STEPHEN RICCIO
SHAWVILLE Nov. 4, 2020
During the Oct. 21 MRC council meeting, economic development director Cyndy Phillips announced that 13 non-profit organizations throughout the MRC would receive grants from the FRR program for various projects. In total, $426,726.33 was awarded through the fund.
Virtual golf simulator
The Shawville Curling Club’s intention to swap out their underused squash court for a virtual golf simulator is one step closer to being a reality following the MRC Pontiac’s announcement to grant the club $51,693.97.
Andrew Rowat, president of the Pontiac’s sole curling club, said that while the money has yet to be officially delivered and no official sign off has taken place, it’s a welcome sign during a time of uncertainty.
“It’s fantastic news, it’s really good news,” he said. “[The golf simulator] may be the only thing that will be running at that building this winter.”
The club had already wanted to revamp the seldom used space before finding out about the grant.
After throwing around the idea of finding private citizens who would want to purchase a golf simulator and then rent the club’s space, Rowat and Jeff Russell, former club president, saw the curling club’s opportunity for the grant and pounced on it.
“[It’s] a new venture to incorporate inside an ideal location,” Rowat explained. “Jeff took over the application [and] he got letters of support from the municipalities.”
The cost of the simulator will be mostly covered by the grant, in addition to the $10,000 the club had to put down to receive the funding. He said the proposed machine is a state-of-art one that has an option to become a multi-sport simulator.
While the purchasing aspect is covered, incorporating the golf simulator into the organization’s business model during the time of COVID-19 remains a challenge.
“We have to finally get internet access at the curling club, we have to do some renovations,” Rowat said. “Just basic renovations like the power and the lighting to make it suitable. There’s also the logistics of curling, especially with the future of curling this season being up in the air. We may have an employee that would be available on a part-time basis … I don’t think it could be operated without someone on-site to monitor.”
There is also the issue of organizing a sign-up procedure for using the machine, which is compounded by the club being otherwise closed.
He added that in a COVID-free world, the golf simulator would be highly profitable in tandem with a fully operating curling club.
“I’m optimistic, it’s possible that in 2021 we’ll be open, maybe [even] in December,” he said. “[That’s] if this machine will be here.”
The answer to whether the curling aspect of the club could return this winter remains unclear. He said they have received only 31 of the 80 membership fees needed to afford hiring someone to get the ice down and turn on the electricity.
“I don’t blame people,” he said. “A lot of people say, ‘Well I’m going to wait and see with the coronavirus.’ But we said, ‘Well if you wait, there may be no see.’ If we wait until January when restrictions are eased, it’s almost too late at that point. We’d be getting the ice in by February and season’s over in March.”
Despite the barriers to curl this year, Rowat remains hopeful.
“It’s tough, it’s unusual. I don’t know if we’re going to open, right now it looks like maybe January, maybe if we’re lucky.”
Shawville RA playground
The Shawville Recreation Association (RA) just came a step closer to completing it’s outdoor renovation goals after learning that the MRC Pontiac is granting them $32,368.69 for playground equipment upgrades.
RA President Kathy Murray said that the announcement of funds couldn’t have come at a better time, with the RA having just completed renovations of the baseball field with a fund that it received from local sports icon Bryan Murray when he passed away.
Kathy said information on when the money will be delivered hasn’t been provided to her yet, but she added that it is already too late in the year to go ahead with the playground upgrades.
“Our timeline [is] January to May 2021,” she explained. “In January we’ll place the order for the equipment and get that organized. Obviously in the spring we’ll have to do some prep work on the area of where the equipment’s going to go, and then the installation.”
The upgrading project is not simply a refresh of the old playground, as Murray said the RA is expanding to include a wheelchair-accessible swing as well, something she added is a big deal for them.
The non-profit has had to commit roughly 20 per cent of the total upgrading costs to receive the grant. The MRC’s contribution will cover most of the remaining 80 per cent, with a separate grant application worth several thousand potentially filling the gaps if approved.
Murray said that once the equipment is upgraded next summer, there would be a great opportunity to celebrate both the revitalized playground and the ball diamond which was upgraded thanks to Bryan Murray.
“We want to have a community day to invite people to come to the park to see it,” she said. “It [would just] be more or less to showcase what we’ve done and to thank the community for their support.”
James Shaw Villa
The developing James Shaw Villa retirement home project received a welcome funding boost from the MRC Pontiac’s FRR fund with the announcement that it would receive $56,789.25 to assist with ongoing architect and engineering contracts.
Ken Bernard, president of the Villa James Shaw Committee, said that both architects and engineers have recently begun to be engaged in the project.
“There’s a couple hundred thousand dollars all told, $328,000 I think it is, that we will owe to complete [the engineering and architecture] part of the project,” he explained. “We continue to apply for grants to try and get some money flowing in the coffers. And that’s just to meet those requirements.”
Bernard said that the architects and engineers involved have been very accommodable, allowing for a different payment structure then they normally would have given the Villa’s challenges with funding accumulation.
“We’ve done something with the engineering people and the architectural people, is that they’ve broken down our project into phases,” he said. “So that allows us to complete certain phases as we have the money available to them.”
He added that roughly 25 per cent of the necessary designs have been completed so far.
While the MRC grant has yet to be delivered, Bernard half-jokingly said the money “will be spent faster than we can cash the cheque.”
Bernard was hesitant to give any long-term project dates, but he said that news of a public fundraiser would be released in the coming weeks.
