Resplendent in Christmas jumpers, Santa hats and antlers, 13 curlers gathered on Saturday 17th December for a mini-bonspiel. Four teams were drawn with the honour of skipping the rinks at the start going to some of the newer Club members, viz,Graeme Cassie, Jean Cassie, Nicki Cassie and Paul Clapperton. Six ends wereplayed with players rotating positions every two ends.

The team of Graeme Cassie, Kirsty McWilliam and Saho Arakawa managed to win 5 of their six ends resulting in a positive score of +6. They were rewarded with a splendid prize of chocolate oranges.

At the other end of the scale, Nicki’s team of her, Stuart Blackwood and Alister McDonald did not win a single end and had a net score of minus 9. But at least they got a bag of Celebrations as a booby prize, which they generously shared with the eleven curlers who managed to stay for refreshments after the fun.

All in all a relaxed and enjoyable morning’s curling.

Report by Alister McDonald

The first available ice of season 22/23 came our way on 15^th December, 2022 and the ‘CALL’ went out to Penicuik Curling members to gather and compete for The Outdoor Medal. The ice was at least 4 inches thick with a good pebble and ready for an 11am start.

The Rinks were chosen by random draw and resulted in Team A Skipped by Craig Brown and aided by Reg Dunbar, Martin Hobbs and Graeme Cassie, this rink awarded Red Ribbons to distinguish their stones. Team B were to be identified by Blue ribbons attached to their stones. Members of ‘B’ were Jim Ramsay, Dave Carr, Geoff Dawe, Kirsty McWilliam and Ian Neil. (This did not mean that Team B had 10 stones compared to Team A’s 8). One member of the Blue rink would sit out at each end.

Eight Ends would decide a winner.  Ramsay & Co., got off to a positive start with a 1 in the first then a 2 in the second.  By the start of End 3 everyone was settling into the very different delivery of stones required outside compared to indoor.  Team Brown eventually got on the board by scoring with a single stone.  Blue were having none of the ‘A’ recovery and gained another 2 in the 4^th end.  As we often find, a game of Curling changes at the 5^th end and that is exactly what happened. In the 5^th Brown came back with a 1.  Another 1 in the 6^th and a big 3 in the 7^th left the score at A = 6  B = 5.  Perhaps the recovery of Team Brown was down to their secret (and perhaps use of illegal equipment).  Mr Cassie had launched a Drone which obviously might have given Skip Craig a different view of things.  End Eight and Team B  are sitting with a 1 for most of the End and it was starting to look as if an extra end was on the cards.  Team A had tried several times to remove the Blue stone without success. Craigs first attempt at Take Out went wide of the mark. Jim’s initial thought was to guard the counting stone but that stone also went wide but it did give the Blues a second counting stone.  If Craig could take a Blue out and get a roll, the game could be won. A powerful delivery by Craig just failed to take out either of the Blues which resulted in the final stone not having to be played (just in case of error).  The final score with 4 ends to each team comes out as A = 6 and B = 7.

A shake of hands but no Rusty Nail to be found, but thanks to Geoff for the Shortbread!

Report by Jim Ramsay

Drone footage is available at the following Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/fdl2S9dYtN4kTqBtSettr10wQqBZWvL7n7NhUTmGUR9