PETERSHAM – The Petersham Lions Club recently held its 20th annual charity curling tournament and fundraiser on March 21 to benefit the Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Fund.
This year’s 16 teams were from Athol, Barre, Templeton, Hubbardston, Petersham, Mendon and The Brookfields. There were two teams each from Charlton, Paxton, Winchendon and Rutland. The Mass Eye Lions Research Fund Committee also had a team. In the final playoff, Rutland Team 2 took the win over Winchendon Team 1.
The winning curlers were Jeff Moreau, Mike Maceiko, Joe Antkowiak and Jon Moody. The winning team and the names of the teammates will have their names added to the tournament plaque. The plaque goes home with the winning team to display for the year and returns for the next year’s tournament.
The Petersham Curling Club has been offering an arena for the sport since 1960 and is one of only four dedicated clubs in Massachusetts. The Curling Club offers the day to the Lions for the event, which allows the Lions to have this event locally and support the Curling Club as well.
The Petersham Lions tournament is always an amateur-level event, held annually in March. As they always have done, experienced Curling Club members were on hand to offer lessons and advice to those who had never curled before. As an Olympic sport, curling requires good aim, balance and the proper amount of strength to send the 40-pound curling puck to the other end of the ice and score, with the help of teammates expertly sweeping the ice ahead of the stone to help it go farther.
The Petersham Lions next big event is a blood drive with the Rhode Island Blood Center on April 11 in the Petersham Lower Town Hall. To sign up and reserve a donor spot, visit https://tinyurl.com/d7fdpwv7. One pint of whole blood or a double donation of red blood cells can be donated. Call 800-688-0900 with questions about eligibility to donate. The eligibility page is ribc.org/donate-blood/donor-eligibility/.
Those interested in becoming a Petersham Lion, please contact Denis Legare, the club membership chairperson, at hilltopchief@gmail.com or Jim Regan, club president, at JimRegan5@gmail.com .