Historic curling club on thin ice
Longtime curlers devastated Scarborough facility will be demolished for underpass
On a winter afternoon Bill and Debbie Baker can usually be found at the Scarboro Golf and Country Club, in the historic wood-panelled curling facility.
One Wednesday shortly before Christmas they were there — gameready clad in lightweight curling jackets and head warmers — for a seniors’ holiday lunch and party, complete with contests for cash requiring them to throw 44 pound curling rocks diagonally across six sheets of ice.
About a dozen seniors cheered Bill’s winning throw and joked with Debbie, who herself won a different contest earlier in the day: “So, are the Bakers going to dinner tonight?”
Nothing about the club’s cosy interior and its members’ jovial chatter suggested they were all dreading that this holiday party would be the last of its kind at their club.
They were told at a town-hall meeting in October that the 2017-18 curling season would be the last at Scarboro Golf and Country Club. The club’s board of directors decided to nix its curling program as part of an agreement with Metrolinx to allow the transit authority to build an underpass that will disrupt the club’s property.
But the project didn’t require the demolition of the curling club — a fact that causes the Bakers both consternation and fleeting hope that the decision can be reversed.
“Metrolinx’s initial proposed design concept did not require the demolition of the curling building,” Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins told the Star. “It was the decision of the club to choose a design that would see the curling club building demolished.”
The curling club celebrated its 60th anniversary this fall, and has a storied history. It’s been home to national curling competitions like the Dominion Curling Club Championship (now called the Travelers Curl-
“It was the decision of the club to choose a design that would see the curling club building demolished.” ANNE MARIE AIKINS METROLINX SPOKESPERSON
ing Club Championship) in 2012.
The club’s board of director’s president David Florence said maintaining the history of the club is important to the shareholders — but their focus is golf, not curling.
“Current shareholders, who are entirely golfers, are aware of the responsibility to carry forward this facility for future,” Florence wrote in an email to the Star. “After reviewing several options and consulting with numerous experts, including traffic engineers, a solution was selected that offers the safest outcome and maintains key assets impacted by the Metrolinx works.”
Florence confirmed that while a golf maintenance facility and club parking would be relocated as a result of the project, the curling facility would be removed without being replaced.
He did not respond to questions about how the board reached the decision to eliminate curling outright, rather than attempt to replace it.
The Bakers were devastated and confused by the news. They’ve been members at the club for decades — 32 years for him, 30 years for her. Their daughter got married in a club ballroom that has since been converted into a virtual golf lounge.
Now, they’re leading a coalition of curlers among the club’s approximately 275 curling members who are pressuring the club to reconsider.
“We’re unhappy about the way it’s been done,” Debbie said, speaking quietly at one of the curling lounge’s round tables — set up that way for the traditional post-curling game friendly drink with the opposing team.
They think curlers should have been consulted, or at the very least, the hundreds of club shareholders.
Beyond its claims to fame, Debbie and Bill note a seasoned community within the club is at stake. Gesturing at the celebrating club members at the holiday party, Debbie said, “It’s a family.”
The Bakers believe that if the decision on the future of the curling club was put to a vote among all the shareholders after curlers had the chance to argue the program’s independent worth — including curling members’ contributions to food and beverage and potential to attract more curlers — the outcome may be different.
If not, they said they’d at least feel “more resolved” about the disappointing development.
“We’re still fighting,” Bill said. “You don’t find anything like (this club) anyplace else.”