LITTLE CURRENT—The murmur of conversation punctuated with laughter filled the clubroom of the Little Current Curling Club at the NEMI Recreation Centre recently as the OPP Bonspiel wrapped up a day of friendly on-ice competition with an evening of camaraderie and fellowship—demonstrating why curling is a favourite Island pastime. On this particular evening, that fellowship extended far beyond the confines of the clubroom, as the beneficiaries of the bonspiel are the residents of Manitoulin Centennial Manor.
After some determined whistles emitted by organizer Don “Emma” Wilkin, the laughter and animated conversations subsided sufficiently for Marie Ford’s voice to be heard as she delivered remarks on behalf of the organizers.
“Emma asked me to speak because he said I have a loud voice… which is… whatever,” chuckled Ms. Ford. “He gave me a list of people to thank, and I am about to do that, but he left a couple of people off and since I speaking I get to say what I want.”
“Thanks to Emma and Dawn (Wilkin), without people like you who have huge hearts, thank you for bringing this back, and thank you to Al Haner and Randy Dedman who helped with this and in the past, and a huge thanks to Little Current Curling Club who really stand out in these things because they donated the ice and the clubhouse, the kitchen—and all of the kitchen staff. Orr’s Valumart who supplied lunch, that was really awesome, and the Anchor Inn for the gift certificates towards this, to Breakaway Sports for the sweatshirts, Elliots Restaurant for gift certificates, Manitoulin Transport for packsacks for the gift certificates and, lastly, Emma wanted me to thank all of you for coming out.”
The first event was won by Rob Forcier rink of Jordan Atchison, Iain McGale and Steve Arthurs. The Randy Dedman rink were the runners-up.
“We have always loved to come to these events,” said Mr. Forcier, “especially since it has been so long since the last one. Thank you to all of the organizers and we hope we get to do it all again next year.”
Manor administrator Don Cook was on hand to collect the cheque for $1,680 raised at the event, but noted later that another $60 was dropped off bringing the actual total to $1,740. Mr. Cook thanked the curlers profusely on behalf of the Manor, noting that the funds will be added to the Manor’s fundraising account and go toward improving the lives of the residents.
