` December 2010
YEA!!! ALOUETTES!!!
It’s December. That’s usually fun time around here. Well, isn’t it always fun time around here? It should be. That’s why we joined the club isn’t it?
Happy holidays to everyone! Drive safely.
So What Has Been Happening Around Here?
The train accident that took the lives of 3 young people recently hit close to home as one of the unfortunate victims was Dylan Ford. Our deepest sympathy goes out to
his dad, Doug, grandparents Marg and Jack, and his uncle John and the rest of his family.
The club also lost a former member of the day curlers in late October when
Bill Mauchan passed away.
It was great to see Bob Lanno and Al Gagnon at the club recently. Both are looking well. Bob recently underwent bypass surgery and Al is recovering from a mini stroke.
There is one less pacemaker on the hospital shelf as Mickey Laughlin had one inserted a few weeks ago. Mickey is feeling much better now and we wish him well.
A guy goes into an adult store and asks for an inflatable doll.
Salesman: Male or Female?
Customer: Female.
Salesman: Moderate Christian, Jew or Muslim or our most expensive one the terrorist
Muslim?
Customer: What the hell does religion have to do with it?
Salesman: The terrorist Muslim blows itself up!
A Message from our President, Nacy Gallant
Hi Everyone.
We arewell into the season and things seem to be going well.
I would like to thank our members for coming forward and paying their dues by the cutoff date. It is very much appreciated.
The first couple of events, our Opening Dinner and the Comedy Night, went well.
My thanks to Sandra Arseneault and her committee for doing a super job.
The Instructional League has grown very large. It now has 28 curlers.
Carla Dempsey is doing a great job spearheading this league. She is ably assisted by Jim Doyle and Kari Parm on a full time basis and Trish Dempsey on occasion.
The Monday Evening Curling has come a long wayunder the direction of
Geneviève Lemieux and her Board. They are now using three sheets and it looks like a sure thing they'll be using all four in the New Year. Great job!
Many thanks to Dodd Gray for representing the MWCC at the Remembrance Day Ceremony again this year at the very young age of 90.
The next big event, the Silent Auction, is scheduled for December 4th. I’m sure
Cathy Hughes will have more comments on this later in this ROAR. This is THE MAJOR FUNDRAISING EVENT for MWCC. We need the support of all our members in this endeavor. I know Cathy and her team have been working very hard to make this a success.
At this time I would like to wish all of youand your families and friends a very
Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.
I’m growing old by myself. My wife hasn’t had a birthday in ten years.
For your own protection…please note:
The Curling Club is a busy place occupied 7 days a week by members and non members. Please make sure that your personal belongings are secured either in your locker or on your person. The club is not libel for lost property.
John Ford’s Auditor’s Report
As most of you are aware, your friendly auditor is anxious to get all bills paid promptly. I just love money and I know you are doing all you can to keep me happy. That is why I am making sure every member quickly gets a copy of his or her invoice – member fees / chits / donations etc. It is only a vicious rumour that some members are getting their bills even before they have signed their chits at the bar.
I can’t wait to send a message to those who have an e-mail address with the club when there is a financial transaction on their account. Included in this message is a copy of the invoice or a monthly statement. I am considering putting a ‘pay or else you will get a visit from me’ notification with this message.
It nearly brought me to tears when I learned that some members were unable to view the statements I am sending due to different levels of updated computer programs. To address this problem, I am now forwarding these statements to the club’s office computer. That computer will forward them to you. To date, this has resolved about 95% of the problems. I won’t be satisfied (read- rub my greedy fingers together) until that number is 100%.
If you receive my e-mail and cannot view the attachment – please let me know and I will add your name to my list of those “Forwarded to the Office”. This, of course, does not apply to those who can see the attachments but won’t look at them because they just don’t want to see how much they owe.
Also, be assured that only Board members have access to the e-mails coming into the office so your transactions remain private.
For those who do not have access to e-mail, a printed copy will continue to be made available at the office.
Remember, your auditor is watching you!
Seriously, everyone. We want to keep good control of our finances so we are doing all we can to keep the money flowing in and then out to pay our bills on time. Thanks for your co-operation.
Don’t let worries get the best of you. Remember, Moses started as a basket case.
Ice Committee
Fellow Curlers
We have just finished an ice maintenance and we have found that we are having an extraordinary amount of dirt on the ice. We would like to emphasize that everyone make a special effort to clean the inside of their grippers and the pads on their brooms.
We have also installed temporarily sticky pads at the entrances. We ask that you step on them with both feet before going on the ice. If you look at it you will see the imprint of your shoe if it was dirty. These will be changed each day.
Thank you for your co-operation in trying to keep the ice clean.
Turkey Shoot
The date is Wednesday, December 22nd. Once again Bill Bedford and Ed Jones will be
organizing and running this popular pre Christmas event.
It’s always a lot of fun on and off the ice. There will be two runs with the first one starting at 6:30 p.m. 64 curlers are needed. This competition is always booked early so make sure you sign up quickly to be one of the lucky 64.
The turkeys have already started their campaign to have everyone fill up on pasta. They are also planning to collect all guns at the door.
This event is open to all curlers. The cost is $15. This will entitle you to curl, to eat some delicious food, and to give thanks to Bill and Ed for a great night.
The signup sheet is up.
What’s the difference between God and a lawyer? God never thinks He’s a lawyer.
Messages from Match Committee
Here’s a report from Kevin Alladin:
I hope your curling year is going well. Before going on, I would like to thank all of you for your feedback, criticisms and solutions over this past year. It’s great to have an open dialogue with everybody. If you ever have any issues regarding anything match or calendar-related, please do not hesitate to contact me – either by phone or email.
I would also like to thank Zack Wise for his hard work running the Skins. It’s not easy. This was Zack’s first opportunity to run an event and I think he did a tremendous job. I hope more people will step up to the plate in the coming weeks and months to help with upcoming events. Zack’s report on the Skins bonspiel follows later in this ROAR.
Ladder Curling
Here is the results of the 1st half of the Past Presidents’ Ladder:
A Section Team Won Tied Lost Points
Scott Grafton 6 1 1 21
Debby Ship 5 1 2 19
Rob Williams 5 0 3 18
Sandra Arseneault 4 1 3 17
Mark Watson 4 0 4 16
Jeff Cohen 3 1 4 15
Gerry Nolan 3 0 5 14
James Botsford 2 0 6 12
Bob Carson 2 0 6 12
Congratulations to A winners: Anna Grafton
Donald Sproule
Dave Coombs
Claude Gagnon
Scott Grafton
And, to the Nolan, Botsford and Carson teams, a well deserved “Come on Down” from the players in the B section.
B Section Team Won Tied Lost Points
Frederic Marchand 7 1 0 23
Jamie Sage 6 0 2 20
Zack Wise 5 1 2 19
Kevin Alladin 4 1 3 17
Glenn Payne 2 3 3 15
Alex Hall 3 0 5 14
Art Quenneville 3 0 5 14
Jim Cochrane 2 0 6 12
Dave Ryan 1 0 7 10
Congratulations to the B winners: Sasha Beauchamp
Joey Fraser
Virginie Lessard
Frederic Marchand
Also, congratulations to the Sage and Wise teams that moved up to the A Section along with the Marchand team.
There will be no ladder curling on December 23rd. Most people will still be recovering from the Turkey Shoot the previous night.
Editor’s notes: The much awaited match between the Alladin and Ryan teams proved to be a dud. Kevin realized he had no chance of winning so he took off to Las Vegas and left his teammates to play this grudge match. The Ryan team was greatly disappointed as they knew the Alladin team was much stronger without Kevin. They couldn’t get their hearts into the match that ended in a very close 14-1 loss by the Ryan team.
The following week, in the last scheduled game of this section, the Ryan team had recovered and won their first game. Following this victory, there was a movement amongst some club members to break up the Ryan team. Much to Dave Ryan disgust, this movement originated with members of the Ryan team.
Bubba and Junior were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking up. A blonde lady walked by and asked what they were doing. "We're supposed to find the height of the flagpole," said Bubba, "but we don't have a ladder."
The woman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a few bolts, and laid the pole down. Then she took a tape measure from her purse, took a measurement, announced,
"18 feet 6 inches" and walked away.
Junior shook his head and laughed. "Ain't that just like a dumb blonde? We ask for the height, and she gives us the length."
….and to continue with Kevin’s report….
Grand Match and Grand Dame
The annual Grand Match and Grand Dame took place at all Montreal clubs on Saturday, November 27. We fielded 4 men’s teams in the Grand Match and 5 women’s teams in the Grand Dame. As per the rules, we were not eligible (once again) to win the Grand Match as we did not field 8 teams. We were eligible to win the Grand Dame and will get some bonus participation points to help us on our way! This ROAR was being printed while this competition was underway. The results will be in the January ROAR.
I would like to thank everyone for participating.
Coming events:
Here is a quick snapshot of what is going to be happening in December and in the
New Year:
• Past Presidents’ Ladder - 2nd Half Dates: December. 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, January 6
• Turkey Shoot: December 22
• Vice President's: January 4
• Past Presidents’ Playoff: January 11 (if required)
• Grafton-Hunt Ladder - 1st Half: January 13, 18, 20, 25, 27, February 1, 3, 8, 10
• Lyle Bradford Calcutta: February 14-17
• Grafton-Hunt Ladder - 2nd Half: February 22, 24, March 1, 3, 8, 10, 22, 24, 29
• Sous Bois (Dominion Playoff): March 30, 31, April 5
• Grafton-Hunt Ladder - Playoff: April 6 (if required)
• Club Championships: April 7, 11, 12, 13 (I am assuming there will be no instructional on the 11th... if there is, we would only need 1 or 2 sheets, tops.)
Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday and a safe and prosperous New Year
Upset over a newlywed squabble with my husband, I went to my mother to complain.
Trying to console me, my dad said that men are not all like this all the time.
"Nonsense," I said. "Men are good for only one thing!"
"Yes," my mother interjected, "but how often do you have to parallel park?"
Skins
Here is a report from Zack Wise who organized and ran this bonspiel:
This was my first time running a bonspiel and I must say that it was a lot of fun. Well, it wasn’t fun the entire time but, overall it was a great experience and I would, without hesitation, run another bonspiel either voluntarily or if asked.
Before giving you the results, I want to give my thanks to:
Kevin Alladin For giving me the opportunity to run the Skins,
helping me sign up people, supplying me with
needed information, and helping me with problems
that arose before and during the competition.
Nacy Gallant For helping me sign up people, for all his work
supplying the food after games and on the final
night, and for helping to clean up at the end of each
night .
The Ice Men Jamie Sage for preparations before the start of each draw
and to Mark Watson, Alex Hall and Jeff Cohen for
helping me pebble and nip the ice in between draws.
The Ladies Cathy Hughes, Erin Ryan, Kerry Ryan and
Paula Percy for cleaning up after everyone left.
Kari Parm What would curling be without the drinks served with a
smile after the game ?
And now for the winners: