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.
Dear Sir: I am writing on behalf of the Creighton Skating Club to express concerns that we have over the proposal of the Communityplex. We understand that there is not an official sized skating rink to be included in the recreational facility. We also understand that the figure skating clubs are going to have to utilize one half of the existing Uptown Curling Club. This would mean that we are going from an ice surface of 200' x 85' to a surface of about 150' x 50'. With a membership of over 110 skaters, there is no way that we can run the existing programs within the same time lines that we currently do. Therefore we could have to double the time that we rent to run the same programs on the smaller ice surface. Hence double the rent plus double the wages for the coaches as well. Therefore, membership fees would likely have to be adjusted to cover the extra costs. The comment has been passed, "How did the figure skating club manage before, when they skated on the small ice surface at the Whitney Forum?" I don't think that is a valid question, as we currently have two official sized skating arenas, so why would we go back in time and utilize anything smaller? As well, all the programs for the CanSkate, CanPower and the Star Skate are based on using an official sized skating surface. It has been printed that the "user groups" have been consulted to decide what is required for recreational facilities in the community. However, the Creighton Skating Club has not once been notified since the start of the preparation for the Communityplex. Therefore, does the committee know what is required of a figure skating club at all? Furthermore, if the Uptown Curling Club is good enough to fix up for the proposed small sized skating rink and a soccer pitch, why is it not good enough to be fixed up and remain the home of the curling club? We cannot believe that the committee would want to downsize to one official skating arena in the area, when we currently have two. Every weekend that there is a minor hockey tournament in town, both ice surfaces are utilized. Does that mean that when we have a tournament with only one ice surface that we will be taking our children out of school on Thursday, rather than the current Friday, to be able to have enough time to run a tournament? Surely, this scenario would not make parents and teachers very happy. We believe that much more thought needs to be put into a huge undertaking in this community, and to make sure all angles are looked at in great depth. Perhaps a community meeting should be set up, so that all and anyone interested could come to voice their opinions and concerns. Yours in recreation, Valerie Wasylciw President, Creighton Skating Club
