Keewatin Ladies Curling Club

HISTORY OF THE KEEWATIN LADIES’ CURLING CLUB

Author and date of article not known

Submitted by Mrs. Grace Kozak

HOW THE CURLING CLUB BEGAN

Lake of the Woods Milling Co. gave the old Barrel Factory to the men of the Town of Keewatin. The factory was torn down and moved to the site of the present club. Mr. Bill Davidson and Mr. Adamson were responsible for the purchasing of this building.

The men donated their time and the ones that couldn’t donate time gave money as more lumber was needed. The wives of these men supplied lunches for the men and helped that way.

The way the ladies got Tuesday night to curl was something again. The men allowed the ladies Tuesday night, as that was the night the men played bridge at the Keewatin Memorial Building and most of the men of Keewatin participated at this game. So they allowed the women to play on this night.

Ladies curled in the afternoon and some of the men curled with them. This is how the ladies learned the game. The men’s club gave a prize for the ladies team with the most wins in the afternoon; this is long gone by the board as they do not do this now.

All ladies donated pots, pans, cups, saucers, plates, etc. for the lunch counter of the club. Also dish towels and cloths. These things have long since gone.

Every so often, there was a social between the Keewatin and Kenora ladies and prizes were given for hidden scores, etc. Even though they had little experience, they had a lot of fun.

Mrs. E. M. Robertson became the first president of the Ladies night curlers. She was the only one who had any idea of the game and helped the other girls. The girls who skipped didn’t know any more about the game than the leads, but just had a little more nerve. Some of the girls who started then are still with the club.

During the ensuing years, there were many socials put on by the Men’s club who invited the ladies to attend. Some of the ladies put on entertainment for the gang. This was done on the ice with the curlers watching from the inside. These socials were thoroughly enjoyed by the ladies and the men. The men do not have socials now as the ice time is all taken up with rentals and mixed curling.

Artificial ice was put in the rink in 1961. This was a great help as the natural ice never was ready until almost Christmas, and the play downs were usually a slugging match in water on the ice. Many a game had to be cancelled altogether. In the 1965/66 season, the men fixed up the back room for a locker room. Sven Sjostrom did a very fine job of the carpenter work. He is one of the top curlers in the men’s club. Mrs. Helen McLaughlin, Mrs. Olive McCowan, and Mildred Ann Davis did a very fine job of padding the bench and recovering the chairs that had been donated by Mrs. Ellen McKellar.

Originally, the Ladies Tuesday night skips picked their teams from a hat. This was quite the thing as you never knew who you would be curling for. However, this has been changed and now the skips choose their own players and enter their own rink. This was started in 1965-66 to see if stronger rinks would come up for Brier competition

Our year is always climaxed with a banquet and presentation of prizes. Cups are sponsored by local merchants and some breweries. The Ladies are always grateful to these sponsors and they get an invite to the banquets and entertainment.