Potomac Curling Club

October/November 1997 Spanner Banner

OCTOBER, 1997

ATTENTION ALL CLUB MEMBERS: WUSA - TV, CHANNEL 9 IN WASHINGTON WILL BE FEATURING A PRE-OLYMPIC SPECIAL ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17TH, 1997 AT 9:00 P.M (PRIME TIME). THE POTOMAC CURLING CLUB WILL BE A PART OF THIS HOUR-LONG PROGRAM WHICH WILL BE HOSTED BY MIKE BUCHANAN. MAKE PLANS TO SEE THIS SPECIAL!

I hope you've all had a wonderful summer and are looking forward to the start of our 36th season which begins on Monday, November 3rd, 1997 at 7:45 P.M. The first night will be our Open House and pickup games followed by our first-of-the year Warm Room at Doug and Anne Paula Thompson's home. Regular league curling begins the following Monday (November 10th) with Open House continuing on Sheet 5. A registration form is enclosed in the newsletter. Please mail it to Ed Ericson, 10700 Amherst Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20902 or bring it to the Open House. There will be no increase in fees this year!

VIRGINIA SCOTTISH GAMES. Thirteen Potomacers volunteered their time on July 26th and 27th to help advertise Curling at the 24th Annual Scottish Games. Although it was the hottest weekend of the summer up to that time (98 on Saturday and 100 on Sunday), we were able to sign up 65 prospective curlers! We sent them letters in late September to remind and invite them to the Open House in November. We will follow up with phone calls in mid-October. Thank you very much to the following club members for their help over the weekend: Neil Christenson, Jim Hanson, Bob and Sarah Jo Pelletier, Hal McGrady, Russ Shumway, Pam and Barry Bass, Duane Patterson, Dave Sliom and Cindy Eurich and Michael Fry. We all appreciate you efforts in making our club grow!

ANNUAL SUMMER POOL PARTY. Twenty-six members and guests attended our fourth annual summer get-together at Doug and Anne Paula Thompson's home on July 26th. We all celebrated Cindy Eurich's birthday and cooled off in the cool waters of Doug and Anne Paula's pool. Bob Pelletier presented the PCC Board of Director's Certificate to Dave Sliom in memory of Dennis Wilson. Dave will ensure that Sarah Wilson (Dennis' daughter) receives the certificate. Earlier in the day, Duane Patterson received his certificate. Thank you again to Doug and Anne Paula for their wonderful hospitality and for providing with a perfect evening.

OUT-OF-TOWN BONSPIELS. Our club participated in three bonspiels over the summer and represented Potomac in outstanding fashion:

(1) Congratulations to Dave Sliom, Ed Ericson, Michael Fry and Jim Hanson for winning the First-Event of the first-ever "Firecracker Open Bonspiel" held at the Bridgewater, N. J. Ice Arena over the Fourth of July Weekend and hosted by the Plainfield Curling Club. Their 4 - 0 record was the best in the tournament. Great job guys for being the first team to win this newest Summer Bonspiel and to Dave Sliom for being the winning skip in only his second bonspiel!

(2) Congratulations also to Jay Davies, Bob Pelletier, Ed Ericson and Dave Sliom for taking runner-up in the Second Event at the Cape Cod Men's Summerspiel, July 17 - 19th. Jay's rink lost a close match 8 - 7 to Glocester, MA in their first game but came back to defeat Walter Baggett of Ardsley, NY, 7 - 6 in an extra end. Next, the crew defeated Norfolk, CT 9 - 2 to reach the second event finals. However, on Saturday morning they lost 10 - 8 to Steve MacDonald of Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec in the 10 end final game. A great weekend thanks to the hospitality of Jay and Susan Davies who had rented a beach home on Cape Cod Bay. The team also got together for lunch with Topper and Mary Waters who were back from Singapore on holiday. Both are doing well and are hoping to get curling started in Singapore.

(3) Hal McGrady and his team of Deb Farace, Bob Pelletier and Jean McCullough of Bowling Green went 1 and 2 in the 27th edition of this very popular summer mixed bonspiel (48 teams), August 8 - 10, 1997. They lost their first game to Oshawa, Ontario (First Event Finalists), defeated Cleveland Skating and Curling Club in the second game (the game didn't start until 1:30 A.M on Saturday morning) and lost their third match to Cleveland Mayfield. In this bonspiel, you must win your third game no matter the team record to get into the semi-finals so the group finished up on Saturday afternoon. The theme of this year's event was "Saturday Night Live" and the crew dressed as the Blues Brothers and for the second year in a row won second place for Best Costumes. They also, along with Sarah Jo Pelletier, performed one of only five team skits to complete the evening -- the Blues Brothers were on a mission from Gore. Tracy Moore, from Mayfield, played "Church Lady" and stole the show with her interview of the Mayfield curling team.

LINES AND CIRCLES. Omar Van Rooyen led a group of seven members in laying down the lines, scribing the circles, numbering the stones and fixing the scoreboards on Monday, September 8th at Cabin John. Very special thanks to Omar, Neil Christenson, Hal McGrady, Bob and Sarah Jo Pelletier, Al Wrigglesworth and Harvey Chalmers for taking time out of their schedules to get our ice ready for November 3rd. Also, thanks to Ken Wray for repairing the locks and hasps on our curling stone boxes and Ollie Flint for straightening out and leveling our hacks for the upcoming season.

ALEXANDRIA SCOTTISH HERITAGE FESTIVAL. On Saturday, September four PCCers brought our club's story to the Seventh annual edition of this festival held at Fort Ward Park. We signed up 10 prospective members and handed out over 100 pieces of literature. Thank you and a tip of the hat to Neil Christenson for setting up our booth and to Annette Tinder, Dave Thompson and Linda Murphy for manning our booth throughout the day. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!

GNCC ANNUAL MEETING AT ALBANY, NY. Jay Davies and Bob Pelletier represented Potomac at the annual meeting on September 20th. Jay's report is attached.

PRE-OLYMPIC SPECIAL ON WUSA, CHANNEL 9. As you probably know, CBS is hosting the February Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan. As part of the buildup, WUSA - TV is producing two pre-Olympic specials in October and November and we were invited to participate in filming a segment for the October show. Reason: Curling is the newest medal sport and Channel 9 wanted to do a feature on local curling.

On very short notice, 18 Potomacers (including our own Tom Brooke, current President of the USCA) showed up at Cabin John on Wednesday evening, September 24 at 10:00 PM along with reporter Mike Buchanan, producer Raul Rivero and cameraman Ron Ling. We had games being played on Sheets 2 and 4, leaving Sheet 3 empty so that the TV folks could film, interview, ask questions, etc. Mike Buchanan seemed very taken with curling and remarked how graciously we had treated him. We gave Mike, Raul and Ron our 35th Anniversary pins and our Potomac Cookbooks. Neil Christenson also had "First Business", a show on WB50 - TV at the club to film Tom Brooke. They will return on Open House night to do a feature on our club. Thanks to Neil and Bob Pelletier for setting up this very special evening. Also, a big thanks goes to Eric Scheiner, Manager of Cabin John Ice Arena for scheduling us free of charge for the evening.

REQUEST TO ALL MEMBERS. If you know the names of various Scottish organizations in the Baltimore/Washington area and people in those organizations who we could contact please call Bob Pelletier or Annette Tinder. We plan to make presentations to these organizations as part of our fund-raising and PR campaign.

STATUS OF CALVERTON SITE. As you all know, we have set a date of October, 1999 to move into our new curling club. We have signed a Letter of Intent with Top Shelf Development Corporation, received approval from the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning Commission (owners of the Calverton site), are working hard to develop a lease agreement with Top Shelf and ensure that we will receive 501(c)3 status (non-profit) for our fund-raising efforts which will begin later this year. We will also re-incorporate our club into Maryland. In order to apply for and be awarded a liquor license, we will have to change our by-laws to include a Board Member who resides in Prince Georges County. A by-law change uadding a tenth Board Member is included in this newsletter. We will vote on the change early in the curling season. As such, all General Membership Meetings during the curling season will be held at Cabin John at 9:30. P.M. We expect to hold two to three of these meetings throughout the year to keep you posted on the latest developments on the building process. On the evenings we do hold meetings we will curl six-end games. A list of the members who are chairing various committees and sub-committees are:

Building Committee - Jay Davies

Design Committee - Omar Van Rooyen

Membership - Neil Christenson

Legal - Carl Duncan assisted by Jim Fransen

Finance - Deb Farace

Bond Drive - Dave Sliom

Membership Pledges - Al Wrigglesworth

Club Pledges - Barry Nichols

Corporate Pledges - Tim Harwood

Rental Income - Barry Bass

Utilities - Graham Bell

Taxes - Roman Novak

Insurance - Ed Ericson

Bonspiels - Hal McGrady

Club Market - Michael Fry

Business Plan - Deb Farace and Wayne Caskey

Public Relations - Bob Pelletier and Annette Tinder

If you can assist on any of these committees we would really appreciate your help. The General Membership meeting minutes of September 11th, 1997 are enclosed.

DATES TO REMEMBER.

(1) November 3rd, 1997. Open House at 7:45 P.M. followed by Warm Room at Doug and Anne Paula Thompson's home.

(2) November 10th, 1997. League play begins. Open House on Sheet 5.

(3) December 6th, 1997. First MACA at Chesapeake Curling Club.

(4) December 13th, 1997. First Bayhoppers.

(5) December 15th, 1997. Annual Christmas Party at Doug and Anne Paula Thompson's.

(6) March 13 - 15th, 1998. Meltdown at Chesapeake (Potomac hosts).

EQUIPMENT SALES: If you need any curling equipment prior to the beginning of the season, please call Harvey Chalmers at H - 301-- 924-0350 or W - 301- 428-4335. He will happy to place your order.

FINAL COMMENTS: We are looking forward to a very exciting year especially getting our new club's planning efforts moving. We are very fortunate to be seen on WUSA, Channel 9 on October 29th and are hoping this will generate even more interest in the club. Thank you to all of the members who have graciously volunteered to chair the many committees we need in order to make our dream come to fruition. We need every member's help to build our club and if you can serve on any of the committees please call Jay Davies or Deb Farace. Additionally, if you know of any people interested in giving curling a try, please bring them to the Open House on November 3rd. The most important factor in ensuring we have a new club is membership and we need your help. See you on November 3d!

REMEMBER THAT POTOMAC CURLING CLUB WILL BE FEATURED ON WUSA - TV, CHANNEL 9, ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17TH AT 9:00 P.M. (PRIME TIME).