The Community Hall remains open for rentals, and the Edelweiss Preparatory School resumed classes in September. Obviously, with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the provincial and city regulations, rentals and normal social and fitness programs have been impacted. Recent levels of COVID infections have resulted in a Provincial mandate of a 15-person maximum for private social events, which in fact are being discouraged. As a consequence, our yoga and fitness programs have been switched to online broadcasts and will continue into 2021 with this format.
As a new initiative in these restrictive times, the Community Association sponsored a free pumpkin patch giveaway on Saturday October 3. Over 160 pumpkins were distributed to families in Cambrian Heights. In addition, during the rest of October an online contest was held for best costumes in adult, children, and pet categories. A best decorated front yard and house award was also judged. Some of the pictures from Halloween are shown here, but a full catalogue may be found on our website at https://cambrianheightscommunity.com.
The annual children’s Lego Contest will not be held live this year for safety reasons. We did however, sponsor an online virtual contest which was judged November 21. Pictures from that contest are not available at the publication deadline of this issue, but will be placed on the website, and highlighted in the January newsletter.
We will continue to explore options for online programs, focusing on informational and social activities. If you have ideas in this regard, please feel free to contact us at one of the email addresses provided in this update.
As indicated our weekly drop-in Yoga Program, and our general Fitness Programs, will continue to be offered online into 2021. Both Lorene Hughes – Fitness ([email protected]) and Kyrsten Blair – Yoga ([email protected]), will operate these programs, using experience gained from the changes COVID-19 brought in March. Please consult the advertisement posters in this issue for further details.
The introductory 12-week Spanish language class at the Community Hall was concluded December 8. It was a great success from the participants viewpoint, of which I was one. We would like to hear your thoughts on conducting another such class in early 2021, focusing on Spanish, French, German, or Mandarin. Class size is restricted to six to eight people, to maintain maximum individual attention. If you are interested, please let us know by emailing [email protected].
On the positive side, with the advent of winter, our two outdoor ice rinks will once again provide first class recreational activity for young and old. Enjoy the outdoors, and our rinks, either in the light of day, or under the artificial lights illuminating the evening behind the Hall. Once again volunteers make this possible. If you are available to help out, please contact the team headed by Scott at [email protected] to offer some hours of worthwhile effort for the kids.
The Community Association is also looking for a volunteer to undertake the job of Secretary for the 2021 year. There remains an opportunity to join the Board of Directors and learn the job from the current Secretary; to contribute to the successful running of the Cambrian Heights Community, while contributing new ideas, and joining an active group of volunteers that are your neighbours. Please contact me at [email protected] for more information.
While interrupted with the pandemic early in 2020, the Committee, looking into enhancements of the 32nd Avenue Dog Park, has refocused, and are exploring various designs and concepts with the support of Calgary Parks. They expect to have a preliminary design concept for resident comments late this year. It is imperative we have effective consultations, particularly with those residents most impacted on 32nd Avenue, before project initiation. It is further expected that this will be a multi-year process, as funds need to be raised for each stage of development. Critical to this process, is that volunteers come forward and involve themselves with all stages of design, fund raising, and implementation. It is hoped that this will be the start of our program to enhance all the parks in the community, to make them more useful as green spaces for Cambrian Heights. If you wish to be part of this process and want to work with other volunteers in a partnered effort, please contact the Community at [email protected].
The next meeting of the Board is scheduled for January 4. While these meetings normally take place at the Georgina Thomson City building on 14th Street and Northmount Drive, recent city guidelines have restricted that buildings use, so for the near term all Board meetings will be held either at the Community Hall, or via Zoom online. These meetings occur at 6:30 pm, and residents are normally welcome to attend. At this point, we are not encouraging community residents to attend due to health safety concerns. If you do wish to bring some issue forward to the board, please contact [email protected] in advance of any meeting. We can then make arrangements for you to attend in person, or through video conferencing when required for health and safety reasons.
Stay healthy, safe and best wishes for you and your family this holiday season.
Daryl Connolly, President CHCA
