By Jeff D'Andrea

P.A. Welcomes the World in curling

Nov 10, 2017 | 7:00 AM

The Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club opened its doors to curlers from around the globe on Thursday.

A group of 24 curlers from Denmark, Croatia, the United States and Eastern Canada were all gathered on the ice in the afternoon, and Sherry and Bob Armstrong can be thanked for that.

After they moved from Prince Albert to Innisfil, Ont., over ten years ago, they started up the Welcome the World Senior Curling initiative to travel around the world curling with others that love the sport as much as they do. 

“We started it from a brainstorming idea, trying to get senior curlers involved in the international scene,” Sherry said. “None of us will be good enough to represent Canada at any event, but we should be able to travel the world and curl.”

“It’s not a competition, it’s just a bunch of people who love to curl,” she added. “We have a passion for curling and enjoy the fellowship, touring, good food, good company and lots of laughter. That’s what we’re all about.”

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Before they moved to Ontario, both Sherry and Bob were long-time members of the P.A. curling club. Sherry said she curled here for 15 years before the move and was happy to reunite with some old friends. 

“It’s very nice to be back home, to see so many familiar faces,” Sherry said. “I’m very excited to be back in the province of Saskatchewan.”

Armstrong’s husband Bob couldn’t be at the event, as he’s coaching the Australian women’s national curling team who finished up the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships on Thursday in Erina, Australia.

The Welcome the World event was hosted at Armstrong’s new hometown in Innisfil from 2011-2014. It was then hosted in Silkeborg, Denmark in 2015, Cleveland, Ohio and Perth, Scotland in 2016. They went to Midland, Michigan earlier this year and are planning trips back to Denmark in 2018, as well as to New Zealand, Croatia and Australia in the future.

Danes Søren and Monika Skov made the trip all the way from Silkeborg, the 2015 hosts. Although they’re still pretty new to the sport, the Skov’s are fully on board with the event and have already been to six different get-togethers. 

“We are only beginners in curling, it’s fantastic to hear you guys start when you’re five, six years old,” Monika said.

“Monika and myself started so late and with the conditions in our club, we’ll never be competitive curlers. Then this Welcome the World event came up, we said ‘hey, we can get the pleasure of playing curling on good ice with some good friends,’” Søren said. “We took this opportunity and now we’re on event number six.”

The tour continues throughout the weekend with a stop in Candle Lake on Friday, with trips to Christopher Lake and Rosthern to follow.

jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW