BERWICK, NS - It’s a way to celebrate those who contributed to building the Berwick Curling Club and helped promote the sport in the community and beyond.
The Berwick Curling Club held an induction ceremony for its wall of fame on Jan. 13. President Mike Larsen said the club dates back to the 1930’s. About four years ago, the executive decided to create a special place of honour, the wall of fame, where they could start to formally recognize people or teams.
“Really for us it’s about taking a look back, recognizing those that have helped us get to where we are today, knowing that we do have a very long and very prosperous history here,” Larsen said.
Wall of fame committee chairman Greg Hubbert said they use the wall to honour great curlers and - equally as much – individuals who made a significant commitment to the club in terms of volunteerism.
“There’s a significant builder component to this,” he said. “We honour people that played a very significant role in making this club work.”
Mike Morse
Inductee Mike Morse of Berwick said it’s a great thing for the club to recognize people who have made contributions over the years. It isn’t a big club but there are always those with accomplishments to recognize. He said the sport has meant a lot to him and his involvement in the club has kept him busy for 20 years.
“It fills a lot of vacancies, that’s for sure. It’s a lot of entertainment and a lot of fun,” Morse said.
He said it’s important to a community the size of Berwick to have a curling club. Having good people involved has ensured that the Berwick club is well managed and remains a viable, solid organization.
Morse curled with Richard Palmer for more than a decade and their mixed team rarely missed a weekend bonspiel. Morse served three terms as club president and served on the executive for 15 years. He initiated the president’s plaque and organized a banquet to honour all former club presidents.
For a three-year period, Morse was president, bar manager, custodian and icemaker. He was the club’s icemaker for 20 years and introduced the idea for the Club 200 fundraiser in 2008.
Lori and Dan Dorey
Inductees Lori and Dan Dorey of South Berwick agreed that the honour came as quite a surprise. Dan said he thinks it’s great that the club recognizes those who have made a contribution, especially considering that the club will soon have a new facility at the Kings Mutual Century Centre.
“They’ll be able to carry everything from here into the new building and carry on the tradition, which will be nice,” Dan said.
The couple is now retired from the sport but agrees that the greatest thing about being involved in curling was the people. Dan said everyone in the club pitched in and helped, which made it a “fantastic” experience for them. The winters flew by.
He said they were new to the community when they started and getting involved with the club was a great way to meet new friends.
Lori said it’s important for communities such as Berwick to maintain a curling club. It’s a great way to get exercise, meet people and socialize.
“We loved it when we curled, it was everything,” Lori said. “When the curling started until the curling ended, we were here doing something with curling and everybody.”
The couple was involved with curling in Berwick for 21 years and was known for exhibiting great sportsmanship. They curled in the Tuesday-Thursday mixed league and teamed with Darrell and Lynn Ferguson in the Wednesday competitive league.
Dan served two terms on the club’s board of directors and worked with Morse as assistant icemaker. Lori and Dan operated the club’s bar and served as social co-ordinators for four years.
Lori and Dan worked on the Apple Spiel committee for three years, taking over as co-chairpersons in 2009. Lori audited the club’s books and prepared financial statements from 2010 to 2017 and ran the successful Club 200 fundraiser from 2008 to 2012.
The Edith Corkum Memorial Bonspiel
The Edith Corkum Memorial Bonspiel was also inducted onto the wall of fame. Edith is remembered as a very active, vibrant club member. After she passed away in September 1989, three of her close friends - Cheryl Lloyd, Norma Tweedie-Milne and Pat Hicks - wanted to keep her memory alive. They decided to organize the first bonspiel in Corkum’s memory, which was held in February 1991.
Lloyd, of West Berwick, said it feels really good to see the event inducted onto the wall. The memorial bonspiel is still an annual event 27 years after it was introduced.
“It says a lot about who Edith was,” Lloyd said. “She was a very dedicated curler, she was well known throughout the Valley, actually.”
She said the wall of fame works to help promote the sport in the community and keep interest alive.
An accomplished curler and strong competitor, Edith’s team placed well in many bonspiels. In 1985, her team won the Cider Spiel in Middleton. The other members included Lloyd, Carol Hampsey, and Pam Morton.
When the Berwick club hosted the Catherine Creighton provincial tournament, Corkum’s team was the runner-up, losing a close game to Bridgewater in the final. Other team members included Lloyd, Mary Ellen Lonergan and Morton.
When the three friends were organizing the first Edith Corkum Memorial Bonspiel, they decided that the event would have to meet “Edie’s” standards of being competitive, fun and inclusive.
Club members were solidly behind the initiative. The ladies stepped up and provided casseroles and desserts for a dinner and chili and rolls for supper on the day of the bonspiel. This helped keep team entry fees affordable and allowed the money to go toward prizes. The men volunteered to run the bar and to clean and pebble the ice.
A trophy was purchased for the winning team to take to its home club, as well as a plaque to stay in the Berwick Curling Club.
