Pickleball comes to Bourkevale

Bourkevale Community Centre is proud to announce that it is the new home for Winnipeg West Pickleball. WWPB (an affiliate of Pickleball Manitoba) will be playing outdoors on the club's north rink, which was recently painted with new court lines. All information about the new program can be found at winnipegwestpickleball.club

Apuckalypse Now tournament a great success

Apuckalypse Now held its 8th Annual Tournament at Bourkevale Community Centre on Feb. 16. The fundraiser for the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba drew over 100 people.

Music fills the hall at Bourkevale

The Friday Morning Concert Band gets together, you guessed it, every Friday morning at the club to play some wonderful music.

Bourkevale's Bike to Work Day pit stop a great success

Cyclists, including Mayor Brian Bowman, stopped by Bourkevale's
pit stop Monday for snacks, refreshments and prizes.

For the sixth consecutive year, Bourkevale Community Centre hosted a Bike to Work Day pit stop on Monday, June 18. Turn-out was great with lots of people stopping by for snacks, refreshments and prizes. We had 80 cyclists come through our pit stop, which we believe is the most we've ever had. We also had more kids come through on bikes than ever before. We'd like to thank all the volunteers who helped make this event happen.


Bourkevale Community Centre would also like to thank the
following local businesses for making the pit stop possible:

Advance Conditioning
High Tea Bakery
IDA Silver Heights Pharmacy
Olympia Cycle
Portage Family Foods
Sargent Sundae
The Burger Place
Underworld Scuba & Sport
Vandenberg's Fine Jewellery
YMCA-YWCA Winnipeg Downtown

To learn more about Bike Week Winnipeg, click here.

Another great Hoedown

The Millennium Big Band performs at Bourkevale's annual Hoedown Sept. 9. The event was another great success. Thanks to all the volunteers who made this year's Hoedown such a great event.

Bike to Work Day pit stop big success

Bourkevale was one of many official pit stops around the city for Winnipeg's Bike to Work Day Friday June 23. About 25 riders stopped by en route to their destinations. Among them was Winnipeg's Mayor Brian Bowman and local Coun. Scott Gillingham. A big thanks to Mary and family and Kim for organizing the event.

Mayor Brian Bowman (l) and more than 20 other riders dropped by Bourkevale's Bike to Work Day pit stop Friday.

Coun. Scott Gillingham was among about two dozen cyclists who stopped by Bourkevale's pit stop Friday.

Bourkevale honours its longest serving volunteer

Past-president Gary Kristiansen and Joan Templeton at
Bourkevale's April 13 Annual General Meeting

Joan Templeton began volunteering at Bourkevale in the 1960s, when her son was four and when community centres in Winnipeg were the social hubs of most neighbourhoods. Nearly half a century and literally thousands of volunteer hours later, Joan is finally relinquishing her duties.
The mother of two and grandmother of four began her volunteer career at Bourkevale - when the club was barely 20 years old - as a member of the ladies' auxiliary, which in those days were the chief operators of Winnipeg community centres. Joan took on a number of responsibilities at the club throughout the years, including canteen duties, the social committee and hall rental coordinator, a position she held until this month and one which she performed dutifully and with the kind of loyalty that keeps volunteer-based community clubs alive.
Joan is undoubtedly one of the longest serving volunteers of any community centre in the city, having given some 48 continuous years of her time, energy and passion to the club.  She has not only "given back" to her community, she has helped make it what it is today; a close-knit, family-oriented group of area residents with a strong sense of collegiality.
Joan will be missed, but we know she'll still be around to help out with the odd event. Thank you Joan for your years of unwavering service to the community.

Bourkevale's rink project video Part ll

Bourkevale's rink project has been a major success. The new state-of-the-art rink boards and the re-asphalted north rink have exceeded all expectations. We captured a few images during construction to give you some idea of what went into this project. You can view the first video here if you missed it. 

Hoedown video 2016

;
Thanks to all the volunteers who made the 2016 Hoedown such a great success.

Video: Bourkevale's rink project Part 1

Bourkevale's outdoor rink project took place over the summer and fall of 2016. The old wooden rink boards were removed and the north rink was excavated and re-paved. For more details on this project, check out the E-bulletin we published at the time.

Bike to Work Day big success at Bourkevale

Bourkevale Community Centre was a busy place during Winnipeg's Bike to Work Day, Friday June 24. A total of 63 cyclists stopped at the club's pit stop for refreshments, snacks and information, including 10 children cycling to school with their parents. A big thanks to our volunteers Scotty and Elaine Nystrom for organizing and running the pit stop.

Bourkevale elects new board

Bourkevale's 2016 Annual General Meeting

Bourkevale Community Centre elected its new board for 2016-17 on Thursday April 14. The AGM was well attended and included about 45 area residents.
Elaine Nystrom was elected as the club's new president and Nick Hook was elected vice-president.
Outgoing president Gary Kristiansen and vice-president Tom Brodbeck were honoured for the eight years of service they provided to the club, which included transforming the community centre's finances into a more sustainable model that has allowed the club today to invest into important capital projects.
All board members agreed to stay on for another term in office, a testament to the dedication of area residents to the ongoing viability of the club. Suzanna Libby was elected as the board's new treasurer and former club president Dan Reles has agreed to remain on the board as second buildings and grounds director. St. James-Brooklands-Weston Councillor Scott Gillingham was also present for the AGM to lend his support to the community centre. As was former city councillor Jae Eadie, an area resident and a longtime supporter of Bourkevale.

Here is Bourkevale's new board:

Elaine Nystrom - President
Nick Hook - Vice-President/hockey convenor
Scotty Nystrom - 2nd Vice-President
Suzanna Libby - Treasurer
Kim Roffey - Secretary
Gary Kristiansen - Past-president
Tom Brodbeck - Director of Communications
Jeff Valgardson - Buildings and Grounds
Dan Reles - 2nd Buildings and Grounds
Natasha Taiarol - Soccer convenor
Lisa Diamond-Burchuk - 2nd Soccer convenor
Mary Northover-Ramey - Special events coordinator
Joan Templeton - Hall rentals

Bourkevale Bruins 7/8 hockey team win Tim Vandale Memorial Tournament

Bourkevale 7/8s. Tim Vandale Memorial Tournament champions 2016

Bourkevale's 7/8 hockey team won the Tim Vandale Memorial Tournament Feb.14, with an impressive 5-1 record. It was a strong finish for a team that played four games Sunday to take the championship. Well done Bourkevale! The outdoor tournament took place at Sturgeon Heights Community Centre. The tournament was renamed after Tim Vandale in honour of Tim's tireless contributions to amateur hockey and his years of involvement in the Sturgeon Heights community. For more pics, click here.

Winnipeg Jets practice at Bourkevale 93-94

The first incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets held a practice at Bourkevale Community Centre's outdoor rinks during the 1993-94 season. This picture was recently donated to us and we're happy to now have it in our possession.
Conspicuous in his absence from the picture was Jets forward Teemu Selanne, who was out with an injury at the time, a severed achilles. Winnipeg Sun staffers Ted Wyman and Kevin King helped us identify the players in this pic. If you have any further info or stories about this practice, including  the identification of the players, please send us a note at bourkevale@gmail.com.

Back row Left to right: Craig Fisher, Darryl Shannon, Mike O'Neill, Dallas Drake, Darrin Shannon, Igor Ulanov, Alexei Zhamnov

Middle row left to right: Wayne McBean, Thomas Steen, Tie Domi

Bottom row left to right: Paul Ysebaert, Dave Manson, Teppo Numminen, Stephane Quintal, Luciano Borsato, Keith Tkachuk, Dean Kennedy, Tim Cheveldae, Randy Gilhen, Nelson Emerson, Kris King, Mike Eagles

Very front: Russ Romaniuk.

Not 100% on Fisher and Ysebaert. Can anybody confirm?

Bourkevale gets into the Christmas spirit



Santa and Lauren at Bourkevale's children's Christmas party Sunday



 

Sand Skyscraper performed at Bourkevale's Christmas party.

"Arctic" the Arctic Fox came by for a visit at Bourkevale's Christmas party this year.

Halloween Howl was a hoot

Bourkevale's Halloween Howl Friday night was a huge success, with over 80 kids attending the annual event.
The music was great, the dancing was superb and a frightening good time was had by all.
A big thanks to all the volunteers who helped decorate the hall and who stayed to clean up.
A special thanks to Dale and Ben for the fantastic job they did spinning the tunes and organizing the games for the kids.
This was community spirit at its best.

Calling all concert band musicians!

The sweet sounds of concert band music have been filling the air at Bourkevale Community Centre in recent months, as dozens of local musicians get together weekly to share their love of music. The informal gathering is organized by band leader Howard Mar and others who were looking for a rehearsal hall for their group. The drop-in program has been a smashing success with as many as 30 to 40 players - mostly retired folks - turning out every week to join in on the musical fun. The group meets every Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. All are welcome and the drop-in fee is only $1.

Bourkevale curler goes to junior nationals

From left to right, Beth Peterson (skip), Robyn Njegovan (third), Melissa Gordon (second), Breanne Yozenko (lead) and coach Jack Gordon.

Bourkevale curler Breanne Yozenko and her team won the provincial junior championship Dec. 31 and will be representing Manitoba at the Canadian Junior Curling Championship in Corner Brook Nfld Jan. 24 to Feb. 1. It's a terrific achievement for this group of young women  who have been curling since they were as young as three and four years hold. As a group, Team Peterson has been curling together for the past 10 years.
Yozenko is a member of Bourkevale Community Centre's board of directors and runs the club's canteen. The team will be holding a fundraiser Friday Jan. 9 at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling or texting 204-226-1793.

Santa joins up with kids' hockey school for some holiday fun

Santa made an appearance at Bourkevale Community Centre over the holidays to take in some ice time with our kids' hockey school. Apparently ol' St. Nick was pretty good in net.

Rinks open early this year

Rinks
Bourkevale's ice rinks opened almost a week earlier than last year. And last year's opening date was a modern-day record. The north and south rinks typically open during the first week of December. But this year, the club officially opened the rinks to the public on Nov. 23. A sustained blast of cold air in November allowed our volunteer ice makers to get an early start on flooding the rinks.

Ice Volunteers
Bourkevale needs volunteers to help clear the ice when there are heavy snowfalls. If you can spare an hour or two from time to time to pitch in, please email us at bourkevale@gmail.com and we'll put your name on our volunteer list. You don't have to come out every time it snows. But if you can help out a few times during the season, it will help take the burden off the same few volunteers who do it every time it snows. We only need two or three volunteers to clear snow at a time. Without volunteers, we would not be able to provide the community with the quality and availability of ice rinks that we do.

Email
Sign up for Bourkevale's email updates. If you want timely updates on what's happening at the club, send an email to sburd@mymts.net and we'll put you on the list. You can also sign up for our website email notifications by entering your email to the box on the right. Also, visit this website frequently for all your club information and updates.

One of the best Hoedowns ever!

There's no doubt about it - it was a good one. Hoedown 2014 will go down in the books as one of the best in recent years, with great weather, excellent turn-out and smashing live entertainment from local original artists Roger Roger.
The food was great, the beverages were flowing and the kids were never left without something fun to do, from games, bouncers, a gymnastics exhibition, live animals in the skate room (did you see that snake?), the soccer medal award ceremony and of course St. James' best annual fireworks display.
The main reason this Hoedown was one of the best in many years, though, was because of the phenomenal participation of families and local residents. We had one of the best volunteer turn-outs in years, which makes all the difference for these events. A great time was had by all. Please check out our Hoedown Photo Gallery here for some of the images we caught during the day.

Soccer winds down for the season

Bourkevale Bruins had a great season this year. They learned a lot about soccer and mostly, they had plenty of fun. Big thanks to the coaches!

Bourkevale's mini soccer season wrapped up June 26 after another another fun and exciting year. Bourkevale hosted several teams in 2014 and there was plenty of activity on the club's well-groomed soccer fields weekday evenings. Our volunteer ground crew did an exceptional job again maintaining the fields, including grass cutting, weed control and line painting. Without them, and our volunteer coaches and soccer convenor, Bourkevale would not have a soccer program. So remember parents, without your participation, there is no soccer!

Brighter nights ahead for south rink

New LED lights went up on the south rink this week.

Bourkevale Community Centre has installed new lights on the south rink, part of a complete overhaul to the club's lighting system this year which is expected to cut energy costs by 40%. New LED lights were installed this week to replace the old street-lamp style lamps that have illuminated the south rink for decades. The sleek, square-shaped LED lights will only use a fraction of the electricity the old lamps consumed and are expected to emit more even lighting. Bourkevale has upgraded all of its lighting, indoor and out, which was funded by a City of Winnipeg Community Centre Renovation Fund grant.

New lights will use a fraction of electricity of old lamps.

Old lamps served the south rink well 

Bourkevale sets new ice rink record

Bourkevale's ice rinks and skate room set another record this year. Our south rink was open until March 31 in 2014, beating out the previous modern-day record of March 23 set the previous year. The colder-than-average weather allowed the club to open the ice relatively early this season, on Nov. 27. As a result, the rinks were open four straight months, about a month longer than usual.
Meanwhile, Old Man Winter not only brought us record-setting cold temperatures and bone-chilling windchills this season, he also saddled us with frequent and heavy snowfalls, all of which made the business of ice-making and rink maintenance extremely challenging. We'd like to thank our volunteer ice makers Jeff Valgardson and Ron Templeton for their herculean efforts in keeping our rinks clear and in great shape — uninterrupted — for the entire season. Also, a special thanks to Scotty Nystrom and others who helped out with the rinks this year.

Bourkevale hockey school wraps up

Bourkevale's hockey school for kids wrapped up this month with an extended ice season, thanks to cooler than normal weather. The program's inaugural season was a great success, with kids aged 6 to 10 receiving instruction in the fundamentals of hockey, including skating, passing and puck control. The program's success was due in part to the number of parents who helped with instruction on ice, even during some of the colder days. The kids enhanced their hockey skills throughout the season and mostly had a lot of fun, including a wind-up at the end of the season.