2021 End of Year Newsletter

December 14, 2021

President's Message

Happy Holidays Thunder Beach!

As we head towards the most wonderful time of the year (except for summer of course), we reflect back and look forward. 

Looking back on the wonderful summer of 2021, it is easy to forget how bleak things appeared in the winter/spring.  Yet, with planning and precautions, the summer of 2021 saw the return of our cornerstone programming; namely, the Children’s Camp and sports, and also brought  new ideas and events.  This past summer was marked by a refreshed community spirit and high level of volunteerism, including a group of new volunteers on the Executive.  Most importantly, it was a safe summer.  Looking forward, we are excited to proceed with new and different types of musical and cultural events, while continuing to make the Camp and our other treasured events and activities key priorities.    

Thank you to all the members!  Membership in 2021 remained strong, which is and will continue to be important as we look to make capital expenditures this off-season for the clubhouse, playground, and our old fence.  Thank you to all of you for continuing to support our community through renewing your membership! 

Special thanks to our entire team of volunteers on and off the Executive!  In particular, it is important to recognize the many contributions of Matthew Ducharme, who is stepping down from the Executive after years of service.  Matt held a variety of important roles, including President, Property Manager, and, of course, Tennis Director.  For years, Matt ensured everything ran smoothly during the week and then would be at the tennis courts on the weekends organizing tournaments.  His wife Jodi worked with him in all of this while also serving as our head of Apparel.  Thunder Beach and its Executive is in a much better position thanks to Matt’s hard work.  Although now formally on the Executive going forward, we know Matt, Jodi, and their awesome dog Stanley will continue to be there for the community.  Thank you! 

Special thanks to Christine Lundy for running the Thunder Beach Children’s Camp during the pandemic, which involved a tremendous amount of our work in terms of preparation, training, and implementation.  It was an incredibly difficult volunteer position for one person to take on during the pandemic and we cannot thank her enough! 

There are too many non-Executive volunteers to thanks, but here are few more shout-outs.  Special thanks to Basil Laferniere and the Red Hot Stove Pipe Band for their special two set rock ‘n’ roll show in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Simcoe; George Trani for organizing a very interesting lecture by John Raynor - former President of the Huronia Chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Society - on the Indigenous People’s Footprint in Tiny Township; and Katie Mae Saundercook for continuing to lead our discussion and action group on reconciliation.  Finally, special thanks as always to Toula and everyone at The Friendly Corner Store, which remains a true hub of family, friends and food! 

So many people made contributions this summer that they cannot all be thanked here, but you know who you are.  Thank you to all the members of the Thunder Beach Association for your continued participation and support!  

There are many Thunder Beach updates, reminders, memories, and memorials below.  Happy reading! 

We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday!

John Philpott

President, Thunder Beach Association  

Children's Program Report

After months of preparations camp was finally a go! Seeing staff and campers finding their joy in camp again made everything worthwhile. While a lot of things looked different, we managed to run camp with the same fun and enthusiasm. We also had no health problems thanks to everyone following government protocols.

One of the camp's biggest hits this summer was the outdoor Movie nights. It brought a new and exciting twist that made movie night fun again. We cannot thank the Blythe-Wolfe family enough for enhancing the movie night experience with the donation of an outdoor projector!  

I would like to send out a big thank you to all the camper parents! Your support and positive feedback this summer was very much appreciated. Staff did a great job in making camp a safe and fun atmosphere for everyone!  Thank you for all your hard work! 

Returning next summer as the Head Counsellor is Olivia Blythe-Wolfe. Olivia will bring new and exciting ideas to camp next summer. 

As some of you may know this coming summer will be my last as Camp Director. I will be mentoring Ashley Jones and Cate Spidle to replace me for the following summer (2023). They will both be a great addition to the Thunder Beach Camp and to the Executive Team. 

As always, I welcome ongoing feedback in order to help make necessary changes and improvements to the camp. Please feel free to contact me at crudics@rogers.com for any questions or concerns.  It was a pleasure once again to be Camp Director and cannot wait to be back for my final summer! 

Best Regards,

Christine Lundy 

Treasurer's Report

Although it was still quieter than usual, it was a great summer at Thunder Beach!  We expect to end 2021 with net income from operations of $35,000 (2020 - $18,600). 

Membership dues increased in 2021. We earned $40,900 (2020 - $37,900) from membership dues. We earned $12,400 (2020 - $9,500) from tennis. We continue to track the amount of money from tennis memberships for future planning purposes. 

We were fortunate to have been able to safely run the children’s camp this year. We earned $6,700 (2020 - $0) from the children’s camp. Apparel sales moved online for the first time in 2020, and we continued to have success selling apparel online this year. Our profit from apparel sales was $6,000 (2020 - $7,000). Advertising funds continue to be an excellent source of revenue and we strongly encourage you to support our sponsors.

Incredible Maintenance was brought on as our maintenance contractor this year. During the year we spent $23,800 (2020 - $22,900) on maintenance. Other expenditures include insurance, TBA roster, website related fees, hydro, and property taxes. We anticipate allocating capital to several maintenance projects in 2022 (see Property Report). 

The year end for the Thunder Beach Association is December 31, 2021. Annual financial statements will be available for distribution at the 2022 Annual General Meeting in August or by request.

Corey MacGregor
Treasurer

A Look Back at Sports - Summer 2021

Thanks to the hard work of many different organizers and volunteers, 2021 marked a near full return to sports at Thunder Beach!

It was wonderful to see the return of the Thunder Beach Youth Baseball League!  Thanks as always to Doug Jones and his ever increasing cast of volunteers for organizing, umping and doing the health checks!  Shout outs to Jane Martin & Lyndsey Jones for doing health checks, Davie and Don Butler for making those tough umpire calls, and Heather Budgen for handling online registration and communication.  There were six teams with over 70 children participating.  Thanks to all the players, coaches, family and fans for respecting the guidelines of the COVID-19 Safety Plan.   

 

The Luke Santi Memorial Flag Football Tournament also returned with similar safety protocols.  Thanks as always to the Santi’s and Smeaton’s for organizing and having our flag footballers in such great uniforms! 

The Thunder Run continues to get better and better each year under the stewardship of Chris Burkett, Arial Burkett, and Sasha Gollish!  Special thanks to Tyler Richard and Saucony (running shoes) for providing great prizes! 

 

Special thanks to Tyler Richard and Matt & Melissa McGuire for bringing back the Annual Thunder 2 on 2 Basketball Tournament.  Congrats to the winners: Matt McGuire and Dax Miller!

Thanks again to Tyler for organizing the second Annual Thunder Beach Home Run Derby.  Congrats to Shawn Pludwinski for hitting all those dingers!

Finally, on Thunder Beach Tennis Courts, we had a great summer with Drop In Tennis and our three tournaments (Mixed Doubles, Women’s Doubles, and Men’s Doubles).  Congrats to Marilu Silva and Max Heyer (Winners of Mixed Doubles), Julie Coleman and Teresa Morneau (Winners of Women’s Doubles), and Rick Green and Bogdan Stanescu (Winner of the Men’s Doubles)!  

Property Report

It's officially the 'off-season' - is there even a full off season at the beach anymore? - at our property and this is our time to get maintenance and upgrades done. Summer will be here before we know it. There are some pretty substantial projects in the pipeline.

We assessed the roof during the clubhouse renovation and knew it was on borrowed time and that time has now run out. We sprung a leak that was patched and we're going to avoid any damage by replacing the roof shingles now. We will be using a product similar to the current one. 

Years of weather, weed whacking, trees falling, bumps from cars, strollers, and people have taken their toll on our fencing. This is the fence around the playground and separating the field and parking lot. Now that lumber prices have normalized it's time for us to replace them.

The spring rockers you know and love are going to be removed as they are no longer safe. We are looking to replace them with newer models and possibly a few more pieces of playground equipment. Commercial playground equipment has been very hard to come by lately so if anyone has leads on playground equipment please let us know. We're also fixing the drop at the end of the slide which has grown over the years.

Geoff MacGregor

Property/Maintenance  

Sponsorship 

Please continue to support the businesses that have taken advertising space in our roster and on our webpage. These businesses, both large and small, contribute to our enjoyment of the Beach through the many wonderful services that they provide.

We are pleased to announce that Caitlin Early has joined the Executive as Sponsorship Director.  Welcome Caitlin!  

Road Safety 

SPEED LIMITS

Following the presentation of the results of our 2021 Road Safety survey and acting on our recommendations, Tiny Township Council has voted to reduce the speed limit to 30 KPH on most of our Thunder Beach roads. Green Point Road, East Beach Road, Centre Beach Road, West Shore Drive, and Thunder Bay Lane will all have new signage installed shortly.

The speed limit on Silver Birch Drive was reduced to 50 KPH earlier in the year.

A "Your Speed" solar sign that was installed on the south side of Green Point Road near the entrance to the clubhouse. Data from this sign will provide additional information regarding the numbers of vehicles and speed overage.

Susan Inwood

Road Safety Director 

Community Spotlight - Theresa's Childhood Home Story Quilt

By Theresa Fama (Lafreniere)

I was born and raised across the road from McNamara Memorial Park. We were financially the poorest family living at Thunder Beach and yet we were one of the richest of local families as we had the best playground anyone could ask for. Pictured above is a quilt of my childhood home growing up in Thunder Beach

Click HERE to read Theresa’s Childhood Home Story Quilt full story.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 

Thunder Jam Book Available

A true highlight of the summer was the Thunder Jam with Basil Lafreniere & The Red Hot Stove Pipe Band.  Basil commissioned a photo book of the day to capture the memories.  There are still copies for a limited time.  Please contact basilafreniere10@gmail.com to purchase.  They are being sold at cost for $45. 

New Garbage Collection System for Simcoe

No doubt the first thing you thought about this morning was garbage collection at Thunder Beach. As you are aware, the new collection system was implemented November 1st, with collection day being moved to Monday. It seems that some are embracing the new collection system with the larger containers, while some are not. Simcoe County is allowing residents, on an individual basis, the option to swap out their current bins for smaller ones. Orders will be taken by Simcoe County starting mid-January 2022 and the carts will be swapped out free of charge until July 2022, after that there will be a $50 charge. That’s all the information I have right now but you can get updates on waste collection by visiting  https://www.simcoe.ca/dpt/swm/information . Have a safe and healthy winter!

Telfer Hanson

Executive Member 

LDD Moth Update

The 2021 LDD Moth Aerial Spray Program was successful in the Thunder Beach community with trees saved and less caterpillars and egg masses produced. Thank you to everyone who also participated in the Township’s survey earlier this fall, however, it doesn’t appear that Tiny will coordinate a municipal spray program for property owners in the Township.

Evidence has not been received to suggest that further spraying will be necessary in the Thunder Beach community next spring.  

Any property owner concerned with their own individual property (ie high egg mass counts) and wishing to apply for spraying should contact the Ontario Centre for Forest Defoliator Control (a spin off from Zimmer Air) directly at www.ocfdc.com . Interested property owners must apply individually and someone from the Centre will contact you to obtain payment and mapping details. It is recommended to note Thunder Beach on your application to help identify the area.  Applicants are responsible for obtaining required waivers from any non-spraying abutting property owners. The OCFDC’s application deadline is currently March 1st, 2022 but may close earlier in the new year due to demand throughout the province.

The MNR plans to issue their 2022 LLD infestation projection map early in the new year and post it online at https://www.ontario.ca/page/gypsy-moth.

Change to Fireworks By-law

The Township of Tiny has changed its fireworks by-law.  Fireworks can now only be discharged on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Victoria Day and Canada Day.  The sale of fireworks within the municipality is now limited to the seven days prior to any of the permitted days for setting off fireworks.  The press release can be found here.

Open Letter to Tiny Township by Tony Mintoff

It may be of interest to Thunder Beach members to know about the abrupt resignation of a member of Tiny Township’s Council and his reasons for doing so.  See his open letter HERE.   

Call for Volunteers

We are currently looking for someone to run the Thunder Beach Farmers Market. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity or are interested in contributing time in a different capacity, please contact John Philpott at jsphilpott@gmail.com.

Obituaries

On June 8, 2021 Theresa “Terry” Borczon passed away.  Terry was a member of the Thunder Beach Community since 1955.  She is survived by her husband of 46 years, Walter, her daughter Erin (Kyle), her son Ryan, as well as her 2 granddaughters, Leia and Avery. She also leaves behind her sister Jody (David), brother Kevin (Woody), and numerous nieces and nephews. She is missed by her family and friends.  The full obituary is available here.  

Long time Thunder Beachers, Barbara Ann Bain and Raymond Bain, passed away in August, 2021, just eleven days apart.  They will be missed.  Links to their obituaries are here and here.

Sharing the sad news that Irene Boychuk’s Father, William Boychuk passed away on December 11 , 2021.   Bill was an active 96 year old who lived in Grimsby and enjoyed gardening, travelling and global affairs.  His strong work ethic was admired and he will be missed dearly by the Guloien family.  (Donald, Irene, Nels & Perry). A link to Bill’s obituary is available here.