Our annual Memorial Closing Bonspiel has come to an end. A fun filled weekend with 12 teams entered played 3 round robin games over the two days with playoffs on Sunday. This was one of the largest bonspiels we have had in years. Thanks to the two teams from the Lakeshore club in L:ower Sackville who have family ties to Guysborough. The club also celebrated their 60th Anniversary this past weekend. A big thank you goes out to Breanne Chisholm and Amy Leigh George along with Holly Pyle that organized the Opening Ceremonies and entertainment with Liam Brophy on Sat night. A parade of members, led by bagpiper Holly Pyle, were paraded onto the ice surface for the ceremonial throw by Sidney MacPherson, one of our oldest members, with his wife Audrey holding the broom, president Maurice Landry and member Francis Brymer sweeping the rock down the ice. Certificates celebrating the 60 yrs came from MODG and MLA Greg Morrow. They were presented to President Maurice Landry and Vice-President Blair Brymer.
Thank you’s also go out to our 4 sponsors who donated money for the team prizes for the top four teams. They were Scotia Hill Farms (1st place), Mulgrave Machine Works (2nd place), Ron Chisholm Hydroseed (3rd place), and Antigonish General Trucking & Movers (4th place). Thank you to MLA Greg Morrow for his advertising support. Our turkey dinner on Sat night was a big hit. Thanks to Nancy O’Regan and her kitchen crew for arranging all of this along with a very nice chili/rolls for lunch plus donated muffins and cookies for the morning. Thanks to Maurice Landry and Mary K. Connolly for taking care of the bar. It was well used. We had prizes donated by Patricia Lynn Currie from the World Women’s Curling Championships. Finally a thank you to all who helped Phil O’Regan with the ice prep.
Now to the winners: We had a ‘Closest to the Pin’ award given to a curler who was closest to the button. For the 1st time that I can remember we had two winners that were both right on the pin. They were Amanda Coughran from the Lakeshore CC and club member Mary K. Connolly. We also had a prize for the Hog Line winner. It was club member Paula Dobson who wins a 10lb ham. For the team prizes we had four teams playoff on Sunday. Two teams went undefeated and the tie was broken by the team total of closest to the pin. Team Brymer finished 1st with Team Jamieson 2nd. Three teams were tied with a 2-1 record. They were Team O’Connor, Team B. Coughran and Team O’Regan. By virtue of the closest to the pin measurement it was Team O’Connor in 3rd and Team B. Coughran in 4th. In the playoff games it was Team Brymer beating Team Jamieson to claim the championship trophy and Team O’Connor beating Team B. Coughran for 3rd place. It should be noted that skip Brody Coughran is only 10yrs old and his sister who skipped the other Lakeshore team is 12. The other Junior curler was Gavin Dort who is 14.