That Mother Nature, she sure knows how to take the skip out of our steps with that wintery blast we received March 20, 21 and 22. With winter dragging on, how on Earth did our third month of 2015 go by so quickly?
Wishing my Maidstone readers some well wishes as they both have experienced some recent surgeries. Here鈥檚 to enjoying spring in good health and on the mend.
Here is what hockey season has brought to Unity so far. The Peewee Sperle/Scherr team captured the Highway 14 League championship title. The Atom Lazers captured the consolation side of their league playoffs. The Bantam Risling/McLean team captured the Highway 14 League championship title.
Left playing is the peewee provincial team in the provincial final against Balgonie, starting the series at home March 21 with a 4-1 victory and now heading down south for game two. The bantam provincial team will also play for the provincial title and also hosted game one in the series at home; however they were not so lucky and lost their opening game by a score of 5-2. Next weekend both teams will finish off their provincial quests and hopes are high for two provincial titles.
A big shout-out to Mr. Weber who used his rocking guitar skills to amp up the peewee provincial team by doing a fantastic job of playing the national anthem on his electric guitar. Mr. Weber is part of the Danny and the Dusters band and this unique rendition of O Canada is making its rounds on social media sites.
St. Peter鈥檚 School continues to experience a very busy period leading up to Easter break. April 17 is the school community council sponsored family dance and silent auction, and replies are needed by April 2. It will be a great night of fun and fellowship so you won鈥檛 want to miss out.
Unity Public School held their Celebration of Learning student-led conferences this week to follow up on report cards sent home. This gives parents and students a chance to work together on their outcomes for the final months of this school year.
UPS will participate in the April 1 pink shirt day bringing awareness to anti-bullying measures.
Five Grade 3 students 鈥� Jack Brebner, Camara Brown, Karlee Krentz, Jayce Rabut and Evan Rozek 鈥� and Miss Riddell spent a day at a Minecraft Symposium in North Battleford, March 17. The symposium was put on by the Living Sky School Division and had 45 participants, including students from Grades 2 to 10 and several teachers from six schools. Minecraft is a computer game, and app, which allows players to create worlds where they build structures and complete tasks to survive. It was said, 鈥淚t will be an interesting challenge to see if we can incorporate Minecraft into our learning at Unity Public School in the future.鈥�
At Unity Composite High School, the only basketball left on the courts was the senior girls鈥� team who advanced to regional playdowns in Caronport March 20 weekend. After winning their opening game, the team rallied to get into playoff Saturday but were not able to overcome a tough Caronport squad and came home without that coveted provincial berth. These girls had a fabulous season where they not only gave it 100 per cent each and every game, they also chose to give back by hosting their pink game fundraiser earning just over $2,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.
Regular season badminton is in full swing and track and field season will begin early April with indoor practices.
The drama club edges ever closer to their productions for both public and the Regional Drama Festival coming up right after the Easter break.
April 1 will be a huge day at UCHS. The @UCHSActivate campaign culminates with guest speaker Kevin Brooks, as well as classes demonstrating their 鈥淎ctivate鈥� projects. There has been a lot of work and determination in this campaign, including the successful earning of a grant through the campaign. Congratulations to the Positive School Climate Committee for creating this campaign, especially those students and staff who have been largely in charge of implementing it.
UCHS is excited the football field reconstruction is underway beginning with the arrival of those giant piles of dirt that will soon make way for re-crowning of the field used for high school and minor football, as well as for the soccer program and the wellness programs at the high school. Fundraising began with Unity鈥檚 runner-up win in the Riderville competition back in 2010 and continued with the Warrior program, as well as with Unity Minor Football.
The Hall of Honour committee has now opened nominations for the UCHS Hall of Honour with six categories. The deadline for nominations is April 15.
Congratulations to Unity kids who took part in another winter sport this season as they competed in ski racing as part of a group from Table Mountain 鈥� Mackenna Vany, Breanna and Alexis Elder, Megan Brown, Dylan Poschenreider and Ashton Brebner 鈥斅� while Daley Vany was part of the Nancy Greene program. Their season took them to several venues including Fort Qu鈥橝ppelle and wound up with their last event on home turf at Table Mountain.
The town will soon welcome a new recreation director, Cora Fischer, who will replace Nicole Goldsworthy. Nicole will be happily welcoming a long awaited addition to their family and will be on maternity leave come April. Cora has accepted the maternity leave position and will start April 27.
Saturday, March 28 the arena will be preparing for the 11th annual Delta Co-op Easter egg hunt for kids. This has been a huge event that has evolved since it began in 2004 to a terrific event now held in our local arena. Parents and grandparents enjoy sitting in the stands to watch the action while kids, ages 0-10, have lots of fun collecting eggs and opening them for the chance to win some prizes.
The event is also blessed with Cooper, the co-op mascot. and his sidekick, the Easter bunny. In addition, Compass Minerals (Sifto) provides hot dogs and juice for the participants. Hop on down to see what all of the excitement is about.
The annual Way of the Cross Walk will once again take place on Good Friday, beginning at 10 a.m. The walk starts at Unity United Church and ends with hot chocolate and hot cross buns at the Anglican Church Hall. Everyone is welcome to journey the Stations of the Cross together.
Another open house hosted by the Town of Unity will take place April 8 with respect to the new Loraas recycling program coming to Unity beginning May 1. Folks are welcome to hear a presentation and the floor will be open to a question and answer session from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. From 7:30 鈥� 8:30 p.m., the businesses will have their turn for the same format.
Another spring trade show is lined up for April 18 at the Unity Curling Rink. I believe this is the third year of this event and it has always been a popular shopping option. Watch for more details on this spring event coming up.
Don鈥檛 forget, this year is the 35th anniversary celebrations for Unity Museum. This venue is a popular destination for photo sittings and it is a great place to bring friends and family to enjoy not only the historic past of Unity but to breath in the fresh air and beautiful surroundings. The museum committee is getting older and members are always looking for younger folks to join the group to assist with some of their fundraisers and the work parties needed to keep the grounds and museum in the beautiful glory we are all accustomed to.
Coffee row folks certainly are chatting about the blast of winter that returned to us on the first day of spring. Thoughts turn to the return of ball teams to the ball diamonds. Spring seeding stories will soon dominate the topic tables. It鈥檚 a familiar part of our morning rituals as these folks gather to review, commend, debate and theorize all the aspects of Saskatchewan life in daily conversations. No matter what the topic is, or which side of topic table they are on, we can be sure they will reconvene tomorrow for a chance to catch up on current events and community activities as well as sharing a few laughs along the way.聽 So you see we keep busy in Unity with activities and wisdom from our friends on coffee row.聽 Until next time 鈥�
