Jun 28, 2019 | Barb Esbaugh | 981 views
Wellesley Arena Closure for 2019/2020 Season
Hericane families...
In response to the townships announcement re the closure of the Wellesley Arena.
We were asked to attend an ice allocation meeting June 26th at 7:30 p.m. We were notified at this meeting that in fact the meeting was to discuss the motion that was passed by township on June 25th that indicated that the Wellesley Arena was to be closed for the 2019/2020 season.
Township staff indicated that an engineering report indicated that the roof of the arena would likely not bear another snow load. No other safety issues were noted or brought forward at this meeting. We were not given a clear plan from township staff as to whether the roof would be replaced or not.
We are sure there are many of you that are anxious about how that affects our season.
We have been assured by the township that all ice at St. Clements will be utilized by the 4 main users
Wellesley Apple Jacks
Twin Centre Hericanes
Twin Centre Stars
Wellesley Skating Club
An ice allocation meeting will be held, and we will gather our ice times. They have assured us that the amount of ice will not change- however we will be looking at different ice times when compared to previous seasons. The groups that will be affected will be the other centres- Wilmot, Woolwich, Waterloo who typically pick up unused ice, the local pick up leagues will also be affected as will be curling and ringette teams.
It was made very clear that minor hockey and the skating club would get priority to all ice before anything else is released to other groups. Our season will not be affected, we were already anticipating a late start due to the fire hall construction.
To clarify, our ice times will not lessen compared to previous years, you may see shared ice in an attempt to maximize our usage of the single arena.
Any questions re plans for the arena, engineering reports etc should be directed to the township.