Snowed Under

Century-old Sydney Curling Club fights Mother Nature

More than 200 centimetres of snow in less that two weeks was too much for the roof of the Sydney Curling Club’s 114-year-old building, but it wasn’t enough to defeat the resiliency of the 147-year-old club itself.

Two early February storms caused significant damage to the building’s roof, forcing the club to close for about four weeks before temporary repairs allowed it to reopen the final week 0f the month.

The club is located just down the street from Sydney’s Centre 200, host site for the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship March 16-24, and was to be the site of Curling Canada pre-tournament events.

Curling Canada had scheduled a number of youth-oriented events for the Sydney Curling Club as part of the world championship and will have make alternate arrangements for some of those.

Brodie Bazinet, Manager, Foundation & Philanthropic Program, said Curling Canada had scheduled eight on-ice training sessions as part of Curling Canada’s Youth Engagement Program

“We’ve had to cancel four of the sessions,” she explained. “The world championship is the optimum time for community involvement so they will feel the hit of missing that opportunity to attract new members.”

Bazinet said Cape Breton University also had to postpone four sessions it had planned for its international students.

The area was pounded with about 150 centimetres of snow Feb. 2-4, and another 50 cm the following week. The weight of the snow resulted in sagging and damage to the roof.

How much the repairs will cost won’t be known until after the season so the club is hosting a Rock The Roof Online Auction during the BKT Tires World Women’s Championship with a goal of raising $50,000.

Curling Canada will donate two full event passes to the 2025 Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax and an autographed Rachel Homan jacket from the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Championship for the club’s auction.

“Our main goal is to save the building,” Genevieve Andrea, sponsorship and publicity director for the four-sheet, volunteer-run club that is the largest in Cape Breton with more than 300 members. “The response from the local community and the curling community has been phenomenal, very heart-warming

“We lost most of February,” added Andrea. “We’re very fortunate we were able to reopen so we will be able to host teams at the worlds. Some events have had to be cut in half from four to two days.”

Andrea said the blow is intensified as the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship is taking place in close proximity to the club.

“We are not only missing out on curling activities but also on opportunities to introduce community members to the sport of curling in the lead-up to the event.

“After the season ends we will move forward with the permanent repairs.”