January 17, 2013 PDF Edition - Wilbraham-Hampden Times

Page 0 The Wilbraham-Hampden TIMES
January 17, 013
From Tee to green
250th anniversary celebration golf
tournament tees off in May
By Dave Barry
Turley Publications Golf Writer
Are you ready to be part of a once
in a lifetime event, a special,
very special, golf tournament
being held, Monday, May 20,
2013 at the Country Club of Wilbraham?
This tournament is one of many events
taking place as Wilbraham celebrates its
quarter-millennial anniversary; its 250th
birthday.
The golf tournament is an opportunity
for local golfers (residents and former
residents of Wilbraham and their guests)
to take part in the historic birthday of the
town. Just imagine when the next milestone
celebration comes along, the 300th
in 50 years, and the people look back and
remember the 250th event.
Not often does one get the chance to
be part of a historic moment that will live
on for decades and decades. A Time Capsule
will be buried as the 2013 celebration
comes to an end and hopefully will have
items from the tournament, pictures, and
names.
Traditional
Open to men and women it will, in
some ways, be a traditional tournament.
Play will be a scramble format in foursomes,
with low gross and net prizes
awarded. There will be hole-in-one contests
during play as well as a putting contest
(more on this later).
Golf is preceded by lunch, group picture
of all players and then followed by a
social hour and dinner. Each player will
receive a commemorative shirt and hat,
plus logo golf balls.
There are several different and special
parts which are unique to the Anniversary
Tournament celebration. One will
be a display dealing with the history of
the game, golfers and clubs of the past.
On hand will be a long time student of the
game to describe and answer questions
about its earlier years. Pay attention, a test
will follow later at dinner on how many of
the clubs of yesterday can you correctly
name.
During play a putting competition
will take place for each player. What
makes this competition different is that
you cannot use your own putter or balls.
Historical putters, dating back many decades
will be used and the balls provided
will be ones from the past. If you are lucky
WILBRAHAM - Maddy McCloskey
needed roughly 10 minutes Wednesday to
set a pair of records for the Wilbraham &
Monson Academy girls swimming team.
In a tri-meet at the Canterbury School,
Maddy touched first in the 500-yard freestyle
and 100-yard backstroke, setting
school records and pool records in both.
“I trained all summer and I want to be
good. I want to get somewhere,” Maddy
said.
Maddy stayed undefeated in individual
events, pushing her winning streak to
10. She’s now part of five school records:
three individual events and two relays.
“Maddy swam really well,” coach
Moran said. “She paced almost perfectly.
She’s really maturing into a legitimate
frontline swimmer. She’s worked extremely
hard. She’s become extremely
focused in the last two years. She works
hard to improve her technique and she
consistently works hard in practice, which
is always exemplary.”
Maddy improved upon her school
and make one of the putts you will qualify
for the final putt off held during the social
hour. Once again the competitors will be
using the old putters and possibly even an
older type ball to determine the winner.
The committee is encouraging participants
to dress in the styles of early years
- knickers, Hogan hats, even a dress shirt
with appropriate tie, vests. You might
consider those brightly vibrant colored
shirts and pants (red, green, orange, yellow,
plaid, checkered, polka-dot), golf
shoes with tassels from the 60s and 70s.
I suggest you check out those old pictures
you have of how you dressed in the past.
There will be a group at the course to
judge the best dress for the day.
Photographer On Course
Prior to starting play a group picture
will be taken as part of the history of the
250th celebration. During play a photographer
will be on the course to take pictures
of each group. Both will be available
at dinner to purchase. These would be
keepers and a memento of the event and
your participation. Decades later picture
your grandchildren looking at these and
saying to their children: “There are our
grandparents and your great-grandparents
celebrating the town’s 250th birthday in
2013.”
TIMES photo by Dave Barry
Making plans for the 250th Anniversary Celebration Golf Tournament to
be held May 20, 2013 at the Country Club of Wilbraham are (from left)
Vaughn Rist, Dean Helm and Dave Barry.
mark with a time of 5 minutes, 27.77
seconds in the 500 free. A few minutes
later, in her most competitive race of the
Memorabilia highlighting the 250th
will be on display and for sale, lapel pins,
tee shirts, original ink drawings of historic
homes, the center of town, commemorative
“Wilbraham 1763” wooden signs.
Since December 2010 a volunteer
committee has been meeting, planning a
number of events to mark this special moment
in time and a series of fund raising
efforts. The first of which was a town-wide
tag sale this past May, plus a fundraising
letter sent in 2011 to residents.
Many of the events are free and open
to the residents, which include family activities,
picnic, a parade, fireworks, music
concerts, various art exhibits, tours, open
houses and the recently held, highly successful
First Night in the center of town,
which attracted scores of families and
town residents, young and old.
First Night was made possible because
of the generosity, support and
involvement of numerous individuals,
groups, businesses, community organizations,
including the 100-plus residents
who submitted recipes for the Cook
Book.
The first printing of the cookbook
sold out as did the Anniversary Calendar.
The 2013 celebration is getting support
from the Wilbraham-Hampden
season, she established a new standard in
the 100 back in 1:02:51. Both were pool
marks as well.
“I felt ready before the 100-yard
back,” Maddy said. “I felt nervous because
I was going against a girl who was
my biggest competition of the year. I was
going for a win and my best time.”
Ivy Durepo also set a pool record
Wednesday, winning the 50 free in 25.2.
“Mr. Moran pointed the record out to
me before the race,” Ivy said. “I thought
I could definitely do it. I was behind the
block and ready to go. I was thinking
how I was going to put all my effort into
it, get a really fast turn and fast finish. I
did, and I looked up at the time and said,
‘Alright’.”
Ivy, who was recently accepted into
Connecticut College, broke the pool record
by more than a second.
“I’ve been going faster than last year
so at the end of the year I think I’m going
to put some big, huge numbers on the
scoreboard,” she said.
Times, Wilbraham-Hampden Rotary
Club, Wilbraham & Monson Academy,
United Church, Shriners, the Masons,
the Country Club of Wilbraham, Wilbraham
Schools, Minnechaug Regional,
students and staff, various music
groups, the Public Library,
town departments; Selectmen
and Treasurer’s
offices, DPW, police
and fire, to name a
few. It has become
truly a community
event involving a
growing number
of groups, citizens
and residents of
Wilbraham.
There is an
insert in this week’s
Times, a Registration/Entry
Form to sign up for the
tournament. The field is limited
to 112 players (28 foursomes). Cost
is $125 per player. Make check payable to
Wilbraham’s 250th Anniversary Committee
and return to PO Box 61, Wilbraham,
MA 01095.
Register Early
Get your group together now and
send in your paid entry form early. Foursomes
preferred but individual entries
will be accepted and assigned a group
by the committee. First come, first in and
the deadline is April 15 for entries.
If playing and wish to bring a guest
to the dinner use the Registration Form
in the paper. Mark the dinner box with
number requested and send payment
of $30/person as directed above. If not
playing and would like to attend the dinner
do the same. These should be ordered
prior to the tournament. No tickets required.
We will have a list of those making
payment.
The insert also lists a number of tournament
sponsorships available. Funds
raised go to the 250th Anniversary Committee
to help pay the expenses of events
associated with the celebration. For more
information on these contact Vaughn Rist
at 413-478-8878 or by email at hrsrist@
netscape.net.
If you need more information or
have questions about the tournament or
dinner contact Dean Helm at the Country
Club of Wilbraham, 596-8897 or email
dhelm@ccofwilbraham.com.
McCloskey, Durepo set records in pool
Ivy Durepo set a pool record in the
50-yard freestyle with a time of
25.20 seconds.
Turley Publications submitted photo
Maddy McCloskey set a pair of records
for the girls swim team in the
500-yard freestyle and 100-yard
backstroke.