​On September 24th, eighteen members of the golf group played nine holes at Mulligan’s followed by a de-brief on the patio. This event was intended to celebrate our 2021 golf season and, to thank everyone for their participation. Covid and the heat wave made it challenging and impacted our attendance this year. Our current membership is 55, however only about half of our members made it out for our events this year. Our goal since the inception of the golf group has been to promote fun golf for players of all levels. We hope we have achieved this goal and our prizes and competitions at our year end event were planned with this in mind. There were 2 competitions held this year; a putting contest and a count of the number of times each player entered a sand trap or water hazard. Both competitions were won by John McGinn. He won the hazard competition with a record of 6 hazards found in 9 holes. Close seconds went to Tricia Nicol with 3 sand traps and 2 water hazards and Marie Morck who hit 5 water hazards. Four of these 5 water hazards that Marie entered were on one hole, hole # 8. No doubt there is quite a story to be told there. John won the putting competition by leaving his putt 30 cm from the hole. There were several putts left about 35 cm from the cup. All players were permitted a few practice putts before announcing their final 2 attempts to drain the 30-footer. Unfortunately, David Schneider walked up and drained the 30-footer with his practice putt but then couldn’t repeat it for the real thing. Men’s and ladies club champions were determined by random draws from all participants at the year-end event. The champions are Nancy Brown and Donald Bourne; each presented with prestigious trophies worthy of their outstanding athletic abilities and dedication to the game. All winners were provided with a gift card donated by Mulligan’s Golf Club. Each of the 4 gift cards can be redeemed for a free 9-hole round of golf at Mulligan’s. We encourage all golf group members to relay our appreciation for their donation the next time they are at Mulligan’s. Since formation of the golf group in 2015, it has been led by Keith Millard, Ken Oyler, and Dave Scott. There have been several members who have assisted with the group, but it needs to be acknowledged that Tony Nicol has been an assistant every year since the group was formed. Dave Scott advised the group of his intention to step down as the leader at the end of this season and asked for a volunteer to take on leadership next season. Nancy Brown and Barb Sabey volunteered to co-lead the group next season. Thanks Nancy and Barb.
                          Dave Scott

The Bridge Group continues to play once a week. We've only missed about one month since the pandemic began. We're a happy, friendly, relaxed Bridge Group. In the summer, we met in-person for a picnic since we needed to see one another after playing online for so long. It was lovely to see everyone. Now we are playing a hybrid version of our Bridge. Some people play virtually, and some play in-person, based on each person's preference! Dorothy and her partner bid and made a small slam a week ago! If you know anything about Bridge, this is not easy! 

    Here are some candid photos taken at our First Annual Summer Picnic. (Rest In Peace, Skip)

Lost Lake-Lost Frog:  photos below by Patti, Steve Hill and Dawn

The first outing of our Birding season took place at the Courtenay Airpark under blue skies. Perfect conditions for an enjoyable time together, but not so great for grabbing photos of the plentiful bird life encountered – most photos tended to feature ‘silhouetted’ birds (black with little colour showing). By the time they were lightened, they were washed out and harder to identify. Between the ten participants, we managed and came up with quite a varied list of birds sighted: European Starlings, Northwestern Crow, Great Blue Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Eurasian Collared-Doves, Bushtits, Song Sparrow, Gulls, Ring-billed Gull, Killdeer, Western Sandpipers, Least Sandpiper, Canada Geese, Bald Eagle, Hummingbird, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, House Finches, Turkey Vultures, Northern Pintails, Green-winged Teals, American Wigeons and Mallards. Of further interest was the seal activity in the river mouth and an Oregon Grape bush with grasshoppers and stink bugs. Thank you, Bill, for sharing your fantastic Scope – it was great getting the closeup look at faraway birds!

Photos were contributed by Steve, Ian, Bill Dawn.