Free transportation planned for 55+ Games in Stratford
Jane Robertson | CBC News | Posted: January 30, 2018 1:00 AM | Last Updated: January 30, 2018
'The only time we get to see each other is usually during those games,' says long-time competitor
The 55+ Games Society will be offering free transportation to the winter event in Stratford, P.E.I., this year thanks to a $6,500 grant from the Rotary Club of Charlottetown.
"We are hoping that we can bring some people who haven't been able to participate in the past, or who have participated and now a few years have gone by and we are hoping to bring them back," said Valerie Vuillemot, executive director of the 55+ Games Society.
"Particularly in the winter when maybe people don't want to drive or if they are not sure what the weather is going to be like, they may not sign up."
Transportation to the games was identified to the organizing committee as a possible barrier for attendees in a survey of members taken two years ago.
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20 years of competition
Up to 600 people attend the winter games to compete in sports ranging from hockey and curling to cards and crokinole.
Vuillemot said that the age of competitors start at 55 and can go all the way up to 95 years old.
It's the camaraderie of all seniors from across the Island and the only time we get to see each other is usually during those games. — Ralph MacDonald
Borden-Carleton Seniors' Club member Ralph MacDonald has been going to the event since it started 20 years ago.
"It's the camaraderie of all seniors from across the Island and the only time we get to see each other is usually during those games," MacDonald said.
Usually his seniors' group carpools to the games, but he said it sometimes doesn't quite work out.
MacDonald was pleased to hear that free transportation will be available to those who may need it this year.
"I think it is a wonderful, wonderful plan," he said.
"We are a large club and we have a large contingent of card players so they take up a lot of cars."
How the transportation will work hasn't been worked out yet for the week-long event, which starts in late February.
But organizers are looking at the possibility of a minivan heading from the east and one from the west into Stratford, with stops along the way.
Vuillemot says they hope adding transportation will increase the number of participants — especially for some of the more active winter events like hockey and curling.
The pilot project details are still being worked on for the event that runs from Feb. 26 to March 3.
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