(below) Flag bearing students parade into the southwest corner sliding door of the large concrete church shed building formerly located behind Zion Lutheran Church. Flooded for use as a recreational ice surface by the Dashwood Men’s Club in the 1950s and 60’s; built in the early 20th century, it served at various times as a stable for the church and later for community gatherings. At a location near the large front sliding door at the southeast corner of the building a “swing bowling” pole once stood; in use during the 1960’s. The shady lawn on the north side of the building once served as a volleyball court. This structure was torn down during the rebuilding of the new Lutheran church, after the April 5, 1979 fire.

“In 1910 an ice rink was made east of John Becker’s barn. In the early 30’s there was an ice rink on the property where Mildred Kellerman now lives. There were high boards built all around and the ice surface was cleaned by shovels and the snow thrown over the boards. Strings of lights hung across the rink gave light to many organized hockey games. Broomball was also played and ice carnivals were put on by local people. You paid 10 cents to watch these activities. In 1938 the rink was made behind Esther Salmon’s home, then around 1940 the dam [in the park south of the future site of] the Community Centre was frozen over and boarded up all around and used as an ice rink. There was a hut at either ends of the rink with a wood stove for the teams to sit in and try to keep warm between shifts on the ice. At special occasions the Dashwood Band would play to add to the entertainment.

The outdoor rinks became a thing of the past for organized sports when Exeter and Zurich built indoor arenas. In the mid 50’s the Dashwood Men’s Club transformed the Lutheran church shed into a busy natural skating rink. In the early 1960’s the hockey team, Dashwood Bears, played in the Zurich Rec League. A few years later the teams expanded and joined in the South Huron Rec League. The name and players changed over the years and now local men play with Zurich, Exeter or Grand Bend.”

extracted from “Friedsburg-Dashwood 1860-1985” by Mary (Patterson) Rader, 1985; pgs. 91-92;ISBN 0-9692115-0-3

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[Dashwood vs. Exeter was the first hockey game played in the “old” Exeter arena in 1938.]

“[…] Construction [of the old Exeter arena] began in November 1937. The contractor was N. Hipel of Preston. The ice surface was 70 x 170 feet. The gym was to be used by the High School. It was reported to be ‘the only one of its kind in Ontario’. The building cost $10,000. It was paid for by a debenture issue. Debentures at par were one hundred dollars but sold for $104 bearing 4% interest. The building was erected in seven weeks. Unfortunately the mild weather delayed the making of ice until mid-February. The arena was opened on Tuesday, February 16, [1938] for public skating. The first hockey game in the new arena was played between Dashwood and Exeter. The line ups for this first game were: for Exeter, Creech, defence; Ford goal; N. Wells defence; McDonald centre; Wings were Willard and Cornish; subs, Hockey, Laing, Dinney, Buswell, Norton, Ryckman. The line up for Dashwood included Goetz, Tieman, Restemayer, K. Wein, W. Wein, Klumpp, Kellerman, Hopcroft, Guenther, Ness, [Leo] Eveland. The referee was Charles Triebner. Exeter won the game on a goal by Creech.”

extracted from “Exeter, Situate on the London & Goderich Road in the township of Stephen and Usborne, 30 miles from London and in the County of Huron, C.W. : a history of Exeter, Ontario” by Joseph L. Wooden, Exeter, Ont.: R. Southcott, 1973, pg. 182