BOTHA BOOSTER -- Make sure you come on out to the seniors’ centre tonight at 6:30 p.m. to join in the excitement, friendly game of Bingo. Balls start rolling at 7:15 p.m. So make sure you come on out for the fun.
Don’t forget, floor curling is every Thursday afternoon starting at 1 p.m., so make sure you come on out for another great game to get involved in.
Coffee is on every Wednesday 10 a.m., so make sure you join your friends at the seniors’ centre for a great conversation over a hot cup of fresh hot coffee.
This coming Saturday is one special day for a great guy around our little community. John Hankins, we hope you have a fantastic birthday and a great day. Happy birthday, John.
Seeing we are now in the summer months and a lot of activities close down for the summer, we are going to start looking back in this little community and look at some of our history and people that started and settled in this little community as their homes.
Now we will be looking into the Old-Thyme Dance Club, like where and when it started, as, thanks to Mae Ollive and Fran Clark, they have sent me some information on how things started (as they can remember it). Thank you, you two, really appreciate it.
This dance club was from the brainchild of Len Ollive in the fall of 1985. This club started out with four couples at the first meeting, shortly after, all four couples threw in 20 dollars each and got the ball rolling. At the meeting, they decided to hold these dances on the second Friday of each month.
The four couples who attended the first meeting were ( Len and Mae Ollive, Clarence and Bernice Everett, Allan and Connie MacArthur and Jesse and Frank Clark).
The first band that started things rolling and continued every dance for several years werte Ralph and Mike Sabe which played the piano and the drums. These two were paid three dollars each, followed by more members attending these dances, the committee was able to increase Ralphs and Mike’s wages up to five dollars each. The admittance to these dances were five dollars each, whoever attended, and that way the band wages went up some.
Mae brought lunch for the first couple of years to these dances and after a while, then she decided to appoint two couples at a time to bring lunch to these dances and to care for the crowd.
Now instead, as time changes, everyone that attends brings out buns/sandwiches, salads or desert to share at the luncheon. Fran remembers in January where the temperature outside was at 10-20 F and not Celsius. and there were 10-20 people still attending and having a great time, in spite of the weather.As time and more dances continued the group were able to increase Mike and Ralph’s wages to 80 dollars for playing and entertaining the crowd, this took place in the early 90s. Eventually, Ralph asked Fran to hire the Driven Repp’s Band every second month to give the crowd a variety in bands.
Now there are several different fantastic bands who come on out and entertain the crowd. The dances however have changed from the second Friday of each month to now the last Sunday of each month starting at 1:30. So they are hoping to see every one back in the fall when things start up again.
So we will continue more in the next week’s column on the exciting history of this great group, so please keep your eyes open to learn more about this fantastic Old-Thyme Dance Club.