By Johanne Smith
Oliver Curling Club
(This is a first of a series of short articles relating the history of the community curling club.)
1968 to 1970
The idea of building a curling rink in Oliver began in 1968. Many curlers who had been participating in their favourite sport for many years in Osoyoos and Summerland felt Oliver had grown enough to have a club of their own.
A committee was formed to explore the feasibility of such an idea. The initial Society was comprised of the following members:
President: Eric Bastian
Vice-President: Dick Goodall
Secretary: Stu Mould
Treasurer: Dave Francis
Directors: Fred Fritz, Bill Andrews, Roy Becker; Mel Skaros, John Fritz, Ray Anderson, Blaine Francis, John Loudon, Dick Toping, Joe Fefchak, Willie Nunweiler, Bob Wheeler, Ewart Bowering and others were early supporters.
Initially the club attempted to come to an agreement with a lodge to construct a muti-purpose facility. An agreement could not be reached and the group decided to raise funds in the community. Members who could not afford a debenture bought memberships for $100. Members who could not afford this were able to pay $10 in monthly installments.
The proposal was to build a four-sheet rink that would be located adjacent to the planned skating arena.
By 1969 the Committee had sold $52,000 in debentures, $22,000 in memberships, and negotiated a bank loan for $5,000. A decision was made to proceed with the planning of the building.
On April 7, 1970, a special meeting was held to consider the proposed plans for the four-sheet curling rink. The proposal was approved. Construction began two months later on June 5 under the supervision of Seidler Construction.
