eca (english curling associaton) news 27
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English Curling Association Newsletter 27TRANSCRIPT
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ENGLISH CURLING ASSOCIATIONDecember 2009 - Issue 27
NEWSLETTERWe had some rave reviews for the articles in the November edition and here we are already with the Christmas copy. Yes, its here again and we are approximately half way through the season already.
I hope your season is as exciting as mine and that you are getting lots of ice time. For people new to the game there is one sure fire way to get better and that is get on the ice as often as possible. It does not matter where your ice is or who you play with or for, being on the ice delivering stones will raise your game, beginner or expert alike. It brings opportunities to slide, balance, sweep and test your strategy. Get on the ice as often as possible and enjoy your game.
Now to this edition; we have a wealth of fun and most preciously more personal accounts of competitions and Bonspiels. If you have never played at a Bonspiel then see the article inside - it may tempt you.
We have articles from our normal contr ibutors as wel l as new contributors, thank you one and all.
If you think you have an article for us to read then please send it to me at the address on the last page, we would love to read it.
A very Merry Christmas and a Fantastic New year to all our readers and Good Game!
The Editor
IN THIS EDITION
Olympic News History of London (Part 2) British Curling Federation
What does the ECF do?
Mixed Championships report
ECA Competition Dates
FUN
Hot News
£1(or subscription to ECA)
IT’S the CHRISTMAS EDITION
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PEOPLES MILLIONS
SUCCESS
The Border Curling Development Group based at Kelso Ice Rink is celebrating this week after beating off strong opposition from a bike track project at Cardrona, to win the Border final of ITV’s Peoples Millions programme shown on Tuesday 24th November.
The Group has spent over eight months putting together the successful project 8 to 80+ aimed at attracting more people of all ages and abilities throughout the Borders to try the sport of curling.
With curling promising to be one of the favourite sports to bring home a medal in the forthcoming Winter Olympics (remember Rhona Martin’s Gold Medal in Salt Lake City), the timing could not be better.
We are hopeful that this funding f r o m t h e B i g L o t t e r y w i l l encourage many people to take up the sport, said spokesman for BCDG, Peter Bowyer. Curling is a first rate sport for all ages providing healthy exercise and anyone who starts curling very quickly becomes part of a warm and f r i end l y soc ia l g roup whatever their background.
We are now ideally placed to use the £47,636 secured by this bid to push forward the development of curling in the Borders. Our 8 to 80+ project will provide free coaching for anyone wishing to start curling, together with a comprehensive development programme for new curlers to
hone their skills before going on to join one of the twenty four curling clubs located throughout the region
We anticipate keen interest in the programme and will use some of the money to train new coaches and purchase video equipment which will be used as a training aid for both able bodied people and physically disabled groups.
Early in the New Year we will be advertising Come and Try Days for would be curlers to come along and be introduced to the sport, and take advantage of this great opportunity. Further details will be publicised in the local press in January.
Border Curling Development Group is very excited now that 8 to 80+ is a reality and is looking forward to the challenges which lie ahead.
This success could not have been achieved without the help of many, many peop le , loca l Borders Sports Groups, Voluntary Organisations, Curling Clubs, RCCC and the host of individual curlers, friends, businesses, too numerous to mention individually who all backed our project with their votes.
BCDG would like to express their sincere thanks to all who voted for 8 to 80+ which we are confident will prove a great success.
Hot News
Remember!! The English Curling Forum is now .net, yes, DOT NET. Don’t be forgetting now.
NEW ECA Website
Have you visited the ECA website lately? If not, w h y n o t , v i e w y o u r thoughts in this magazine and the ECA will listen. We have recently started an update to the website and it will begin by putting you up to date with the l a t e s t e v e n t s , competitions, results and workings. Additionally it will keep you up to date on major world events in the curling world. So if you have not visited please pop along and look out for the updated site in January.
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ECA EVENTSFuture competitions
ECA Playdowns 4th – 7th February 2010 at Greenacres
Mixed playdowns 13th – 14th March at Fenton’s
This season we have 4 teams entered for the mens competition, 3 for the women’s and 5 for the mixed. Looks like some exciting competition.
Four Nations – 23rd – 24th January 2010 at GreenacresWe need curlers to play in this annual challenge. Could Clubs nominate 4 men and 4 women as soon as possible and pass the information to the Competitions Convenor. The selection process does consider the strength of the rinks, however we also aim to provide new opportunities for our members. The whole weekend is a very sociable experience. This year Scotland are the ‘host’ nation. In 2011 we are responsible for arranging the event.
GREAT COMPETITIONS
Interested?An odd question because we all play at our local, or not so local, rink. In my own case the nearest rink is 78 miles each way, I get there when I can. However, for a number of years it was the only ice I played, it was the only rink I visited, the teams I played were local, the games were almost predictable, the ice, though good, was the same week after week. Note, nothing bad in any of this, I enjoyed every moment on the ice, every game, every shot. But.....
What was it like to play different ice? What was it like to deliver a stone on faster ice? What is it like to play outdoors? What was it like to play a take-out on negative ice?
Now you might be able to a n s w e r s o m e o f t h e s e questions from your local rink but if you have never visited
another rink I personally think you are missing out on one of the delights of Curling.
Playing a Bonspiel at another rink brings so much more to the game of curling than just different ice. Bonspiels take you away from the comfort of known ice, standard game, similar players and same challenges. It offers an adventure, a chance to tackle unusual situations and i c e c o n d i t i o n s t h a t w i l l challenge your very fibre. I played my first away game in Switzerland with the support and help from a loyal friend who g u i d e d m e t h r o u g h t h e differences and challenges. Subsequently I have travelled with this friend and with other friends. I have made new friends and won and lost many games. Would I go back to only playing at a single rink? Never.
After the challenges of the first away bonspiel in Geneva on seriously negative slow ice, where at the start of a game the stone would not reach the hog line and if thrown heavy would shoot off the edge and onto the next sheet I was hooked. I have s u b s e q u e n t l y p l a y e d o n extremely fast (3.3sec T to hog) and outdoor ice (BRILLIANT), all sorts and all manner.
Travelling to bonspiels is not only about the ice, there are parties, dances, new friends and challenges.
The home rink is my home ice but I would never part with the p rospec t o f t r ave l i ng t o bonspiels.
If you have never played on different ice then join a team, travel and learn a whole new aspect to our game.
Where do you play?
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I attended the World Curling Federation open meeting and Semi Annual Assembly and the European Curling Federation AGM d u r i n g t h e E u r o p e a n Championships in Aberdeen.
The open meeting is where the lively discussion around topics takes place and we were in there from 9am until just after 5pm. We heard presentations on curling stones, arrangements for Olympic and Paralympic games, the venue for the seniors and mixed doubles in Russia and the new web design. We also discussed potential rule changes, DAP funding, summer camps and stricter regulations on team uniforms.
Of the possible rule changes d i s c u s s e d , s o m e w e r e immediately thrown out, some put in a pot to be accepted en masse in a vote in Cortina at the World Championships and some for further discussion in Cortina. Some of the topics covered included: stricter rules on alcohol f o r j u n i o r c o m p e t i t i o n s ; eliminating time outs; only using one hack instead of two; cutting games to eight ends; changing the timing of a game; eliminating tie break games; communication from the coaches’ bench and the length of time given for extra ends. In total there were 22
amendments discussed and a vote will be taken in April.
Clothing rules will become tighter for next season. These include such things as wearing matching hats if more than one person is wearing a hat; all wearing the same colour tops under shirts and keeping hoods tucked in and not on show. Most of the rules seem sensible from both a playing and spectating point of view.
I also recently attended the British Curling (BC) AGM in E d i n b u r g h . T h e r e w e r e representatives from the Welsh Curling Association and RCCC present along with most of the directors of BC and some of the funders.
Derek Brown, BC’s performance director, gave a presentation on the teams’ preparations for the Olympics and Paralympics, Hew Chalmers gave a report on the British Olympic Association and how curling fits into the bigger picture of sport in the UK and we discussed the process for electing directors, moving forward into the next four year cycle.
The next BC members meeting will take place in late spring / early summer and I will update you on any post Olympic news then.
BYSarah McVey
Where are we? the British Curling Federation can be found at
www.britishcurling.org.uk
and can be contacted at
World and BritishCurling News
British Curling - Charter
The Company is the body recognised by the British
Olympic Association/British Paralympic Association and
UK Sport as responsible for the Great Britain Team. The
Company is bound by the Constitution, the Protocols and
the Regulations of the British Olympic Association and
British Paralympic Association.
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OLYMPIC NEWS
Martin and Bernard to represent Canada
Edmonton's Kevin Martin won the right to represent Canada for a third time when he defeated Glenn Howard of Ontario, 7-3 in the final of the Tim Horton’s Roar of the Rings.
Martin played with his Brier winning team, third John Morris, left-handed second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert. This being the same lineup that won the 2008 and 2009 Briers, the 2008 world championship and 2009 world runner-up status.
The team's only loss was from Pat Simmons of Saskatchewan during the preliminaries. Martin twice defeated Howard, exactly as he did previously in the 2009 Briers.
Mar t in 's (43) record in the Canadian game continues to grow at a fantastic pace. No other Canadian curler has qualified for three Olympic appearances.
While having won but a single world title, in 2008 with the current batting order, he has played in 10 Briers, won four and ranks second only to Russ Howard in terms of Brier game victories and games played.
In the Canadian Women’s final it boiled down to a game of two skips from the same city whose teams have been bashing heads for close to two decades.
One had represented Canada in the last Olympics. One really hadn't won a major curling title of any description.
And the winner was . . . 43-year-old skip Cheryl Bernard, whose best previous success of account was a runner-up finish at the
Canadian women's championship in 1996, and her team of third Susan O'Connor, second Carolyn Darbyshire and lead Cori Bartel.
Bernard required a draw to the eight-foot circle for the victory in the f inal end against Tr ials defender Shannon Kleibrink
with the score deadlocked at 6-6. The draw shot appeared be sliding heavy but ground to a halt in the b a c k e i g h t - f o o t , i g n i t i n g pandemonium among the Bernard supporters.
"It's amazing. I don't know what to say. My team was incredible. They did everything they needed to, and they kept calm."
with thanks to Larry Wood Editor, Morning Roar
Germany win the Europeans
Andrea Schopp and her team win the European championships with a 7-3 win over Switzerland. Andrea will represent Germany in the Olympics.
Schopp being closely watched by Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott in the European Final. Pictures curtsey of Bob Cowen, thank you Bob.
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John Brown continues his fascinating story of the development of Curling in London. This article runs over several pages so settle down and enjoy.
INTRODUCTION
In the first part of this history I looked at the development of curling in London from 1951 to 1980, the “Richmond” Years, a period when I was not involved and which was based on the minute book of the London clubs and the Province of London. What follows is what happened since then until the opening of Fenton’s in 2004 – it all started on a May Bank holiday weekend in 1982. My apologies if this history is interspersed with personal stories and recollections but hopefully they will not detract from the story.
Streatham 1982-1983A short article in the Scottish Curler notified readers that curling in London would begin again at Streatham Ice Rink on the Sunday of the May Bank Holiday. This would be for a trial period of 6 weeks and, if successful, might be carried on into the new season. So it began – my involvement with English curling - and it was a shock to find that not only were the stones not on the ice when we all arrived but there were people down on the ice scribing circles on the ice with a nail-studded piece of wood!!
This was the way life would be at Streatham and it is not surprising that curling did not last there beyond the one season – games were on a Sunday evening after the ice hockey finished – which could mean starting at 1030 or 1100 on pretty heavy ice with warm stones and scribed circles. Amazingly there were ice dancers going on after us and we also held an England v Scotland International there.
One of the games in that International ended as 3-2 – must have been a high quality game you might think, but no that was all the stones that got into the house in the entire game – an end sheet with a vicious swing caused by years of skating made it very difficult to reach the house. One unfortunate incident that day led to the death of Othma Brunner, then President of the POL who fell on the icy car park after the games and later succumbed to the effects.
Peterborough 1983 – 1987As curling petered out at Streatham, Sandy Blair, President of the ECA picked me up from my home in Bedford and we travelled to Peterborough with two outdoor curling stones and demonstrated curling to Paul French the manager there. From that initial visit ice time was allocated on a Saturday evening at 6 pm to curling and a new club was formed under the presidency of Donald Barclay, formerly of Paisley.
In addition to the Province of London stones which were transferred there, 4 sets of brand new stones were purchased from the Billingham Ice Rink in Sunderland. These had been bought when that ice rink was first built but had never been used seriously and were in “as-new” condition. In addition two further sets of reconditioned stones were purchased from Kays.
The venture was supported by London curlers and lasted for 4 years until the ice rink decided that it wanted the time for more profitable activities and at the end of the 1986-87 season Paul French suggested that the curling should transfer to Chelmsford – this was managed by the same company and Paul was going as interim manager. There were a couple of final sessions in 1987-88 at Peterborough.
It should be noted that two Internationals between England and Scotland were held at Peterborough in 1985 and 1987 with sponsorship from Avon Insurance who did a lot of work with farmers and who were introduced to the club by George Gilmour, formerly of Hamilton and who had been involved at the very beginning of the Lanarkshire Ice Rink.
As an interesting sideline there were three trophies which were played for at Crossmyloof Ice Rink in Glasgow when it was operating – the Sandy Millir, the Alexander Blair and the Arthur Gilmour – all named after relatives of people who became very much involved in English curling – Connie Millir, Sandy Blair and George Gilmour.
Another notable feature of Peterborough was the enormous wooden cupboard complete with shelves and doors which was built by George’s son, Arthur to store the 96 stones – I wonder what happened to it.
Continues over.....
A SHORT HISTORY OF CURLING IN LONDON, PART 2
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Continues...
Chelmsford 1987 - 1993 One morning in September 1987 I was interviewed for a job at Essex County Council, based in Chelmsford, and then met with Robin Gemmell, the POL President and Paul French and discussed curling beginning at the Riverside Ice Rink there. Both interviews were successful and I was now living within 5 minutes drive of my curling rink!!
Curling at Chelmsford followed the same pattern as at Peterborough with one session per week at 6 pm on a Saturday evening. Being closer to London it attracted a lot of the London curlers and a local club was formed, chaired by yet another Scot, Ronnie Scott. There were now sufficient stones to supply two ice rinks with 10 sets at Chelmsford and 8 sets at Peterborough.
For two seasons a healthy programme of events was held with very often 4 full sheets and a fifth sheet being used for coaching. A new manager, Martyn Girvan, a former British international hammer thrower and still the holder of the British record, took over and was enthusiastic about the sport, but even he was powerless when the management decided that ice hockey was going to bring in more people and for 1989-90 ice time was transferred to a Sunday evening, when it was available, and the numbers travelling out from London dropped off immediately, especially as the time was also moved to 10 pm. In the end only 7 sessions were held that season.
It got worse the next season and no sessions were held until January and even then it was now a Monday evening at 10 pm and it was a loyal band of local curlers who kept the game going. And in fact it survived another two seasons but by the end of 1992/93 it was obvious that it was not worthwhile carrying on – the numbers had dropped to 5 to 8 per night and 5 sessions were lost because there were not enough players or the ice was too bad to play.
Alexandra Palace 1990 to 1997One of the factors which helped to bring about the demise of Chelmsford was the opening up of curling at Alexandra Palace in 1990. Martyn Girvan and Dave Loudfoot (the ice man at Chelmsford) transferred to AP and encouraged the curlers to go with them. Curling
began there in June 1990 after the stones had been brought down from Peterborough by Gerald Biggs, one of the stalwarts of the Peterborough club, in a trailer behind his Land Rover!
Curling was played at AP for seven seasons but eventually the ice was so bad that the Province decided that it would not continue beyond the end of season 1996-97 as it was losing money paying for ice which was not being used. By this time Martyn Girvan had moved on and taken his enthusiasm for the sport with him.
However, there were many good times at AP and the club prospered with a variety of ventures being launched. The London Double Decker tournament was played for two seasons, attracting teams from across the World – the USA, Russia, Swizerland etc and the final was actually shown live on Sky TV – I have a copy if anyone wants to see it!! The 3 Nations (Scotland, England and Wales) International Weekend was held there in 1992 and a Corporate Cup was launched whereby members were able to introduce their work colleagues to the sport with the hope of winning a trophy.
While the origins of the name of the London Double Decker bonspiel might seem obvious, it did in fact derive from the content of a letter written to the Scottish Curler by Mike Hay, famous Scottish curler and later head coach of the British Olympic team in 2002. He had complained in the letter about the standard of play in the smaller countries in Europe who only had enough curlers to fill a double decker bus and yet who got the same voting rights at the Federation meetings as Scotland!
Aldershot 1990 to 1992
At the same time that curling began at AP, the ice rink at Aldershot also decided that it would experiment with curling and once again stones were moved around the country. In the winter of 1990 I had travelled up to Glenrothes in Fife to collect 96 assorted curling stones which had been used at the ice rink there for curling for a short time.
Continues over...
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Continues...
They were stored in a barn at Great Dunmow belonging to Chelmsford members Chris and Dawn Trembath and when I collected them they had to be cleaned to remove the evidence of animal occupation! 64 of these were transferred to Aldershot and a good club set up got underway. Many of those who played at AP also played at Aldershot but there were two distinct groups also. Of course in 1990-91 Chelmsford was also still operating and I did manage to play at all three rinks that season, at one time in one mad week!
Peter Welsh who later became the secretary of the Province and a great enthusiast for taking people abroad to bonspiels was the hero of the hour the next year when he had to rescue the curling stones from under the hands of the receivers who had moved in when the Aldershot rink went bust!
And there the story of curling in London and the South rested until Ernest Fenton opened up his rink in Kent in 2004. And that is surely a third part of this story which is yet to be written.
It is a tribute to the members of the Province of London that they managed to keep the spirit of curling alive through the barren years between the closure of AP and the opening of Fenton’s. The one trophy which links all the history of the Province of London is the Fleming Trophy which has been played almost every season since 1958, and this was played at various venues in Scotland through the turbulent years – the search for good ice on which to play in the South of England ended in 2004 and there have been many changes to the set up of club curling. There is still, however, a London club with a history back to 1951 and hopefully it will continue to flourish.
For the record, and now that Steve has seen my spreadsheets, he will know that this is true – I played 15 games at Streatham, 45 at Peterborough, 76 at Chelmsford, 3 at Aldershot, 108 at AP and, so far, 122 at Fenton’s. I reckon that comes to a total of 369.
And, before anybody points out my omission, there is one other ice rink in London where curling has been played in the last 27 years – in October 1984, Coutts Bank held a curling day for its staff and customers at Queens Ice Rink in Bayswater in London. The curling stones were transferred from Peterborough to London and two or three sheets were scribed out on the rink which had not been melted for a very long time – the
story was that if they melted the ice the barriers around the rink would collapse as they were only being supported by it. The ice was diabolical as it was not flat at all and the stones went everywhere.
And there’s more – in 2001 or 2002 a small temporary ice rink was set up in Covent Garden for winter skating and we were invited to demonstrate curling – as the rink was about 15m from corner to corner you can imagine that we were pretty restricted in what we could do. We were sharing the ice with figure skaters who did the most amazing jumps in such a confined space.
And how about curling at Center Parcs – in 1998 we were asked to provide curling equipment to the Center Parcs complex at Elvedon in Norfolk for the summer!! They had erected a temporary ice rink (under a tent) and wanted to offer curling to their clients – again it was shared with skating and I am not sure how many people ever played it – the rink was again not long enough and because they had erected a half size ice rink, they drew the circles at half size as well!! Unfortunately we only had full size stones – I think they played target curling – throwing from one end only.
John Brown’s Spreadsheet?
Since John has been so kind to mention this in his excellent piece above I feel obliged to tell you how this comment came about. John and I were playing in a competition with many many other players from the South when I noticed after a game that John was immediately updating a spreadsheet, being intrigued, ok being nosey, I looked over his shoulder.
John was updating a huge spreadsheet with the game he just played. I enquired and John informed me that he kept a record of all games he has ever played, including, who he played against, who with, the rink and position. I immediately started to take the mick and informed him he was the curling equivalent of a train spotter. This banter went on for some time with other players joining in when over walks John Sharp. Mr Sharps first words were ‘I do that too’ and proceeded to lecture me on why and how. Suitably berated I apologised to both and sheepishly walked away. But I wonder if either John could explain the rationale and give us a note on why?
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FUN Curling in Japan
Yes this is a genuine curling rink in Japan, put up overnight and ice laid. The single sheet is actively used throughout the season. Now there is no reason why there is no curling rink in your own neighborhood.It is worth noting that the ice itself is natural and not artificial. This would be difficult to do in the United Kingdom though the weather just before Christmas may have provided an opportunity.
!
What is this?
Read the rest of the magazine to discover what this really is;Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan (WCF only – excluded from ECF in 2009), Korea, Latvia, Liechenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taipei, Turkey, USA, US Virgin Islands and Wales.
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SO JUST WHAT DO THE
ECA’S WCF AND ECF
REPRESENTATIVES DO?
Among the many office bearers on the ECA Council are three positions which are probably a mystery to the general membership of the ECA – there are two “WCF Representatives” and one “ECF Representative”. So to find out what they do, let’s follow them through one of the two weeks of the year when they fully live up to their name.
To remind you, the two WCF reps are John Brown and Saray McVey and the ECF Rep is Sarah McVey.
WCF is the World Curling Federation which is the International Governing Body for the sport, while the ECF is the European Curling Federation, whose main role is to run the European Championships. For further information about those bodies try t h e i r w e b s i t e s – www.worldcurling.org and www.ecf-web.org
There are currently 45 nations in the WCF, 34 of them in the ECF. Try to guess who they are and the answers appear elsewhere in the newsletter.
As an Association with less than 500 m e m b e r s w e a re a l l o w e d 2 representatives with one vote each at WCF meetings. The biggest nations such as Canada, USA and S c o t l a n d a r e a l l o w e d 4 representatives with 2 votes each. Each Association has to include at least one man and one woman in their representatives and so it is inevitable that England will be represented by one of each gender. For the ECF each country is allowed one representative.
Each year the WCF holds two main meetings – the Annual General Assembly (AGA) at one of the World Championships in April and the Semi-Annual General Assembly (SAGA) at the European Championships in December. The ECF holds its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the European Championships and, when the World Championships are in
Europe it holds a Semi-Annual General Meeting at them.
Elections to the Board (WCF) and Executive Board (ECF) are held every two years at the Annual meetings.
The WCF is run by a board of 7 comprising the President (Les Harrison (CAN)), Vice President (Kate Caithness (SCO)), Director of Finance (Warren Lowe (USA)) and 4 ordinary directors (Patrick Hurlimann (SWI), Leif Ohman (SWE), Niels Larsen (DEN) and Young C Kim (KOR)) all ‘controlled’ by Mike Thompson (SCO) the Secretary General. It also employs a Curl ing Development Officer (Richard Harding (SCO)) and a Director of Competitions (Keith Wendorf (GER)).
The ECF has an Executive Board of 9 who are currently – President (Andrew F e rg u s o n - S m i t h ( A N D ) ) , V i c e President (Olle Rissanen (FIN)), 4 area Representatives; for Northern Europe (Per Nasman (SWE)), Central Europe (Urs Mueller (SWI)), Eastern Europe (Pawel Kubik (POL)) and GB and Ireland (John Burns (IRE)) and 3 Members-at -Large – Jeanet te Johnston (SCO), Karel Kubeska (CZE) and Konstantin Zadvornov (RUS). In addition the secretary is Saskia Krugl (AUT). Owing to an administrative error John Burns only has observer status at Board Meetings and cannot vote.
To see what your reps do let’s take a look back at the events in Aberdeen last month.
S u n d a y 6 t h D e c e m b e r . Representatives and other interested parties meet for the WCF Open Meeting (0900 to 1230) and Open Forum (1400 – 1700). The Open Meeting is where the WCF Board communicates to its members what each director has been doing since the last General Assembly and is structured around a number of themes. This is intended to air issues which might be proposed at the SAGA the following day and to cut down discussion at the SAGA.
The Open Forum is a new concept trialled in April in Moncton where the WCF raise issues which they are
considering to action - for example new uniform rules, changes to the rules of play etc – these will generally not be discussed at the following day’s SAGA but taken away and worked up for presentation to the representatives at the next AGA.
Also on this day during the lunch break (1230 to 1300) there was a meeting of the GB and Ireland representatives to discuss how future regional reps to the ECF Council should be selected.
M o n d a y 7 t h D e c e m b e r representatives meet for the WCF SAGA (1000-1200). This is where the formal business of the WCF is carried out – new representatives are recognised, associations can be accepted or excluded, the financial s t a t e m e n t s a g re e d , a u d i t o r s appointed, presentations made from Host Committees for Championships etc.. The meeting is open to non voting observers and every two years at the AGA the new Board is elected. This is the day when your blazer gets an airing!!
Tuesday 8th December Annual General Meeting of the European Curling Federation (1000-1200). While a formal meeting, this is much less so than the WCF meeting – as a smaller organisation, the ECF has, currently, a limited role in World Curling. It organises European and European Mixed Championships but under its new President, Andrew Ferguson-Smith of Andorra it is keen t o e x p a n d m o r e i n t o t h e development of the sport, but its budget is quite low.
In addition to these formal events there were various receptions held by Scotland and by Champery in Switzerland – the site of the 2010 European Championships – while t h e P r e s i d e n t s a n d / o r Representative members, who are quite often the same people, have to be available to present the medals at the closing ceremonies if their country is successful.
In addition much networking goes on over coffee breaks, lunches and in the bar at the end of the day.
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day1: rendezvous at Edinburgh airport with Suzie Law, our tattooed lead. No surprises she was running late but we both made the Easyjet plane to London Stansted, where on arrival needless too say the broom bag took an ice-age to come from the plane. So we then joined a queue for check in at Easyjet to Prague, it took about 10 milli-seconds and our third and skip aka Lana Watson and Alan MacDougal had queued for half an hour already (must be the northern luck). So yes all four off us on time, on the same flight, nothing forgotten what more could we ask for - a perfect start!!!!!!!!! (apart from an important undergarment for the closing ceremony, let u guess who forgot (slight clue not me or Alan))...... We arrive to a fairly quiet airport and no transfer looking-like official type person to be seen, so we now start to question - did they receive our payment/flight times, etc? But not to worry, I gave some information desk woman some of my best Czech/Geordie patter and still found ourselves nowhere.... but then there was a voice and a bus and a few of the Lill family from Estonia... whey hay we’re off for Roztyly (the area in Prague where the ice rink and hotel are). Well after a countryside detour around what felt the whole of the republic we arrived at the hotel....very much a business hotel (premier inn type) and were greeted by some very enthusiastic young local curlers who took quite a shine to Suzie and Lana, we get the usual badge, pin, t-shirt, maps, closing/opening tickets bla de bla de bla.... so rooms 116 and 118 off we go.... the competition maybe mixed but the girls for some reason were not keen on mixed rooms!! So we took 116 the ladies got 118, which of course the team moan (Alan) disliked as their room was about 2mm wider and 4 mm longer (he likes his space)....quick shower, and off to the opening banquet. Fantastic evening had by all that
went (Suzie opted out and slept). We were treated to an open boat trip on the river through Prague floating under all bridges etc then a superb buffet meal.... by far the best opening banquet I’ve been to!!! Joined in company with a man from Kelso - John Burns - who was there on official duty as cresting manager / complaints official!! So we tasted a few ales which wet the whistle nicely..... then sleep
day2... oh yes breakfast, the first excitement of the day. Apple juice was like dishwater, bread you could use as a hammer, cold boiled eggs that gave you the worst breath, smoked sausage (at breakfast come on)....... so it was yogurt!!!!Team meeting went with the usual bang (wake me up when they have f i n i shed s l ave r i ng on ) and eventually we were off to the rink for practice!!! What a fantastic ice rink only 5 minutes walk from the hotel and tube station..... clean, tidy, café/bar upstairs, changing room down stairs (again not mixed to the lads disappointment)...... Ice was in very good order and we failed to find any rogue stones! 3 second tee to hog split, nice draw!!!!
day 3....need I mention breakfast (breakfast hall turned into a central meeting point for teams to make sure they were all up) ITALY...... practice, have the pins/pennant, shake hands, throw some stones, win game, shake hands, went for coffee...(I’m sure you were all following along so not going to bore you all with facts/figures).... Now for between games - the essential for a curling competition is a laptop in this day and age so you can pick up this wi-fi fella, or just walk about the hotel looking important...... needless to say I borrowed our tattooed lead’s computer, to be fair it probably saved me from total boredom and therefore saved the team!!! Oh
and our two real life supporters have appeared, Lana’s boyfriend Ken and his mum Lorraine!!!! RUSSIA.......what a win..as it turns out we are extra-end specialists!!!!! Ate in hotel bar, bit of goulash served in a hollowed out bread to create a bowl and some orange Fanta to wash it down, mmmmm, good stuff.....
day4.....mmm yogurt......a long day to fill in as we didn't play until stupid o’clock!!! Lana studied, Alan struck a million pound deal and me and Suzie hit the city (I showed her the sights... you know the lads stag party venues) No, we had a very nice day seeing Charlie’s bridge, a walk up the hill to the castle where the Pope actually was that day!!!! Some sailor boy tried to strike a romantic deal for two to sail up the river but Suzie soon put him straight!!! (Am I that bad?!?) AUSTRIA..... whoooooooooo that was close but again our strength prevailed......again the ice after five sessions was superb thanks to the icemakers working very hard from very early in the morning until very late.
day5.......dishwater apple juice - oh it’s good!!!!! You remember that laptop - well I took it for another wander about hotel to try and hook up with this wi-fi fella. SERBIA - say no more..... a wee gentle stroll along to the supermarket where we replenished our water, fruit and fibre bars and some lip salve for Alan. Had a pizza in the glorious sunshine, Suzie took some burn onboard her chest!! Then the playing cards appeared... needless to say beginners luck did well for the ladies and no matter how many rules Alan tried to inflict he still never won!!!! IRELAND... another one in the back of the net although it should have been a much tougher game given how well we know that team can play...
Continued over.......
Mixed Championships ReportBy the man - Andrew Reed
[12]
Continues.....
Day6.... bad breath? More yogurt or try chocolate spread on hammer bread...bring on lunch!!!! So we had a walk to the local mall... nice place but very costly for brand name gear. Had some lunch, where we were sat on a table of 6 a n d a s S c o t l a n d a p p e a r e d struggling to get a big enough table we did the kind thing in moving to a 4 (waitress was not happy) but tough we are English!!!!! Then a Starbucks and off for a wee walk in the woods behind the hotel and it would seem if you ever are stuck on a hill with no compass or map don't take Alan, Suzie or Lana advice on direction!!! Leave it to the country lad..... SWEDEN - what a great team, shame to have to beat them but good crack after, they became our fan club and we voted for their skip Lennart Karlsson for the fair play award.
day 7.....breakfast! Have I mentioned how bad it was yet? Last round robin game... Let’s get through 7-0. NORWAY....... their front end only started curling one year ago so they showed a proper curling spirit, had fun, had some beers..... so yes 7 and zero..... good work team!!!!!!! Alan did some work, Lana studied/slept, I lost at cards again and went looking for wi-fi, Suzie went to get a new haircut at the mall and that vital piece of c l o t h i n g f o r t h e c l o s i n g banquet.......all going nicely!!!! Alan:"Andrew, I think you should go get Suzie from mall as it could be unsafe for her to walk back in the
dark". Yes daddy. So the proper gent I am, off I plodded...... needless to say half hour waiting turned into 1 hour... god I was bored. So she owed me so I dragged her to the losers party (well we were not playing till Saturday) and it would be wrong not to taste the fine water of Prague.... an entertaining evening, some of us got to know some people better than others!!!!! (my Swedish was not up to speed) but that Geordie/Swedish works wonders!!!
day8.....the discovery that honey on the hammer bread was passable!!!! All day to fill in as the playoffs were being played to determine the final team for the semi-finals!!!! So today was a repeat for me and Suzie... We treated Lana and Alan to a tour of the city - a very enjoyable wander about with a nice lunch on route!!!! Once again, I came last, Alan bent some more rules and the girlies got more beginners luck in the old cards... Good job only pride at stake not money!!! So big sleeps required.... touch of nerves set in...
day9......thankfully it was to be the last delightful BREAKFAST.... as we would either not feel like breakfast due to too much water at the banquet or because we were leaving early.... yup there was a touch of tension/nerves about the t a b l e b u t i t w a s d - d a y DENMARK.... and it was not to be, nearly had to go down an extra end again, but on the day we were b e a t e n b y t h e s t r o n g e r team......the disappointment was
quite notable among us!! So to re-gather ourselves was very important as coming fourth is a no-no. Right from the off we w e r e i n c o n t r o l a n d w e managed to hold onto our lead throughout and beat the home nation to take home some metal! Unlike the usual situation, the closing ceremony went well, was well organised and the speeches were long enough!!! A proud moment for us to be standing on the podium as the f l ags were be ing hoisted!!!! Well done to Scot land for winning and Denmark for second...Now for the real business end of the week – the closing banquet! Me and Alan got ready in seconds and the girls slightly longer but they looked well eventually (and the purchase from earlier in the week did the trick!!) A pleasant meal (despite our earl ier concerns after looking at the menu) sitting with the Czech and Danish team. The night slowly but surely came to an end, after pulling off s o m e d a n c e m o v e s a n d throwing some shapes in the club below the hotel.
day10.. . . .no breakfast ! ! ! ! ! ! Couple hours kip, all clothes just stuffed into bags and we were off in our little bus again heading home......... As a team we would like to thank Prague and to all those that supported us in the various ways.........
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Advertising space available from 1/4 to a full page, your design and colour’s, multiple editions available at very very competitive prices.
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[13]
Preston CC Dan Kerr Trophy 3rd Dec 2009
Preston has had one event since last edition. The Dan Kerr Trophy is traditionally when we invite three rinks from other clubs. This accommodates the fact that this is a difficult time of year for some of our members to take Thursday off. In recent years Inverkeithing has provided one of our guest rinks. This year Preston were unable to attend the Club Championships and so the Ice Palace Shield – the prize trophy for the challenge v Glendale was not played. The plan was that Glendale would bring over two rinks to make up the six rinks.
Glendale were unable to bring two rinks – they brought five players. So Shaun Fairweather was the key man in the sixth rink, which with three other Preston members played as Preston. Jean Picken returned to the ice – her first for Preston this season – all members felt good seeing Jean back on the ice. Shaun played third to Phil Barton, and the rink was completed by Drew Gill.
The matches were organised so that two Preston rinks challenged Glendale. The Northumberland curling experts were marshalled by Glynnice Lauder and Richard Murray. The front end of Ian Curle and John Maxwell were always in control. They returned with the Ice Palace Shield. David Hills , a stalwart of Preston has to wait another year to have the opportunity to hang the Shield on the wall of his ‘gentleman’s hairdresser’ salon.
Phil Atherton had a closer game than the result indicated in the first match v John Macdougall. A 5 at the first end set the cast for a chasing game – always fighting the fact that a three man rink on sweeping ice was a restriction. In the afternoon game John had the disadvantage of a three man rink. Frank Kershaw did not take advantage of winning four ends v Glendale – ones and twos not enough to counter trades for 4’s
and 5’s. Bob Smith had a close match v Phil – rivals in the Fife Club. Bob made sure he travelled north with one victory with a steady match v Frank.
The above described rink skipped by Phil Barton was also unbeaten and retains the Dan Kerr Trophy from last year.
Ice Palace Shield
SCORESSCORES
Game 1 Glendale 14 (4 ends)
Preston (Kershaw) 5 (4 ends)
Game 2 Glendale 10 (5 ends)
Preston (Atherton) 5 (2 ends)
Glendale retain Ice Palace Shield
Dan Kerr am
SCORESSCORES
Inverkeithing 6 (4 ends)
Barton 7 (4 ends)
Atherton 4 (3 ends)
Macdougall 10 (5 ends)
+ from above
Kershaw 5 ( 4 ends)
pm
Inverkeithing 8 ( 4 ends)
Kershaw 3 (2 ends)
Barton 11 (7 ends)
Macdougall 0 (0 ends)
Atherton 5 (2 ends)
Overall scores for Dan KerrRink Points Shots EndsBarton 4 18 11Smith 2 14 8Macdougall
2 10 5
Atherton 0 9 5Kershaw 0 8 6
The next Preston match is the Jubilee Cup on 7th January at Lockerbie.
Phil Barton
CLUB
NEW
S 20
09November PRESTON CURLING CLUB
[14]
The Europeans in Aberdeen – an
English perspective - By John Brown
A European Championships (ECC) in
Scotland was a novelty for me – not since I
had first played in them in Kirkcaldy in
1 9 8 2 h a d I a t t e n d e d a S c o t t i s h
“Europeans”. In fact there have only been 2
occasions since then that there has been
an ECC in Scotland – 1988 and 1992 –
both in Perth.
As an interesting sideline for the moment –
the country which has held the most ECC
is Switzerland with 8, followed by Germany
with 6 and Scotland with 5, while
Grindelwald is the location with most at 4.
Of course the Championship has changed
a lot since 1982 – then there were 14 men’s
and 13 women’s teams while this year it
was 30 men’s and 21 women’s. And never
again will we see so many teams together
in one place of course as the European
Federation decided in October to restrict
entries in the main Championship to 26
men’s and 20 women’s teams. And all this
added an extra bite to the B Division as 6
men’s and 3 women’s teams would be
relegated to the pre-qualifying C Division.
Now this could have increased the number
of tie breaks of course as it meant that any
team tied for a relegation place could not
be eliminated by ranking but only after
losing an extra game – fortunately for the
umpires this did not arise and Greece,
Lithuania, Serbia, Belarus, Slovakia and
Iceland (men) and Croatia, Slovakia and
Spain (women) were relegated. How many
of them try and regain entry through the
pre-qualification in October is a moot point
– 2 teams will be promoted back into the B
Division.
In a way this is a good thing as it means
that the quality of the B Division will grow,
and for the women at least the number of
games to be played will increase – but how
many nations will decide not to bother and
just disappear from the curling scene?
As regards the number of games for the
women – with 11 entries in the B Division
this year it meant that the women were
split into a group of 6 and a group of 5 –
the teams in the latter of course only got 4
games – not a great deal for 10 days in
Aberdeen especially if you have travelled
all the way from Czech Republic or
Hungary. This is not the first time that this
has happened and the new set up with a
division of 10, meaning 9 games per team,
is far better value.
Of course even this reduction in overall
team numbers will still mean that two ice
pads are necessary. A physical separation,
as in Aberdeen, is never very satisfactory
for nations which have one team in the A
Division and one in the B Division as it is
difficult for spectators to see both teams in
action as much as they might want. As I
was involved with the men’s team I only
got one chance to see our women in action
as many of the games clashed or
overlapped by an hour.
The solution is of course to find a location
with two ice pads in one building /
complex, or one ice pad with 8/9 sheets!!
In recent years since the expansion in team
e n t r i e s o n l y F u s s e n , G a r m i s c h -
Partenkirchen, Sofia and Vierumaki have
provided that opportunity. If necessary then
Oberstdorf and Grindelwald would also
have been suitable. The iceSheffield
complex in England is another venue which
could be used and there were plans for
staging the 2013 ECC there but that has
been put on hold for at least a couple of
years.
I spent most of my time at the B Arena –
the Aberdeen curling club and it was a very
successful venue – good ice, good
facilities, catering, friendly staff and the
coaches were treated to the luxury of an
enclosed viewing gallery – much warmer
and with a better view than the tables over
the end of the ice as in many other
locations. While the spectators were
confined to the ground level bar, they
appreciated the warmth and the TV
screens which showed them the heads at
the far end.
I think there were just two issues which I
would have to pick as being slight
problems – firstly the changing rooms were
not rea l ly b ig enough for a l l the
paraphernalia that Championship teams
cart around these days – brush bags etc
and secondly there were no results posted
or distributed at the club, either from the
games being played there or from the A
arena. Yes they were easily available on the
Internet, but not everybody carries a
wireless enabled laptop around with them.
From an English team point of view it was
disappointing of course that our women
were relegated after just 2 years in the A
division – but this year was always going to
be tough with all the Olympic squads,
many of them now full time curlers,
participating in preparation for Vancouver.
Ironically I heard a view that next year’s A
division may be easier as many of those
Olympians are expected to retire or at least
have a sabbatical.
As far as England’s men were concerned,
after a nervous start against Greece was
overcome, they lost only twice, to the
Russians who were favourites and
surprisingly, and ultimately fatally, to the
Poles. This put them in a tie break against
the Netherlands and in spite of having
defeated them in the round robin, a good
early start was negated by some careless
errors which led to a loss of 8 shots
without reply and there was no way back
from there. For the English skip and third,
Jamie Malton and Michael Opel this was
too reminiscent of their last appearance in
Basel in 2006 when they had lost at the
same stage. But at least they were safely in
the B division for next year with a final
position of 6th.
Overall a well run Championships but a
number of people complained about the
cost of viewing the games at the Linx
Arena - £15 for a day of 3 sessions is fair
enough, but £10 for the evening session by
itself – not great value I am afraid.
[15]
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Upcoming Competitions
Special Coaching Clinic (TBC)
In early January the SECC will be hosting a special curling clinic with world-class coach, Mike Hay, aimed at the more experienced curlers a h e a d o f t h e N a t i o n a l Championships. Ian Baxter is finalising the details and we'll let you know more soon. Contact the SECC for more details.
SECC Club Bonspiel
On the weekend of 30th-31st January the club will be putting on a bonspiel. This will be open to Club teams and visiting teams too. We'll be letting you know much more about this nearer the time.
Start Time: Friday, 16 April 2010 at 08:00End Time: Sunday, 18 April 2010 at
19:00Location: Elgin, Scotland
2010 Moray International Bonsiel
The 2010 Moray International Bonspiel date has been set for Friday 16th to the 18th of April 2010. We are going for 30 teams this year. Deposit will be £100 per team.
Teams will be guaranteed 5 games.
The social side of the weekend will start with a get together at the hotel for the teams then on to a local pub to meet up with everyone else who can’t make it to the hotel followed by night club for the party people of the group.
On Saturday night there will be a dinner at the hotel (included).
The Crerar Eight Acres Hotel will be the main hotel again this year. It has a swimming pool, sauna and gym for your use when you are staying there.
Start Time: Friday, 14 May 2010 at 08:00
End Time: Sunday, 16 May 2010 at 16:00
Location: Strasbourg21st International bonspiel
Strasbourg, France. From 14th to 16th May 2010. For more information, have a look on www.ccsk.fr
HAGGIS COMPETITIONGreenacres
30th 31st january for the haggis competition, and first prize? A large Haggis. Ring Greenacres to enter
[16]
One eye closedI was watching the Canadian playdowns for the Olympics on CurlTV this week when I noticed one player at second closing one eye when he d e l i v e r e d h i s s t o n e s ? Confused I looked up the player’s name and no mention of him being unsighted in one eye and no statement about any disability in that area. So I wondered why and watched the remaining game and it appears that he does it with every stone? Does anyone know why? I do now I have looked it up, but take a guess.
Well? It is known as ocular dominance, sometimes called eye dominance or eyedness and is the tendency to prefer visual input from one eye to the other. It is somewhat analogous to the laterality of right or left-handedness; however, the side of the dominant eye and the dominant hand do not always match. This is because both hemispheres control both eyes,
but each one takes charge of a different half of the field of vision, and therefore a different half of both retinas. There is thus no direct analogy between "handedness" and "eyedness" as lateral phenomena.
Approximately two-thirds of the p o p u l a t i o n i s r i g h t - e y e dominant; however in a small portion of the population neither eye is dominant. Dominance d o e s a p p e a r t o c h a n g e depending upon direction of gaze due to image s ize changes on the retinas. There also appears to be a higher p r e v a l e n c e o f l e f t - e y e dominance in those wi th Williams-Beuren syndrome, and possibly in migraine sufferers as well.
So how does shutting one eye help? Well when you line up for a shot the dominant eye will take control as you stare at the broom and you will slide in that direction and not central to your body. Now most people
c a n a l l o w f o r t h i s f r o m experience but I have had my eyes lasered and in doing so my eyedness changed and I now have a left eye dominance that leads to me thinking I am looking more left than I actually am and so I slide out wrong, it’s great to know and now my game will become wonderful… NOT... but it is a help to know.
If you want to know whether you are left or right ‘eyed’ then try this simple test. With both eyes open, raise your right arm and point to an object in the distance. Anything more than about 20 feet away is ideal. Continue to look at and point at the object and cover the left eye. Did your pointing finger seem to move off the target? Continue pointing and cover your r ight eye. Did your pointing finger seem to move off the target with your right eye covered? Your dominant eye is the eye you are using when the pointing finger does not seem to move.
Well that is odd!
What a Slide?
I was recently playing in the European Invitational Seniors at Greenacres when I noticed a number of players sliding in, what I perceive to be, very unusual slides. I saw players sliding with both knees on the ice - ie knelt, players who slid on the wrong knee, players who twisted and turned. I even saw one player who had his broom in front of himself and spun almost 180deg looking over his shoulder as he released. this had me confused.
The confusion came from the fact that no matter how these gentlemen (and one presumes women too) deliver they still hit the shot the skip requested.
More than this, they often hit the shot 100%?
I was s tunned, how can someone sliding from the hack, on the wrong knee, spinning and looking over their own shoulder hit the shot? Well, as is my want, I spoke to one of the players, the one mentioned above af ter a game and questioned him on his style. His reply was simple; “I learnt from a man who had a wooden leg? Now this required another batch of questions and a long debate but the upshot was that I came to the conclusion that not only would this player never change his style but it would also be extremely difficult for him to change his style after 30+ years
of delivering in that manner. It may even ruin his game.
So the message I got from this conversation was, learn to slide in the traditional manner from a good coach and over the years develop your own style. It does not matter how ungainly it is but for the first 5 years learn from a good coach and take advice. Yo u r s l i d e m a y c h a n g e subsequently but get a good grounding before attempting to use a more unorthodox slide.
Whichever slide you use, enjoy your game and make those shots.
[17]
This year we had fourteen rinks, almost achieving the maximum of sixteen for the competition. We also had two new skips and several new combinations leading to a great competition.
You will have heard that the North West Castle in Stranraer is a great venue – an oasis of curling in the south west of Scotland. A long journey from wherever you travel, although the drive through Galloway is beautiful and the trip from the north passing by Ailsa Craig. In fact it more than matches the world famous west coast Californian coastal route. You always arrive at the hotel ready to be looked after – and you are.
The Shenkel scoring ensures that the competition is full of surprises and it is not possible to pick out a winner. In fact the rink skipped by Phil Atherton (Harvey Curle, Chris Smith and Chris Kerr) were the pre tournament favourites. In match 2 they lost against Fee Hawker. The a d v a n t a g e s w u n g a n d t h e southerners d id not lose the advantage and went on to win all four
games and the magnificent I’Anson trophy. Congratulations to the unbeaten Fee, Steve Amann, Steve Scanlan and James Gibb.
Phil managed to keep focused and needed a superb draw to take the last shot in match 4 v Richards Hills rink
We welcomed Sandra Moorcroft back, moving up to skip her rink with Debbie Hutcheon. John Brown had another weekend in Scotland, this year one of ‘nearly’ good results.
The top eight rinks played on Sunday morning – the other six somehow not fee l ing so bad , a f te r a l l the competition had been played out well – and of course they could enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Make sure you get ready for 2010 – we aim to get sixteen rinks so get your names down now.
Thanks again to all competitors – the I’Anson lived up to its reputation of combin ing great cur l ing w i th magnificent camaraderie and spirit.
I’ANSON
RCCC Province ChampionshipsGreenacres 4th – 7th November
[18]
The RCCC Province weekend at Greenacres Howood has come and gone but where to start. London Curling Club gained a few more members over the weekend and luckily our VP (the editor) was on hand to do the officiating ie quick handshake, now get your shoes on we are on the ice in 5 minutes. I think I spent more time on the phone trying to drum up subs than playing curling, I even chased a guy around the golf course trying to get him to play for us. (not literally I was trying to phone him). Another friend who I thought was out walking her dog had actually gone away for the weekend, no wonder she didn't answer her phone. It was still a great weekend with some fantastic curling from all of our team and so many of them as well..Betty the umpire was very patient, if not a little bemused and confused on why a Scots lass from Glasgow was playing for England in this competition. Every time we played a new game a new team sheet had to be submitted.I suppose I should explain our predicament. I will try to keep it simple, but even after a while I was getting confused who was playing, when they were playing and what position they were playing.What capped it all was having a Scotsman playing for our English team who just happens to be the President of the Welsh Curling Association, it gets more complicated by the minute. We even tried to get one of Irish guys to play for us just to keep it in the family, but he got called up to play for his own team. It all started when I received an email at ten o’clock on the Friday morning ( due to play at 12.45) from Robin Gemmell to say he had slipped a disc and couldn’t come, but he was trying to get us subs, he was sort of successful, however we were short of two for the Friday night game. So then it was on the phone, now as many of you know who curl regularly at Greenacres there is no signal inside for mobile phones so I spent most the day apart from when I was curling out in car park trying to find two subs. Great scenery yes I know but very cold and windy.This is a plea for Richard who I hope reads this please please please get a phone mast put up, before I keel over with exposure. Overall we had 6 of us playing over four games and in one game we only managed the three of us. For a
while it was only going to be Steve and myself for the Friday night game. We had tried all our sources to get a sub, but there was a Gourock court being held that same night and the world and his wife seemed to be going so we were running out of options until the team we would be playing against offered up the wife of their second Ian Gillespie. They said Dorothy was an ok player ( their words not mine) and it turns out she was more than ok, a former curler in Rhona Martin’s team no less.At last we had three, but our fourth player remained elusive right up till half an hour before kick off we ( ie me ) were still trying to contact local curlers to join our team. It looked as if we would have to forfeit the game, but the opposition elected to play us with three players and as Betty said it would ****** up the competition if we didn't play, so we played. Dorothy and Steve both elected not to skip so that left yours truly in the hot seat. I was very nervous as our opposition had come second the previous week in the seniors invitational and is a past winner of this particular competition and many many more. He could have had 4 shots and 6 ends awarded if we had forfeited, but rumour has it he concluded he could take 8 ends from us thereby helping him to get further up the table for the knock out on the Sunday. But don’t tell him I heard that, mums the word. He did in the end get into the low road though. Well no one was more shocked then me when we had them on the run and every end had them in a quandary on what to do next. I even surprised myself how I was able to thwart their play, but I was ably assisted by my excellent team mates Steve and Dorothy. Her husband playing second on the other team was wishing he hadn’t called her in. It was nip and tuck all the way. Although I would like to say we won the game it was a moral victory as we had taken 5 ends off them. (sorry Gary)Going into the last end it was 7 5 to them and my heart was racing and we had the hammer so at least a good chance to peel the game.They pulled all the stops out and I had four stones against me with my two stones to play, with a well guarded house, but luckily some of the stones at the front were mine and I elected to try a hit and roll into the blue pack.
Continues over.....
[19]
Continues...
Heart racing, hands shaking I decided I had to go for it. I couldn’t look and just when I thought it was going through the back it clipped my guard stone and rolled right into the button to be the shot.Modesty won’t allow me to say that cheers went up and lots of clapping behind the glass as everyone else had finished and were watching the closing moments of our exciting game. Gary the other skip was unable to dislodge it, but it was going to be impossible for me to get another one in. I didn’t want to risk moving my own out of shot and wanted to take the fifth end. The next day our 'proper' skip John Macdougall did a double take when I told him we nearly beat Gary and of course he got a full account of the whole game, well you know me I can talk a bit. I think he was impressed although a little hungover from the previous night’s court, which by all accounts went down well.I wish I could tell you all about it, but some of you reading this are not 'Made curlers' and I would have to kill you if word got out.
I digress, back to the games. All our games we went into the last or near to last peeling and we were unable to clinch it, but not without trying. I seem to be playing better with a bad back ( see last month’s issue for the full story on that one). Over all the competition there were many close games in all three groups and some not so, and some excellent
precision curling all round. Word on the ground was all our opposition thought they would
walk all over us, and gain high scores but we surprised them all and it wasn’t to be. We did London Curling Club proud and my heartfelt thanks to all who played John MacDougall, George Wills, Dorothy
Gillespie, Michael Yuille, yours truly Sandra Moorcroft and our editor Steve Scanlan.
The ice was very good, the food was very good and all credit to Richard and his friendly team at Greenacres for a fantastic weekend of curling and camaraderie. If you have never played there, make it a New Years resolution to do so. A really great competition open to all is the Haggis on the 30th 31st January 2010 and guess what if you win, you win a Haggis, contact details on the competitions page of this issue.
RCC Province Championships
F G R E E N A C R E S D B A DE R E C Q D N U A V K S F B UN E D S M K A R S L I D E R SD B A R R I E R E P P I K U TA D T I P L Y A S C U Q H S RF I S E O P E Z U R R I N H IB J G C R V T U O E K A T G KN G N I L R U C H S I L G N EO K T R E K O Q U E F E R E PT O A B A B S T I R B V X F RT H I R D A L X H M L C E R EU S N O T N E F E G N I V I SB P M O G S K O S E C O N D OO I W M C E J L E T N I L G HE K E N I L G O H A R R W A R
Word SearchBarrierBroomBrushbuttonCurlingEnglish CurlingFentonsGreenacresHoglineHouseIceKelsoKipperLeadSkipSliderStrikeTakeoutSecondThird
Find the words on the right in the grid on the left. they are all curling terms and can be found up, down, diagonal and backwards. Be careful of those backward ones.
[20]
100 Club
The English Curling Association runs a ‘100 Club’ to raise funds for the Association. Shares in the club are open to any ECA member and cost £1 per month. An individual can hold up to 15 shares at any one time. Payment is by Standing Order and you can get details from the secretary via the Contact page on the ECA website.
Each month there are three prizes - for £40, £30 and £20. In December the prize money is doubled and in the month of the AGM it is quadrupled. So there is a total of £1440 of prize money each year.
If you want more information then visit the ECA website or Susan Young (0208 540 4161)
Where To Curl
London & The South
The only dedicated curling rink in England can be found near Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Further details can be found on the the curling rink website, Fenton’s Rink.
North-East England
Curling in this area is played at the Kelso Ice Rink, just over the Scottish border. The main English based club in the area is the Glendale club. For further details please email James Dixon at [email protected]
North-West England & Wales
The main English club in this area is the Preston club who play up in Scotland at the Lockerbie Ice Rink on alternate Thursdays. Please contact the club secretary, Phil Barton on [email protected] .
Curling can also be played in Wales on Mondays between 1 pm and 9:30 pm at the Deeside Leisure Centre, Queensferry, just over the Welsh border to the west of Chester - check out the website of the Welsh Curling Association.
ECA MUSINGS
English Curling
President: Stephen Hinds
President elect:
Competitions Convener: Philip Barton
Secretary: John Brown
Treasurer: Sandra Moorcroft
Useful Links• www.englishcurling.org.uk
English Curling Association website
• www.englishcurlingforum.net
English Curling Forum for beginners and experts alike
• www.worldcurling.org
ECA NEWSLETTERContact:Steven Scanlan -
The ECA is YOUR
Association