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Since 1876
Ten members, a lot on Russell Street, and friendly challenge matches on the Scugog River. A hundred and fifty years later there are six sheets on Peel Street and four hundred members.
One of Ontario’s oldest curling clubs.
The Lindsay Curling Club was formed in December 1876 with ten original members. Before this, friendly challenge matches were played on the Scugog River. The other existing clubs were in Bowmanville, Port Hope, Cobourg and Orillia; the Peterborough Curling Club was formed the same year.
During the first twenty-five years, Lindsay teams were renowned for their success in the competitive field. Lindsay won the Governor-General’s Cup three consecutive years and competed in the international “Winnipeg Bonspiel” for many years, bringing home medals and trophies. Up to 1934 Lindsay teams had played in the Ontario Tankard thirteen times — winning seven and finishing runner-up six.
Today there are slightly over four hundred members and associates. It is a busy place any day or night of the week, and continues to be one of the main gathering places in Lindsay for friendly competition and social gatherings.
Ailsa Craig — the granite island off the Ayrshire coast that supplies the stone for nearly every curling rock in the world, including the set that arrived in Lindsay in December 1939.
Curling in two minutes
World Curling’s short explainer covers the whole game — the stones, the sweeping, the house and how a point is actually scored. If somebody has asked you what curling is and you have struggled to explain it, send them this.
Video courtesy of World Curling. Prefer to try it rather than watch it? Our Learn to Curl sessions start in October — no equipment and no experience needed.
A hundred and fifty years, end by end
1876
Ten members and a river
The club is formed in December with ten original members, after years of friendly challenge matches on the Scugog River.
1877
A rink on Russell Street
After the first season the club buys a lot on Russell Street, near the present-day Strike Point Bowling Centre, and erects a rink. Membership grows and four skips are elected. The public are invited to skate on the ice on weekends and certain evenings.
1893
The move to Peel Street
Seventeen years on, the Russell Street facilities are abandoned and a new club is built on the present Peel Street site with four sheets of ice. Two more are added a few years later as membership reaches 124.
1902
The Scots come to Lindsay
A Scottish team plays an exhibition match here. Tickets are sold to the general public and several hundred people are unable to get seats.
1913
One of the largest bonspiels in Ontario
Lindsay hosts a week-long bonspiel with one hundred teams entered from across Ontario, using the six sheets in the curling rink plus four more in the skating rink.
1922
The Chamber of Horrors
Six sheets, as now — but with walkways between ices two and three and four and five, so spectators could follow the game up and down the rink, offering audible commentary on the shots being played. Opposite sheet five was a room the older skips claimed for themselves, known as the Chamber of Horrors: a pot-bellied coal stove, cigar smoke, and a great many opinions about how shots should have been played. Young curlers were rarely allowed in, and only if a seat was free.
1939
Fifty pairs of stones, and one lost at sea
The club orders stones from Andrew Kay and Company of Glasgow. It is believed the shipment was lost when the S.S. Athenia was torpedoed off the coast of Scotland in September 1939. A second set was ordered and delivered that December. Until then some members owned their stones and others rented them for $2.00 a season — mismatched rocks weighing anywhere from 35 to 50 pounds.
1947
The ladies are admitted
After several attempts, women are admitted to membership and fifty join in the first year. At the Ladies Opening Tea in the autumn of 1952, three hundred lady curlers are present.
1954
Artificial ice
A fundraising committee raises $16,000 for new clubhouse facilities and an artificial ice plant. A new building covers the ice surface, dues rise to $30.00 a year, and the club hosts the first Lindsay Invitational Mixed Bonspiel — five days long, drawing entries Ontario-wide. Mixed membership grows to sixty teams.
1967
Centennial year, and a mortgage burning
The club joins the town’s Canadian Centennial celebrations with a three-day, 42-team bonspiel, members in centennial costume for a giant parade. That spring the club holds a mortgage burning ceremony, leaving it free of debt.
1976
The 100th birthday
Many special events, including a spectacular birthday party. With the aid of Wintario grants the club is improved in stages: a concrete floor under the ice, an enlarged second-floor lounge and bar, expanded locker rooms, and a new east wing with washrooms, a locker room and a lounge for the ladies, opened in spring 1978.
2008 & 2013
A new ice plant, and new rocks
A new ice plant in 2008 and a new set of rocks in 2013 let our ice technicians provide conditions similar to those seen at major national and televised events.
2017–2019
A fully accessible club
With a grant from the Enabling Accessibility Fund, donations from members and a great deal of fundraising, the club installs a hydraulic lift serving all three levels, retrofits the second-floor washrooms, and opens access to the ice surface. After two years the project is complete and the club welcomes its first wheelchair curlers.
2026
One hundred and fifty years
A lounge renovation funded by a $70,000 CHEST Fund grant, a full season of celebrations, and 150 Ends of Curling on 11 December 2026 — a hundred and fifty years to the month.
Celebrating 150 years of curling in Lindsay
The organising committee first met in January 2025, when a dedicated group trudged through the snow to share ideas. Co-chairs Deb Hatch and Kelly James now oversee five committees taking the celebration from idea to event.
As with everything that happens at the club it takes an army of volunteers. If you have an idea, or would like to help with any of the events, please get in touch — there is not an idea that is not a good one.
Media & Marketing
Richard Glanzmann and Sadie DiBello
Events
David Ryrie
Merchandise
Wendy Findlay
Decorations
Kathy Shannon
Fundraising
Chair sought — contact Deb Hatch or Kelly James
Raised so far
$753.06
First fundraiser, Curling Day in Canada
An early Christmas present
After a few years of much discussion, and going through a Covid year which caused some upheaval to budgets and income, we are pleased to have confirmation of great news in anticipation of celebrating our 150th birthday.
Your board has worked hard to prepare quotes with the help of Mike Allen’s drawings, and with the help of Deb Hatch and Dave Nigh, to apply for a grant. We are pleased to announce that we have successfully acquired just over $70,000 from the CHEST Fund to do a lounge renovation. This project is tentatively scheduled to be completed just after our curling season and includes a new dishwasher and ice maker for our bar operation.
Many thanks again to Deb Hatch, Dave Nigh, Anthony Jetten, Mike Allen, Brian LeFort, your Director of Bar and board members for their input, dedication and hard work in getting this project to fruition.
Jan Mikkelsen
President, Lindsay Curling Club