Griffiths Senior Centre

Welcome to the Griffiths Centre!

At the Griffiths Centre we provide programs and activities for seniors in the Black Diamond and Foothills area to meet their recreational, health and social needs. The Griffiths Centre is woven into the life of the community and participates in a wide range of community events – from hosting the local women’s choir to providing the venue for the gingerbread house competition during the annual Christmas Light Up celebration.

Information about rental of the facilites is on the Rentals page:

For more information on the range of programs and activities offered at the Griffiths Centre, please visit our Scheduled Activities.

For more information about the Griffiths Centre, including our history, current Board of Directors, and Minutes of recent Board and Membership meetings, please visit our “About Us” page.

The Griffiths Centre is a not-for-profit charitable organization located at 122 Government Road in Black Diamond, Alberta. The Griffiths Centre is wheelchair accessible,
and the parking lot is paved now

Please note that we now have a connection to the internet.

Hello everyone

Hoping everyone has had a pleasant Xmas and New Year break, despite the relentless advance of the Omicron variant of Covid, which has once again visited to challenge us personally, and also our health system and resources.

Before moving on to the main business of this mailing I’d just like to acknowledge the sad passing of one of our stalwart long standing members, Pete Louth, who left us just before Xmas.
Pete was a real character and kept everyone entertained at the Floor Curling group with his banter and quips, and will be sadly missed by all players.

Activities

Although, technically, nothing altered in our ability to run existing activities subject to the Regional Exemption Program (REP) under which we operate, with an abundance of caution organisers have decided to put activities on a short break until we see a clear direction from the province which is anticipated this week. We should have a better picture of where Omicron is going to take us in the upcoming timescale.

The Jan 8th Dinners have been postponed with a date yet to be fixed but hopefully early March time.

Poker group restart has been postponed at least until Feb 3rd.

Coffee and cookies chat sessions are held back, also until February.

Kids’ dance group sessions skipping at least one week for now.

Floor Curling has also been postponed until at least Feb 2nd.

Membership dues

It is also of course the time of year to renew those memberships – could there be a worse time for me to be asking you to renew membership?

We want to emphasise again the fact that the Centre continues to run heating costs, and requires maintenance, even when empty. Our reserves are being depleted steadily as we have limited income from rentals and activities happening (now heading into our 3rd year); and a decline in membership renewals has exacerbated that drain.

At the last AGM the members present agreed to an increase in membership fees to $30 per person, acknowledging there had been almost no increase in that income for decades. The age for membership was also reverted to the original level, when the Centre opened as a whole community resource, back in the 60’s – to broaden the scope of, and involvement in, activities possible at the Centre.

The long term survival of the Griffiths Centre will depend on these changes.

Given the difficulties in handling cash payments just now, as last year, we are limiting the options for payments to contactless means.

If you value your Griffiths Centre please rejoin for 2022 as per below:

To pay and renew your membership to Dec 31st 2022 ......

Our preferred option... Interac E-transfer

If you use online computer banking, simply set up a $30 (per person [children free]), e-transfer to this email address < griffithscentre@hotmail.com > and set it to 'auto-deposit'; that will then automatically go into our Griffiths account. Please include your name(s) in the note box on the auto-deposit.
It can therefore be a single transaction if for more than one person. Please separately email your name(s), address(es) and phone number(s) to the previously mentioned email address - the standard info we collect from members.

Half of members renewed using this method last year, so their bank systems should be automatically be ready and waiting for this year’s repeat. If you are unsure and haven’t used this before, then I know the bank tellers locally are very helpful in assisting and setting this up for you.
The second option- simply mail a cheque ($30 per person[children free])to our mail address* (with your name/address, email and phone number - the standard information we collect from members):

Griffiths Centre *
Box 1024
Black Diamond AB
T0L 0H0

Hoping to be avalanched with renewals so please be patient if it takes me a few days to get your membership receipts to you.

Pensions support

Finally, the advisors at Service Canada are running another free online support / information session covering Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).
They will be presenting on Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at 10 AM MST and on Monday, January 17, 2022 at 2 PM MST. The two presentations will provide the same information.
The presentations will cover: an overview of the pensions, eligibility requirements, application process, provisions, the My Service Canada Account, and more. After the each information session, there will be time for questions & answers.

Just click the link below to join in:

Join on your computer or mobile app (nothing to download, if you don’t wish to)
Click here to join the meeting

[Or call in (audio only)
+1 819-303-9295,,834449806# Canada, Gatineau
Phone Conference ID: 834 449 806# ]

Cheers
Ken Dutton