Regretfully, we lost a pioneer of our community. Tom Gordon was a Freeman of the Town and respected by many. Our community benefitted from his many contributions he provided over the years and we will always be indebted to him. We thank him for his civic duty and being the character he was — may he rest in peace.
Volunteers, without a doubt, are the strength of our community. Recently, the Chamber of Commerce recognized Pete and Joanne Pimlott with the Citizen of the Year award and Val Sangster received the Nichole Stock Community Service award. I’m sure we all agree these are deserving choices and we are very pleased.
Pete and Joanne play an instrumental role in numerous activities in the community. To name just a few, Tour de Rock, Lake Days and the Christmas light-up. They are also involved in pretty much every fundraiser the citizens of the town participate in by offering up the Village Market for groups and organizations to hold their events for fundraising, and we truly appreciate it.
Val, and let’s not forget her husband Al, are always there to help. We are glad they have received this recognition. We are blessed that our community has citizens like these and all three are deserving of the honour.
Congratulations to Rita Dustow as the new president of the Chamber of Commerce. Thank you Jim Humphrey for your many years serving in this capacity. This can be one of those thankless jobs that requires a great deal of time and dedication and we thank Jim for all his work. We look forward to seeing Rita step up and take on this responsibility.
As we continue to look for ways to improve our town, we have attempted to find ways to involve the public. When we put out a request for a committee to help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, members of the public stepped forward. When we invited individuals to form a focus group to work on ideas for a town square project, again, many from our business and downtown sector stepped forward to help.
The engagement of all our citizens plays a vital role in the success of our town and we are committed to engaging our community as much as possible. The diversity of experience and ideas from everyone involved will reflect on our community as a whole.
Spring break was an opportunity for many of our local hockey teams to compete in season ending tournaments. It was great to be kept up to date through social media as they participated at the various cities. Very successful results were obtained by all our teams. Although most of the teams won their tournaments, or placed in the medals, the real success came from all the fun and enjoyment everyone had. Players and parents all appeared to get a lot of satisfaction from the experience and were all proud of the efforts and behavior of all the kids. Well done Cowichan Lake Minor Hockey.
Congratulations to the City of Duncan for their 100th year birthday ceremony on March 4. You should be proud of the great turnout to celebrate such a momentous occasion.