An Open Night
On Wednesday, January 23rd, members of the Sherbrooke Snow Shoe Club met for their weekly meeting. Once again, weather had an impact on attendance. Following the snowstorm and bitter cold the previous day, Wednesday’s weather was a mixed bag of freezing rain alternating with wet snow.
The weather in fact had consequences for the nature of the meeting. A scheduled guest speaker from out of town had to cancel earlier in the day due to the questionable and ever-changing road conditions. Unfortunately he was forced to reschedule to a later date.
The extent of snow recently accumulated necessitated the clearing of all the various entryways to the clubhouse. Thankfully due to the efforts of Past president Hugh Bowen, this was a task completed well before the start of the meeting, including the rear basement door, which is seldom used during the winter months.
President Steve Moore struggled with the usual welcome and opening procedures as the meeting got underway. Suffering from a growing case of laryngitis, he nevertheless managed to call upon the club’s White Knights to serve the evening meal. The Knights started off with a tasty soup concoction identified by Chef Carole as ‘crème tout ce qui’. Next came entrees of chicken pie before servings of Queen Elizabeth cake were portioned out for dessert.
The president then expressed his gratitude to the chef and kitchen crew, the White Knights, the organizers of the previous Saturday’s auction, and to member Karl Hunting, who has been busy repeatedly plowing the club’s parking lot this season.
Drawings for the evening’s door prizes went to Eugene Clark and Alf Whittier his second time this year and only the third time in all his years as a member.
Following some jokes from Dave Moore, Chorister Phil Kerwin conducted the evening’s sing-along, assisted vocally by Gary Macdonald and Bill Lyon. Janis Graham provided the musical accompaniment on the club’s century old piano. Donated by a club member in the early 20th century, the instrument dates back to the 1890s.
Given the president’s ailment, an abbreviated business meeting was convened. Past President Don Loughheed was called upon to assist in such matters as the minutes from the previous meeting and the correspondence received and issued. Current items were also discussed and evaluated briefly.
Because the guest speaker was unable to attend, the president was thus forced to declare an open night, leaving the members to pursue whatever activity interested them, either individually or collectively. Due to the uncertain weather, some members opted to leave at the conclusion of the meeting. Others lingered on before departing.
Submitted by Steve Moore SSSC Secretary