When Ray Pavlove began his teaching a career in 1966 at Foley Public School, he started the elementary school curling program in Parry Sound. Over the years, he would arrange one-day home-and-home bonspiels with like other like-minded elementary school teachers who offered curling programs to their students.

In the mid 1980’s, Ray, along with Bob Belecque (MacTier),  Larry Quinn (Newmarket) and Reg Philipp (Port Perry) discussed the possibility of expanding their curling programs and  agreed that a one weekend curling event should be held for elementary students from across the province. It was agreed that Parry Sound would host the first competition.

February 25, 26, 1989, the Ontario Elementary School Curling Championship began when the Parry Sound Curling Club hosted  twenty-four teams from eight schools.  The participating schools were -

R. Caruthers School, North Bay

Mactier School, Mactier

MacDougall School, Parry Sound

Park Avenue School, Holland Landing

R.H. Cornish Public School, Port Perry

St. Francis Separate School, Sudbury

William Beatty School, Parry Sound  

The Parry Sound community rallied around the event with several businesses and individuals generously providing the necessary sponsorship to host the event.

The 1989 Executive consisted of:

Draw master - Bill Carlton

Chairperson - Ray Pavlove

Vice-Chairperson - Dave Gibson

Treasurer - Paulette Gauntlet

Secretary - Claudette Boyer

Student Advisors - Graham March, Stephen Boyer, Debby Pavlove

Awards and Decorations - John Ranney, Barb March

Goodie Bags - Sue Heitman

Construction - Gerry March

Photography - Nancy Beers

OCA Rep. - Tim Gibson

SOLCA Rep. -  Joen Huff

M.C. - Brian Holmes.

Stephen Boyer, a student from William Beatty School designed the first logo, “A Sport For Life”.

Since that time, it has been hosted in all corners of the province with thousands of elementary school students enjoying the camaraderie and friendly competition of a provincial curling championship.

The 10th Anniversary was held in Parry Sound in 1998 and we are honoured to host the 25^th Anniversary.

Click on this link for a list of the past champions of the Timbits.    Timbits past champions

Some of the past winners are pictured below:

Note:

If anyone has pictures of other winners of the Timbits, perhaps you would consider forwarding them to Nancy Beers at beersn@nearnorthschools.ca

While the math seems a little off, Ray Pavlove explains that initially the province was broken into two parts, and during some school years, championships were held in both northern and southern Ontario.  The Ontario Curling Association assured Ray that in 2012, it will be the twenty-fifth time it’s been held.

The Southampton Curling Club was awarded the opportunity to host the 20th anniversary of the Timbits Ontario Elementary School Curling Championships, which took place March 1-4, 2007.

Other past championships include:

Gananoque - 2008

Children came from as far away as London, Alexandria, Ottawa and Hamilton to play in the 21st annual Timbit Provincial Elementary School bonspiel

The overall winners were from Cedarview Middle School of Nepean. the team consisted of Tom Lepage, Geordin Raganold, Jonathan Lebeau, Morgan Steele and was coached by Matthew Doucet.

The runners up were from Cambridge’s Clemens Mill School. Team members were Kieran Scott, Coleman Ney, Nathan Scott and Tayler Bean.

Omemee - 2009

Omemee, Ennismore and Lindsay Curling Clubs were used in 2010 or the 22nd-annual Timbits Provincial Elementary School Curling Championship.  They hosted 80 teams for the event, which ran from April 2-5, 2010.  Opening ceremonies were held at the Lindsay Fairgrounds with an Olympic-style parade.  The final events will be in Omemee on April 5, including the championship.

The rink representing Sir Ernest MacMillan Public School in Burlington -Zack Shurtleff, Patrick Clarke, Brandon Reimer and Daniel Stubbs  received the Champion trophy with a record of 6 - 0.

Galt/Cambridge - 2010

McDougall School won this championship.  The team included Matthew Mayede, Nicholas Mayede, Cameron Johnson, Terri Weeks and and Nathan Marshall.  The team members are shown above with coach Chris Weeks.

A team from McDougall also took home the Hotshots trophy.  They are also shown in the above photo.

Minden - 2011

Competing for the fifth time in the Timbits Ontario Elementary School Curling Championships a team from Seaforth Public School, made up of Sam Steep, Ethan Doig, Adam and Alex Vincent and Parker Doig, won all six of its games, including games against teams from Ottawa, Parry Sound, Markdale, and Chesley.  Seaforth  beat Sudbury 5-3 in the final game.  Their coach Todd Doig reported that the team was behind until the fifth end when they scored three, to give them a 2 point lead and they eventually ran the other team out of rocks.  

Timbits Minden 2011 Ontario Elementary School Curling Champions

from Seaforth Public School. 

 Hotshots Competition Results

Winners

McDougall School Team 1

Parry Sound

skip   Adam Walker  

    vice   Liam Thompson

      second   Tyler Marshall          

       lead   Zack Vowels         

Runners Up

Wm. Beatty P.S.

Parry Sound

skip   Nicole Heikoop

   vice   Ashlyn Simpson

second    Allie Kane           

      lead   Elizabeth Edington

Back row (L to R): Adam Walker, Liam Thompson, Tyler Marshall, Zack Vowels, Allie Kane, and Elizabeth Edington. Front row (L to R): Nicole Heikoop and Ashlyn Simpson.