AMHERST – A half century ago the Amherst Curling Club dedicated its four ice surfaces in honour of the town’s four Fathers of Confederation.
Now, 50 years later, it has a complete set of rings to recognize that honour.
“With this being Canada’s 150th birthday we thought it would be fitting for us to do something to recognize Amherst’s contribution to Confederation in the four Fathers of Confederation,” club treasurer Robin Keith said. “We've long wanted a complete set of house rings and with this funding we were able to do that.”
With support from the Cumberland County Museum, the curling club applied to the Nova Scotia 150 Forward Fund for funding and learned earlier this year that it’s application was successful.
Keith said curling club member and artist John Greer came on board to sketch images of each of the Fathers of Confederation - including Sir Charles Tupper, E.B. Chandler, Jonathan McCully and R.B. Dickey – a process that took approximately eight weeks.
The images, done by graphite pencil, were then sent off to Jet Ice in Toronto, which developed the sketches into four rings using the colours of blue and green for the town of Amherst and Municipality of Cumberland.
The new rings are in one section that fit over the centre of the house. Previously, club members had to install the rings in sections. The other good thing about the new rings is they can be rolled up at the end of the season and re-installed the next.
Museum board member Wayne Bishop said it’s a project that works well for both organizations. The new rings are something the club will be able to showcase to members and visitors attending events such as provincial senior curling championships in February 2018.
The rings will be dedicated during the Cumberland County Museum’s Four Fathers Dinner at the curling club on Friday night, beginning at approximately 5:40 p.m.
The project was done in conjunction with the museum, which worked with the curling club to apply for funding through the Nova Scotia 150 Forward Fund program.
There are a few tickets available by calling the museum at 902-667-2561.
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
