Cates Hill Chapel was buzzing with excitement Saturday, Oct. 22, as 10 teams of eager spellers competed for the coveted Golden Bee Award. The venue was packed with almost 100 audience members and 40 competitors. Pizza donated by Bowen Pub was served along with beer, wine and Perrier, and homebaked goods from Sheilagh Sparks rounded out the refreshment table.
Warmed up and refreshed, the teams focused on spelling words in three successively harder rounds, until the team scores were tallied and the winner announced. Congratulations to the Killer Bees, who took first place with a score of 255 points. Team members Suzan Ross, Colleen Ireland, Lynne Roedde and Michael Epp were overjoyed to have won the grand prize.
Along with the Golden Bee trophies, the team took home a $150 gift certificate to Rustique Bistro and a bottle of champagne to celebrate their orthographic prowess. Mike Epp credits his uncomfortable but very cute Bee thinking cap for contributing to their success.
Runners-up were the Spellcasters (Maureen Nicholson, Sue Ellen Fast, Emma Chow and Bonny Brokenshire) in second place, and tied for third place were the Arts Avengers (Peter Williamson, Emilie Kaplan, Nerys Poole and Judi Gedye) and the Buzzer Killers (Marc Gawthrop, Irene Wanless, Martin Clarke and Graham Ritchie). Special prizes went to team Spellbound (Joyce Ganong, Jane Kellett, Allie Drake, Nan Massender) for Best Team Theme, while the Bee Witched team (Kristen Watson, Stef Shortt, Hope Dallas, Sophie Idsinga) won the Most Spirited Team award.
The Adult Spelling Bee was a co-production of the Bowen Island Public Library (BIPL) and the Bowen Island Arts Council (BIAC) as a fundraiser for the Cove Commons project. Formerly known as the Annex/Gallery Project, the Cove Commons is a joint project of BIPL and BIAC to construct a new building behind the current library that will provide added program and community space for the library, and will be the new home of the Arts Council and its Gallery.
Like all events on Bowen there is a “hive” of volunteers and sponsors who make it all happen. I would like to thank our sponsors Rustique Bistro, Bowen Island Pub, Phoenix on Bowen, Theatre on the Isle, Rotary Club and Carol Cram who all donated or lent materials and items that helped with fundraising. A team of four people selected the words for the event, but a special thank-you goes to our word selector extraordinaire Audrey Grescoe who brought a seven-page list for us to choose from.
Thank you to judges, scorekeepers and timekeepers Ted Spear, Susan Geist, Sarah Haxby and Leo Pedersen.
It was a tough job to keep track of scores amongst the exuberance of the teams, but they did a fantastic job. The evening was not only competitive, but entertaining thanks to the acting and comedy skills of MC and word caller David Cameron. Of course there are many others who helped out along the way: Ted Benson, Filis Fahey, Len Gilday, Melissa Harrison, Stephanie Legg, Marysia McGilvray, Roger McGillivray, Jacqueline Massey, Melanie McLeod, Cynthia Nicolson, Don Nicolson, Leo Pedersen, Susan Sheehan, Greta Smith, Sheilagh Sparks, Susan Swift, Sophie Taylor and Alan Whitehead. Thank you all for your help setting up, decorating, serving, selling and tearing it all down again. Forgive me if I’ve forgotten any names – your help is greatly appreciated. And for those of you who missed the Bee this year, never fear. It was so much fun that we are definitely making this an annual event.
