Camborne

By Jack Kernaghan – written by Doug Johnson approx. 2010

During the 1930’s, before the war started, the East Northumberland Baseball League was in operation and consisted of four teams – Grafton, Colborne, Brighton and Warkworth. Members of the Grafton team included Jim McMahon, Jack Reymes, Harry Landymore, Max Smith, Hart Immel, Harold Sabins, Lloyd Sabins, Ed Lawless, Roy Goody, Chick Cochrane, Jerry Simmons, and Walter Johnston. Grafton games were played in Rogers Field which was located on the west side of the existing ball field.

Although the East Northumberland Baseball League still existed in the 40’s and early 50’s all of the teams were depleted due to war service. From this period on, all Grafton games were played on the present-day fields, but it should be noted there is no baseball field in Grafton at the present time as all (5) five diamonds in the Complex are for softball.

During the late 50’s and early 60’s the South Durham Baseball League was formed consisting mostly of semi-rural teams. They were Welcome, Kendal, Garden Hill, Newcastle, Newtonville, Coverdale and Camborne. Coverdale consisted of the east end of Cobourg and their games were played in Grafton.

Members of the Coverdale team included Bobby Parnell, Fred Goody, Fred McMillan, Dick Turpin, Jack Kernaghan, Paul Currelly, Ross Beatty, Jim Irvine, Bob Bazay, Jim Ingemalls, Jerry Lawless, Fred Maybee and Don Ball. The Camborne team was put together by Norm Dolley but folded later due to a shortage of players.

Some members of the Welcome team were Barney Mills, Don Lord, John Choiniere, Floyd Bebee and Vern Meadows. Long John Holman and Jim Gilmer played for Newtonville.

There was also a girls’ softball team out of Cobourg sponsored by Town Cleaners which was owned by Mr. Hobbs and the team was managed by Alf Minaker and coached by Bus Cane. This team also included at least three members from Haldimand Township who were Pat and Shirley Harnden and Jean Clouston. Some of the girls from Cobourg were Toots Brisbin, Maizie Jenkinson, Ivy Cockburn, Helen Caine, Eileen Goody, Reta Slater, Ruth Brooks, Winnie Twitchett, Ruth Stillwell, Alice Guy, Jean Allen was Captain, Ruth Bolderstone, Jackie Kadan and Marilyn Jenkinson was the mascot.

In 1946 the Town Cleaners team won the Eastern Ontario Intermediate Softball Championship over Belleville. They eventually went on to play for the Ontario Championship where they won the first game in Sunnyside (Toronto) but lost the last game back in Cobourg.

There was also a Haldimand Township softball team which included Pat and Shirley Harnden and Jean Clouston, Marg and Kathleen Tunney, Ann Heenan, Florian, Mary, Kathleen and Ann Lawless. This was strictly a fun team.

During the late 30’s and early 40’s, I believe, Grafton, Colborne, Warkworth and Baltimore each iced an intermediate hockey team. Members of the Grafton team were Manager Roy Bone, Gordon Locke, Jack Turpin, Wib Thomas, Jack Heenan, Cam Harnden, Hart Immel, Jack Beatty, Mike Heenan, Harold Knight, Jack Kernaghan, Jack Reymes, Dick Beatty, Ed and Mike Spears, Tom Walsh and Tommy Hogan. In the early years, games were played on outdoor rinks, but in later years, they moved to covered areas such as church sheds and eventually to artificial ice in proper arenas.

Reviewed August 2020

The Camborne Village Ski Club, owned by Pat and Carol Doyle, was originally located on Smylie Road, east of the village of Camborne in Hamilton Township and operated at this location for the 1962-63 and 1963-64 skiing season.

Pat Doyle, a bricklayer by trade, found an article in a magazine on how to build a rope tow using a Pontiac car motor. Putting his mechanical skills to use, Pat soon had a rope tow ready to operate. He and Carol prepared the hill for skiers by putting on their skis and side stepping on the hill to pack the snow down.

With minimal advertising in the local newspaper and word of mouth, the Camborne Village Ski Club was born.

As numbers increased, Pat and Carol decided to purchase 14 acres of property west of Camborne on what was then known as Lean Road, now Doyle Road. The Doyles built a home at this location and the upstairs became the chalet. Six new ski runs were designed and two rope tows installed. The runs were named Grist Mill, Witches Wind, Spillsville, Camel Back, Gambler’s Flight and the Junior Hill.

As the ski club’s popularity grew and the line-ups for the rope tows got longer, the Doyles purchased a T-Bar lift system in the summer of 1973. With the help of friends, the lift was installed and operational for the 1974 skiing season.

In 1975, a popular after-school ski program was established and within 3 years most schools in Cobourg and Port Hope were participating. By this time lighting had been installed which made night skiing possible. The Ski Club provided employment for 20-25 people.

According to The Cobourg Star, the Club’s ski school had nearly 100 children enrolled with 5 instructors. To ski for the whole day cost $3 for adults, $2.50 for students and $2 for children, making it one of the most inexpensive ski clubs in the area.

The ski club sponsored race days, theme days such as costume day and pot luck suppers in the chalet after a day of skiing.

In an effort to extend the ski season, a snow maker was purchased in 1977.

It was in 1988 that the difficult decision was made to close the Camborne Village Ski Club. Climate change was having an effect on the east facing ski runs as well as the increased number of winters with less natural snow. These factors along with sky rocketing insurance costs contributed to the closure.

It is interesting to note that remnants of the T-Bar lift system are still visible today.

Pat and Carol Doyle’s granddaughter made the following remark as part of her prize-winning grade school speech, “My Grandma and Grandpa never imagined how many people would learn to ski at their club and how many people would make family memories on their slopes.”

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Photos courtesy of Heather Johns Collection

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Local photographer Peg McCarthy did a weekend photo shoot at Camborne Village Ski Club in January of 1988 for the Cobourg Daily Star.

Images courtesy of Northumberland County Archives & Museum, photo credit Peg McCarthy. The photos are part of the Sun Media Collection.