THE FRINGE

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Innovative rink

How do you build a curling rink when you’ve got little money, no lumber, no property, no curling rocks?

Here’s how we did it in 1944.

A Chicago speculator owned several lots on the edge of our village. He kept paying his taxes but never came around to see about his investment. We decided his lots would make a dandy building site.

Our committee included a CPR section foreman called Pete Dobrowolski, now retired in Surrey, B.C. He got his crew to replace a few hundred ties on the railway track to help with this community project.

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We hand dug a trench three feet deep around our projected building, inserted the ties in an upright position and covered the cracks between them by nailing on bark-covered slabs from a sawmill.We nailed rough boards on the roof and covered them over with flax straw.

We did need a bit of money for a waiting room although the windows looking out on the ice were recycled storm windows. The waiting room was heated with a small wood stove.

Flooding the rink was a chore because we had no running water. The water was hauled from a nearby lake in horse-drawn water tanks. The water for pebbling the surface came from melted snow.

Eight individual families each bought a set of second hand curling rocks for the rink.

Our opening day was a bit of a disaster because some didn’t know you have to freeze rocks before play. Those thawed rocks wouldn’t move more than 10 feet. That problem solved, the rink served us well for years.

The rink is long gone but we former Tuffnellites still brag about it.