Monthly Archives: March 2017

Edinburgh International Curlers’ Gathering 2017

The Gathering took place over the last weekend of March and fourteen local sides were joined by fourteen overseas teams for a 3-day fun curling tournament.  Eight of the visiting teams were new to the event and came from France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA.

Penicuik fielded teams drawn from a squad of Dave Carr, Dave Anderson, Andrew Lambie, Jim Ramsay,Liz Anderson, Pam Ramsay, Barbara Gillespie, Jean Lennie, Roger Scott, and David Gillespie.  Wins against Alba and The Queens (Sweden), and a loss to Lyss City 1 (Switzerland) in the preliminary stage meant Penicuik played in Group C in the final stage.  Here they lost to O’Neil (USA), Curlingstones (Switzerland), and Lyss City 2 (Switzerland).

The Roaring Stones (aka Murray Hope, Iain Scott, John Jacobs, Robert Beaton, and Ronnie Hope) played in a very strong group in the preliminary stage losing to Paddy Power, The Maple Rocks (Canada), and Torsten Med Borsten (Sweden).  Happily they went on to gain a victory against Easy Curlers (Switzerland) in the final group stage. 

Some of the Organising Team

A number of members banded together to form the Organising Team for the Gathering.  Jim R was Transport Manager and MC, Linda Hunter is the Treasurer and Competition Score,  Janette Lambie and Barbara Gillespie manned the Registration Desk, and Christine Hope and Pam Ramsay ran the fund raising activities.  The whole team readily took on additional duties throughout the weekend.   A big than you to all of them, and to the volunteers who delivered Jim’s transport plan for airport transfers.

The Winning Teams this year were;

Group A         Paddy Power

Group B        All Mixed Up

Group C        O’Neil (USA)

Group D       Lyss City 1 (Switzerland)

Group E        Balfron Wolves

Group F        Kelso Reivers

Group G       Midcalder

The Friendship Quaich was awarded jointly to the two USA teams (O’Neil and Mulville) from St Paul, Minnesota, who made a great contribution to the event both on and off the ice.

Closing Bonspiel

The final ice of the season on Wednesday 29 March was devoted to the Closing Bonspiel.  Eight teams vied for supremacy and the last opportunity to claim a medal.  The format was six single ended games; and in the absence of visible scores it was difficult to understand how the event was progressing for those of us on the balcony.  Afterwards all was revealed; the ‘Foundation Team’ was Jim Ramsay, Janette Lambie, Linda Hunter, and Margaret Dalgleish on -12.  The winners were Iain Scott, Keith Morris, Barbara Gillespie, and Pauli Holmes on +10, so congratulations to them.

Members shared a meal and refreshments afterwards in the ECC Club Rooms.

A happy bunch of wooden spoonists.

Bonspiel winners, Iain Scott, Keith Morris, Barbara Gillespie, and Pauli Holmes

 

 

 

 

 

 

37 Club Challenge Match

At our dinner to celebrate our Bi-centenary, 37 Club presented Penicuik with a very nice silver salver to mark the occasion.  Subsequently, the clubs agreed that they would compete annually for the salver. Last season, we played a single rink game against them and managed to win the trophy 7-4.  Afterwards both clubs felt that they could raise two teams, so it was decided to make it a double rink sheet match for this season.
So, on Monday 20th March, Penicuik played against 37 Club.
Representing Penicuik were the President’s team, Jim Ramsay, Dave Carr, John Jacobs and Ronnie Hope, and the Vice President’s team, Murray Hope, Dave Anderson, Iain Scott and Robert Beaton.  The President’s team played Mike Wilkinson, Bryan Little, Mike Williamson, and Mel Stimpson, and the Vice-President’s team played Paul Davidson, David Lambie, Alastair Hay, and Harry Fairley.
The Vice President’s team got off to a great start and went 6 up after two ends. While the President’s game was more of a nip and tuck affair, with both sides striving to gain an advantage.  While the Vice President’s team were keeping a good lead in shots, they were dropping ends and the President’s team started to struggle.  So going into the last end, it looked like Penicuik would win the Vice President’s game but lose The President’s game. The Challenge Match would be decided on ends and Penicuik would win if they could gain an end in either of the games.
The President’s team lost a heavy (5) last end  and lost the game 4-10 but drew 3-3 on ends. In the Vice Presidents game, 37 Club had a well buried shot and Murray decided to go for a “David Murdoch” style triple lift at weight. It was looking good all the way down the ice. However, the last stone to be lifted missed the 37 stone by half an inch (see Mike Williamson’s photo). A great effort by Murray, whose team ran out winners 8-4.
Congratulations to 37 Club who won the match 14-12 (7 ends to 6).
We all retired to the bar after the match for the usual conviviality and all agreed that we should keep the double rink format for next season.
Dave Carr

District Medal

Two teams of our curlers traveled across to Braehead late on Wednesday evening to meet Cadder CC in a District Medal fixture.  Our teams were Dave Anderson. Dave Carr, John Jacobs, and Robert Beaton; and Andrew Lambie, Iain Scott, Roger Scott, and Ronnie Hope.

The President’s team (Anderson) won 7-4, and the Vice-president’s team (Lambie) lost 5-9.  Overall a victory for Cadder, so congratulations to them on their win.

Intermediate Points

The first Intermediate Points Competition was played out tonight, Tuesday 14 March, with 11 enthusiastic members vying to gain the medal.  Six disciplines were completed, with ‘Wick & Curl In’ being omitted in favor of ‘Raising’.   It was a closely contested evening with a tight finish; Andrew Dalgleish took the medal on 16 points, with Janette Lambie and Vic Ramage just one point behind in joint second place.  Congratulations to Andrew, and well done to all of the participants.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, so hopefully we can look to run the event on an annual basis. Finally your Secretary would like to thank Jim Cowper for going in to the curling rink to assist in making the event run smoothly for the players.

Pairs Competition

Once again we have had an excellent Pairs competition with an exciting finish. The High and Low Road format giving everyone 2 games and keeping the crowds to the bitter end.  The games were played on sheets 1 and 2. The ice was very tricky with big swings and fall backs.

The first round winners were Tom Alexander & Jean Lennie, Dave Anderson & Margaret Carr, Roger Scott & Dave Carr and Walter Brown & Janette Lambie.

 In the Low Road semi-finals, Andrew Lambie & Liz Anderson beat John Jacobs & Reg Dunbar, and Ronnie Hope & David Gillespie beat Keith Morris & Vic Ramage. In the final, Andrew & Liz had a comfortable win against Ronnie & David, with Andrew playing the fall back particularly well.

 In the High Road semi-finals, Dave A & Margaret beat Tom & Jean in a tight match, and Roger & Dave C beat Walter & Janette.  The High Road final was a very close encounter. After 4 ends Roger & Dave had crept to a 5-0 lead, but Dave A & Margaret hit back with a 3 in the 5th end. In the 6th end, the advantage swapped around but with the last couple of shots Dave A just squeezed past a guard and Roger tried to follow him. Roger’s shot just caught the guard leaving Dave A & Margaret with a 2, to tie the game at 5-5.

So for the second year in a row, the Pairs competition would be settled by drawing shots.  Dave A went first and drew to within the 4 foot. Roger followed but was slightly heavier giving the title to Dave A and Margaret.

 Congratulations to Low Road winners Andrew and Liz and to High Road winners Dave A and Margaret.

 

Province League

We went into the last game of the season in 6th place (out of 8) against Bank of Scotland in 7th place, needing at least a peal to stay in Division 2.

We got off to a good start gaining 4 shots in the first end followed by a lucky steal of 1 shot in the second. We lost a single in the third then an unfortunate 4 in the fourth.  We rallied to take a single in the fifth followed by another in the sixth going into the last end 2 shots up. We kept our heads and stole 3 shots to come out winners by 10 shots to 5 thereby finishing the season mid-table on 7 points and retaining our position in Division 2.

The squad for the season was Murray Hope (Skip), Dave Anderson (Third) with John Jacobs, Iain Scott and Robert Beaton.

Dave Anderson

Waldie Griffith

A Waldie Griffith inter-province tie between Midlothian and Borders was played at Murrayfield on Thursday (2 March) afternoon.  This competition features a series of one off matches between provinces throughout Scotland, with the Province having the best shots up return gaining the trophy.  On this occasion, Midlothian was represented by teams from DAFS, Gogar, Midcalder, and Penicuik.  The Penicuik team for the day was Andrew Lambie (Skip), Dave Anderson, Jim Ramsay, and Ken Hunter.

Penicuik played a team of ladies made up with players from several clubs from the Borders. Penicuik took a single at the first end, then lost a three in the second end; the deficit was reclaimed with a two at the third end.  A close parity was maintained thereafter, and the teams were level after 6 ends.  With last stone and a free house to draw to, our opponents opted to blank the seventh end and retain last stone advantage.  In the final end, Penicuik were lying one shot before the last stone; the opposing skip tried a chap & lie but failed to keep her shooter in the house, so the game ended all square.  It was a good afternoon of sport in the excellent company of our opponents.

Regrettably, this was as good as it got for Midlothian, the other three teams all lost to give Borders a victory by 8 shots (+2 aggregate); not enough for them to be contenders for the trophy.