A Richard McBride Elementary School student had taken a top spot in the Royal Canadian Legion’s Remembrance contest.
Each year, the Royal Canadian Legion holds video, poster and literary contests for youth across Canada. Richard McBride Elementary was the lone New West school to submit entries in the 2017 contest.
“According to the teacher, they were pretty enthusiastic about it,” said Terry Leith, vice-president of Branch #2 in New Westminster.
The entries are first judged at the local branch, with winning entries going on to the district zone for judging. First-place winners at the zone then go on to judging at the provincial level, and the top entries in the provinces go on to the “dominion command” for judging at the national level.
Sidney Riddle, a Grade 3 student at Richard McBride, placed second of all entries across Canada in the primary black and white poster category.
“We are just happy that one of our people went on that far,” Leith said of the national win. “We have never had that before from this branch.”
The Royal Canadian Legion received 6,605 submission throughout B.C. and the Yukon for various categories in the poster and literary contest.
Legion officials recently visited Richard McBride Elementary School to recognize the efforts of all participants and present awards to the winning entries.
Royal Canadian Legion Branch #2 received 11 entries from Deidre Wrightman’s Grade 3 class at Richard McBride – seven in the primary black and white poster category and four in the primary colour category. The legion would love to see more students from more school participate in the contest in the future.
Retreating for a cause
Two New Westminster women are rising to the occasion.
Sisters Heidi Clarkson and Robyn Murrell will be volunteering at RISE, which is being billed as the province’s first Parkinson’s exercise and wellness retreat. The four-day retreat, being helped June 15 to 18 at Trinity Western University in Langley, offers exercise, education and empowerment for people with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners. The deadline to register is Tuesday, May 15.
Murrell recently opened the Parkinson Wellness Centre that recently opened in Sapperton. Along with volunteering at the retreat, Clarkson is helping organizers with the event’s social media and marketing.
A limited number of spaces are available for the retreat. Details at www.risepdretreat.com.
Pro lax goalie shares tips
Professional lacrosse goaltender Tye Belanger recently passed along some words of wisdom to young goalies.
New Westminster Senior Salmonbellies and Vancouver Stealth goaltender Tye Belanger recently led some of the New Westminster Minor Lacrosse Association’s young goalies in a clinic. While the goaltender position is an integral part of lacrosse teams, it’s also the position that many know the least about.
Colburn Connelly, a goalie in the New Westminster Minor lacrosse Association’s Bantam division, was among those who attended the clinic.
“It was really good. I definitely liked the aspect of getting better goalies. Tye Belanger was really good. He was really helpful. It’s good to have an experienced goalie talk to you. Coaches know up to a certain point, but he can tell you the really fine aspects of what to work on and how to get better,” Connelly said. “It was really fun.”
In addition to an on-floor coaching session for goalies at Moody Park Arena, Belanger also held a goaltender coaching seminar with coaches on topics such as assessing goalies, knowing fundamentals of the position, teaching goalie specific drills and proper warmups.
