Cheadle Lions comedy night a success

Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor

 

Laughter rolled out of Cheadle Hall on Nov. 8, when comedians Kevin Stobo and Laurie Ford put on a show for local residents.
Stobo was born in Banff, and has competed in comedy competitions throughout the country. He has made appearances on Just for Laughs, the Montreal Comedy Festival, and moved on to many other TV appearances and performance opportunities.
Stobo worked the stage like a cautious farmer, cultivating the crowd for just the right jokes to tickle their funny bones. In spite of the hot lights from the stage, Stobo dug in his bag of comedic material and threw out seeds of a wide assortment of jokes that grew belly laughs from most of the packed hall.
Stobo performed a 30-40 minute comedic performance on everything from relationships to Rudolph, parenthood to Newfie jokes.
Lori Ferguson Ford hails from BC and was Stobo’s warm-up act. She was elected BC’s funniest woman, and has performed at comedy clubs all over Canada and the United States. She has also appeared on many television shows including ones on the Comedy Network. Ford warmed the crowd up slowly and then smoothly had them hooked when, John sitting in the front row, became the main attraction. John’s good sense of humour and Ford’s set of jokes had the crowd relaxed and ready for more fun.
The Cheadle Lions retained the entertainers, and held a silent auction to raise money to renovate their local ball diamond.
The total cost will be about $75,000. Upgrades needed are new fences, dugouts, landscaping and construction, irrigation and shrubbery and lawn.
“We are raising money for our local ball diamond, or our ‘field of dreams’ as we call it,” said Jim Jones, Cheadle Lions member. “We wanted to get it done last year, but didn’t have enough money, so we are hoping to get it done this year.”
Jones said new members are joining and they have young families, so the diamond will be a good project for the community as a whole. The diamond will serve youth minor and midget baseball and fastball.
If anyone wants more information about contributing to the ball diamond fundraising or becoming a Cheadle Lions member, call 403-660-3650.