HM Queen Elizabeth II
I would like to take a moment to reflect on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
As the late monarch was Patron of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, I am sure many of you will have taken a moment to contemplate recent events. Our thoughts are with the royal family at this sad time, as well as reflecting on our own recent losses.
Iain Scott, President Penicuik Curling Club
Sunday 18th September 2022
The first social event of the new season took place on Saturday 6th August, and after a little light rain first thing to revive the drought stricken croquet lawn, the sun shone on what was a fantastic afternoon’s lighthearted competition and fun in the grounds of Penicuik Estate.
The usual team of helpers were busy from early morning to set up. The mini marquee was raised, the lawns measured out, mallets and balls laid out ready – all before the cars started to arrive loaded with around 28 eager competitors, packing folding chairs and picnics. It was great to see some of our new members taking part alongside some old stagers.
A welcome glass of Prossecco, ‘No-ssecco’ or orange juice was on offer along with a wonderful choice of ‘healthy option’ snacks provided by the Social Committee. With rules explained and teams at the ready, Craig called the first few matches and the serious competition began. Amid shrieks of dismay or laughter from opposing teams and spectators, play continued over the next couple of hours, fortified by a few more trips to the catering tent.
Eventually all had played 4 matches, and with scores on the board, Craig called the group to order to announce the results. Clear winners on the day were Jan and David Gillespie, whilst the team bringing up the rear were Margaret Carr and Jean Cassie, here seen being presented with their prizes.
Once again the Club is indebted to Sir Robert and Lady Faye Clerk, for permitting Penicuik Curling Club to use the croquet green, and huge thanks are due to Craig, Jan, and Geoff from the Social Committee for all their hard work. Also, to Dave Carr and his team of helpers, and certainly not forgetting all those who came along to make it such a great afternoon. However, all too soon the day was over and with all hands on deck, mallets, balls, string and tent were packed away again for next year. (A few more photos are available in the Gallery)
Report by Jean Noble
To round off what has been a successful season of curling, Penicuik Curling Club members met on Saturday 7th May at Glencorse Golf Clubhouse for the annual dinner. It really must have been the ‘go-to’ event of the year with 46 attendees, attracting new and past members and family, as well as our esteemed guests Sir Robert and Lady Faye Clerk. It was great to see so many people there. Everyone had arrived in plenty of time for a quick catch up over a drink or to gaze at the array of prizes and Trophies, which were newly engraved and shining bright after hours of polishing by the Club’s Secretary.
Tables had been set beautifully, with lovely floral arrangements in the centre, individual place names and an Annual Dinner programme for each guest. Once all were seated, the Club’s President Iain welcomed everyone and invited Jim Cowper to say Grace. The catering staff at the Golf Club had provided a lovely menu and did a terrific job of serving dinner which seemed to be enjoyed by all. Then it was time for the highly anticipated part of the night, the prize giving, so President Iain invited Sir Robert to do the honours.
A huge congratulations must go to all prize winners from the season. (More photos of the individual Trophy Winners are available in the Gallery page of the Club’s Website) Unfortunately for Dave Anderson, although he went away with an armful of prizes, he also left with an emptier wallet, after having to fill and refill the Kettle with the traditional Rusty Nail.
With proceedings over, Sir Robert thanked everyone for the wonderful evening and congratulated the Club on it’s successes, before David Gillespie provided the vote of thanks to all involved in making it such a terrific evening. There was a little time left for more socialising and maybe the odd drink, but all good things must come to an end and with carriages home awaiting guests, it was soon time to say farewell.
The Curling Social Committee would like to say a huge thanks to everybody who has supported this and other events throughout the year. The 2022 Annual Prize Giving Dinner will be remembered as a tribute to Ronnie Hope who helped organise it with his usual flair and enthusiasm, but who is sadly no longer with us.
Report by Craig Brown and Jean Noble
Jim Cowper and myself were joined by Sir Robert and Lady Faye on Friday 27th of May, for the purpose of taking part in a TV documentary.
Our participation in the Paul Murton programme in which he walks The North Esk river from source to sea has been in the planning for months. Our friend Ronnie had spent hours making sure that Paul and the production team knew everything about Penicuik Curling Club and of course our participation in The First Grand Match. Ronnie’s enthusiasm ensured that we would be a part of the programme for which the production team were very grateful.
The crew had already spent time with Sir Robert, interviewing him about Penicuik House, and they also visited the Pennycoe Press premises.
Our part was to highlight The First Grand Match and to feature our Curling House. Filming took over two hours for what might be a 2 minute highlight. We were informed that the programme will probably be aired this Autumn.
Let’s hope that we are included in the programme and that Penicuik Curling Club and Curling gains advantage from our participation.
Report by Jim Ramsay
It is with great sadness that Penicuik Curling Club announces the passing of Ronnie Hope, who died suddenly at home on Monday 9th May.
Ronnie was an Honorary Member of our Club, and had served both as President and also regularly on the Management Committee during the thirty years since he first joined in 1991. He will be remembered for his boundless enthusiasm for curling, and his tireless support of the Penicuik Club and it’s members over the years. He will be sorely missed by all his many friends in the curling world and beyond.
The photo below was taken at the Saturday League Christmas Bonspiel in 2019, and is a nice one to remember him by.
The Annual General Meeting of Penicuik Curling Club will take place at Glencorse Golf Club, on Wednesday 25th May between the hours of 7pm and 9pm.
All members are invited to attend.
What a terrific end to the Season on Wednesday 30th March, with four sheets of ice filled with jovial members of Penicuik Curling Club, all up for a great night’s curling.
The Social Committee team had prepared everything impeccably, including teams; order of play; which sheet to play on; score cards clearly showing who had the hammer; and most importantly clear rules on being ready on the hack to ensure swift play, with ‘Thirds only’ decisions in disputes on winning stones, – all with the clear intention of getting 7 ends completed – and that we did. Amazing!
Play flowed freely and an exciting two hours curling flew past with only the occasional shriek of disbelief at a stone well played. All credit to a Magnificent Seven of our newest members for taking part on the night – Jean and Graeme Cassie, Paul and Louise Clapperton, Saho Arakawa, Karen Black and Neil Lackie a great way to introduce them to fellow Club members, and well deserving of the Club Badge they were presented with in the hope that they will take part in many more Club Competitions next season.
With play complete, the group retired upstairs where the Curlers Grace was said before players enjoyed a terrific meal prepared by Paul and his catering staff. 31 hungry curlers very quickly demolished the dishes provided and then it was time for the customary presentation of prizes. Ronnie took to the floor, reading a passage from the Club’s Bi-Centenary Book describing traditional matches on the Low Pond of Penicuik Estate, and how it was only in the last 50 years or so that that ‘Wives and Sweethearts’ had been admitted to the traditional men-only sport including, in 1969 Christine Brown and, in the early 70s, Margaret Cowper who sadly died just recently.
It’s fair to say that checking the scorecards still proved to be a little challenging (shame on those who can’t count). However, the final results were declared, and the Club’s President stepped forward to present the prizes.
On the positive scoring side, it was a very close-run thing, but the Mary McConnell Winners Trophy went to the rink of Jim Ramsay, Margaret Carr, Alicia Neil and Paul Clapperton. (This Trophy is named in honour of ‘Wee Mary’ McConnell, another well respected former member of Penicuik Curling Club, again sadly no longer with us.)
The ‘Bonspiel Booby’ Trophy went to David Gillespie, David Ballantyne, Jim Hume and Karen Black.
The President then closed the event by proposing the traditional vote of thanks to the organisers, the ice men and the catering staff. Special thanks go to Jean Lennie who sponsored the competition and provided the prizes.
What a fantastic end to the season, thanks to all who took part.
Report by Jean Noble
Many Congratulations to the Winners of this season’s Pairs Competition.
The pairing of Iain Scott and Liz Anderson take the High Road trophy after overcoming Dave Carr and Pam Ramsay in the final – getting to be a habit Iain!
In the Low Road Final, the pairing of John Jacobs and Margaret Carr win the honours after beating fellow finalists, Jim Ramsay and Reg Dunbar.
With 16 keen curlers taking part, and teams pretty well balanced, this turned out to be a great competition, and it was good to see so many ladies and even a ‘first timer’ taking part.
Full results of the various games are shown in the Competitions page, but a few highlights of the day included: the demon Roger’s brilliant shot with the last stone of the 3rd end of the opening round, where he took out the two counting stones (which David G had left after playing an amazing three stone tap) to take the points; Jim’s face beaming with pride in Pam’s terrific performance to reach the High Road Final, along with Dave C who made a valiant effort despite having just recovered from COVID.
It was a long day, but with the gallery at times enthralled by what was happening on the ice, most players stayed to the end to soak up the atmosphere. Once again, many congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who took part. Thanks also to Jim and Pam for sponsoring the event.
Report by Jean Noble
In this year’s Inter Club Medal (previously known as District Medal) two sides representing the President and Vice-President of Penicuik played in a tough draw against Musketeers.
President’s Team – Iain Scott, John Jacobs, Keith Morris, and Barbara Gillespie were simply outclassed on the day after an uphill struggle from losing heavily in the first, and only managing to score in a single end late in the game.
Vice-President’s Team – Jim Ramsay, Dave Anderson, Kirsty McWilliam and David Gillespie put up a respectful fight holding a slim lead for the majority of the games, up 6-4 after the 6th end. Unfortunately, their valiant effort to keep the overall score respectable came undone at the last end when the opposition took a 5 to win.
Musketeers won both games (11-2 and 9-6) and will be awarded the Inter Club Medal, although the opposition Secretary has since indicated that the matches were much tighter than the scorecard suggested. There’s always next year!
Report by Iain Scott
After a two-year break, the traditional good-natured and competitive double headed friendly against 37 Club was upon us. This year, the mood was no different.
Jim Ramsay had managed to amass two strong Penicuik teams worthy of the task in hand. (It is worth noting that an unforeseen diary clash maybe helped Penicuik’s cause, with 4 curlers from 37 Club doing battle in the Province Final, thus reducing their available pool of players).
Team 1: (Dave Anderson, Ronnie Hope, Iain Scott, David Gillespie) started evens, trading 2 in the opening ends but then set about building ‘steady’ run of scores, but in the 6th Dave’s front end deserted him allowing 37 Club to close the gap to just one! The 7th end again saw the front end misfire slightly, leaving precision tactical play from the 3rd and the skip to hold out for the victory (8-5)
Team 2: (Jim Ramsay, Craig Brown, Keith Morris, Dave Carr) having taken a single in the first, failed to capitalise with the last stone in the 2nd thus losing a 3. They looked to be in for a different game. However, momentum began to build from the 3rd and Penicuik came powering back with two 3s and another single to secure the second victory. (9-3)
All teams retired to the bar afterwards, where Penicuik was awarded the Silver Salver provided by 37 Club to mark the special relationship between the Clubs. Penicuik then proposed a vote of thanks to both sides.
Report by Iain Scott – photos courtesy of 37 Club with action shots available in the Gallery
Penicuik Curling Club 