Rob Swan curled at his home rink at the Harvey Curling Club for the first time this weekend. He spent the winter curling 100 games at 100 different rinks across the country, raising money for his home club.
In the last number of years three nearby curling clubs have closed, putting more pressure on the Harvey Station club to stay open. But the 54-year-old building needs some costly upgrades, including municipal water and sewer hook-ups.
“We had a large, large problem with our ice plant, which has cost us a lot of money,” said Lisa Steven.
The ice plant was bought secondhand from another club that closed.
Swan said curling clubs across the country are struggling to stay open.
“One club that I curled at in October has already made the decision not to re-open next year,” he said.
He said he didn’t solicit any of the clubs for donations, because they were struggling too.
“Some of the smallest clubs in this country donated the biggest amount of money,” he said. “It says a lot about small-town curling clubs in this country.”
Swan’s cross-country tour raised more than $6,000. He said he wants to see more government help for curling.
“Municipal, provincial and federal support of this sport, we need it,” he said.
Swan curled in all three Maritime provinces this year, as well as Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta. He said he hopes to visit the remaining provinces and territories next year.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore
