Radisson Royal Purple (RP) held their regular meeting Feb. 4 at the Radisson Seniors' Centre with six members coming in the afternoon to judge posters, followed by a short business meeting. There were 96 posters from Grades 1 to 8 from Borden and Maymont schools on the theme Healthy Choices/Addictions Awareness. There are cash prizes for first, second and third in each grade for both schools. The students get a certificate and Smarties.
The winning posters in beginner, primary, junior and intermediate grades go on to provincial competition at the end of February. At the meeting the Lodge gave a donation to Telemiracle and will donate the cost of 200 small RP bags to the Radisson centennial committee.
Borden volunteer firemen hosted the Provincial Firefighters' Bonspiel Feb. 8 - 10, with curling in Radisson and the banquet in Borden Saturday. At the opening ceremonies Friday afternoon, master of ceremonies Jamie Brandrick introduced special guests. Welcoming the curlers were MLA Randy Weekes, Mayor Don Tanner, deputy reeve of RM Great Bend No. 405 Gary Nickel and Borden Fire Chief Terry Tkaczyk.
The teams were from Borden, Radisson, Leask, Moosomin, two from Regina and two from Saskatoon. Leading the curlers in, carrying signs of where they were from, were the Borden junior curlers - Graham Sargent, Sara Prescesky, Wyatt Piprell, Rachel Sutherland, Clayton Wiebe, Brett Reiter, Sarah Sleidriecht and Natalie Anderson. Flag bearers were Ian Tracksell of Borden and Emma Pidwerbesky from Borden School. Throwing the ceremonial first rock was former Borden fire chief Graham Derbowka.
The tournament was a triple knockout format and Borden and Radisson were both eliminated by Saturday afternoon. At the banquet Saturday evening, served by the Borden Lions Club, there were 80 guests - curlers, volunteer firemen and their spouses, along with volunteer drivers. Borden firefighters had a progressive 50/50 draw and the winner of $700 was Vern Harrison from Saskatoon. Entertainment was provided by Matt Fairbrother as Elvis and by JAM - Matt and Avery Fairbrother and Jamie Brandrick.
The curling wrapped up Sunday, with the A winner - Greg Tarasoff's team from Saskatoon - defeating the B winner, losing to the C winner and then winning the final game against the C side. Greg's team will represent Saskatchewan at the nationals in Saint John, N.B., March 22 - 31.
The Prairie Women on Snowmobiles (PWOS) stopped in Radisson Feb. 7 for noon lunch at the Radisson Communiplex. Many from Radisson and some from Borden also purchased lunch; the Communiplex/recreation members served hamburgers, chicken burgers or chicken strips with fries or onion rings along with a salad and cupcakes for dessert.
Donations were collected by Tami Ruzesky and were presented to the PWOS and they in turn had merchandise and tickets for sale. The PWOS were en route to Hafford, Speers and North Battleford, then Feb. 8 stopped at Meota and Glaslyn before arriving back in Meadow Lake after travelling the province, leaving from Big River Feb. 1. This tour raised $209,885.42 and in the past 13 years has raised over $1.8 million; 100 per cent stays in Saskatchewan to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research.
