The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Nearly all Willowpark Curling Club members would be happy to move to the proposed Communityplex, but many don't want to leave their home rink until the project is a certainty. That's the opinion of longtime Willowpark member John Munson, responding to comments made by Communityplex chairman Ron Watt in yesterday's Reminder. "My point is, do we burn all our bridges and have this project not happen?" said Munson, a member for nearly four decades who stressed he was only speaking for himself and not the club. "I feel that the curlers at Willowpark, probably almost 100 per cent, are in favour of moving to the Communityplex and putting our money into it when it's built," he said. In an article yesterday, Watt said he thought that the vote by Willowpark members to remain in their home rink would "have a serious impact" on the Communityplex project and that he wasn't sure "whether we can manage it." The Willowpark and Uptown curling clubs had been asked to contribute a combined $290,000 toward the Communityplex based on savings expected from a merger of their operations as well as savings already accumulated. But Willowpark members have decided against amalgamating with the Uptown club and will fund necessary repairs to their home rink with an estimated $25,000 that could have otherwise been put toward the Communityplex. "The money that we've got in the bank will fund these repairs and hopefully in two or three years, we will have recouped that back," said Munson. Asked if the repair work will mean the club has less money to potentially contribute to the Communityplex, Munson said he hoped not but added that fundraising could take place if that turned out to be the case. Since the membership votes were counted Friday, he said, the wheels have been put in motion to get the repair work underway. The building needs an estimated $25,000 of work to the foundation and rafters in order to be granted an engineer's certificate to occupy the building for the next three to five years, Munson said. He said he was not surprised that the members decided to stay at Willowpark, even though a previous balloting in May showed 61 per cent of voters favoured the amalgamation. There was some confusion about the purpose of the first vote, Munson said, and members who were against amalgamating did not cast their ballots. "I think the support has been there all along," he said.
