DRA President, Ben Williams, e-mailed me to say that this coming Saturday, March 21st has been chosen as registration day in Dunvegan. Angela McGregor, Secretary of the Glengarry Soccer League (GSL) will be on hand from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. So that Angela doesn’t have to handle the hordes all by herself, Bob Linney has graciously offered to be at the registration day and lend her a hand.
And while we’re in a soccer frame of mind, I’ve heard that my comments last week were seen as casting the League in a negative light. I apologize. I had no such intention. I have the upmost respect for the hard-working volunteers of the GSL and was impressed at how present and past players — young and old — rallied around to help when the organization stumbled a bit last fall.
It’s also heartening to look at the composition of their Executive Committee. Bob Linney, who volunteered to sit on the Board temporarily until a full-time Dunvegan rep can be found, tells me that the group is a real mix. “A third are 35-45, usually active in seniors soccer,” says Bob. “A third are 25-35; usually previous players… and a third are 18-24; again usually previous players.”
If some readers detected a whiff of negativity, it was not aimed at the League, but rather with the soccer situation in Dunvegan itself. In the years before Ben took over at the helm of the DRA, I sat in the chair. During my time, Bruce MacGillivray, Evan McIntosh and many others worked their butts off to transform the Dunvegan facility into a first-class pitch. And they couldn’t have done it without a series of Capital Improvement grants from the Township of North Glengarry.
However, over the years, the “Dunvegan” soccer program became one in name only. It was then and is now even more so, the St. Isidore soccer program. Which is fine. I think it’s great that the fields are being used and that young people are doing something far more constructive than playing shoot-em-up on their X-Boxes.
Nevertheless, it is still Dunvegan volunteers who maintain the fields and manage the program. And it is North Glengarry tax dollars that help make the whole thing possible. When, on soccer registration day, we used to ask parents from north of the 417 if they’d be willing to help us with our fund-raising efforts, we got virtually no takers. I found this disappointing and frustrating.
I also used to wonder if the St. Isidore Council should be approached about a cost-sharing arrangement with North Glengarry for the use of the Dunvegan fields. As long as no one gets greedy, such a sharing arrangement would be a lot less costly for the town of St. Isidore than developing a facility and program of their own from scratch.
So, if people felt an undercurrent of negativity, it most likely stemmed from this. As a Glengarrian with training wheels, I too am increasingly uncomfortable with change. And the people with whom I’ve spoken predict that, if we don’t take care, soccer in the north end of the Township (Greenfield, Laggan and the like) could slowly slip between the pages of the history books.
127th Annual Crokinole Night
As those who know me will attest, I exaggerate slightly from time to time. And while the Dunvegan Recreation’s evening of Crokinole Madness and Family Fun hasn’t really been held for over 125 years in a row, it has been a feature of the DRA event calendar for many a decade.
This spring, the event is scheduled to take place Friday, March 27th. So that gives you just over a week and half to break out the old Crokinole board and limber up your flicking finger.
The evening will start with a social “meet & greet” time at 5:30 PM. This will be followed by dinner starting at 6:00 PM featuring mouthwatering by-the-slice pizza. The piping hot pie is just $2.00 a slice and comes with your choice of complementary beverage — from coffee to soft drinks to bottled water.
The Crokinole Tournament will kick off at 7:00 PM. To help our contestants weather the rigours of competitive play, they will be armed with a helping of fresh-buttered popcorn straight from the popper.
About half way through, there’ll be a break in the action so the crowd can savour the flavour of pure maple taffy poured on to pans of snow. It’s a heavenly treat made all the sweeter by the fact that the maple syrup was donated, free of charge, by Mark Franklin. Thank you, Mark! President Ben also tells me that there will be entertainment on stage during the break. As for the name of the person (or persons) performing, I’ve been asked to keep it a secret. You’ll just have to come out to see who it is.
When I asked Ben if the tournament still awarded prizes, he assured me there would be prizes for players with the skills to claim 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. As an added bonus, he went on to say, “… Those who are of the right age (i.e., young) will be getting a special gift at the end of the night. As for the nature of this goodie, the secret clause has once again been invoked.
Chili Con Euchre
It’s hard to believe, but this coming Friday, March 20th, is euchre time again. As I mentioned in my February 25th column, March’s game will see the end of this winter’s “soup” season. A number of the players have requested we serve chili this month, so that’s what’s on the menu. In case you’re worried, the chili we serve is not spicy… just tasty and hot.
Admission for the afternoon of food and fun is only $5.00. A 50/50 draw is also available for those who feel lucky. Held in the DRA Hall at 19053 County Road 24, the affair starts at 12:00 noon and wraps up around 3:30 PM. Everyone is welcome.
Please keep in mind that the game in Dunvegan it not a high-stakes tournament. It’s more of a social outing… a time for seniors to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. I hope you’ll come out and join us.
Just Eat It
This past Sunday, Terry and I set off for Cornwall to see a screening of “Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story” at the Cornwall Public Library. The event was put on by the Transition Cornwall+ Food Action Group (I’ll refrain from using their unfortunate acronym) and was billed as a “hard look at how we squander food and how we can rescue it.”
Grant Baldwin and Jen Rustemeyer made the film in partnership with British Columbia’s Knowledge Network… and I suspect a number federal and provincial film agencies.
The subject matter the filmmakers tackled is of extreme importance. However, I was a bit disappointed with the net result of their efforts.
On a technical level, they showed extreme skill when it came to certain aspects of the cinematographer’s art. I was especially impressed with the planning and patience they showed in capturing certain time-lapse sequences that must have stretched over many months. Some of their slow motion scenes were also very engaging.
However, I felt the film lacked both depth and breadth. In essence, it was a 30 minute short that was stretched to its final 113 minute run time through the use of the hackneyed “Supersize Me” device. The backbone of the film, at least structurally, was the documentation of the pair of filmmakers as they spent six months living off food waste they found in dumpsters and the like. I agree that the scope of the waste they discovered on their midnight forays was shocking, but I got the point they were trying to make the first time around.
I think this wasted screen time would have been much better spent talking with politicians, municipal bureaucrats, service organizations, manufacturers, retailers and food service executives about food waste and better ways to divert useable foodstuffs to food banks, charitable organizations and the like. A more extensive exploration of concrete ways we as consumers could realistically minimize waste would not have been remiss either.
If you ever have a chance to see the film, I hope you will avail yourself of it. However, when you do you might find its promise that “You’ll never again see your fridge in the same way” is a bit of an overstatement.
Political Birding News
For the longest time, I’ve been remiss in not including any birding news in my column. So it was a “be still my heart” moment when, last week, a reader excitedly informed me that he witnessed a rare sighting of the elusive Grant Crackle in Alexandria, North Glengarry. Historically, this bird’s range stretches from the two United Counties north of Highway 417 in a straight line to Queen’s Park, Toronto. Evidence of this territorial behavior can be clearly seen in the Crackle’s recent taxpayer-funded promotional flyer spotted lining recycling bins and post office trashcans across the region. Of the ten standard “grip & grin” photo-ops displayed, not one of them was taken within the borders of North Glengarry. Was the recent Alexandria sighting a harbinger of things to come… or merely a fly-over gone awry? Only time will tell.
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