PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

You may be aware that we held Hoss Collar and Club Championship tournaments during the second last week of play. The Hoss Collar event was a big success with 30 entries. Pat Wilson came out on top with 571, followed by Wally Bentt 565, Cheryl Walchuk 560 and Bob Wotherspoon 558. We had 8 entries for the ladies and 14 entries for the gents in the Club Championship. Joyce March is the ladies champ and John Fedynak the gents champ. Congratulations to all! Our AGM was held on August 28th at noon following our last game at Ottewell. We presented our agreement with the Beaumont Curling Club for next season. We also discussed the very first CanAm tournament which GESA will host May 24th to 29th, 2026. A motion was made to circulate a member phone list to all members. This was carried with the provison that individuals may opt out if they choose. Our membership and drop-in fees will remain the same for 2026. A motion was also approved to reduce tournament entry fees to $25.00, since we will no longer have to share fees with the curling rink. And I am now officially retired from the GESA Board. I want to thank all those Board members that I have worked with over the past 5 years. Bob Wotherspoon has been added as a Board member. So our 2025 season is over and our move into storage in preparation for our 2026 season in Beaumont is complete. We owe many thanks to these folks for their help packing up and moving all of our assets. Collette Carlisle, Karen Johnston, Gary Steinbring, Bob Wotherspoon, Charlie Cull, Dan and Sandy Leclair, Fred Burak, Brad Sawchuk and Brent Sawchuk. I ended up with an inflamed hip bursa making walking very painful, but I was able to do minor things, and supervise! In appreciation for those volunteers who contributed time and effort to get things done without complaint, we sent out invitations to those who contributed most during the year. We had a hamburger dinner served up on September 4th. Our ‘Volunteer of the Year’ is Fred Burak who was honoured with a certificate of Thank You! Since 6 of the 7 Board members were in attendance, an impromptu meeting was held to elect Vicky Moroz as your new Board President. Vicky will continue as our digital communications director as well! Here is looking forward to a great 2026 shuffle season in a new venue! Wally Bentt - Retired President Vicky Moroz - President & Digital Communications Director Allen Kew - Vice President Linda Wozniuk - Sec/Treasurer Pat Wilson - Admin Director Charlie Cull - Court Director Dan Leclair - Membership Director Bob Wotherspoon - Director