Thistle-St. Andrew's Curling Club celebrates 150 years

The Thistle-St. Andrew's Curling Club in Saint John has been through it all.

And everything leading up to now has culminated in the club's 150th anniversary.

Jeff Fry, the director of communications for the club, said that in 1874, the St. Andrew's Curling Club had 14 members and two outdoor sheets of ice. But that couldn't accommodate many more members, so they decided to build the Thistle Curling Club on Golding Street in 1879. 

According to Fry, it was the first covered curling rink in the Maritimes.

"Then a new building was built in 1901 with three sheets," he said. "And then again, in 1948, we moved to our current location at Dufferin Avenue. 

"And then in 1975, unfortunately, we had a fire that destroyed the head house."

The fire left the walls of the ice shed still standing but over the next 10 months, Fry said, it all had to be rebuilt — this time with eight sheets of ice.

At this point, the members of the St. Andrew's Curling Club joined with the Thistle club, creating what is known to this day as the Thistle-St. Andrew's Curling Club or TSA. 

Though the club re-opened, despite the devastating fire, it once again suffered damage during the Groundhog Day gale of 1976 that knocked out the club's back wall. 

Through it all, the club persisted, producing provincial, national and world championships, Fry said.

"In 1988, we had the world junior men's champs with Charlie Sullivan. In 2012, we had the world senior women's," Fry said.

"And then in 2014, we had the world senior men's that had Wade Blanchard from the TSA club."

And a far jump from the original 14 members, the club currently had 535 registered, according to Fry.