The Uxbridge Curling Club's 2024-2025 playoffs are just around the corner, and the excitement is building! To stay up-to-date with the full schedule, league rules, and team entry information for the playoffs, be sure to visit the provided link: https://tinyurl.com/UXCURLPLAYOFF

You can also scan the QR code at the bottom for easy access. Don't miss out on all the action, check out the details and get ready to cheer on your favorite teams!

Curlers, despite all the snow that is still around we are fast approaching the end of the curling season. Below are a few items that I wanted to provide a few more details on.

Year end party. As mentioned prior the Year end party will be on April 12^th. There is board posted up at the club where you can offer to donate desserts or side dishes. If we haven't already started by the time this newsletter comes out, we will be coming around soon for you to buy your tickets to the event.

Donnie's retirement gathering. To help celebrate all that Donnie has done for the club over the last 41 years, we are hosting a retirement gathering on March 29^th. Posters are already up to remind you of the event. Thanks to Andrea Bell for her help with this event, however she is away for a couple weeks, if you have any questions please reach out to Ray Brauch.

Bonspiels

We hosted two Bonspiels in February.

The Uxspiel. This event was two full draws and another great success.

The Masters. We had 12 teams which is a good attendance for these curlers with many years of life experiences.

Events in March include Chicks and Stones (Mar 1st which was sold out), and the Uxbridge Brier (Mar 22^nd).  Signup board at the club

Fundraising Events

While our Fundraising Team continues to develop our new sponsorship packages for the 2025/2026 season, the club has continued to bring in much needed dollars through traditional methods. There were 2 boards for memberships, and another board is currently circulating for Maple Leaf tickets provided by Toro Steel Buildings. Events including Curling 201 clinic, U3 pilot, Sip and Paint, and Cupcake decorating were held, and Yoga with Kim .These events and activities are all run by volunteers and contribute to our operating budget, keeping our club financially healthy, and your membership rates lower.

Other fundraising activities such as the Roof Replacement Project, the Rock Sponsorship Program, the upcoming Calcutta and Silent Auction generate proceeds our Board of Directors use for capital projects. Most importantly, to replace our aging roof. Please remember that donations for the Roof Replacement Project made through the NSTF (at the link above) are tax deductible. Please consider making your club part of your personal annual giving budget. Your accountant will thank you (and so will we).

We expect our ice surface and walls to look a little different next year. The Fundraising Team is working hard to develop sponsorship packages that will result in advertising on the walls of our arena and in-ice on our sheets. We will also improve our website advertising exposure, invite sponsors to attend events they sponsor, and utilize our large TV upstairs to promote our sponsors.  These activities have the potential to add $20,000+ annually to fund our operations. Once available, our website will be updated and a UCC Sponsorship Package will be available for all to access.

The Membership Survey

We currently have around 137 responses (40% of the membership), so there are still some of you out there that have not submitted your input. We will shut down the ability to contribute soon, so that we can review, interpret, and provide the results to you and our spring meeting ( scheduled for May 14th).

The Spring Meeting

As a reminder we have a few positions on the Admin Committee coming due so we will be voting in nominees. If you have any interest in helping support the successful operations of the club by being part of our committee please contact one of our nomination committee members Greg Lavigne, Amanda Martin, or Marg Mcknight.

Incident of falling ice from the roof. Many of you my have read  a recent facebook post outlining an incident at the front of our building involving the icicles that fell from the roof. Although this ice condition occurs every winter, this year's weather did create more ice than normal. As a reminder please adhere the warnings as provided by the signs on the building. When the weather warms there is a tendency for snow and ice to fall from the roof so be careful not to park too close to the building or walk in that area.

Ray Brauch

President 

Mother's Day Mad Hatter's Tea Party 

• Saturday May 10 & Sunday May 11, 2025 
• 2 seatings each day – 11:00am–1:00pm and 2:00pm–4:00pm
• register for your preferred sitting time and date 
• Tickets: $45 adults/$25 children under 12 

Feb Newsletter

Curlers, its hard to beleive that we are already in February.  Many of you have been asking for updates on a few different items, I trust this will help answer those questions.

Update on roof.

The Board of Directors are currently undertaking sourcing bids for the roof replacement of the club with the  intent of submitting a request to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for a Capital Grant to assist with financing the project. One bid has been obtained and additional bids are forthcoming. More information will be provided as the process progresses.

The membership survey is coming out. 

The intent of this survey is to get an anonymous yet meaningful perspective of the membership on the key items with regards to our club.  This will be used as a benchmark or satisfaction index of our members with regards to our club and what we offer.  This information could help determine where the AC focuses their efforts and almost as important, where we do not need to look at, or help us understand the impact of any changes we make.  If you require help in accessing the online survey, please reach out and we can help you.

Between the Bod and AC, we have agreed on the wording of the questions, so look for your invite to participate in the survey soon.

Year end Closing Party and Silent Auction

As a reminder, we will be having a year end closing party on Saturday April 12th.  Along with the year end events, we will be having a silent auction running during the playoffs week.  Linda Jefferson has kindly agreed to once again spearhead this, but for this to be successful we need items for our members to bid on.  Our membership has been very gracious in the past with donating many items that has generated funds for our club, so if you have items  you wish to donate to this worthy cause they will be welcomed to do so, and please take advantage of having these items available to you by placing your bid higher than the previous bidder's value.

Youth Curling. 

Congratulations to Team Fisher on their 2nd place finish in the U18 Provincials and their respectable showing in the recent U20 Provincials.  You are an inspiration to a new generation of curlers and continue to represent our Club extremely well.

Bonspiels. 

We continue to see great success with all our Bonspiels we have hosted this year, these events continue to drive revenues and proceeds for the club, although at this point we don't have the totals from the bar for the Adult attended spiels.  We also continue to get great feedback on the great fun everyone is enjoying at these events.

T Bone (Jan 4th)   was sold out, although proceeds sightly down year over year.

6 ender Bender (Jan 11th) Sold out, with increases to proceeds yr/yr.

Little Rocks Funspiel (Jan 18th) was a ton of fun for participants and was sold out.  Everyone expressed a wish to come back again next year.

Uxspiel (Feb 1) had two full draws.

Upcoming Mens Masters (Feb 25th)

Volunteer of the year award.

It has been a tradition for  many years to nominate a member of our club for the Al Hachey, volunteer of the year award.  We have the privilege of having so many members that offer their time to aid in the success of our club, this is your opportunity to have one of them recognized.  The award winner not only gets the notoriety of this recognition but also a designated parking space near the door to our club, and an LCBO gift certificate in hopes you buy a  bottle of wine, preferably red, since that was Al's choice.

Fundraising. 

From the feedback we received prior we did pull back on the volume of buy a square boards to raise funds in the first half of the year.  Our Fund Raising committee is working to obtain funds from alternate sources other than just our membership.   However as you may have seen recently, we are activily working on items available to our membership to raise funds.  Items include:  Win your next year's membership,   Win Leaf tickets,  Cupcake decorating, Buy a rock handle, U3 league, Curling 201 clinic, yoga classes, and more.  (some details included below)

ROCK HANDLE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM.

You may have noticed some newly installed rock handles on the ice this week.  Thanks to those members who stepped up to support our program.  Sponsoring a curling stone is a wonderful and unique way to support the club while creating a special legacy. Rock sponsorship allows you to commemorate an individual, group or special milestone, ensuring your contribution remains part of the curling experience for years to come. A reminder that the funds generated from this program will go toward the Roof Replacement.

SPONSORSHIP PRICE - UCC MEMBERS: $250/stone

5-year sponsorship period ($50/year)

Sponsorship period: September 2025 - August 2030

Application deadline: April 30, 2025

Handle installation by September 2025

Sponsorships are available to businesses at different rate

A sponsorship package will be available soon.

HOW TO SPONSOR A ROCK HANDLE?

52 Rock Handles are currently available for sponsorship.

For additional program details visit the club website - UCC Rock Handle SPONSORSHIP TERMS

and ROCK LISTING

Fill out the UCC Rock Handle Sponsorship Application Form:

https://form.jotform.com/241346358542256

On your application form, please offer a 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd choice – rock selection will be offered on a

first come basis and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

Submit your Rock Handle Application Form along with payment in full (e-transfer or credit card)

prior to the submission deadline, April 30, 2025.

E-transfer to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you would like more information on the Rock Handle Sponsorship, please contact the Board of

Directors or the program administrator: Julia Bailey – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Our new U3 league (under 3 yrs experience) has started this month.  Good curling to those folks in that league and thank you Patrick Brown for managing this, and his voluneteers helping out the new curlers when required.

Curling 201 Clinic (Feb 23rd)

This fundraising event is designed to help curlers elevate their game and skills.  Keep you eye open for the official announcement and sign up as spaces will be limited.

Ice Technician

Efforts are underway to organize a gathering for Don McGregor's retirement.  The proposed date is March 29th at the club, more details to come on this later.

We have been in active communications with a few individuals to try and secure a new ice technician for the 2025/26 season.   As you may be aware there is not a large pool of resources to draw from in this field, but this effort is very high on our priority.  A variety of alternatives are being looked at to assure we sucessfully open and have skills in place to create the playing surface we need during the season.

Happy new year and welcome back to the second half of the season.  Just a short update this month on our club. 

Bonspiels

Turkey spiel (Dec 7th) - It was another successful event both on the revenue and profit.

Junior Bantam (Dec 14th) - First one we have hosted in a long time.  Uxbridge teams taking first and second place.  It's great to see the interest and talent of the next generation of curlers.

The T bone (Jan 4th) was sold out, but don't have the final results yet.

Upcoming events:

The 6 ender bender (Jan 11th) is sold out

Little Rocks funspiel (Jan 18th).

Uxspiel (Feb 1st).  Sold Out. We need a drawmaster for this event so please contact Conrad Wong if you can help out.

Chicks N Stones (March 1st) Sold Out

Building

There was work done on the Ladies change room and the upstairs bathroom over the xmas break (as well as organizing the items stored in Helen's office).  A special thanks to Sandy and Herb Kelloway, Kelly and Michael Point, Marie Gowans, Cinzia Frantellizzi and Darryl Stevenson for the time and effort on this venture.  The new colours and fresh paint has brightened up the rooms.  

New smoke detectors were purchased and installed and as mentioned prior the new fire extinguisher has been installed in the kitchen.

Ice and ice Tech

For those that missed the announcement note.  Our Ice technician Don McGregor will be retiring at the end of this season. Congratulations Donnie, are you sure I can't entice you with a Guiness to stay another couple years?

Bar

We will still be enjoying the HST tax break at the bar until Feb 15th.

Leagues

Congrats to those teams that made the playoffs from the first session and congratulations to those that have the opportunity to play further in the playoff games scheduled in March.

Our new developmental Sunday afternoon league for curlers with less than 3 yrs experience, is starting in Feb 2025 and is already half full.

Membership Survey

We still plan to send out a survey, however the wording of some of the questions are still being finalized.

Volunteering.

For those that made a new years resolution to be more altruistic with their time, there continues to be many opportunities to support the club.

Items such as mentioned above with the need for a drawmaster for the Uxspiel, or helping out with the U3 league, or helping our new Ice tech, when we get one.  There are so many ways for you to be involved and every little bit helps.  We are very fortunate that we have so many volunteers already giving their time to help our club be as successful as it is.  However the more we share the workload around the better, and don't worry if you don't have a lot of experience helping out, we will all be here to support you and appreciate your contributions and efforts that you make.

Cheers.

Ray Brauch

Uxbridge and District Curling Club President.

Congratulations to our latest group of Adult Learn to Curl Graduates, and an extra special thank you to Carol Anne Andrews for leading the initiative.

UCC Roof Replacement Project

Special thanks to our club members who have donated to this project.  To date, we have received $7,000. 

As the board continues to plan for the roof replacement, I encourage you to consider making a donation.

Donations must be received by December 31, 2024 to be eligible for a 2024 charitable tax receipt.

Program details can be found here https://www.ontariosportnetwork.ca/nstf-projects/319-uxbridge-and-district-curling-club.

The program is run and administered by the Ontario Sports Network under the National Sport Trust Fund initiative.

The following outlines the cost to the club for this program:

Program Fees

• $2.00 per tax receipt, $2.00 additional cost for lost receipts.
• 4% commission on all donations.
  • Example: $100 donation
    • $2.00 for tax receipt (If you indicate you would like one at year end, there is an additional $2.00 charge)
    • $4.00 commission (4%)
    • $94.00 put in trust for the project.

Please ensure you select Uxbridge and District Curling Club - Project 319 from the Organization name drop-down.

For additional information, please contact Judy Risebrough (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) the Fund Administrator for the UCC project.

Looking for a bonspiel outside our club in Ontario? CurlON's directory has many to choose from! 

https://curlingontario.ca/club-services/bonspiels/