Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Greater Napanee’s Sports Hall of Fame will welcome Roger Mills and Pattie Sharp to its ranks later this summer, bringing the total number of inductees to 29.
Mills and Sharp were unveiled as the Class of 2022 inductees during Greater Napanee council’s special meeting, held July 12. The pair will be formally added to the wall outside the Strathcona Paper Centre’s Goodyear rink during a ceremony held Sept. 15 at the SPC banquet hall.
Janet Pringle of the Greater Napanee Sports Hall of Fame committee appeared before council to go over the accomplishments of the latest inductees.
“Roger, a long-time resident of Napanee, started playing sports at young age, taking an interest in both hockey and softball,” said Pringle. “He carried this love for sports in coaching, managing, refereeing, and as an executive member in some capacity for over 30 years. With many of the teams he coached having success at both the provincial and national level. Not only has Roger had an on-field impact, but he has also volunteered his time for events hosted in the community, including multiple FastPitch Championships.”
She also went over what made Sharp a worthy candidate.
“Pattie instantly took to the role of executive member and stuck with it for more than 30 years as part of Softball Napanee,” said Pringle. “Although in the background and away from the on-field performances of sport, Pattie was an integral part of ensuring that many events and organizations had success through tireless roles as both secretary and treasurer of organizing committees such as the 2008 U18 Women’s Championship’s, 2010 Tankard and 2012 Canadian Junior Championship.”
September’s induction will mark the first addition to the hall of fame since 2017. The first class was inducted in 1997 and included seven original members.
-The World Rowing Tour will make a stop in Greater Napanee on Sept. 13, the third day of their weeklong excursion through the Bay of Quinte and Thousand Islands.
Peter Jepson of Ontario Adventure Rowing appeared before council to promote the event and seek sponsorship.
Council agreed to promote the event through their channels and were to get back to Jepson on the request of $1,000 to sponsor a lunch for participants, which will be held at the United Empire Loyalist campgrounds in Adolphustown.
The event will see 50 participants representing 12 different countries rowing from the Bay of Quinte to the Thousand Islands, covering a distance of over 180 km. Each day will feature two stops on land, the third day being a visit Hay Bay Church and the UEL campgrounds for a mid-day break.
“The point of this is to show that rowing is a recreational activity suitable for many, many people not just the very competitive activity that we see on the television at the Olympics,” explained Jepson.
For more on the event, visit https://worldrowingtour2022.ca/.
-Napanee’s train station will have a new lease on life, repurposed as a storage unit for Morningstar Mission’s furniture program.
Council voted to enter a yearly lease of $1 with the charitable organization following a report compiled by the town’s Manager of Community Economic Development, Annie Manion.
The Mission intends to use the building to sore donated furniture. A lack of an adequate, year-round storage and no centralized workshop is considered a major barrier towards keeping the program running.
The train station building requires basic repairs, which would be covered by the town while the Mission is responsible for providing a certificate of insurance.
Manion added the Mission’s volunteers have expressed their intent to ensure the cleanliness of the outside and inside of the building.