The Birth of a Curling Club:
In 2006, the Men’s Worlds Curling Championship was held in Lowell, Massachusetts. In order to hold the MWCC in Lowell, there needed to be a Host Club, thus a number of local curlers formed the Greater Lowell Curling Club, which became a GNCC member club.
Efforts were made during the Worlds to encourage an interest in curling. After the 2006 event was over, a small group of curlers from several clubs continued to believe that the area could support a curling club and there was, in fact, a need for another curling club in the southern New Hampshire - northern Middlesex County area. The subject of doing something with the Greater Lowell Curling Club continued to be discussed over the next two years at various men’s bonspiels.
The first step in making this a reality was a meeting at the 2008 Men’s Summer Spiel at Cape Cod Curling Club, as the idea of how it might be accomplished emerged. During the ensuing year, several meetings were held and it was decided that the name of the new club should more appropriately be “Merrimack Valley Curling Club”, as it described the geographic area that the club was intended to serve. Additionally, the names and addresses of those that indicated an interest in curling at the 2006 MVCC were reviewed and culled to be contacted, a search for a venue was conducted, and a nonprofit corporation was formed.
In March of 2009, the effort began in earnest with meetings held at Nashua County Club, the home of the Nashua Curling Club, with key members of that club bringing things together. The Board of Directors of NCC was approached with a request to aid in making this dream a reality by making Nashua’s ice available for one or two draws a week. An agreement was reached that MVCC would rent ice from NCC on Sunday afternoons. With that agreement in place the venue was secured and it was time to breathe life into the new club. An Open House was planned for MVCC. Notices were sent out to selected individuals, telephone calls made, publication for the Open House was arranged in the local media, the assistance of Nashua Curling Club members was secured, and a successful open house was held in October 2009, as soon as ice was available.
The end result of this four-year effort is that the once “paper club” is now a new enthusiastic, active, and viable curling club in the GNCC that sent its first bonspiel rink to the Francis Dykes Bonspiel in February 2010. We continue to send teams regularly to the GNCC Five-and-Under events as well as unrestricted bonspiels all over the GNCC. Thank you to all who assisted in making this Club a reality. Also, a special thanks to the Board of Directors of the Nashua Country Club for its vision and help in this effort.