The Oliver Curling Club is proud to add two more people to the ranks of Honorary Life members. This award recognizes members who have devotedly, consistently and unselfishly contributed to the club over many years. Our newest Honorary Life members are:
Cathy Pidduck
Cathy has been a dynamo on and off the ice in the Oliver Curling Club since 2007. True to her roots as a former school teacher, she ran our junior program for several years and continues to coordinate our school program. Each year she visits the elementary schools in our area to introduce curling basics then arranges for students to come to the rink for three on-ice sessions. Over the years she has instructed dozens of classes and hundreds (maybe thousands??) of students from Oliver Elementary, Tucelnuit, Sen Pok Chen and OK Falls Elementary—and also home learners and parents this past season—as she continues to lead the mission to teach every elementary school-aged child in Oliver how to curl!
Cathy also initiated two family events in 2019 involving over 60 kids, parents, grandparents and others, and next season plans on running a regular family night (by popular demand!). She always makes time to come out to teach adults too whenever asked, encouraging the new curlers to join a league or taking them under her wing in a bonspiel to get that experience. She drives many of our activities to bring more and new curlers to the club, especially the kids who are going to be the curling future.
Phil Ramsey
Since Phil joined the Oliver Curling Club in 2002, he has been one of our hardest working members. His caring and concern for this club’s survival and success is unrivalled. His duties as caretaker for the past few years have exceeded his job description, and the meticulous care that he has provided is simply amazing. No matter what work is set before him, he goes above and beyond to be sure it is done to perfection. Never has any job been too great for him to do, including helping to change the rink floor from sand to cement during renovations to Olympic-sized ice in 2003, painting much of the building inside and out, checking on the building in summer and holidays to make sure all is running smoothly, coming in to clean in the middle of night during weekend bonspiels…. The list is endless!
Phil has been an active curler all these years too. Locally, he has mentored new curlers, helping them to build their skills and to enjoy the game as much as he does. Taking the time to teach new curlers is so valuable for the club because he helps to retain new curlers by giving them the confidence to improve. And his curling stories are hugely entertaining too!