Breakfast was followed by a meeting at 8am attended by all tourists at which John Shea outlined the programme for today and tomorrow. We set off in 2 buses initially to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Curling Club for coffee and then on a tour of the RCMP Stables to see riders training ,the 80 horses and find out about Musical Ride. This consists of a troupe of up to 30 riders and their horses performing drills to music who are on tour all over Canada for 6 months. This involves visiting and supporting communities with all monies raised being used by each community. We then enjoyed lunch back at the curling club and practised a progressive version of Flower of Scotland before heading off on a tour of the Royal Canadian Mint to see how the specialist coins and medals including Olympic ones are made for Canada and many other countries. All of the coins in circulation in Canada are produced at the Winnipeg Mint because of its central location. Exhaustion is amongst us and several were nodding off standing up! Our group decided to forego the walk around the market area to have some relaxation time at the hotel, although we did sample a beaver tail, which is a flat sweet pastry.
In the evening we headed to the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club for our informal banquet . After pre dinner drinks we performed our sketch, lucky shots and i have a dream before enjoying an excellent buffet. Then it was the turn for Central and West tours to perform their skits and the tour song. John Shea then hosted a Q and A session with famous coach Earl Morris, the first Francophone skip to win the Brier Jean Michel Menard, 2019 World Senior Champion Bryan Cochran and former nearly Olympic swimmer ( missed out because of Moscow boycott ) Anne Merklinger, CEO of Own the Podium. They spoke of their experience and gave their thoughts on the future of curling. We then made our way back to our hotel.