WAVERLEY: Hurricane Dorian wasn’t about to dampen the party and fun for those attending Cheema’s 509th anniversary celebrations during the Sept. 6-8 weekend.
While the originally scheduled events of Sept. 7 had to be moved to Sept. 8, at the Waverley Legion, the full house inside the Legion enjoyed reliving memories and recognizing 26 inductees into the Hall of Fame for Cheema.
Those inductees ranged from Corporate Citizen; Builders- Athlete & Sport Advancement; Teams; Builder- Volunteers; and of course the athletes. The one-of-a-kind Founders Award, which would only be presented this once, was also handed out.
There were special messages of congratulations from HRM Mayor Mike Savage; federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau; Canadian broadcaster/anchor Scott Russell; several players on the Halifax Wanderers club; and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Russell’s appearance received more of an applause than Trudeau’s did.
Former CBC Sports and Olympics broadcaster Bruce Rainie was the emcee for the night.
Inducted into the inaugural Cheema Hall of Fame were:
Founder’s Award – Robert (Bob) McDonald
Corporate Citizen – Dave Murray and Robert (Bob) Pickrem
Builder – Athlete & Sport Advancement
Charles (Bud) Dodge; Aniko & Joe Dunford; Frank Garner, Coach; Mike Kerrivan, Coach; Laszlo (Csom) Latorovszki, Coach.
Team
1973 Men’s War Canoe National champs; Cheema 77 Crew; National championship Team 1994; National championship team 2012; Paddleall National champions 2017.
Builder – Volunteer
Lucille Fitzgerald; Paul McDonald; Dana Schafer; Velma Keevill; and John Furneaux
Athlete
Anne Dodge; Don Brien; Jill D’Alessio; Richard Dalton; David McNaughton; Kelly O’Leary; Mike Scarola; and Karen Furneaux.
On Friday night at the club in Waverley, the new boathouse’s name was officially unveiled in a short ceremony with a crowd of about 35 or so people in attendance.
With the pull of the rope the plastic tarp covering the name of the boathouse came off, revealing the newly named Frank Garner Boathouse. Organizers said there was no other choice in their discussions among the Cheema 50th committee than Frank Garner’s name to pout on the boathouse.
Garner made a few comments saying he was grateful and thankful to have such an honour. Garner’s family was among those in attendance at the ceremony.
The weekend was being used as a way to celebrate Cheema’s success over the past 50 years and to help kick-start fundraising towards planned expansion of the facility, located on Lake Thomas. The expansion plans were unveiled at the end of the celebration, before revellers danced the night away to Asia & NuGruv.
