Aerial view of ball diamonds at St. Clair College Thames Campus. (Photo courtesy of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent).Aerial view of ball diamonds at St. Clair College Thames Campus. (Photo courtesy of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent).
Chatham

Municipality supports field renaming to honour local slo-pitch founder

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is hoping to officially rename St. Clair College baseball diamonds after one of the founding members of the Maple City Slo-Pitch League.

A report will come to council on Monday night that recommends the  St. Clair College Chatham Campus Ball Diamonds be renamed to Bob Weedon Field.

Robert (Bob) Weedon spent more than 50 years involved in local sports. After helping to form the Maple City Slo-Pitch League, Weedon was elected president in 1978 and he held that role until 2019.

The municipality was recently contacted by league officials to see if it would be possible to honour Weedon's efforts and achievements by re-naming the field in his honour.

Weedon is also a member of the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame, a member of the Slo-Pitch Ontario Association Hall of fame, and is a recipient of the Government of Ontario Syl Apps Volunteer Achievement Award.

In order to get public feedback on the name change, the municipality created a survey for Chatham-Kent residents in July.

"The public comments were overwhelmingly in favour of the renaming with 174 of the 191 respondents indicating they were in support of the renaming of the St. Clair College Chatham Campus Ball Diamonds to the Bob Weedon Field," stated the most recent staff report.

According to the report, St. Clair College Senior Administration also expressed support of the name change.

If the decision is approved by council, the current signage at the St. Clair College Chatham Campus baseball diamonds would need to be replaced at a cost of around $1,000, which would be covered under the existing budget for park signage

 

-With files from Natalia Vega

 

 

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