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Friday, October 2nd, 2026

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L/R: David Kaye, Linda Dursten, Linda Martinook, Grace Boultbee, Eldon Schmitz, Wayne Schmitz. Inset: A decorated cake featured the centenary logo, underscored with the local logo and flanked by two crib boards.

Brandon teams are the Best

By Sheila Runions

“Thank you so much for joining us today on this, the last day of Legion Week during the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion. Here in Rivers our branch, No. 75, was founded in 1926 as an amalgamation of three existing veteran organizations. Branch of Returned Soldiers formed here in 1916, General War Veterans Local formed in 1918 and Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League formed here in 1925. The Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League was the precursor to Royal Canadian Legion, which had its official name change in 1926, hence the 100th anniversary now in 2026. Branch No. 75 received its charter on Sept. 18, 1929 with 12 members listed.

“In 1940 they bought an old hall; it was located right here, but this is not that building. Fire destroyed the former Frame Hall in November 1956 and six months later (May 1957) a sod-turning ceremony was held for this new building. Nine years after that (1966), they bought the old house that sat just east of here, and tore it down to make the parking lot. In the 1970s, more expansions to this hall were completed: a 16-foot addition to the south end of the hall (which enclosed the stairs) and in 1976 the kitchen was added to the west side. In 1984 a 14- by 12-foot addition was put on the north end of the kitchen, and in 1989 the wheelchair ramp was installed. But enough of our history, let’s get on with the day.

“We play crib here every Thursday night at 7 p.m. and it only costs you $2; feel free to join us anytime, it’s a come-when-you-can event.” All the money we collect in entry fees ($2/person) is paid out to the top three winners each evening. We also award a toonie to the lowest score, to encourage them to return next week and in essence, play for free.

Another toonie is presented to the person who is closest to the randomly-selected hidden number of the night. Lastly, $1 is added to our 28/29 purse each week. This currently sits at $125 which means it has been well over two years since someone has had either a 28-point hand or the perfect 29 score. We also have an optional 50/50 draw, so there are plenty of chances for you to win some coin; come check us out! There were 26 teams playing in the tournament so first-place winners received $260, second-place winners were paid $156 and third-place winners accepted $104. Although teams came from Rivers, Douglas, Minnedosa, Oak Lake and Brandon, this particular event was won by teams from Brandon. David Kaye and Linda Dursten have not attended a tournament here before, but we are sure they will be back because they won the $260 with a score of 921. Linda Martinook and Grace Boultbee have now won at four consecutive tournaments; this time their score was 906. Brothers Eldon and Wayne Schmitz have participated in the past, but this was their first time winning; their score was 897. The final winner of the day was Jo-Ann Levandoski from Minnedosa; she took home $195 from the 50/50 draw.

David and Linda had the highest individual game of the day, with a score of 121. Mother and daughter team Donna and Deanne Baker of Rivers had the second-highest game at 120 points. When you consider that in tournament play only four hands are dealt, to attain a score that high is quite remarkable. Remember David and Linda’s total score? It was only 921, which means their average game score (we play 10 games) was 92.

Food was served, fun was had and no doubt fables will be told!