Facility Use Guidelines For Practices February 27, 2021

February 27, 2021

Team practices will be conducted under the following guidelines:

• Avoid non-essential travel to and from Halifax, Hants and Lunenburg County locations that have additional restrictions and protective measures in place. See Halifax County restriction alerts, Hants County restriction alerts, and Lunenburg County restriction alerts.
  
  
• Access will be limited to teams that regularly curl together and who have a coach or other volunteer who has been issued a key and is willing to act as the designated individual as defined in our Facilities Operation Plan  The designated individual is responsible to ensure that the ice shed is used safely and responsibly, and to ensure that all COVID-19 precautions are followed. If your team is unable to make arrangements with an authorized keyholder, please contact Dale Rafuse at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so arrangements can be made.
  
  
• Bookings are to be made online and bookings must not exceed the public health limit of participants. 

• The ice will be shaved regularly during the period of the restrictions and will not be available for practice at those times, which will be indicated in the ice book. It is up to the teams using the facility to prepare the ice for their own use, if they wish to do so. If you do pebble, nip, etc, please make the appropriate entry in the ice maintenance log, so others will know what the status/usage of the ice has been.

• All COVID-19 precautions are to be followed when entering the club and when preparing to go out on the ice. This includes hand sanitizing, signing in in the book at the entrance, wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing. Once all participants have arrived, the outer door will be locked to maintain club security while teams are on the ice.

• In preparation for leaving the club, please ensure that all tables, chairs and other surfaces that have been contacted by your group are sanitized and that chairs are leaned up against the tables to assure subsequent users that they have been sanitized. As usual, all lights in the club are to be turned off and the entrance doors are to be locked upon departure from the club.

Curling Club Operations under the Current Public Health Regulations

February 26, 2021

Based on the announcement of increased public health restrictions that was made today, we will once again have to restrict operations at the club for the next four weeks.  We will have to confirm some details for how our leagues can continue to operate (for members that live outside HRM), but the principal element of the restrictions that were announced today is that non-essential travel is to be avoided within the province, especially to and from the defined area which includes HRM and Hubbards. 

In November, similar direction was interpreted by the Chester Curling Club Board as follows:

Members of the club that live within the boundaries of HRM as designated in the latest restrictions, are forbidden by public health regulation to travel to the club.  If you live outside the HRM boundaries, but you, or a household member, travel regularly to HRM for essential activities, we would strongly recommend that you not participate in any club activities.  Equally, that recommendation would also apply to juniors who have parents that frequently travel to HRM.

We will continue to determine if this interpretation is appropriate to the current direction, but since the new restrictions take effect at 8:00 AM tomorrow, February 27, we are imposing this restriction on club operations until further notice.

Facility Use Guidelines For Practices

February 5, 2021

Team practices will be conducted under the following guidelines:

• Access will be limited to teams that regularly curl together and who have a coach or other volunteer who has been issued a key and is willing to act as the designated individual as defined in our Facilities Operation Plan  The designated individual is responsible to ensure that the ice shed is used safely and responsibly, and to ensure that all COVID-19 precautions are followed. If your team is unable to make arrangements with an authorized keyholder, please contact Dale Rafuse at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so arrangements can be made.

• For now, bookings are to be made in the ice book at the club and bookings must include the number of people in your group, in order to ensure that ice usage is coordinated and that the total number of participants does not exceed the public health limit of 100 participants. The club is actively exploring the feasibility of an online booking system for all ice usage which is actually part of our Curling Club Manager software. We are optimistic that one can be implemented in the very near future.  Updates will be provided as progress is made.

• The ice will be shaved regularly during the period of the restrictions and will not be available for practice at those times, which will be indicated in the ice book. It is up to the teams using the facility to prepare the ice for their own use, if they wish to do so. If you do pebble, nip, etc, please make the appropriate entry in the ice maintenance log, so others will know what the status/usage of the ice has been.

• All COVID-19 precautions are to be followed when entering the club and when preparing to go out on the ice. This includes hand sanitizing, signing in in the book at the entrance, wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing. Once all participants have arrived, the outer door will be locked to maintain club security while teams are on the ice.

• In preparation for leaving the club, please ensure that all tables, chairs and other surfaces that have been contacted by your group are sanitized and that chairs are leaned up against the tables to assure subsequent users that they have been sanitized. As usual, all lights in the club are to be turned off and the entrance doors are to be locked upon departure from the club.

Board Reorganization

February 5, 2021

Board Reorganization

I expect that many of you were surprised to receive my email last Saturday announcing the resignations of Beth Atherton and Terry Atherton from their respective official roles at the Chester Curling Club.  I apologize for not following up on that announcement sooner, but it has taken the remaining members of the Board a few days to adjust to these new circumstances.

In that email, I asked for the support and assistance of all members in dealing with this situation and, happily, we have had a number of offers to volunteer for a variety of tasks, both big and small.  As a result, I am pleased to announce the following changes in organization at the club.

At a Board of Directors meeting that was held on Tuesday night, Dale Rafuse was appointed to be the 2^nd Vice President of the Chester Curling Club.  This is in accordance with paragraph 26 of the Club By-Laws which allows the Board to fill a vacancy resulting from a resignation until the next election at a club AGM.  As part of his 2^nd VP role, Dale has agreed to act as Ice Coordinator which will involve coordination of ice maintenance activities as well as coordination of the ice booking procedures.  Any inquiries about booking ice for leagues or practice should be sent to him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The current booking procedures are on the club website.

At the same meeting, the Board voted to accept a kind offer from Cathy Rafuse to act in the non-voting role of Recording Secretary for the Board.  This is in accordance with paragraph 35 of the Club By-Laws.

The 1^st Vice President, Linda Townsend, has agreed to expand her role to include responsibility for all of the cleaning and sanitizing supplies at the club.  If you are at the club and there is a shortage of any of those items, please feel free to point it out to any Board member in attendance.  Failing that, please email Linda to report any deficiencies at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

As I indicated in my previous email, Tammy Rent and Michael Davies have agreed to assume responsibility for the Junior Program for the remainder of the year.  As Michael is a member of the Board of Directors, he will act as the official liaison between the Junior Program and the Board.

Another recent development at the club was that we were able to re-open the bar, and Carla Rafuse, the Past President and member of the Board, has agreed to oversee its operation.  She was doing that unofficially earlier in the year, but I would like to officially acknowledge that at this time.

I would like to thank everyone that I mentioned above for their ability to adapt on the fly and their willingness to take on new challenges.  We have a great Board team and I look forward to working with all of them for the remainder of the season.  I would also like to thank all the other folks that have made offers to help out in essential support roles like ice prep and bartender.  If you would like to help lighten the load even further by volunteering for any position, please approach the Board member responsible for the area that you are interested in or contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

This curling season has been an extraordinarily challenging one for everyone at the Chester Curling Club, as it has been for many people around the globe.

As a Board, we have been striving to support the physical and mental health benefits of curling for our members while staying within the current restrictions of the Public Health Orders — as we are required to do by law. We’re thrilled to be able to now offer all of our regular curling leagues, from junior to stick curling, from drop-in leagues to men’s, women’s and mixed leagues. THIS is what the Club is all about. 

We’re in the midst of a pandemic that is taking a terrible toll across Canada and around the world. As Nova Scotians, we’re lucky to live in a province where cases are low and we have the freedom to get together to curl and enjoy each other’s company, when so many other Canadians are in lockdown or, worse, facing the loss of a loved one.

To quote one of the kids getting out of his parent’s car on Sunday afternoon for his first league game in a long, long time: “I’m so excited!!”.

Let’s focus on enjoying a sport we all love and get out on the ice…

Sincerely,

Jeff Lamb

President

Chester Curling Club

League Play Resumes

Great news!  Beginning tomorrow, Monday January 25, we will be able to resume game play at the club for at least the next two weeks. 

We have reviewed the revised COVID-19 Facility Operation Plan that we issued on October 1 and it establishes standards that will allow us to operate in accordance with almost all of the current Public Health restrictions and offer all of our normal league play as well as to reinstate our bar service.  The only change from our previous policy is that we are not currently allowed to have any spectators in the facility for any practice or game situations.

The COVID Plan can be found at CCC COVID Plan Oct1. and we would recommend that all members give it another read in order to refresh their understanding of all of the procedures associated with curling safely at the club during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Wednesday and Thursday Night leagues plan to take up where they left off in the schedule before the holidays, but the Friday Night league will release a new schedule shortly.  The other leagues will operate as they were before the latest restrictions were imposed.  Members are welcome to take part in more than one league as there is not currently any requirement to stick with one exclusive group. 

The calendar and leagues schedules will be updated on the club website shortly, so be sure to check them out to confirm timings of all of your games.

Good Curling And Stay Safe!

Recreational Opportunities – Correction

Last Wednesday, we announced some new opportunities for members to join exclusive curling groups which would allow them to take part in recreational scrimmages that were understood, at that time, to be permissible under current public health restrictions.  Since that time, there has been considerable further investigation and discussion about this interpretation and the Board of Directors of the club has determined that scrimmages are not currently permitted after all.  Curling activities at the club will therefore be limited to practice only, pending revised government direction expected later this week.  We apologize for any confusion and disappointment that this may cause for our members.

In the meantime, we would like to maximize practice opportunities for our recreational members who may not be familiar or comfortable with booking ice time on their own for team practices.  To that end, we have asked the coordinators who had agreed to supervise our scrimmage arrangements to oversee practice activities during the regularly scheduled league times.

If there are 16 or less members who have expressed interest in taking part in a scheduled practice, then they will be able to go on the ice as existing teams or as teams formed by the coordinators for the purpose of practising and practice for the normal period of league play.  Each sheet will be limited to one group of four players and they must maintain physical distancing from the teams on adjacent sheets of ice.  If there are more than 16 people who wish to take part, then practice may be limited to one hour periods so that the additional players can get their turn to practice in a second session, as long as there are no more than 25 people in the facility at one time. 

Separate direction will be sent out for junior teams and their coaches.  Any non-junior teams that have been booking their own practice times may continue to do so outside of the scheduled practice groups and are requested to maintain physical distancing from any other teams that have booked at the same time.

Any members who would like to take part in the scheduled practice sessions, including those that are already taking part in independent practice sessions, should contact the coordinator on the list below for the session corresponding to the league in which they normally participate.  If you normally play in more than one league, please pick one so that everyone has a chance to get in some practice time.  If you have already expressed an interest in a time slot based on our direction of last week, then coordinators will assume that you plan to take part in these practice sessions this week. 

Chester Curling Club Recreational Opportunities – Clarification

On Wednesday, we announced some new opportunities for members to join curling “bubbles” which will allow them to take part in recreational scrimmages that are permissible under current health restrictions.  There were some formatting issues with our email and the specific direction to members was difficult for some to find as it was only in the second last paragraph of a relatively long email.  We are therefore issuing this clarification.

Any member of the curling club that would like to take part in curling starting next week is to choose one (and only one) of the curling “bubbles” listed below and contact the coordinator to express interest in participating.  Requests can be made on an individual or team basis, as capacity allows and priority will be given to people who normally participated in the corresponding league that was in place prior to the introduction of health restrictions.

The size of the bubbles is limited by public health restrictions to 25 people.  As the bubbles approach the maximum capacity, we may have to look at more than one draw on a popular night, asking folks to move to another bubble that is not yet at capacity or creating an additional bubble on Monday nights.  Once the bubbles have been set, coordinators will provide instructions to bubble members about final timing and other logistical arrangements.

Because this is a temporary arrangement, we ask for the patience and understanding of all members as we sort things out. 

For more details on the background for this decision and these arrangements, please refer to the Chester Curling Club email sent at 4:43 PM on January 13.

Chester Curling Club Recreational Opportunities

Good News, everyone! The NSCA has recently clarified the current public health restrictions around the sport of curling and our club is now able to offer additional curling opportunities in addition to the current team practice options.

We are now able to allow members to take part in curling scrimmages under the following conditions:

1. There are allowed to be up to 25 participants in the ice shed at the same time, but they must be part of a consistent, exclusive group. This means that we can offer a regular playing opportunity to a “bubble” of up to 25 people, but that bubble can only include the same participants each time they play. It also means that a member of one bubble cannot take part in any other bubble. This restriction is meant to reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19 outside of each limited bubble.

2. There can be no officials, scoring, events, league standings or ladder system that would promote competitive intensity. These scrimmages or practices are meant to be recreational or developmental opportunities, not competitive activities that might promote risky behaviours in contravention of COVID-19 precautions. For example, a bubble of six teams (24 people) may play against different teams within the bubble each time they play for the sake of variety, but not in the interests of recording scores and naming champions at the end of the season.

3. Restrictions on travel to Chester for members living within HRM boundaries were removed in mid-December, so all club members are eligible to take part in any of the proposed bubbles.

These arrangements may only be relevant for a short period of time, since current public health restrictions are in place until midnight on January 24. At that time, they may be reduced, increased or extended and we will have to adjust accordingly at that time. We would therefore like to offer the following ad hoc opportunities for at least the remainder of this week and next:

Bubble Coordinator Email Phone

Day Mary Raine This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 902-273-2085
Doug Ross

Stick Jim Mason This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 902-483-7440

Tuesday Night Jeff Lamb This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 902-452-6315

Wednesday Night Tammy Rent This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 902-483-9086
Cathy Rafuse

Thursday Night Darrin Hatt This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 902-277-0493

Friday Night Gary Clark This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  902-275-1417

Junior bubbles will be coordinated by Beth Atherton and a separate email will be sent to all junior members and coaches with instructions for them. All non-junior members of the club who wish to take part in any of the groups listed above are to contact the coordinator of the group that they wish to join by phone or email as soon as possible. Requests can be made on an individual or team basis, as capacity allows. As the lists approach the maximum capacity, we may have to look at more than one draw on a popular night or asking folks to move to another bubble that is not yet at capacity. Once the bubbles have been set, coordinators will provide instructions to bubble members about timing and other logistical arrangements.

Because this is a temporary arrangement, we ask for the patience and understanding of all members as we sort things out.

Facility Use Guidelines Update (2)

January 10 - 24, 2021

It was announced on Friday that the public health restrictions originally announced on December 16 are being extended to at least January 24.  

Under these restrictions, sports practices and training may take place, but must be limited to a maximum of 25 people.  Games or tournaments are not permitted.  

All curling games at the Chester Curling Club, including league play and drop-in games, will therefore be cancelled for the period of the restrictions.  The only curling activities that will be allowed in the club will be team practices involving regular team members and coaches.  

Team practices will be conducted under the following guidelines:

• Access will be limited to teams that regularly curl together and who have a coach or other volunteer who has been issued a key and is willing to act as the designated individual as defined in our Facilities Operation Plan  The designated individual is responsible to ensure that the ice shed is used safely and responsibly, and to ensure that all COVID-19 precautions are followed. If your team is unable to make arrangements with an authorized keyholder, please contact Beth Atherton at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so arrangements can be made.

• Bookings are to made in the ice book at the club and bookings must include the number of people in your group, in order to ensure that ice usage is coordinated and that the total number of participants does not exceed the public health limit of 25 participants.

• The ice will be shaved regularly during the period of the restrictions and will not be available for practice at those times, which will be indicated in the ice book. It is up to the teams using the facility to prepare the ice for their own use, if they wish to do so. If you do pebble, nip, etc, please make the appropriate entry in the ice maintenance log, so others will know what the status/usage of the ice has been.

• All COVID-19 precautions are to be followed when entering the club and when preparing to go out on the ice. This includes hand sanitizing, signing in in the book at the entrance, wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing. Once all participants have arrived, the outer door will be locked to maintain club security while teams are on the ice.

• In preparation for leaving the club, please ensure that all tables, chairs and other surfaces that have been contacted by your group are sanitized and that chairs are leaned up against the tables to assure subsequent users that they have been sanitized. As usual, all lights in the club are to be turned off and the entrance doors are to be locked upon departure from the club.

Facility Use Guidelines

December 21 2020 – January 10 2021
New public health restrictions were announced on December 16 and they will have a significant impact on the operations of the Chester Curling Club for the next few weeks. The new restrictions take effect at midnight on Sunday, December 20 and last until at least January 10.

Under these restrictions, sports practices and training may take place, but must be limited to a maximum of 25 people. Games or tournaments are not permitted.

All curling games, including league play and drop-in games will therefore be cancelled for the period of the restrictions. The only curling activities that will be allowed in the club will be team practices involving regular team members and coaches.

Team practices will be conducted under the following guidelines:

Access will be limited to teams that regularly curl together and who have a coach or other volunteer who has been issued a key and is willing to act as the designated individual as defined in our Facilities Operation Plan The designated individual is responsible to ensure that the ice shed is used safely and responsibly, and to ensure that all COVID-19 precautions are followed. If your team is unable to make arrangements with an authorized keyholder, please contact Beth Atherton at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so arrangements can be made.

Bookings are to made in the ice book at the club and bookings must include the number of people in your group, in order to ensure that ice usage is coordinated and that the total number of participants does not exceed the public health limit of 25 participants.  The ice will be shaved on the afternoons of December 22, 23, 27, 29, January 2, 5, 7, and the 10th and will not be available for practice at those times. It is up to the teams using the facility to prepare the ice for their own use, if they wish to do so. If you do pebble, nip, etc, please make the appropriate entry in the ice maintenance log, so others will know what the status/usage of the ice has been.  All COVID-19 precautions are to be followed when entering the club and when preparing to go out on the ice. This includes hand sanitizing, signing in in the book at the entrance, wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing. Once all participants have arrived, the outer door will be locked to maintain club security while teams are on the ice.

In preparation for leaving the club, please ensure that all tables, chairs and other surfaces that have been contacted by your group are sanitized and that chairs are leaned up against the tables to assure subsequent users that they have been sanitized. As usual, all lights in the club are to be turned off and the entrance doors are to be locked upon departure from the club.