Victoria business Frontrunners Footwear, was named 2019 Store of the Year award by its peers. (Photo courtesy the Canadian Independent Running Retailers of Canada)
Frontrunners Footwear recognized by the Canadian Independent Running Retailers of Canada.
Victoria business Frontrunners Footwear was named 2019 Store of the Year by the Canadian Independent Running Retailers of Canada.
The award was presented to owners (and UC members) Rob Reid and Nick Walker by New Balance, Boston at the annual North American Running Retailers Event in Austin, Texas – a gathering of 300 retail owners.
“This is a great honour for the store and our staff. We pride ourselves on being local and supporting community events,” said Reid. “Membership of the Independent Running Retailers has grown to 30 stores from across the country and it continues to grow every year, which proves that there is a demand for local retailers.”
Established in 1988, Frontrunners has three stores in the Victoria area and one in Nanaimo. Reid founded the independent Canadian running retail group 14 years ago to share best practices, and grow the sport in Canada. The Best Canadian Running Retailer of the Year Award is given to the top store in the industry for its service and community work.
“We strive to be a leader in community development by supporting hundreds of local charitable organizations and events every year,” said Walker.
Frontrunners sponsors events such as the Oak Bay Half Marathon, GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, The Victoria Goddess Run, the Vancouver Island Trail Series and the Vancouver Island Race Series. It also supports the Every Steps Program at Cool Aid, and founded Shoes for Youth in 1996 providing more than 2,000 pairs of shoes to underprivileged youth on Vancouver Island.
Frontrunners also promotes a healthy and active lifestyle to more than 500 runners each year, through running clinics at all four stores.
The Union Club of Victoria hosts two Rotary Clubs. The Rotary Club of Victoria was established in 1913 and the Harbourside Rotary Club in 1980.
The Rotary Clubs’ membership represents the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Greater Victoria community. As the service club of choice, Rotary comprises leaders from all vocations and institutions. With the motto “Service Above Self”, Rotary has a reputation for integrating the resources of the community to support the disadvantaged.
Its youth programs support children of all ages and serves to prepare young people for the future through enhanced nutrition and literacy, developing leadership, and providing educational and travel opportunities.
For more than a century Rotary has undertaken programs to enhance and build the Victoria community and affect conditions throughout the entire world. As a Rotarian you can mingle with 1.2 million Rotarians in more than 35,000 clubs in 130+ countries.
If you are interested in joining the fellowship of Rotary or for more information visit www.rotary.org, and www.rotaryvictoria.org/ You are welcome to join.
The Victoria Club meets at noon on Thursday (lunch) and the Harbourside Club at 7 a.m. on Wednesday (breakfast).
The rooftop lounge at the h Club is perched high above the iconic corner of Hollywood and Vine.
The London-based h Club has touched down in Los Angeles, the latest in a wave of social clubs kicked off by the debut of Soho House here in 2010. HKS Architects, led by architect Luciano Mazzo and interior designer Russell Sage, have transformed the former Redbury Hotel on Hollywood and Vine into a five-story destination that includes a rooftop garden and restaurant. Hidden behind a sleek blue facade, the renovation suggests that this new incarnation will write a future every bit as compelling as its rock-and-roll past.
Certainly that was the intention of the club’s founders—the late Paul Allen, global philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, and musician Dave Stewart—when they opened the London outpost in 2004 in a converted Victorian hospital in Covent Garden. With its unique resources, including a television studio and an art gallery, it quickly proved a magnet for the city’s creative class. The Los Angeles branch seems poised to repeat that success.
It’s the h Club’s out-of-the box thinking that sets it apart.
The open-air swimming pool.
The h Club clearly offers all the expected luxuries of a high-end private club—open-air pool deck, beauty salon, gym, plush bedrooms and numerous lounges and bars offering chef Kris Morningstar’s richly layered food. But it’s the h Club’s out-of-the box thinking that sets it apart. That starts with its arts foundation, which has not only curated work for sale by artists such as Anja Neimi, Gina Osterloh and Freize star Lisa Anne Auerbach but has also invited them to become members. The club’s partnership with neighbor Capitol Records manifests in a collection of rare photos from the Capitol archives displayed throughout the property. An app encourages members to share projects, and a state-of-the-art recording studio welcomes singers, musicians and podcasters. An Artists’ Lounge can morph to host a band, a comedy show or a screening. This cornucopia of amenities is set against a dynamic backdrop that Luciano Mazzo characterizes as “British, but with a twist.”
“We wanted to create something that would become almost an icon in Hollywood,” says the Italian-born, UK-based architect. That began with his reimagining of the formerly blood-red Redbury Hotel as something bright and welcoming. Light-filled open-plan rooms partner with small, cozy spaces, nodding to the varied sensibilities of Los Angeles and London as well as to the different phases of the creative process. “There are moments that, as creatives, we want to communicate, and there are moments that we want to be alone,” Mazzo explains.
The club’s tea room features a mix of Chinoiserie wallpapers.
Mazzo’s classical framework contrasts with Russell Sage’s whimsical visuals. That translates into a potpourri of joyful, provocative details that delight the eye with rich colors, vibrant wallpapers and exuberant patterns dancing throughout the rooms. An Asian tea room intertwines a half-dozen hand-painted Chinoiserie wallcoverings; upon close inspection, a bedroom’s wallpaper pattern is revealed to be made up of frolicking naked bodies; a gentry over the bar packed with colorful liquor bottles provides a glittering rainbow of color. (“I’m always looking for a free sparkle, the ability to turn something into a chandelier,” Sage admits.) This exuberant whirlwind is kept in check with a strong foundation of clear blues, deep greens and polished woods.
But it is the h Club’s rooftop that may be its crowning glory, blending fantasy and refinement in equal measure. Jarman’s restaurant, in one corner, is the club’s most elegant dining space, accented by lampshades created from Hermès scarves and palm-frond fans spinning languidly overhead. This high polish is in madcap contrast to the rustic wooden shed and desert garden (complete with an old ruined speedboat) just outside its door. Nodding to British filmmaker and political activist Derek Jarman’s legendary oasis in Dungeness, Kent, inspiration for it struck Sage like a bolt of lightning.
“I suddenly thought, Everyone in L.A. wants a rooftop garden,” he explains. “But there’s the sheer impossibility of it—water restrictions, the baking sun. This captures that spirit of total inventiveness. It’s stupid and crazy and fun, but it just works.” The spirit of h Club Los Angeles in a nutshell.
A whimsical rooftop landscape was inspired by British filmmaker Derek Jarman, whose cottage in Dungeness, Kent, was legendary.
A back-garden lawn tennis court can blend into the landscape
For any tennis fan there’s a certain point in the
year when the sport becomes hazed in romance: the start of the grass season.
After months of play on hard or clay courts the
arrival on our TV screens of luscious green stripes feels like a return to the
sport’s roots.
The biggest opener of the grass season is the
week-long tournament at Queen’s Club in West Kensington, now called the Fever-Tree Championships,
which starts on 17 June. The annual men-only competition is one of
the key warm-up events for Wimbledon, and this year has the added draw of a
comeback appearance from Andy Murray.
Andy Murray and Nick Kyrgios at the Fever-Tree Championships last June. The Centre Court is kept pristine the rest of the year, and is rarely played on, even by members CREDIT: STEVE BARDENS/GETTY
For these professionals grass is the ultimate test,
but for club players and amateurs, too, the surface has an appeal all wrapped
up with an era personified by Fred Perry and John Betjeman’s Miss Joan Hunter
Dunn.
The smell of the grass and its natural appearance
is part of its attraction, says Graham Kimpton, head groundsman at the
133-year-old Queen’s Club. “It might sound a bit twee, but it’s the feel
of it underfoot. The fact it’s a natural surface and that it reacts with the
elements. A hard court or artificial grass is the same every day,” he says.
On grass, a tennis ball bounces faster, and lower,
forcing players into a leaping athleticism but providing a softer landing
on the turf if they do slip. Some detractors complain that balls can bounce
unpredictably; Wimbledon champions like John McEnroe have said that’s exactly
why they love it. This, coupled with its fast pace,
means the professionals are desperate to clock up hours of drills on
grass before Wimbledon rolls around.
Novak Djokovic picks up a piece of loose turf at Wimbledon in 2017 CREDIT: ADRIAN DENNIS/GETTY
Tantalisingly, there are only three months of the
year when you can actually play on the surface. From May until September, the
high-end tennis clubs that maintain grass courts are inundated by members who
want to book an hour or two’s play. For the rest of the year grass is
off-limits.
This strictly limited period of availability, added
to the cost and labour of maintaining turf, means that a game on grass is a
more exclusive pleasure than ever. That’s if you can even get into a club to
play.
A major barrier-to-entry for any wannabe Roger
Federer or Serena Williams is the waiting list for any of the leading lawn
tennis clubs. Queen’s, which has 12 grass courts, has now closed its waiting
list for full memberships.
There is a 1,000-strong waiting list join the
All-England Club in Wimbledon, which has 20 practice and 18 championship
courts. As Tim Henman once said, “The easiest way to get in is to win it.”
(Wimbledon singles champions get honorary membership.) Meanwhile, the
Hurlingham Club in Fulham, whose members include Jeffrey Archer and Pippa Middleton, has a
30-year waiting list.
Groundsman Graham Kimpton checks measurements at Queen’s Club. His father was also head groundsman at the club before him CREDIT: PATRIK LUNDIN/GETTY
Could the answer be to build and install your own
lawn tennis court? For a keen player or family of players with a country home
and spacious grounds, a private simulacrum of Centre Court is possible,
according to sporting turf experts.
You’ll need at least 34m x 17m of spare garden, but
a more modest space can work too. “They can be squeezed into a slightly smaller
area,” says Steve Pask, a project manager for specialists Fineturf. “We’ve just done one in Suffolk inside a
walled garden which was very tight but the owners were happy.”
Pask builds one or two high-spec domestic grass
courts a year, but says the demand has grown over recent years. Fineturf
recently completed one such for the Cotswolds home of the British-Australian
hedge fund billionaire Sir Michael Hintze.
“Once a client decides they want a grass court,
they never put anything else in,” says Pask. Artificial grass or all-weather
courts may be easier to keep, but have none of the poetry of lawn.
English champion Fred Perry in a semi-final against Donald Budge in the 1930s at Wimbledon in 1936 CREDIT: J A HAMPTON/GETTY
“A natural grass court is an English thing and it’s
about tradition. It tends to be people who’ve got a property that lends itself
to it. It goes hand-in-hand with a quintessentially English way of life.”
Construction of a brand-new, fully irrigated,
LTA-standard court will cost around £200,000 but it is less expensive to
refurbish an existing court gone to seed.
“The lowest budget we could resurrect a court would
be £5,000,” says Pask. “But the variation is driven by how much you aspire
to use it, and the amount of maintenance you want.”
Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 1997. She is the most successful woman player ever on grass CREDIT:GETTY
Even those who hold precious lawn-tennis club
memberships may still yearn for their own back-garden court. Kimpton says that
some of the members at Queen’s ask him for advice on how to replicate the
grass experience at home.
“I get calls from members who have a country
pad and who want that. If it’s only used by family or friends, it’s do-able,
but don’t expect it to be like here or Wimbledon,” warns Kimpton, who works
year-round at Queen’s with a team of eight. “They can still have a nice
game with the family on a Sunday afternoon in July.”
Sir Michael Hintze’s grass tennis court under construction in the Cotswolds, by specialists Fineturf
Once the grass has grown in, a groundsman or
specialist gardener will be required to take on the duties of routine mowing,
fertilising, weed-control, aeration, scarification, top dressing and
over-seeding; carried out by staff, this would cost around £3,500 a year to
maintain, according to Pask.
For a select few, a lawn court has become not just
an amenity but a valuable property add-on. Charlie Ellingworth of the buying
agent Property Vision notes
that clients regard a tennis court as a safer investment than a swimming pool.
“Even if the buyer is not a committed tennis player themselves, as long as the
court is not impinging on the house, most people look at it as part of the
pleasure of country living.
Andy Murray on the grass at Queen’s, where he is set to return from injury this month CREDIT: STEVE BARDENS/GETTY
“A grass court is less intrusive, and if there is
detachable temporary netting, it is something that blends in to the garden
rather than looking as if a supermarket carpark has been dropped into the
landscape.”
If all that sounds like too much trouble, don’t
despair. Roger Federer, the king of grass, last year confessed to
a Swiss media outlet Blick that he actually avoids excessive practice on lawn.
“I prefer to play on a hard court than on a
half-wet lawn,” Federer said, adding that the natural surface gives him
backache. “You have more soreness.”
Secrets of the world’s best tennis groundsmen: how to get Grand-Slam grass:
Soil with clay content is important.
“This is what makes the ball bounce correctly,” says Steve Pask of Fineturf.
The grass courts at Queen’s were relaid with Onger loam, a heavier, harder
clay, in the mid-1980s.
Think about the position of your
court. You need a reasonable amount of sunlight and air movement, to prevent
diseases and to grow strong grass (Queen’s is often said to have a superior
Centre Court as the seating stands around it are temporary, maximising
sunlight).
Technology has bred grass seed that
is now more tolerant of pests and drought. Queen’s uses a mixture of ryegrass,
fescue and bent. Ryeseed is the choice of Devonshire Park, specifically
Limagrain MM50, according to Danny Negus, head groundsman at the club where
the Eastbourne International is
held.
A new grass court needs to be grown
in; if it is sown in autumn, the surface should be playable by
spring. Steve Pask of Fineturf estimates growing-in costs at £6,000 for the
first year.
For a fully-blown domestic court,
plan for a drainage layer and automated pop-up irrigation.
Expect to cut the grass every day,
ideally at 10 or 11am, in growing season. “The more you cut it, the finer and
thicker it gets,” says Kimpton. He advises using a cylinder mower that you can
adjust.
The Centre Court at Queen’s Club is
cut to 7mm for the Fever-Tree Championships, but 10mm will play well in a
domestic setting.
You’ll need to regularly scarify your
court (essentially, raking it to remove dead bits of grass and debris) either
by hand or machine, and aerate it (targeting puncturing of the turf, using
either a hand fork or mechanical device).
If dried-out patches emerge, soak the
turf, and re-seed it, says Kimpton. “If you’ve got one in your back garden and
you want to use it anyway, just do your repairs at the end of the season.”
Upon the conclusion of the Union Club’s 140th Annual General Meeting, which took place in the Centennial Ballroom on Thursday, June 6, 2019, the following members were acclaimed to the General Committee:
For the 6th year, Our Place Society proudly hosted Hungry Hearts, an elegant soiree featuring some of Greater Victoria’s most exquisite cuisine. At this event, attendees enjoyed an evening of culinary delights as chefs competed for their vote and for the title of top chef.
8 chefs competed this year, with the winner being the Union Club’s own Executive Chef Nicolas Hipperson! Chef Nicolas and his team made the Club proud!
This stand-up fundraising gala has raised over $600,000 over the past five
years to help Victoria’s most vulnerable residents. Help Our Place
Society change the face of poverty in Victoria while bidding in live and silent
auctions, door prizes and more.
Hundreds were expected at the Souper Bowls of Hope lunch hour fundraiser on April 4 at the Crystal Gardens. Participants were treated to gourmet soup and their choice of hand made bowl in support of the Youth Empowerment Society.
The Souper Bowls of Hope lunch time fundraiser took place on April 4 at the Crystal Gardens. According to Michele Davis approximately 380 people were expected to attend.
Participants were treated to gourmet soup from a variety of local restaurants and a hand made bowl to take home.
This year’s fundraiser was in support of the Youth Empowerment Society with the goal of reaching $100,000.
“People love this event and I love the energy,” said Davis. “I’m really looking forward to seeing everybody again.”
Union Club Executive Chef Nicolas Hipperson served up West Coast Clam Chowder along with volunteers from the Victoria Police Department and the Fire Department.
One attendee emailed the Club, commenting: “I attended the Super Bowl fundraiser yesterday and I wanted to write and let you know how fantastic the New England Clam Chowder was that the Union Club provided. I recall the police officer that was serving it was saying it’s very good. It looked good and smelled great. I particularly like clam chowder and try it at almost every restaurant I’ve eaten at, within Canada and the USA. The soup I had yesterday was by far the best clam chowder I’ve ever had….and far surpasses my own soup. After having your soup, I’m not so sure I’ll ever be making it again because I know I won’t be able to emulate the flavours in your soup!”
On May 4, 2019, the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) will be hosting an important Mess-style dinner, attended by Her Honour, The Honourable Janet Austin, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, to commemorate our regiment’s part in the D Day landing at Juno Beach. This was Canada’s beach and where Victorians played a part in the impending victory.
The Canadian Scottish Regiment was originally formed and financed as the Gordon Highlanders in 1913 by a group of Victoria business people. It was stationed in the then newly built Victoria Armoury which with its large assembly area became the heart of Victoria’s social and cultural life.
Given that the nearest regular army is now located east of the Rockies in Edmonton, Alberta, our citizen soldiers are even more valuable to our community than they were 100 years ago.
The purpose of this
special dinner event to be held in the Armoury’s Oficer’s Mess, besides raising
funds for our soldiers, is to connect with the business, institutional and
cultural segments of our great island community. We want to get citizens out to see what’s in
the ‘old brick fortress’ on Bay Street and meet some of the remarkable members
of the regiment who are based there. Our
Officer’s Mess, nationally recognized military museum and pipes and drums performance
coupled with a live auction will provide an informative and entertaining
evening.
This will be an exciting event of colour, tradition and lively music. It will provide an opportunity to visit the historic Officer’s Mess and perhaps partake of its legendary Scotch collection, as well as, to speak with some of our veterans who have been involved in Afghanistan, other overseas deployments and domestic fire and flood assignments.
To receive more information and an official invitation please email Honourary Colonel Murray Farmer at mafarmer@shaw.ca
Official invitations will be sent via email. The price is $150 person.
One of the best indications of how quickly the world is changing is how fast new job titles pop up on the scene to keep up with changing technology, scientific discoveries, market shifts and new ideas. Here are 10 job titles that only emerged in the past decade.
Scrum master Assists an agile team in adhering to scrum values and practices, and coaches the team to be more productive. Scrum methodology originated in software development.
Virus designer Makes use of patients’ stem cells to create antibodies or targeted therapies. Cells are grown, differentiated and processed using viral vectors. The designer engineers the viral vectors that activate the cells for targeted therapies.
Sustainability manager Communicates and coordinates with employees, shareholders and customers to address social, economic and environmental sustainability issues and initiatives within an organization.
Chief commercialization officer Strategically oversees the multidisciplinary pursuits required to commercialize a product. Requires technical knowledge, marketing know-how and strong business development skills.
Social media manager Leads an organization’s social-media strategy to boost engagement. Develops strategy to guide online presence on various platforms, producing content, customer service, analyzing data, managing campaigns.
Big data scientist Frames business problems as data questions, and then creates data models to answer those questions. Uses data to tell stories.
UX designer Improves the usability and/or accessibility of a product (e.g., an app or website) by examining every stage of a consumer’s interaction with that product; tries to make the experience better at each point of interaction.
Information security analyst Plans and administers security measures to protect networks and systems, (e.g., installing firewalls, updating software against cyberattacks).
Chief innovation officer Ensures a certain percentage of company resources is directed toward innovation. Identifying opportunities and developing capabilities to serve them. Engages in change management.
Health coach Facilitates wellness-related behaviour change. Uses evidence-based clinical interventions to engage clients in clarifying their values and taking action on their goals. Can include nutritional and exercise education.
Enjoy some exercise with friends while raising money for breast cancer research and treatment! This year the Union Club of BC (through the Community Outreach Committee) has a team participating in The CIBC Run For The Cure. This walking and family friendly event is on Sunday, October 1st, 9 am, at UVic. Friends of members are welcome to join the team as well. Cost (including souvenir t-shirt) for adults is $45, or commitment to fundraise $150. If our team has 10 people or more by Sept 14, our team name will be printed on the t-shirts.
