` January 2011
2011! Let’s make it a good one.
So What Has Been Happening Around Here?
First, let’s all take a moment to send our prayers and best wishes to all those who are not in the best of health at this time of year. This is especially true of Marilyn Harrold. We’re thinking about you Marilyn.
A Message from our President, Nacy Gallant
I would like to thank Cathy Hughes, who chaired the Silent Auction, and her committee who worked very hard to make this event successful. Also thanks to the membership who donated articles and came out to bid on them. Cathy has more to say on this subject later in the ROAR
As you are probably aware, starting January 1st the Quebec government has decided to give us a belated Christmas present of a 1% sales taxincrease. At our last meeting the Board decided not to increase the bar prices for the balance of this curling season. We will assess the situation again in the fall.
I want to extend a big thank you to Ed Jones and Bill Bedford for organising and running another successful Turkey Shoot. Everyone had a lot of fun. THANKS TO EVERYBODY who signed up and sold it out.
Our next major bonspiel, the Lyle Bradford Calcutta, will be held in February It is being chaired by Kim Moskalewski Sr. He has already guaranteed a full bonspeil so please sign up and support him. Come out to the auction and buy your teams. There's big bucks to be won! There will be more detail about this in the February ROAR.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. I want to wish you all a very happy, prosperous and healthy New Year. Have a great second half of the season and good curling.
Who says you don’t get good advice on the Dr. Phil show?
Recently Dr. Phil proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started. So I looked around my house to see things I started and hadn't finished.
This morning I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my Valium prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, and the last of a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now.
Water Cooler
The water cooler that was available in the ice shed for cold water drinks has been removed. It has outlived its shelf life and can no longer be kept clean. It is being removed for sanitary and health reasons. If you require a cold drink of water while you curl, please obtain it in a plastic glass from the bar.
MWCC Auditor’s Report
Whenever a chit is used in the club we make it a practice to send a notice via email to those members with a computer or we print a copy for those who do not have a computer. Some people are of the misunderstanding that they are being asked to submit their payment immediately upon receipt of this chit notice. That is not the purpose of these notices.
What we are trying to do is to ensure that all chits are recorded correctly in our computer system. To that end, we send an email or print a copy for everyone when a chit is recorded. This is to give the recipients the opportunity to ensure they agree with the information on the chits. If anyone has a question, he or she can check with
Anne Mitchell who will have the chits sorted and ready for verification.
Of course, when you receive your monthly statements, it is important to the club that you make your payments promptly.
A young woman wasn't feeling well, and asked one of her co-workers to recommend a physician. "I know a great one in the city, but he is very expensive. It’s $500 for the first visit and $100 for each one after that."
The woman went to the doctor's office and, trying to save a little money, cheerily announced. "I'm back!"
Not fooled for a second, the doctor quickly examined her and said, "Very good, just continue the treatment I prescribed on your last visit."
Silent Auction
Here is a report from Cathy Hughes on this year’s Silent Auction:
Our plans were for this to be the major fundraiser for this season. We were not disappointed as over 300 items were received and we raised a total of $6,325.
It was a very anxious time for me and the numerous people I had helping me. On the day of the auction I had to take a few pills to calm my nerves as the ebb and flow of the visitors during the day was very slow. Even as we were edging towards the final bell of the day, there was not the flurry of movement between tables that I had expected. It helped my nerves when I made a couple of visits to the downstairs lounge to listen to the mellow jazzy sounds of Jane Critchlow and No More Blues group as they entertained us in the late afternoon.
But I discovered my fears had been unfounded as we tallied the receipts and they rose to over the $6,000 mark after the closing bell. .
The hockey and entertainment tickets and the services and spa days proved once again to be the “hot items”.
I hardly know where to start when I think of the number of wonderful people I want to thank for assisting me along the way:
Anne Mitchell and Nacy Gallant for their counsel
Erin Ryan and Heather Boyle for their artistic talents and set up suggestions
The Entertainment Committee (Sandra Arseneault, Ann Anderson and
Shirley Elliott) for introducing us to the Jazz Ensemble of Jane Critchlow
and No More Blues
Debby Ship and Heather Broden who kept a watchful eye on the bidding sheets
and acted as the “bid slashers” to help move bids along. These ladies also
collected our funds at the end of the day.
Audrey Prosser and Rosemary Cochrane who assisted at the Odds Table
Francine Jones who marketed this event to the Media World and the people of
Montreal West through the sandwich board signs distributed throughout the
Montreal West city limits. Francine’s team of Anna Grafton, Paula Percy,
Pat Cogan and Robbie Sproule greeted the visitors and monitored the front
door traffic.
Roberto Cruz, Dale Houston, Sandra Arseneault and Ann Anderson kept
watchful eye over the tables
Jim Doyle who offered his “secret garage” to store some of the more prized
items. Jim also was the transportation director who made sure certain items
arrived here in time for the day.
Volunteer office staff who graciously accepted the auction goodies on my behalf.
Editor’s Note: I’m sure I speak for all the members when I say thank you to Cathy for
the countless hours she spent on this event to make it such a success.
Boss talking to Smith: “What we have here Williams is a breakdown in
communications.”
9th Annual Turkey Shoot 2010
Ed Jones and Bill Bedford, once again ran the show and once again did a super job. They were ably assisted in this task by Sandra Jones and Brian Shee. Brian had a little difficulty with the scores in the first run. He told me those 2+2 calculations have always presented a problem for him. He thanked the JIM MATCHETT (oops) team for making his job easier as it was no problem adding up all those zeroes.
Our turkeys, Tom, Istanbul and Stuffed were exhausted, but safe, after a busy night encouraging everyone to fill up on pizza. They had to pack quickly after the bonspiel was over as they will be contestants on the next episode of Survivor to be held in the Atwater Meat Market.
Once again we showed that we can support events run by the club if the effort is made by everyone. Ed told me 64 curlers and 5 spares signed up very quickly. There was only one late and unavoidable cancellation
Ed and Bill would like to send a big ‘thank you’ to all who participated.
And, oh yes, the winners were:
1st Run 2nd Run
Frederic Fabry Anne Marie Belanger
Maureen Custy Bonnie Allen
Bob LeMesurier Jean Francois Leroux
Scott Grafton Kerry Ryan
It was a great night!
Did you ever notice that the people who are late are often much jollier than the people who have to wait for them?
Messages from Match Committee
Here is a report from Kevin Alladin:
H i everybody! Here is a quick update:
Ladder
The ladder is going very well. I do apologize for the website updates, but I have been missing a lot of results. I have finally gotten most of the game results so by the time you read this the bulletin board and website will have been updated.
The final day of competition for the Past President's is January 4th. On Thursday, January 6th, Team Grafton will play Team Sage for the Past-President's
A-Championship, and Team Marchand will play Team Hall in the Past-President's
B-Championship. Both games will begin at 6:30. (Note: Teams Sage and Hall have clinched first place in the second halves already.)
I would like to thank all of the players for their respect of the rules, feedback (both praise and criticism) and for sticking to the rules of competition. I have tried to make everything as transparent and as collaborative as possible, and you have all embraced that. So I thank you.
Calcutta
The next big event is the Lyle Bradford Calcutta bonspiel that will be taking place in February. We want to get 64 players!! Notices and emails will be sent in January. If you want to play and/or help, please let me know, or contact
Kim Moskalewski Sr. who will be running the event.
Grande Dame
Huge news!!! Our club won!
It is with immense pleasure and pride that I tell you that Montreal West has won the
2010 Grand Dame competition. The Grand Dame, which is in its fifth year of existence, is the ladies version of the Grand Match and took place on Saturday, November 27. In all, 38 teams, representing 16 Montreal clubs, participated. Montreal West, who has always shown strong participation in this event, fielded 5 teams. The points for the Grand Dame (and Grand Match) are calculated based on the each club's percentage of points scored in all games played. Bonus points are given to clubs who enter more than the minimum number of teams (for the Grand Dame, the minimum number of teams required is 2 per club). Once all scores are reported, the math is done and a winner is declared.
Please congratulate all of the participants when you see them. I hope we will have even more participation next year... to defend our title!
Team Hall off to Junior Provincials
You will read more of this in the Junior Report, but I am happy to report the Alex Hall team has qualified for the Junior Provincial Playdowns to be held in Chicoutimi from January 3-9.
Virginie Lessard off to the Provincial Scotties
We have another provincial representative this year! Virginie Lessard, who plays third for Fred Marchand in the ladder, will be participating in the Provincial Scotties that takes place in Gatineau in late January. Wish her luck!
To conclude, I would like to wish you all a safe and prosperous New Year.
'If at first you don't succeed, do it the way your wife told you!'
Day Ladies
Here’s a report from Cathy Wardlaw:
The two major competitions for the first half of our season were completed with the following results:
Past President’s (sponsored by June Gray)
Winners Runners-up
Jocelyn Schultz Bonnie Allen
Susan Leger-Hussey Mary Johnson
Karen Hall-Moon Linda Raza
Heather Broden Susan Upham
Crystals (sponsored by Helen Reid)
Winners Runners-up
Hille Viiries Karin Drewey
Bonnie Allen Linda Chapdelaine
Linda English Susan Leger-Hussey
Sandra Jones Helen Reid
We also had two short ‘fill in’ competitions to round off the season before the
December holidays.
The Tuesday draw was the Round Up and the Thursday Draw was called Moving On Up. Final results will be shown in the next ROAR.
Outside Spiels
The Lachine Curling Club held their annual Alfeida Payson Invitational on December 7th.
The Montreal West team of:
Bonnie Allen
Linda English
Karen Hall-Moon
Helen Reid
played two friendly games but had trouble adjusting to ‘Lachine ice’. Nevertheless, they enjoyed a great curling day.
LCA News
Ted Thompson Trophy
This is a rotating competition with the winning team being challenged by the next club in the rotation. On November 18, Montreal West challenged the Town of Mount Royal and won. We were then challenged by Lachine on the 9th of December Unfortunately, we were on the losing end.
The November 18th team The December 9th team
Mary Johnson Mary Johnson
Roberta Wood Alice Homonko
Angela Geoffredo Roberta Wood
Paula Percy Helen Reid
Social News
The December 8th Social Bridge was a great success. We hosted 16 tables despite our first heavy snow storm and difficult road conditions. Many thanks to our all our members who so willingly contributed to this important fund raising event.
The next Social Bridge will be held in February.
We shall also report on our Christmas Fun Day and Luncheon in the next ROAR.
The census taker knocked on Donna's door. She answered all his questions except one. She refused to tell him her age.
"But everyone tells their age to the census taker," he said.
"Did Miss Maisy Hill and Miss Daisy Hill across the hall tell you their ages?" she asked.
"Certainly," he replied "Well, I'm the same age as they are," she snapped.
"As old as the Hills," he wrote on his form.