Author Archives: jeann1e25

Club Challenge

The third Club Challenge took place on Sunday 5th Dec after a long wait due to the impact of COVID.

A strong team of Craig Brown, Iain Scott, Kirsty McWilliam and Liz Anderson had challenged Andrew Lambie’s team who are the long-standing title holders. Unfortunately, Andrew & Robert Beaton could not play so Keith Morris stepped up to skip the team of Roger Scott, Martin Hobbs and David Gillespie.

Craig’s team got off to a strong start, taking a 3 in the first end with Craig achieving a very impressive wick & curl in. Andrew’s team managed to get the measure of the ice & came back to take a 2 in the 2nd end, narrowly missing a 3 on the measure.

The next few ends were closely contested with Craig’s team taking a 1 in the 6th end to bring the score to his advantage by 1 shot. The 7th end was started within only 30 seconds to the bell (a close call indeed). With a lot of stones in the house, Craig had the shot stone near the pot lid, with a few out front on either side. Leaving only a very small port through, Keith nominated to play a heavy last stone through the port to remove Craig’s stone.

It only needed to curl a few inches and tension was high. The stone just scraped passed the guards with millimetres to spare & hit Craig’s stone off to the side giving a 1 to Keith’s team.

It was a very enjoyable game with some impressive curling by both teams. The final score was 6-6 with the current holders retaining the title and looking forward to the next challenge in Feb next year, hopefully with Andrew back as skip.

Report by Keith Morris

Swan Trophy 2021/22

On the 18th November two Penicuik rinks took to the ice to play against Currie and Balerno in the first round of the Swan Trophy, a popular two rink competition in which we have played for many years. It’s good for the Club to play in these competitions which are very competitive but great fun to play in.

Craig Brown, Keith Morris, Roger Scott and David Gillespie played against the rink skipped by Brian Fleming. They experienced unlucky rubs in a couple of ends and ended up losing by 9 shots to 3

In the other game Dave Anderson, Jim Ramsay, Dave Carr and Ronnie Hope faced the rink of Susan Kesley. It was a very close encounter with the final outcome being a peel, 4 shots each, however one of their players was late and we were awarded 1 shot because of that so the official score was;

Currie & Balerno 13 – Penicuik 8

Rink Championship Quarter Finals

On Saturday 27th November, a Penicuik rink will play in the Quarter Finals of the Rink Championship against the winners of the Haddington v Carrington match already played on 23th October.

Penicuik CC will be represented by Iain Scott ( Skip), Jim Ramsay, Craig Brown and Roger Scott. A win on Saturday will ensure a place in the Semi-Final to be played on Saturday 11th December. We wish the team good curling.

The Bonspiel Booby Prize

On Wednesday evening, the opportunity was taken to present the ‘foundation team’ at the Opening Bonspiel with the ‘ Bonspiel Booby Prize’ Trophy which had been retrieved from the Secretary’s loft where it had been held in safe keeping since last season.

This distinctive trophy of the statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen Harbour, was donated to Penicuik Curling Club by Team Bambi who were regular entrants in the International Curlers Gathering over the years and who became great friends of Penicuik.

Unfortunately, the Trophy could not be presented at the Closing Bonspiel last year because of the early closure of the curling rink, but you can see from the delight on Craig and his team’s faces that they were honoured to receive it.

Opening Bonspiel Booby Prize Trophy for Craig, Christine and Jan (Keith not present)

Presentation of 50 Year Medal

Margaret receiving her 50 Year Medal

On Sunday 19th September the opportunity was taken at the Annual Golf Outing Dinner to mark a very special occasion, namely the 50 year anniversary of Margaret Cowper joining Penicuik Curling Club.

After a short speech, President Iain invited a very surprised Margaret to come forward for the presentation which husband Jim had somehow succeeded in keeping a secret from his wife. The achievement was marked with a warm round of applause from the thirty plus members and guests attending the dinner.

Many congratulations to Margaret.

Try Curling Session

On Wednesday 6th October David Gillespie, ably assisted by Barbara, Jim and Craig, hosted a Try Curling session at Murrayfield Curling Rink for a group of nine friends and guests.

Following a brief introduction to the game and the ice, our participants learned how to deliver stones up the ice, as well as how and why to sweep, and were then able to play a short game which of course ended in a draw.

We hope that they will all want to come back to learn some more of the skills and strategies of the ‘roaring game’ and to ultimately curl with Penicuik Curling Club.

Message from Walter and Christine

Dear President Liz, Brother and Sister Curlers, and Friends,

Thank you very much indeed for your lovely card of good wishes for Walter and me when he was in hospital. Walter is delighted to be home now and hopes to be more mobile soon. 

We wish you all the best for “guid curling” when you are allowed to participate in these far from normal times.  

With many thanks again,

Walter and Christine