St. James comes together at Sturgeon Heights

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This article was published 23/04/2019 (2328 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

 

The building may be new, but the community centre on Rita Street in St. James has been around since the 1920s.

“The club itself, I have records from 1926 but it could’ve been here before that,” said Barry Chambers, general manager of what is now Sturgeon Heights Community Centre.

The club became Sturgeon Creek C.C. and more than 50 years later it was torn down and amalgamated with Silver Heights C.C. on Ness Avenue. 

The new $5.63-million facility at 210 Rita St. was funded by every level of government and officially opened in 2012. It has 18,000-square-feet of indoor space and one of the largest gyms in the city. 

Linda Smiley was the president of the board at Sturgeon Creek and kept the position post-amalgamation. She said both former clubs were old and in need of extensive renovations.

“(The City) just thought in the long run it would make more sense,” Smiley said. “We were able to build this club by the combined square footage of the old Sturgeon and the old Silver site.”

 She adds that while there were some growing pains with the joining of two long standing clubs, the community has come together in the new space. 

“The socializing, not just for the kids but for the parents, too, has been a big part.”

Smiley and her husband started the jackrabbits hockey program at Sturgeon Heights and it has since been taken over by club treasurer Curtis Fehr. The program has gained in popularity and had more than 140 participants last winter. The club is also home to baseball, hockey, ringette, soccer, mini-soccer, basketball and lacrosse teams. 

Sturgeon Heights also offers weekly programming for families and adults, including a healthy baby group, yoga, karate, zumba, pickleball, and drop-in volleyball. Bingo takes place three times a week and the centre is a hotspot for hall rentals and socials. 

Annual events include a winter carnival and hockey tournament, breakfast with Santa and spring carnival. 

Smiley said that while the facility is always busy, Sturgeon Heights suffers from the same lack of volunteers as most other clubs. 

“It’s just challenging getting volunteers,” she said.

There are currently 13 people on the board and five full- and part-time staff members. In addition to the indoor facility, the staff have over 100 acres of greenspace to maintain including the fields at the former Silver Heights site on Ness.

“Staffing is tough,” Chambers said. “Compared to other clubs our size, they have 10 and then part-time staff, so we run very lean.”