Community bonspiel supports local groups

By Nora Peters

I mentioned last column that there are two major bonspiels hosted by the Tillsonburg Curling Club in November. The Mixed Fall Classic takes place this Saturday, and I will look forward to sharing info about that event in my next write-up.

The other major bonspiel is the Community Service Bonspiel, which has a great history with the club as it is the longest running bonspiel (67 years) for the club and has had the same sponsor awarding the trophy for those 67 years. The original sponsor firm was Judd & Co,. which over the years with retirements and new partners has today become Good Redden Klosler. While the names have changed, their commitment to the bonspiel has continued uninterrupted, except for the Covid years.

The trophy is a fur-lined chamber pot, atop several stacked pedestals with many layers of winners on it. In the early years, the winning team’s logo was hand painted on the highly contested trophy. Original entries were community service clubs like the Lions, Rotary, Kinsmen and Kiwanis but as times have changed, other service groups have joined including the food bank, churches, Tillsonburg Memorial Hospital Foundation, minor ball, Knights of Columbus etc.

Fourteen years ago, one of the sponsors, Steve Good, and bonspiel chairperson Les Peter talked during the spiel and devised a plan to change the prize structure of the bonspiel. They chose to change from prizes for each team member to instead be more community friendly and more in keeping with the ‘service to community’ aspect of the spiel. Teams continued to play for points to win the right to have their name put on the coveted trophy, but the sponsor and the curling club joined together to award $2.000 in prize money, $1,000 on each draw to teams who are drawn from the bowl of the chamber pot.

That amount of money has now increased to $3,000 so $1,500 per draw is divvied out $500 down to $75 as teams come out of the pot. Each team in the bonspiel designates a charity or project to donate to, and if their team is drawn, the cheque is written to that charity. Over the years, since the change was made the bonspiel has given out $30,000 to the community. Examples of some of the charities that have benefitted from the draw are Meals on Wheels, Chamber of Commerce Junior Achievement Program, TDMH Foundation and Lions Seeing Eye Dogs.

The participants in the spiel include curlers and non-curlers, both men and women and a variety of organizations from the community. The partnership formed 67 years ago continues as strong today as the year it started. This year’s spiel happens on Nov. 27.

An update for Team Ontario/King Mixed- the team did not qualify for playoffs with a record of 2-5. Team King Men’s finished second at the Stu Sells Port Elgin Tournament which helps to build their points to qualify for the Ontario Tankard.

Curling rocks! See you on the ice!