If you are a Friday-the-13th-superstitious-kind of folk, then hide under your covers this Nov. 13. We are at mid-November already. The community is gearing up for some busy days ahead with multiple activities on the horizon.
I must extend a thank you to RPN English who wrote the nice thank you letter to the editor in the Nov. 5 edition of the Regional Optimist. I am glad my writing helped you and other nurses feel appreciated. Not one single word of that editorial was written with anything less than sincere appreciation and forever gratefulness.
This community is mourning a great loss: 98-year-old Second World War veteran, Bill Fleming, passed away and his funeral service was held Nov. 7. Fleming was one of our Canadian soldier heroes who landed on Juno Beach in 1944. All of us know of this event only through history books, social studies classes and history channels, however Fleming lived to tell the tale. His service to our country and our freedom is immeasurable.
Fleming returned home to also be of great service to our community, dedicating himself lifelong to the museum as well as being a lifelong active Legion member who served at many Remembrance Day services. Fleming was so heartfelt with his genuine appreciation to students who participated in the poster and essay contests that he left each of these kids with a smile, many of the younger ones not realizing they were shaking hands with a real live action superhero.
Fleming, offering his great smile, sense of humour and musical talents to a number of events and activities in Unity, was well-known, well-respected and well-loved. May he rest in peace. Thank you, brave soldier!
The most wise words I had seen regarding veterans was 鈥淎 veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank cheque payable to their country for an amount up to, and including, their life.鈥�
Unity residents learned from a recent article in the local paper that the town public works director, Collin Field, is also a veteran, having served as a military engineer from 1979 to 2000. His work was primarily with UN and NATO tours that included peacekeeping, peacemaking and some war-time action in Afghanistan.
Unity Public School staff and students held their school Remembrance Day Service Nov. 10 and also paid tribute to long-time veteran Bill Fleming, who had attended their services regularly, enthusiastically and warmly thanking all the students for their participation in the annual Remembrance Day poster contests.
Report cards will be sent home Nov. 13 with student-led conferences following on Nov. 18 and 19. There will be no school Nov. 23.
St. Peter鈥檚 School added a special touch to their Remembrance Day services by dedicating the service to Bill Fleming, knowing they will forever remember and treasure his dedication to our country, his community and the local Legion.
Report cards will be going home for term one Nov. 16 with student-led conferences to follow Nov. 17 and 18. The book fair will run at St. Peter鈥檚 from Nov. 16 to 19 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There will be a sacramental preparation parent meeting with Father Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
Grade 6 volleyball players will head to a tournament in North Battleford Nov. 19.
The choir and band will be working extra diligently in the days ahead preparing for many performances leading up to Christmas, where they will be sharing their gift of music.
Unity Composite High School is humming right along in their school year. Students had the distinct privilege to hear post-traumatic stress disorder speaker and comedian, Bobby Henline, speak and entertain at their school Nov. 6, as part of an upcoming Wounded Warriors event in North Battleford later that evening. UCHS students had the great fortune of hosting Henline. They were inspired and intrigued by his story as well as sharing lots of laughs as he demonstrated the sense of humour that has taken him through some of his darkest days since his terrible misfortune during his last tour of duty in Iraq.
It was a great presentation to kick off the ACTIVATE鈥檚 newest focus on managing stress, coping skills and anxiety issues. Following Henline鈥檚 presentation, students broke up into their intramural houses and had a 鈥淪CREAMFEST鈥� with the decibel meter logging the loudest group. Winners enjoyed an ice cream feast over the lunch hour.
Congratulations to both the junior boys鈥� and the junior girls鈥� volleyball teams who both captured district gold at this year鈥檚 championships. Senior volleyball teams are ramping up their practices and games in preparation for their conference playdowns.
Students are invited to spend another way interacting and creating in the library/tinker space that offers FAB lunches, robotics equipment to build 鈥渂ots鈥� as well as Lego creations, crafting activities and, soon to come, the green space recording area.
The drama team are but a few weeks away from their Dec. 8 and 9 public production performances. Folks who love live theatre can always count on terrific drama performances, this year along with local guests serenading their audience and even a dessert theatre is part of the evening鈥檚 events.
All of these programs work to create citizens who follow the UCHS 鈥渢hree beliefs of Respect, Responsibility and Choose to Learn.鈥�
Before heading into rink news I am happy to share this thank you from our neighbours in Wilkie: 鈥淭he Town of Wilkie would genuinely like to thank the surrounding communities for their unwavering and ongoing help and support offered to the Town of Wilkie throughout the difficult process of repairing the town鈥檚 community centre. The generous offers to use facilities and recreational space in other communities has not gone unnoticed. Without these gracious offers, our local hockey players and curlers would not be able to participate in these recreational activities this season.鈥�
If you haven鈥檛 yet heard of the upcoming Montreal Canadiens alumni hockey tour event, then you鈥檝e been hibernating. The committee has only 14 more days to prepare for the big day. Although the bids have closed on the exclusive positions with the Canadiens, there are still opportunities to get in on the fabulous silent auction items displayed at Unity Credit Union. Also many locations have the progressive 50/50 tickets on sale as well as game tickets and VIP tickets to be part of the post-game meet and greet.聽 Don鈥檛 miss your chance to be part of this experience.
Not only are you attending a once in a lifetime event right in your home town, you are helping to support the fundraising initiative of this group to benefit the Unity Food Bank, the Unity Community Resource Centre and Unity Minor Hockey, with some assistance also being offered to the Wilkie arena fundraising program.
聽Please contact Carey Baker at 306-228-2621 for more details on any aspects of this big game coming to Unity.
Hockey night in Unity is nearly every night as, once again, Unity Minor Hockey hosts multiple teams in every division but midget, where there is one midget AA team. As well the Unity Miners have begun playing their games and Unity opened ice time for the Wilkie Outlaws to have their home games in Unity after their devastating arena fire left them with no rink to play at. There are also a number of recreation hockey teams taking up any 鈥渟pare鈥� ice time; while the Unity Skating Club rounds out the intensely busy arena schedule.
The Wilke Outlaws will host another 鈥渉ome鈥� game in Unity Nov. 13, while the Midget AA Lazers will host a late afternoon game Nov. 14 and another home game Sunday at 2 p.m. Next weekend, the Outlaws will once again have the Friday night spot while the Miners will take on Eatonia Saturday. Check out the Sask. West Hockey League complete schedule online for senior hockey games as well as the Centre Four Hockey League website for our midget AA schedule.
All arena schedules can be found either posted at the rink or on the Unity Recreation Arena Facebook page or online at the townofunity.com website. Don鈥檛 miss a minute of the live action at your local hockey rink.
The Unity Curling Club is thrilled to be hosting a full house every night of the week. Thirty junior curlers and a record high seven volunteer instructors have signed on for the Monday night junior curling program. Twenty-two teams are playing in the Tuesday league, 11 teams in Wednesday super league, and a record high 13 teams in the Thursday night league. This is in addition to the multiple high school teams who are practising for their season on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school.
You can come on any league night of Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and watch a game from the large spacious lounge with far end TVs for those closest to the button calls. Then join your favourite team or curler in the lounge for a beverage after the game.
A team of gents from Unity Credit Union and a team of gents from Delta Co-op have challenged each other in Movember. Some of the participants were long-time mustache men, but all shaved clean to start off November and are enjoying some light-hearted friendly competition while seeing which team can 鈥済row the mo鈥� the best.
A big congratulations is extended to Ray and Jeanne Cummings who celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary this November. Wishing this wonderful couple, who always sport the biggest smiles and are so supportive, warm and caring to all they meet, the very best on this milestone anniversary.
If you are an interested vendor or shopper there is a Christmas sale coming up Nov. 26 at the Anglican Church Hall, which will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with already several vendors lined up. It鈥檚 another excellent opportunity to support local independent business people while knocking off some of your shopping list early.
Ladies, the annual Unity Community Resource Centre ladies鈥� movie night out is coming up Nov. 19. The evening starts with a wine and cheese at 7:30 p.m., followed by the movie at 8 p.m. Only 100 tickets will be sold. Contact the UCRC to get your ticket to benefit this facility in our community.
Coffee row folks 鈥� it鈥檚 a good thing there is always an abundance of coffee to be had as the numerous activities that take place in Unity every week keep these conversation tables buzzing. Some may be still talking Grey Cup or CFL, but most conversations have moved to local and NHL hockey talk, as well as local and competitive curling talk. Winter predictions are starting to be a part of these daily coffee college rituals too. So, you see we keep busy in Unity with activities and wisdom from our friends on coffee row. Until next time 鈥�
