Recreational Facilities
Ralston
The village of Ralston boasts a wealth of recreational facilities for such a small community. On the sporting side, it has a large gymnasium, which includes a weight room, fitness room and aerobics studio, swimming pool, tennis courts, squash court, outdoor sports pitches, golf driving range and ice arena. All sporting facilities are free for serving soldiers and their families. There are other non-sporting facilities, such as the library that also has computers linked to the internet which can be used free of charge, bowling alley, pub, ceramics club, woodworking club, play parks, a splash park and youth club for the children. Ralston also has its very own Rodeo ground, and runs a rodeo every summer.
As well as the facilities, there are many clubs and classes that are run for the benefit of the local community. The clubs that are offered are often dependent on the local community in terms of interest and expertise. Currently such clubs and classes include netball, football, golf, aerobics/step, yoga, hip-hop dancing, aquacise, book club, one stroke painting, and scrap booking. The MFRC organises many of these activities and they are offered according to interest. There is usually a fee involved in such organised activities. The MFRC offers a varied programme of events for children and teenagers especially during the holidays.
During the winter months the ice arena is widely used, with public skating times being available to all serving soldiers and dependants at no cost. There is also the opportunity to learn to skate and play ice hockey as well as playing for a unit team or spouses’ team in a BATUS run league.
BATUS has a sports store that holds many items that can be hired. Such things include skis and ski boots, ice hockey kit and skates, golf clubs, speedboat for water skiing. There is a charge for hiring such items, to cover the cost of wear and tear. BATUS also has a ‘liquor store’ where you can buy duty free spirits, wine, perfume and cigarettes. Both the sports store and the liquor store at located in Camp Crowfoot at CFB Suffield. There is also a shop in Ralston called the ‘CANEX’. This shop is similar to the NAAFI. It sells a selection of foodstuffs, some electrical items, clothing, stationery, greetings cards, magazines, newspapers and petrol.
As you would expect, Medicine Hat can offer many recreational facilities including sports centres, fitness centres, bowling alleys, swimming pools, libraries, cinemas, theatre, restaurants, golf, tennis etc. Obviously if using the facilities in Medicine Hat, you would pay for them as appropriate. There are also many parks in and around Medicine Hat such as Police Point Park and Echo Dale Regional Park, offering pleasant surroundings on a hot summer day. Medicine Hat has many walking and cycling trails.
Medicine Hat has a fair sized shopping mall, a good selection of supermarkets, a weekly Summer Farmer’s Market, as well as an historic downtown area. Medicine Hat has a recently opened arts and heritage centre called The Esplanade which includes a theatre, museum and art gallery. It has a comprehensive timetable of events throughout the year which can be accessed on-line at www.esplanade.ca/ Medicine Hat also has organised events throughout the year, including an annual rodeo and a music festival.
Things to Do and Places to Visit - Alberta
The summer tourist season is relatively short in Canada, including Alberta, and many tourist attractions do not open until May and are shut by the end of September. There is a wealth of places to visit and things to do in Alberta and the following list is just a taster.
• Ski at Hidden Valley
• Ski the Rockies
• Visit Lake Louise
• Dog-Sledding
• Ice Climbing
• Snow-Mobiling
• Nordic Skiing at Canmore Nordic Centre
• Visit Edmonton
• See The Calgary Flames play ice hockey
• Visit Waterton Park
• Visit Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise
• Visit Jasper Town site and surrounding area
• Go water-skiing
• Spruce Meadows
• Visit Cypress Hills
• Calgary Stampede (July)
• Dinosaur Provincial Park
• Royal Tyrrell Museum
• Hike, canoe and cycle
• Visit Edmonton
• Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump
• Columbia Ice-Fields
• Royal Heritage Park
• Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park
Things to Do and Places to Visit - The Rest of Canada
• Take a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer
• Visit Vancouver
• Ski Whistler
• Visit Vancouver Island
• Travel the Inland Passage
• Visit Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
• See Niagara Falls
• Visit the Great Lakes
• Visit the East Coast
• Hike, canoe and cycle
Things to Do and Places to Visit - Further A Field
The USA is extremely close to CFB Suffield, and reaching the border is about a 2 hour drive. This opens up a whole new area to explore. Many people drive to Washington State, Yellowstone National Park or California. Flights to the US are relatively cheap from Canada, and many people take advantage of this flying to Las Vegas, Florida and other major places in the US. There is good skiing in the US relatively close to the Canadian border.
Adventurous Training and Sporting Tours for the Serving Soldier
There are many opportunities for adventurous training whilst serving in Canada, and there is an adventurous training facility located at Trail’s End Camp near Cochrane where many of these activities are run. Adventurous training activities are often organised within BATUS and have included sailing, parachuting, skiing, diving, etc. Rugby and ice hockey tours have been organised for serving soldiers to participate in.
Visiting the UK during your tour
With the introduction of JPA, a new allowance called Get You Home (Overseas) has been introduced which entitles all serving personnel over 25 and their dependants one free flight home per year up to a value of approx £600 per person. Details on this scheme can be found in JSP 752 or from the RAO. Serving personnel under 25 are also entitled to a free flight home per year, but this is done under an alternative scheme. Details on this can be obtained from the RAO. Air Canada offers a daily direct flight into Heathrow, whilst British Airways flies direct from Calgary to Heathrow 5 times a week. There are also other airlines offering cheap flights between Calgary and the UK. These include Zoom, My Travel, and Thomas Cook.
Issues with Visas to visit the USA
Those people without British passports may have some problems entering the US due to visa restrictions. If you are planning to go on holiday to the US you are advised to contact the US embassy in advance. The following websites may be of some help
For further information the following websites may be useful:
City of Medicine HatExplore Alberta
Tourism Calgary
Canadian Rockies
Travel BC
Hello BC
Explore Canada
British Airways
Air Canada
Canadian Affair