52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 9 Prompt - Memory

2025
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 9
Prompt – Memory
 

Bill and I quite enjoy watching curling especially at this time of year when Scotties and Briers Championships are on. Once we did participate in a Bank of Montreal Work gathering one weekend
where we played a “funspiel” between different branches from Saskatchewan. I liken it to a “team building' effort. For a time in the 1970's I worked as a bank employee for one of the branches from Regina. Our team was pretty awful. The only rock that I got over  the hog line,Bill fell on it! We had a banquet and trophy presentations. Our team was presented with the skunk award trophy and we deserved it. The trophy was cute with a little porcelain skunk with a furry tail on top of a pedestal. 

Skunk Trophy

 Sometime during the past week while watching a curling broadcast they played a special interest feature on “Jam Can Curling'.  Well now, I haven't thought of this in a very long time.

 I found a good explanation of this in a Curling Canada Facebook Entry.
“Many books on curling history will tell you that the sport of curling had a boom with participation during the years after World War II. When you look at a lot of curling club-building corner stones, they will read a date from the 1950’s or 1960’s. Adults flocked to the clubs to be part of this rock-throwing craze. Advances in youth programs also took place, with the junior aged youth, those 13 years of age and older. In the majority of cases, youth younger than 13 years were not physically strong enough to
propel the 44 lb. granite stone down the ice. You also have to remember that advances in ice technology were not as refined as they are today, therefore more effort to throw the rock was needed than on the keen ice surfaces of today.
In 1945, the Principal of Lakeview School in Saskatchewan, Harold Covell came up with the idea to have a fun outdoor game by throwing jam cans down a snow cleared ice surface. In those days, jam was bought at the store in cans, about the size of a 2 litre can of paint (okay, I know paint does not come in 2 litre sizes, but for a moment, just imagine). The bottoms of the cans were pounded outward rounding the bottom so the can would slide on the ice. These cans were then filled with concrete to add weight; metal handles were fashioned and stuck in the concrete. When the concrete dried, you now had small rocks that kids of all ages could throw. This was called Jam Can Curling. While it is unknown who can be credited with the idea of jam can stones, these are the grand parents of the rocks we use today. “ 

Historic Jam Cans

In the mid sixties, 1960's that is, I recall spending our phys-ed classes outside on the community's outdoor rink playing “jam can curling”. The outdoor ice was less than flat. Over hill and dale we threw our jam cans to the end of the rink. I do not recall any painted house. Maybe there was just a line that we tried to get over. The weather was bitterly cold as Saskatchewan winters tend to be and no amount of rock throwing warmed you up. That is about the sum total of my memories of “jam can curling”. 

Historic Photo of Backyard Jam Curling Circa 1950's

Apparently today there are numerous “jam pail curling” bonspiels. In Medicine Hat, they celebrated The Sixtieth Anniversary of Jam Pail Curling on February 21, 2025. Children from grade 3-6 plus local residents came together to play off. However today they do not play with jam cans but milk jugs filled
with coloured water which is frozen.

 

Bill's father belonged to a Saturday night league. Bill said every Saturday evening his father and mom went curling. He couldn't remember if his mom actually curled. Maybe she just enjoyed the beverages and fellowship and an evening out.

1959 Saskatoon Community Curling Team - Tony Hoffart is seated on the left.

 

1965 Saskatoon Community Team With Winning Trophy - Tony Hoffart on the Left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those are my memories of curling in Saskatchewan.

Wendy