By Paul Sauve
Thomas "Tom" Hoare, 84, passed away recently. If you are a native Conistonian you will know Hoare as he was postmaster for many years. We know him in the curling community as the first president and a builder of the Coniston Curling Club.
Following a legion bonspiel in Copper Cliff back in 1957, Hoare and his friend Jack Angove discussed the building of their own curling club in Coniston. It was not much later that with the help of his friends, construction was under way. He remained part of the board for many years after being the initial president. He provided leadership and sage counsel.
As a curler he was a great bonspieler and fun to be around, including the many party hours in the club basement. He could be proud of what he did.
Tom, you had a full life of fun, now rest well, curling friend.
Due to a computer glitch my updates on curling did not appear during the past two weeks, a little catching up to do.
Sherri Middaugh will again represent Ontario at the Scott Tournament of Hearts to be played in Brandon Feb. 23 - March 3.
Nancy Whickam and her Coniston team of Keena Zahorouski, Vickey McLean and Janice Tremblay finished with a 2 win 7 loss record. Whickham has experience at that level and the team can only get better.
Other teams of note who will join Colleen Jones, last year?s Scott winner, include Cathy Cunningham of Newfoundland, Cathy King of Alberta and Sherry Anderson of Saskatchewan. Looks like a great competition shaping up.
Tim Phillips and his team of Ron Collins Jr, Drew Eloranta and Doug Hong qualified to participate at the Northern Ontario Provincial Championships to be held in Kapuskasing this week. Phillips qualified through a special bonspiel, where the winner gets a birth directly to the provincials. They defeated Scott Patterson of North Bay in the finals.
Phillips now joins Al Harnden of the Sault and Brad Minogue of North Bay who both qualified at the association play.
They will be joined by Rob Gordon, Dave MacInnes and Tom Armstrong of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Curling Association as well as Al Hackner, Ron Rosengren and Lorne Jackson of the Northwestern Association.
For years and years I competed against curling teams of my generation. Will it never end? Now that we are over 60, a Masters (60 and over) bonspiel is being organized for Sudbury next March 18,19,20 with the help of MCTV.
Three games guaranteed and only 40 teams will be accepted from all over the province. Send your entries early with a cheque of $180 to C.T. Jarrett, 1756 Oriole Dr., Sudbury.
