If you don鈥檛 know what Feb. 14 represents by now, you better do some quick learning. You can scoff at it as hokey or you can get on board. Nonetheless, don鈥檛 forget it doesn鈥檛 have to be a grandiose gesture to tell someone special they are thought of this Valentine鈥檚 Day.
The continued February birthday blitz in our families is on as we鈥檝e celebrated two already and I will enjoy all the perks of a Valentine鈥檚 birthday as my family seems to never forget mine. Happy birthday to my husband on Feb. 17. The cake escapade continues.
Sadness was felt within the community as residents send their condolences to the Bonogofski family on the loss of Charles as well as to the Surine family on the loss of their twins this past six weeks. Please keep these families in your prayers.
Curling news has plenty of action both on local and away ice. Junior teams had competed in bonspiels in Provost Jan. 16 where team Spendelow finished with a record of 2-1 and came home with some cash and prizes. At the Lloydminster bonspiel team Bakken had a successful run right into Sunday鈥檚 semifinal and, although they couldn鈥檛 quite score the steal in the final end, also came home with some cash and prizes. Boys鈥� and a girls鈥� junior teams competed at the Tim Horton鈥檚 junior spiel in North Battleford Feb. 5 weekend.
These lead-up bonspiels are giving the kids much experience and extra game practice for upcoming school district events to be held in Unity Feb. 23 and 24.
The men鈥檚 bonspiel is already underway this week, starting games Feb. 9 and running into the weekend. The club is also taking entries for the upcoming Oilman鈥檚 Bonspiel taking place the first weekend in March as well as the ladies鈥� annual spiel in mid-March. Call the club at 306-228-2212 if you need any details or want to register a team.
Curling fans were excited to watch some local players in the SaskTel Tankard provincial event that took place in Kindersley. Josh Heidt and their adopted UCC mentors, the Steve Laycock team, played into the weekend. UCC has one local player already qualified for senior provincials and are looking towards two men鈥檚 teams to also qualify for this event coming up in mid-February at the Twin Rivers Curling Club in North Battleford.
All three schools in Unity are heading into February break that begins with the Family Day holiday Monday.
At St. Peter鈥檚 , the choir will be singing for Sunday mass March 6. There is also a brunch and bingo on this Sunday. Choir, choral speakers and band students are busy getting ready for the annual Unity Music Festival. Some of the grades as well as the choir and band will be participating. The festival will take place the week of April 11-15.
Unity Public School has welcomed a couple of teachers back from maternity leaves. Staff and students will also be ramping up practices for the upcoming music festival. UPS will recognize the official Red Cross Pink Day April 24, raising awareness for bullying prevention. As well division two students will head to Table Mountain for ski day Feb. 26.
For those of you wondering why schools save those Campbell鈥檚 labels, here is a great story from UPS. The school sent out a huge thanks to UPS families and supporters of the Campbell鈥檚 labels program as they accumulated a sufficient number of product labels to redeem for two smaller parachutes for gym activities, a body ball game and two new digital cameras for the yearbook folks. A huge bouquet was sent to Mrs. Rusk for all of her volunteer time in sorting, flattening and counting the labels.
Drop-off bins are at both food stores in Unity as well as at the school so continue to deliver flat Campbell鈥檚 labels for, as you can see, the school can reap great benefits from this program.
St. Peter鈥檚 School also has collection bins at both food stores as well as at their school for Campbell鈥檚 labels so donors have a choice of which school they would like to benefit.
Unity Composite High School jumps into basketball season with seniors wrapping up with district and conference playdowns after the break. Drama students will continue to fine tune their spring and regional drama festival production. The positive school climate committee is feverishly ramping up excitement for their 鈥淒ay of Activation鈥� set to take place in April.
There is no rest for hockey teams at the area. Teams are into playoffs for both league titles and provincial quests. With multiple teams in some divisions, this makes for a busy schedule at the hockey arena.
The Miners were down to their last life in league playoffs facing off against a tough Biggar Nationals team. They unfortunately lost the best-of-three Sask. West Hockey League series in two straight games, putting an end to their season. With a young team of local players, including a number of rookies this year, hopes are high for next year.
The Wilkie Outlaws, using the Unity arena, are still in the hunt as the top targeted team for their SWHL playoffs and soon-to-be-played provincial playoff games
Unity has been selected as one of the host sites for the Girls鈥� Prairie League Softball tournaments the last weekend in May, bringing 30 teams of peewee, bantam and midget girls鈥� teams to our diamonds. This will be in addition to Minor Ball Day held in early May, as well as the U12 鈥淐鈥� North Provincial Championships held in July and Western Canadian U21 Ladies鈥� Softball Championships coming August long weekend.
This is going to be a fantastic ball season. Registration is taking place March 1 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the community centre with the annual meeting to follow.
Tickets are now on sale for the upcoming March 7 edition of the 鈥淐elebrate Unity鈥� gala which recognizes milestone anniversaries in the business community, exemplary service of community members and much more. This year, the evening is featuring Safire 鈥� a fire performer and hoop dancer 鈥� as the entertainment.
In light of recent thefts and break-ins in our area, the Unity RCMP are encouraging anyone interested in joining a Unity Citizens on Patrol program to contact Unity RCMP. As well, they will be holding an information and recruitment evening to provide more information about the program and to meet with potential volunteers. Once a date and location have been secured, the information will be posted.
As Telemiracle 40 edges closer, continue to support those groups or folks who are fundraising in town for this truly Saskatchewan charity. Unity dancer聽 Presli O鈥橠onnell will be performing Saturday night of the telethon and she is taking along the school donations to present.
Coffee row folks are talking about losses of community members and sharing memories. They are talking about the Zika virus and all that it entails. They are also enjoying happier conversations when discussing curling and hockey seasons whether locally, provincially or nationally. And exciting events upcoming as well as those recently announced have residents looking forward to what鈥檚 to come in our community. As always, you can be assured, these folks can lay it all on the line when sharing what they鈥檙e passionate about in the news, yet no matter which side of the topic table they are on, they always reconvene the next day with a smile. So, you see we keep busy in Unity with activities and wisdom from our friends on coffee row. Until next time ...
