{"id":27330,"date":"2025-12-17T18:47:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T23:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=27330"},"modified":"2026-04-03T01:44:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:44:35","slug":"episode-1470-torontos-grenadier-pond-hosts-1993-grand-match-of-curling-high-park-curling-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=27330","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 1,470; TORONTO’S GRENADIER POND HOSTS 1993 GRAND MATCH OF CURLING (HIGH PARK CURLING CLUB)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
EPISODE 1,470:  GRENADIER POND HOSTS GRAND MATCH OF CURLING   IN WINTER OF 1993<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
december 17,2025<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<img id="” alt=”image029.jpeg” class=”Apple-web-attachment Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;” apple-inline=”yes” src=”https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4D741554-03D1-405A-A821-BCAC433F4624.jpeg”><\/p>\n


<\/div>\n
\t\t<\/span>\u201cALAN, let\u2019s get a team together for the Grand Match of Curling on Grenadier Pond,\u201d said Brad.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So Brad Schneller, Mike Dent, Ed Werenich, THE WRENCH, and I became one of the 64 teams of curlers to venture on the<\/div>\n
ice of Grenadier Pond deep in the winter of 1993.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Was the winter ice able to hold 300 curlers, several sets of curling stones, and 1 bag piper blowing his heart out?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Legend had the story that a bunch of British Grenadiers died trying to retreat from American forces in the War <\/div>\n
of 1812 \u2014  with their wheeled canons and assorted weapons.   If the legend was true (which it wasn\u2019t) then<\/div>\n
their skeletons and their artillery pieces must be poking out of the mud deep down.  The pond is 15 feet deep<\/div>\n
with a bottomless layer of mud (not bottomless but that makes the legend more interesting).<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Our 1993 curling team dressed suitably in old bear, buffalo and raccoon skin coats were ready.  My son Kevin gave me a Russian<\/div>\n
field hat from the ill fated invasion of Afghanistan in the 1990\u2019s.  The other 64 teams were  similarly fashionable.<\/div>\n
If the ice gave way we would all be planted dead — 15 feet down under.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Just as our games got started in 1993 a snowstorm swooped down so a full count was never done.  64 x 4 x assorted hangers plus one piper equals = <\/div>\n
a lot of dead bodies if the ice gave way.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I think it was Paul White, High Park Curling Club, along with many others who hatched up the Grand Match to celebrate the club centenary.<\/div>\n
Did they check with insurance companies?  Good question.  Those who had doubts of our survival linedthe shores of<\/div>\n
the 35 acre pond on west side of 100 acre High  Park.  Maybe bets were made among these rubberneckers.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
As the snow deepened and the ice harder to find Mike Dent of our team volunteered his body as<\/div>\n
a giant broom with two guys dragging him at a right angles to the ice.   Earlier he had forgotten to let go of<\/div>\n
his rock and slid down the ice after his body hit the surface with a loud \u2018whump !\u2019.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Fortunately our skip, Ed W, had a whisky filled hollow metal curling broom.  That provided false courage and warm guts.\u2019<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Back at our High Park Curling Club the gutless wonders who refused risks toasted the memories of those of us who did not<\/div>\n
get off the ice in time.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Right now I would like to propose toast to three of my teachers at Humberside who founded the club \u2014 Stuffy McInnis, Herb Tancock<\/div>\n
and the father of Duncan Green.  They would have joined us had they lived long enough.   Duncan Green offered me his dad\u2019s curling stones<\/div>\n
which would  have  been used on the ice that winter day in 1993.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Now let’s skedaddle through the twisted streets of Parkdale to the club which is hidden there.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
P.S>  Would an insurance company c0ver this venture?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
P>P>S>  Around 1995 we did a Radio Noon CBC story about Grenadier Pond in which Mike Smee,<\/div>\n
Christopher Thomas and I persuaded our boys to dive down to see if the snouts of ancient cannons remained.  Kevin surfaced<\/div>\n
\u201cNothing down there dad\u201d while Andrew took his time \u201cshoved my arm deep in the mud, no cannons, dad.\u201d<\/div>\n
Marjorie did not think much of the hair brained idea.    What a grand story it would have been had 64 teams of curlers <\/div>\n
fallen through the Ice in 1993.  Someone else would tell that story.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The legend lives on.!<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 1,470:  GRENADIER POND HOSTS GRAND MATCH OF CURLING   IN WINTER OF 1993 alan skeoch december 17,2025 <img id="” alt=”image029.jpeg” class=”Apple-web-attachment Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;” apple-inline=”yes” src=”https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4D741554-03D1-405A-A821-BCAC433F4624.jpeg”> \u201cALAN, let\u2019s get a team together for the Grand Match of Curling on Grenadier Pond,\u201d said Brad. So Brad Schneller, Mike Dent, Ed Werenich, THE WRENCH, and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}