50TH ANNIVERSARY

A series of short articles will be published in the coming months relating the history of our community curling club.
1968 to 1970

The idea of building a curling rink in Oliver began in 1968. Many of curlers who had been participating in their favorite sport for many years in Osoyoos and Summerland felt Oliver had grown enough to have a club of their own.

A committee was formed to explore the feasibility of such an idea. The initial Society was comprised of the following members:
President: Eric Bastian
Vice-President: Dick Goodall
Secretary: Stu Mould
Treasurer: Dave Francis

Directors:
Fred Fritz, Bill Andrews, Roy Becker; Mel Skaros, John Fritz, Ray, Anderson, Blaine Francis, John Loudon, Dick Topping, Joe Fefchak , Willie Nunweiler, Bob Wheeler, Ewart Bowering and others were early supporters.

Initially the club attempted to come to an agreement with a lodge to construct a muti-purpose facility. An agreement could not be reached and the group decided to raise funds in the community. Members who could not afford a debenture bought memberships for $100.00. Members who could not afford this were able to pay $10.00 monthly on instalments.

The proposal was to build a four-sheet rink that would be located adjacent to the planned skating arena.

By 1969 the Committee had sold $52,000 in debentures, $22,000 in memberships, and negotiated a bank loan for $5,000. A decision was made to proceed with the planning of the building.

On April 7th, 1970 a Special Meeting was held to consider the proposed plans for the four-sheet curling rink. The proposal was approved.

Construction began 2 months later on June 5th under the supervision of Seidler Construction.

Researched and submitted by Johanne Smith