christmas Food Hamper Project. It was a very successful program as it raised $3,300 for the less fortunate families right here in Whitby. An actual sample food hamper was put on display at the club on several occa-sions showing what these families would receive for their Christmas dinner. Well done, Men. We encourage all mem-bers to assist this local charity with food and toys, not only at Christmas, but all year long. To assist the Senior Men in becoming more aware of the health and safety features provided at the club, a “Defibulator” training session was organized. A good turnout got to see the club’s Defib unit and how it actually works. On December 19th the Senior Men enjoyed their annual Christmas luncheon in the Club’s Bradley Room. The meal was excellent and more than 75 members attended. The next major event for the Senior Men will be the Gus Brown Bonspiel to be held at the club on Friday, February 7th. Welook forward to a lot of exciting competition right here in our home ice. That is all for now. See you on the ice, have a good time and curl safely. Submitted by Peter Watson, Senior Men’s Curling

Page 7 Rock Talk

In February, the eyes of the world will be on the Winter Olympics in Sochi Rus-sia. Many of those eyes will witness something they see only once every four years…Curling! For those who are curious to learn more about our game and our club, we are providing the opportunity for them to experience both. On February 15, 2014 the Whitby Curling Club will be holding its Olympic Open House from 1pm to 4 pm.

Our doors and our ice will be open to all members, their guests, and the gen-eral public, 8 years of age and older to experience curling and the hospitality of the Whitby Curling Club. :We will be providing:

some instruction

the opportunity to play a few ends

skill shot competitions; and

our usual hospitality.

Please invite your friends and family and come out yourself to take part in, or help out with any or all of the events. The more members who can attend to act as hosts, the better the experience will be for our guests. Also, look to sign up for competitions as the date approaches.

For more information, or the volunteer to help out, please contact Bryce Jor-dan, Director of Membership.

2014 Olympic Open House

Thanks to all of our curling club sponsors. If you need

a product or service, please check them out first!!

Page 8 Rock Talk

Page 9 Rock Talk

Wow do we have the Best Curling Club…our

Members sure know when to help out.

Here are some of the Fundraising ideas that

have been going on at the Club so far…

In Late Nov and Dec, we had our Poinsettia

sale and raised $1177.00. A big thank you to

Tracey Macaulay and her team for their hard

work.

Karen Bemister found something unique for

the Club this year, the Men of Curling Calendars and I

Think the Ladies loved them. The Club purchased 35

and all of them sold making the Club another $363.

Another popular Fundraiser is the Golf and Leisure Cou-

pon books. The league reps were busy promoting the

books and so far we have sold 32 books – Total raised

$512. BUT we still have more to sell at the Bar. So don’t

miss out on some great savings for Golf but some other

leisure activities and restaurant coupons that are in the

book.

Here are some upcoming Fundraisers for the Club in the

coming Year: Feb 8th – Olympic Bonspiel – ever wanted

to be an Olympic athlete but without ALL that training,

well here is your chance! We are hosting an Olympic

“FUN “spiel. $240 per team or $60 per person includes a

light breakfast, lunch and dinner, Prizes, Raffles and a

whole lot more. Contact Ian Cavanagh at ian-

cav@hotmail.com for more details.

Page 10 January 2014

Fundraising at the WCC

Sunday February 23rd to Friday February

28th – WCC Silent Auction – Need to get rid

of some stuff that has been “hanging”

around your house BUT could find a better

home? Maybe do some Christmas

“re”gifting? Do you have a Cottage that you

could give up for the weekend? A Special

Car? Maybe you would like to donate your

time for making something special? Wood

working? Baking? Get creative! Perhaps

you can get your hands on other items that

can be put on the table... prints, gift certifi-

cates, Leaf/Raptor Tickets, appliances, fire

hydrants, stop lights. Any new item is ap-

preciated! Contact Casey in the office or

Ian Cavanagh at iancav@hotmail.com for

more details. March 1, 2014 - the Big Eu-

chre tournament- Enjoy playing Euchre but

this time for money? For $20 you can,

check out the posters that are in the lounge

or Contact Ben Aldridge 905-616-3515

benaldridge83@hotmail.com or Kyle Shul-

man 289-979-9000 kyleshul-

man@hotmail.com for more details.

March 15, 2014 – Shamrock Spiel –

Get your Blarney on! More details to

follow.

As always we are looking for volun-

teers to help out with these events or

creative ways to come up with more

Fundraising ideas…if you have any

please contact Ian Cavanagh, Fundrais-

ing Director at iancav@hotmail.com

Volunteers Needed

Hello WCC members, I am the new Director of Fundraising for the WCC and I want your help! We have a few fundraising events planned for the upcoming year and are looking for volunteers to assist in organizing these exciting activities! If you are looking for opportunities to become involved in your club, have some fun and fulfill your volun-teer hours, this is your chance! We require volunteers for the fol-lowing events: 1. Silent Auction – Friday February 28th, 2014 2 Golf Tournament – Summer 2014 These committees will be meeting ASAP to begin planning these events. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for any of the events please contact Ian at iancav@hotmail.com

Marketing and Advertising

Thank you very much to The Whitby Day Ladies who have donated the entire amount of the carpet replace-ment - $1,388.41 in the arena.

Winner of Movember - Art Tavoularis 50-50 Winners

Sherry Howard $128.00 1st week, Pauline Albert $673.50 after 4 car-ryovers, Bryce Jordan $279.50after 1 carryover Andrea Lawes $272.50 after 1 carryover.

A much appreciated thank you to Stan Senkowski who has spent the last 5 weeks painting the ceilings in the lounge and bar area - it has really freshened and cleaned up the space

Page 11 Rock Talk

The first two draws of the Monday Night Men’s League wrapped up early in Janu-ary. Several teams were in a tight race to take the draw with Mark Reid, Kevin Ca-navan, Mike Gillen and Len Kormos taking the first draw and Jamie DeHart, Paul Slean, Ryan Crowley and Todd Crowley

Notes from Casey

Monday Night Men’s League

taking the second. The other division winners from Draw One were Bob Winters, Adam Baton, Bert Goodfellow and Alan Parsonson in A, Steve Tooze, Steve Smith, Todd MacNutt and Rick Hibberd in B and Tom Worsley, Stan Sen-kowski, Michael Walton and John Lenar-duzzi taking C division. The additional Second Draw winners were Brent Collett, Dave Barton, Rick Shchepanik and Jacques Leblanc taking A division and Jeff Whelan, Bob Fick, John Prisciak and Nico Morin taking C. The Third draw is underway and the com-petition looks fierce again with 18 teams looking for playoff berths. It will be fun!

It has been a very busy time for the marketing and advertising team with companies calling in to our club looking for opportunities to work with us. This is fantastic as it provides us with support for some of our bonspiels as well as for the club in general. We are currently working on following up with all of these leads and hope to be able to bring in some more Ice Cap Spon-sors very soon. Speaking of our Ice Cap Sponsorship program, since we are now half way through the season, we are offering our pack-ages at 50% off the posted rate. This provides new sponsors with an opportunity to give us a try for half a season at a very afforda-ble rate. If you have your own business or know someone running a business in the Durham region, please con-sider talking to me about our Ice Cap Sponsorship program or the many opportunities to support a bonspiel. Thanks again to all of our wonderful sponsors for this season. Remember to take a look at their products and services to show your support to them! Janice Brooks Cell: 905-706-0280

Page 12 January 2014

Page 13 January 2014

Our young curlers are having a blast curling both at WCC and all the other clubs in the GTA and beyond. Every week we see them improving in their skills and understanding of the nuances of the game. It is quite rewarding. Our annual Bantam Ca$h$piel was held on Novem-ber 9th. We welcomed teams from Uxbridge, Osh-awa, Annandale, High Park, York, Scarboro and Richmond Hill. Congratulations to Team Stoner for their second place finish. Well done boys! First place honours went to Team D. Leung of Scarboro. Whitby CC hosted the Bantam Zones on January 11th. Team Mitchell won the Boys ‘A’ side to go on to Regions on January 18th at the Weston CC. The boys played well, making it to the ‘B’ side semifinal. Congratulations to Ben, Ryan, Noah and Scott, as well as their coach Jason Mitchell. Thank you for representing us so well! Mixed Zones will be held on February 22nd at the West Northumberland CC. In anticipation of this, a couple of our teams headed to Cobourg for the club’s first bantam cashspiel. Congratulations to Team Stoner on winning the event. Team Lavery played very well, finishing ¼ out of the money. The girls did receive recognition and prizes for best combined score in their games, skills competition and curling quiz. Congratulations to both teams! A quick recognition to Sarah Gray on the successful completion of her evaluation to become a Compe-tition Coach - Certified. Well done! Bantam Provincials Please take a moment when you see Lindsey Ma-caulay (or Tracey & Malcolm) to offer congratula-tions and good luck. Lindsey is curling with Team Jones out of Galt this year. The girls have had a very good year and are off to Provincials in Coldwa-ter on February 5th. All the kids at Whitby are cheering for you Lindsey! Congratulations and good curling!!

WCC Youth Curling Program

Melissa Gray, Victoria Lavery and Laura Meadows

Ben, Ryan, Noah & Scott Mitchell

The Fall Draw is al-ready in the books and congratulations to the draw winners who are now entered in the March playoffs.

They are: Wednesday: Ian Cavanagh, Denise McMillan-Cavanagh, Paul & Teresa Mikolich Friday A draw: Jeremy Way, Jackie Esselink, Tammy & Al Par-sonson Friday B Draw: Malcolm & Tracey Macaulay, Doug & Astrid Schnurr

Our Christmas theme night was a success with a special appearance from Santa who was checking to see who was naughty and who was nice. Our next Theme night will be "Valentines" February 12th and 14th. We look forward to see what the bar will offer to pair with the chocolate! Soon the committee will get started on the mixed closing awards evening, dinner and dance. This year’s theme will be “At the races”.

whitbycurlingclub.com

Mixed

Curling