Winter 2021 Thunder Beach Association Newsletter
President's Message
Happy New Year Thunder Beach,
As we look back at another Thunder Beach summer, in what is too often being referred to as a dark winter, there are many moments of light to celebrate, be thankful for, and to provide a sense of hope for the days ahead.
We thank you for standing by our association. The renewal of memberships demonstrates your collective commitment to our community. Despite needing to significantly limit our programing, our membership numbers were on par with past years. Consistent memberships is the backbone of our association and it is a testament to all of you that, without the usual programing, our memberships remained strong. Thank you.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to keeping our community together, while we had to remain apart. Thank you to every member of the TBA Executive for all of your work, much of which went unseen. The pandemic required a new playbook in all we do and significant planning went into ideas that, due to the unwavering nature of the virus, could not come to fruition. This was particularly true in regards to our Children’s Program. We thank the CITs, counsellors, parents, and children for their understanding.
We also thank those who volunteered in various capacities to put on safe socially distanced sporting and social events. It puts a smile on my face to look back at our socially distanced games of basketball H-O-R-S-E, the Thunder Run, and those wonderful event dinners from the Friendly Corner Store accompanied by our resident DJ’s live stream. There are too many people, both on and off the Executive, to thank in this short note.
This year may seem lost to some, but it is a year we will never forget. While we did not cut a rug on the clubhouse concrete, determine who among us can catch an egg hurling down with all of gravity’s power, or partake in many others of our treasured summer past-times, we can be thankful for the opportunity to reflect on how much love, joy and happiness our community has and will continue to have for generations to come.
Happy New Year!
John Philpott
President, Thunder Beach Association
CALLING ALL APPLICANTS!
As previously advised, once again application time has arrived. Applications for Counsellor and CIT positions for summer 2021 are now available HERE.
The official deadline for submissions is Friday January 29th, 2021. Please note that late applications (those received after midnight on Saturday, January 30th, 2021) will not be accepted.
All applications will be through the online form. If you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact Christine Lundy at crudics@rogers.com.
Children's Program Report
When I walked by the camp this summer there was an eerie empty feeling I hope to never see or feel again. It was a challenging summer, but Thunder Beachers from what I saw took it in great stride. The community came together and made the best out of a difficult situation.
Though its status is unclear for summer of 2021, I am staying optimistic and planning for an amazing camp year! With Liam Campbell as Head Counsellor and Olivia Blythe-Wolf as Assistant Head Counsellor expect to see some new and exciting things at camp!
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 can’t wait to be back next summer!
Christine Lundy
Children's Program Director
Treasurer's Report
It was a quiet summer at Thunder Beach. Although we were unable to run our children’s program or social events due to COVID-19, we expect to end 2020 with net income from operations of $19,000. Memberships were down from 2019, but only by a small margin. We earned $37,000 from membership dues in 2020. Tennis memberships increased from 2019. During 2020, revenue from tennis memberships was $9,800. We continue to track the amount of money we earn from our tennis memberships for future planning purposes.
Apparel sales moved online this year, and it was a great success. Our profit from apparel sales in 2020 was $7,000. Advertising funds continue to be an excellent source of revenue and we strongly encourage you to support our sponsors.
Harbourview and other maintenance contractors continued to perform regular maintenance duties. During the year we spent $21,000 on maintenance.
The year end for the Thunder Beach Association was December 31, 2020. Annual financial statements will be available for distribution at the 2021 Annual General Meeting in August.
Corey MacGregor
Treasurer
Road Safety
A Thunder Beach Road safety survey was conducted online in August. 288 responses were received. The results and recommendations were shared via email to the Thunder Beach Association membership email subscribers and are still available HERE. Full survey results are also available HERE.
On September 28th, Susan Inwood, on behalf of the Thunder Beach Association, presented the results and recommendations to the Tiny Township Council. The information was reviewed at the Committee of the Whole on October 19th. The Township Staff were asked to review the recommendations and report back to Council. Results are still pending.
Changes to Centre Beach Road Parking
Centre Beach Road has recently been deemed an Emergency Access Road by the Township of Tiny following a deputation made by Tristan Carter in June 2019. The road is deemed to be too narrow to allow parking. There is NO parking allowed on the road to allow fire and other emergency vehicles access to private property in the event of a fire or other emergency. New signage has already been installed.
Roster Printing Agreement
We are pleased to announce that Limestone Boat Company Inc. with Telfer Hansen, has entered into an agreement with the Thunder Beach Executive to cover all costs of the annual printing of the Thunder Beach Association Roster starting in 2021 in exchange for two full pages of advertising.
Roster Sponsorship 2020
We continued to have many businesses place ads in our printed roster and on our website despite the difficulties that many faced in this year of Covid 19. Please continue to support them and mention that you saw their ad in the Thunder Beach Roster.
Gypsy Moths
This summer saw a horrible infestation of Gypsy Moths which decimated many trees. According to the Ontario Government, the defoliation caused by gypsy moths in Ontario increased from 47,203 hectares in 2019 to 586,385 hectares in 2020. In the spring of 2021, the Gypsy Moth larvae will emerge from the egg masses in the trees. Consequently, the next months will be the time to take action. More information is available HERE.
At last summer’s Annual General Meeting, a motion passed for the association to provide information to all of our members regarding safe proactive measures that can and should be taken. The Thunder Beach Association encourages everyone to sign up prior to March 1, 2021 deadline as per the details that follow.
Health Canada has approved an organic pesticide, which is naturally occurring in soil bacteria, called Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (“Btk”). It has been used by many communities including the Grand River Conservation Authority. According to the Grand River Conservation Authority website, it has been used for over 30 years and has very little impact on other insects, birds or mammals.
Zimmer Air has set up numerous spraying programs of Btk for municipalities, private landowners, and associations. We encourage everyone to review the available information and sign-up in an effort to save our trees from this invasive species. If last summer is any guide to us, the risks of doing nothing are too great.
Zimmer Air will only agree to spray your property if your neighbours either participate or sign the waiver available here. Accordingly, these measures require a community response and will be optimally effective if everyone signs-up. If you are an owner of multiple adjacent/neighboring lots, only one contract fee will apply with additional fees if the lots exceed one acre. All applications and waivers must be signed, add THUNDER BEACH above CONTRACT FOR SERVICES or add THUNDER BEACH above SPRAY (OBJECTION) WAIVER, include required map and submit to gypsy@zimmerair.com before the March 1st deadline.
Special thanks to Barb Reidl and to the team at FOTTSA for their ongoing work and assistance on this important issue.
A Look Back at Socially Distanced Sports
Even without our tennis tournaments, baseball leagues and football leagues, there was something special about how people came together (albeit at a distance) in the spirit of sport and play.
Special thanks to Chris Burkett, Ariel Burkett, and Sasha Golish for organizing and taking the Thunder Run to new levels with a long run, a 5 km, and a kids 2 km. Congratulations to all those who won and participated with Ariel Burkett top over all in the 9k and Michael and Chris Burkett as the top men. In the 5k, the top overall was Somerset Jarvis with Michael Dion as the top man for both junior and adult. For the kids 2k run, congrats to Dimitri Armstrong and Natalie Burkett as the top two finishers.
Special thanks to Doug Jones, our unofficial man of the tennis courts and quiet groundskeeper, for planting flowers, trees, and the odd overhead smash! Keep it up Doug! Thanks to everyone as well for adapting to our new online “Skedda” Court booking system, which made it easier and safer to get a Court.
Special thanks to Tyler Richard, the unofficial “Duke” of Thunder Beach sports in procuring new basketball nets and seeing through a rather amusing game of “H-O-R-S-E” which Don Butler somehow won while wearing a “sweatzido”. Tyler also organized a Home Run Derby, which may or may not led to the clear winner, Kevin Carter, breaking a window or two on cars that everyone thought were parked far enough away.
Thank you to the Friendly Corner Store
With so much change, the staple that kept our community going was the Papastathis family who put together a herculean family effort to keep everyone safe and satisfied. Those ribs! The Friendly Corner became the cornerstone of our community where pre-ordered meals could be picked up or eaten with your “bubble” at their social distanced tables. The food was tremendous and could only be topped by the feeling of joy and community that we got from seeing our most beloved family work so hard for all of us.
In particular, they partnered with the association to deliver special meals for our at home beach events, including that incredible Hawaiian meal night. Thank you!
Reading List
This year provided a further opportunity to reflect on the land we all love and it's difficult history. We are on the traditional territory of Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat, and Odawa nations, which is covered by the pre-confederation treaty, Treaty number 5 of Penetanguishene signed in 1798 between the British Crown and the Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat, and Odawa nations. There have been subsequent treaties following this agreement. There is much work to do regarding understanding the land’s history and seeking our connections with our local indigenous nations. As a humble beginning, a helpful reading list is set out below. Thanks to Katie Saundercook for her help this summer, including with this list.
Arthur Manual, Unsettling Canada: A national wakeup call
A Secwepemc activist intellectual and a Syilx (Okanagan) businessman bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to Canada’s most glaring piece of unfinished business: the place of Indigenous peoples within the country’s political and economic space. The story is told through Arthur’s voice but he traces both of their individual struggles against the colonialist and often racist structures that have been erected to keep Indigenous peoples in their place in Canada.
Paul Delaney, After the fire: Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons since 1649
After the Fire traces the evolution of Saint Marie Among the Hurons from abandoned ruins through to the completion of the carefully crafted reconstruction and museum in 1971. It also recounts the efforts of the doers and dreamers who made the reconstruction possible. Finely illustrated and written with warmth and affection, "After the Fire" is a fitting tribute to Sainte-Marie and to the people who made a dream a reality.
Paulette Regan, Unsettling the Settler Within
In 2008, Canada established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to mend the deep rifts between Aboriginal peoples and the settler society that created Canada’s notorious residential school system. Unsettling the Settler Within argues that non-Aboriginal Canadians must undergo their own process to truly participate in the transformative possibilities of reconciliation. A compassionate call to action, this powerful book offers a new and hopeful path toward healing the wounds of the past.
Save the S.S. Keewatin
The S.S. Keewatin is one of the finest Edwardian steamships still afloat. Built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1907, she operated out of Port McNicoll for close to sixty years as a vital transport connection to Northern Ontario, ferrying passengers and cargo back and forth from Fort William and Thunder Bay. In 2012, to great fanfare, the Kee was brought back home to Port McNicoll where she has been lovingly restored and taken care of by Friends of Keewatin and close to 300 volunteers. There are currently plans to remove and potentially dismantle this piece of local history.
You can help by signing Petition e-3034 - Petitions (ourcommons.ca), sponsored by MP Bruce Stanton. If this petition gets 500 or more signatures, it will be tabled in the Commons. You can also email the Federal Heritage Minister at steven.guilbeault@canada.ca. Thank you to all who can sign this petition. With your continued support we can keep the Keewatin home.
Obituaries
Our thoughts are with the Cromar/Mihaichuk family, the Elder family, the Jones family, and everyone else in our community who has lost someone this year.
Stu Cromar
Sharing the sad news that Stu Cromar, father of Kathy Mihaichuk and her siblings Steve and Linda, passed away peacefully with family by his side at the of age 91 on October 29, 2020 in hospital in Hawkesbury, Ontario.
Stu was a long time cottager on East Beach where he spent his days with his beloved wife Lois. Stu and Lois were referred to as Nammy and Da by their 7 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Stu and Lois started coming to Thunder Beach with their family in the summer of 1960 but had been introduced to Thunder Beach years prior by Lois' Aunt and Uncle, Peg and Lou Christie. Stu was active in the Thunder Beach community and was president of the Thunder Beach Association from 1972 to 1974.
Stu most recently lived at La Villageois, Lafontaine before moving to Hudson, Quebec to live with his son and daughter-in-law three years ago. He was predeceased by his wife Lois in late November 2017. With sympathy and caring thoughts from the Thunder Beach community to Kathy and Mike Mihaichuk and their children, Melissa, Max and Jacki and the Cromar family on their loss.
Bruce Elder and Molly Dennison
Bruce Elder died on June 21, 2020 in Burlington at age 92. The Elder family are long time cottagers on Centre Beach Road at Thunder Beach. Our sympathy goes to Bruce’s wife Nancy and his son Steve Elder (Licia) and daughter Susan Elder (Lyle). Bruce was predeceased by his daughter, Linda Elder in 2018. Bruce loved spending time with family and friends, especially at the family cottage at Thunder Beach. He was kind, fun, endlessly curious, and technically talented.
Marion “Molly” Dennison, sister to Bruce Elder, passed away on August 28, 2020 in Toronto. “Molly” was a lifetime cottager along with her brother Bruce. She was a fun, vivacious and spirited woman who excelled at and taught bridge! Predeceased by her husband Jack years ago. Dear Aunt to Steve Elder and his sister Susan Elder.
Bob Jones
Bob Jones, passed away on October 20, 2020 in Waterloo at age 97. Much loved Father to four children, TB cottagers Doug & Diane Jones and Barb & Wally Reidl, and David & Kathleen Jones (Cedar Point) and Elizabeth & Bob Felder (Pickering) and cherished Poppy to 9 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. His family share immense gratitude for a life well lived. Bob was only 4 years old when he first visited Thunder Beach with his parents and brothers. He had fond memories of growing up at the beach. Bob and Betty honeymooned there in October 1947 and were married 65 years before she passed in 2012. Bob shared many memories with family at Thunder Beach, including their granddaughter’s weddings (Ashley and Courtney) and his 90th Birthday party. Bob was a WWII RCAF Veteran. He was a wonderful Father and a kind, true gentleman who is dearly missed. With sympathy to the Jones family on their loss.
And on to 2021
The end of 2020 is not an end to the troubles that plagued the year, but it provides a moment for reflection on what a special community we have and hope for its future. We are now looking to the summer of 2021 with optimism that many of our treasured pastimes will return and that new traditions will be created. As we reflect on our Thunder Beach history and the contributions of so many members, it is important to recall that all events and programming was, at one point, an idea by a volunteer in our community. If people wish to get more involved in the Thunder Beach Association, in any capacity, you can contact John Philpott at jsphilpott@gmail.com.
Stay safe and have a great start to 2021!
The Thunder Beach Executive
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