There were three hearty cheers at the North Arm Cove Community Centre this afternoon (Sunday October 16) when the community celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Centre's opening. Visitors and previous residents of the Cove came from near and far to join the festivities.
Before the official proceedings, a pie-making contest led to awards to Steve Dumbrell for the savoury and Kate Milford for the sweet pie categories. A sausage sandwich and a glass of sparkly added to the merriment while musical group Sage got many toes tapping and hips swaying.
Maureen Kelly read out a message of congratulations marking the 20th anniversary from Andrew Braybrook, now of MidCoast and but formerly of Great Lakes Council. Andrew, who had facilitated essential Council support for the establishment of the Community Centre, praised the initiative of the North Arm Cove community which over the years has delivered many facilities for the Cove. Local MP, Kate Washington, gave an entertaining talk which echoed those sentiments.
Some wonderful anecdotes of the process and challenges involved in getting the building on-site and bringing it to a usable state were provided by former resident, Les Oxenbridge. Les, who was heavily involved in managing the project from go to whoa, acknowledged the efforts of all those who had been involved in the process. He was then asked to cut the cake while those three cheers echoed around the room..