“A Cloudy Tuesday Gives Way to Sunny Street Hockey Games for Charity in Surrey”
Heavy rain was forecast for Tuesday (7 February), prompting Tim ‘Supreme Commander’ Baillie to rush people outside to attend the charity event he is organizing in Surrey during the day.
“Make sure your teams are dressed for rain with good footwear,” Baillie previously ordered in an email to attendees.
“We play even when the wind is incredibly ferocious. That’s because people on the street don’t have a choice to cancel and neither do we. If the ground is slippery we will slow things down. Don’t stand still!”
For the first time in a few years, street hockey games returned to the square south of Surrey Town Hall on Toque Tuesday, an annual gathering raising awareness of the problem of homelessness.
The event invites people to donate cash and warm clothing (toques, jackets, socks, gloves) and also to watch teams play ice hockey on an inflatable ice rink.
A piper guides participants in Toque Tuesday from Surrey City Hall to the pitch on Tuesday February 7, 2023. (Photo: Anna Burns)
Toque Tuesday pipe-in at @CityofSurrey Place. #SurreyBC @brendalockebc @bose_mike
Background: pic.twitter.com/PueQ3SJlUF
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) February 7, 2023
On Tuesday, games started at 10:00 am and lasted until the afternoon, with hot dogs and hot chocolate being sold for donations. At midday, a piper led the players from the City Hall atrium to the makeshift ice rink, where they were treated to a ceremonial shot of Scottish tea and a 20-minute Indigenous greeting.
At 12:30 p.m. the sky cleared and the rain stopped.
Whatever the weather, Surrey’s Toque Tuesday event has been going on for a dozen years except during COVID. Local charities, service agencies, politicians and community groups are involved in the ice hockey teams.
Toque Tuesday action in #SurreyBCin the rain. pic.twitter.com/0Wx2lb1Bye
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) February 7, 2023
A street hockey game on Tuesday 7th February 2023 at Civic Plaza in Surrey. (Photo: Anna Burns)
It’s a lot of fun for a serious cause, remarked Baillie, retired fire chief.
“Today we played Firefighters, Trilogy, Surrey Crime Prevention and we released Surrey Urban Mission, ILWU, City Slickers from City Hall, PCRS (Pacific Community Resources Society), some others.
“In recent years, the focus has been on youth homelessness,” Baillie added. “There are so many people these days who are struggling, when you look at homelessness you have to look at who is at risk of homelessness and how we prevent them from getting there. The students who are here this year hope that next summer we can do something just with children.”
Students at Sunrise Ridge Elementary in Cloverdale participated in one of the half-hour games on Toque Tuesday just before the whistle blew.
“This is the first time we’ve had kids from an elementary school,” Baillie noted. “I had a good chat with the kids when they got here and it was pouring rain. I said, ‘Don’t hide undercover, come out, you have to understand what we’re doing here, why we’re doing it. Some people don’t have a choice to be warm and covert.” So they bought it — and then it stopped raining,” he added, laughing.
The youngest attendee at the event was four-year-old Audrey Rose Baillie, granddaughter of the day’s Supreme Commander.
“She scored more than one goal, I might add.”
The City Slickers included some councillors, but not Mayor Brenda Locke, who watched City Hall’s team play the PCRS roster.
In a previous game, one team represented the coldest night of the year, scheduled for February 25 this year.
“It’s coming up,” Baillie said of the annual charity event, “so I’m wearing her bonnet right now. People can donate to this cause and buy a hot dog here, whatever you want to do to help, it all helps. We have bags here with donated clothes, socks and jackets, underwear, all that, and also toothbrushes and shampoo.
“It’s just good to be able to play normally again.”
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Source: www.peacearchnews.com
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