Optimists install boards around rink

Local youths now have a great spot to play hockey and ball hockey thanks to the local Optimist Club.

On April 23, club members got together to install boards around the concrete pad at the Moorefield Optimists Hall.

Optimist member Jeremy Culling said the funds for the project were generated through Mapleton Rodeo events held in Moorefield in 2013 and 2014.

Culling said the facility will be flooded in the winter for use for hockey and skating, but will also be a spot where youngsters can play the summer version of the sport without having to chase balls around the grounds.

“If we look at other small communities that have had this sort of thing and anybody I’ve talked to involved in those communities say that … the kids get hours and hours of use out of it,” said Culling.  “A concrete pad sure is nice for ice hockey, but there’s just something about having actual boards … so it’s something that we hope to get lots of use out of.”

While the bulk of the work was completed in a day, Culling said on April 28 there would still be a couple of hours worth of work to complete.

“But the main structure is done. We’ve got a light installed there on a timer already, so it has even been used in the evening,” he said.

Mayor Neil Driscoll called the rink boards “another great community project completed in Mapleton … at no cost to the ratepayers.”