The first day of spring and we are rewarded with blizzard number 34. These sequels are getting tiresome!
Boy oh boy, that was an ugly one. By afternoon of March 20 most highways in the area were closed or travel was not recommended and, with snow joining the wind's forces March 21. Dozens of stories came out of this storm, including the most prominent one regarding the VIA train stranded behind a freight train near Tako for almost 22 hours, gaining CBC national news coverage. With all this additional weather near the end of March, residents will certainly be on flood watch once the snow cover starts to turn into flowing water.
How did Easter get here so quickly? And who remembers the weather last year at this time? I bet those memories do not include mounds and mounds of snow on the ground. Happy Easter to everyone and wishing you safe travels and lots of fun family time.
Badminton is in full swing at UCHS. UCHS is also now accepting nominations for the Hall of Honour of graduates who have been out of school for a minimum of 10 years and have achieved success in academics, arts, athletics, citizenship or humanities. You can get the application from the school's website.
At UPS, report cards came out March 22. Kids were disappointed when their annual ski trip was cancelled due to the horrible weather March 21, however, organizers are crossing their fingers a reschedule can happen before the hill closes this week. Students will be enjoying a week-long Easter break before heading back to classes April 8.
St. Peter's School staff and students will also be enjoying a week-long Easter break before returning to classes.
Winning game one of league playoffs in Elrose, the impressive Midget A Lazers faced off again back in Unity March 26.
Undefeated in provincial playoffs, the midget team played game one of provincial finals against Swift Current March 22 and skated to a 4-3 victory. Game two of the two-game total-point series was to take place in Swift Current, March 27 with a bus load going to cheer the boys on.
With both peewee teams capturing league titles in their respective divisions, hopes were hung high on the combined peewee provincial team. Advancing to the provincial final, the peewees faced off against Wynard. Game one was held in Unity March 22 but did not have the results the team was hoping and they went down in defeat. They returned to Wynyard March 24 where they lost again.
The West Central Midget AA girls' team which includes Unity gal, Heather Wood, have already captured the provincial midget AA girls' title and now play in the league final, starting with game one in Saskatoon coming up this week. They are two wins away from capping off their successful season by winning the league championship.
The curling club did not get to finish off their season the way they had hoped. The last night of Tuesday league was a hit but it went downhill with the weather from there. Wednesday's super league consolation final was a no-go, as was the last night of Thursday league curling. In addition, to the dismay of curlers and organizers alike, the weekend's scheduled year end funspiel was a bust with only four entries.
Unity Curling Club sent Team Heidt to the mixed curling provincials in Eston where the team had dropped to the C event by Friday and were due to face off against another Heidt team. Their turn at this title was not to be and they came home empty-handed. The executive will host a windup event and meeting and are already making plans for next season that will include hosting senior men's and ladies' provincials in 2014.
We Day inspiration has already started in Unity with projects taking place before the event, several penny collections at recent events in town and now three UCHS girls took up the cause, saying, "we wanted to help not just causes outside our community, but we wanted to direct some funding into causes inside our community." So Jessica Weber, Jenna Winterhalt and Toni Burnell organized, arranged for baking, picked up the goods and hauled it all into the co-op on a Saturday morning to host a bake sale with proceeds being split between the Unity Community Resource Centre and the Frocklage fire fund.
The Ministerial Association's Way of the Cross Walk held annually on Good Friday was cancelled due to the amount of snow on town streets.
Unity Credit Union held their annual general meeting March 26. Three new board members were voted in.
With the success of several hockey teams who are thus still playing, the Delta Co-op annual Easter egg hunt has now moved to April 6. Nothing else has changed.
The Unity Wildlife Federation will be holding firearm safety classes in April. Interested individuals should call the Unity schools for an application or M. Bosch at the RM office, 306-228-2248.
Congratulations, Don Leitch, retired United Church minister, on his 80th birthday. Family and friends joined in a surprise celebration March 24 and, to no one's surprise, he still had some of the best jokes and stories of the evening.
There was nothing else on the coffee row table this week other than reviewing that terrible weather system we just experienced and the mounds of 10-foot-plus high drifts it has left across the area, as well as lamenting on just how much more winter we are going to get. Okay, they did talk a little about curling, reviewing the Team Canada women's results from world curling as well as making their predictions for the upcoming world men's curling. In spite of the depressing weather, this is a fun group full of laughter and optimism. So you see we keep busy in Unity with activities and wisdom from our friends on coffee row. Until next week
