On Sunday 27^th February, 9 very keen curlers took to the ice for the Second Points Competition, and what an exciting one it turned out to be.

Those playing in order were Reg, David Gillespie, Craig, Dave Anderson, Norrie, John, Keith, Roger and myself.

Reg got play off to a good start in the first discipline ‘Striking’, where everyone managed a reasonable score but only two achieved the maximum 8 points – Craig and Jean with her trusty cue. Thereafter, play continued on quite fast and tricky ice through ‘Inwicking’, ‘Drawing’ then ‘Guarding’ with all players picking up points on the way, until at the half way mark John was leading on 20 points with Craig a close second on 19 points. Keith and Dave were not far behind on 16.

After completing ”Chap and Lie’, the ‘Wick and Curl In’ discipline proved to be the most challenging. Norrie managed a creditable 4 points but others scored 1,2 or nothing at all. The bell rang just as the 7^th discipline ‘Raising’ was finished, so the decision was taken to continue with the 8th, ‘Chipping the Winner’. At this stage Craig had overtaken John with 30 points against 27. Craig immediately increased the pressure by scoring a further 5 to total 35, leaving John having to make the maximum to tie. Watched by his curling colleagues, John’s competitive spirit went into overdrive and he played 4 fantastic stones to take 8 and equal Craig’s score, thus forcing a play-off.

With the next session due to start, Stuart the iceman kindly gave permission for Craig and John to play the ‘Outwicking’ decider up and down one sheet. Unbelievably, after playing another 4 stones each, both still remained equal after scoring a single each.  It was therefore time to ‘Draw the House’ so, with Roger grabbing the measure, the opponents prepared for the final decider.

John was first up but incredibly left his stone short whilst, with tension mounting, Craig’s stone went out the back of the house. However, on the backward ice, both players successfully ‘drew the house’. Roger armed with his trusty measure finally declared John the winner.

What a Competition! It had to be the most exciting Points for a long time. and many congratulations to John and Craig for competing to the very end. Thanks also to everyone else who took part and made it such a fun afternoon.

Report by Jean Noble – more photos available in Gallery.

The 2nd Club Challenge took place on Saturday 12th February at 2.30pm. The team of Jim Ramsay, Dave Carr, Norrie McLean and Reg Dunbar had challenged the present trophy holders team of Keith Morris, Roger Scott, Martin Hobbs and David Gillespie.

The ice was very slow and straight in the 1st end which caught out a few players with not many stones reaching the front of the house. Keith’s team managed to score a 2 at the 1st end, however Jim came right back to take 2 shots in the 2nd. The ice quickly changed as the game progressed, becoming slick and fast with good draws at controlled weight.

Keith’s team then went on to play some good shots throughout the game, controlling the front of the house after getting the measure of the ice. Jim’s team struggled with the weight leaving him with some very difficult shots to play. All credit to Jim for trying to recruit a good balance of players for the challenge.

Team Morris all played well on the day and retain the trophy with a score of 8-2 (6 -1 in ends), and now look forward to future challenges next season.

Report by Keith Morris

The Final of the Knockout Competition will take place on 27th February at 3.00pm. Team Anderson will meet Team Brown in what is guaranteed to be a very closely contested match.

Earlier, in an exciting Quarter Final match on 4th February where Team Scott met Team Carr, the scores were level at 6 each after 4 ends. Iain’s rink had taken a 2 at the first, then Dave’s rink an amazing 5 at the second, before Iain responded with a 4 at the third, and Dave with a single at the fourth end. Scores were 8 each after 7 ends, and so the two Skips had to ‘draw the house’, resulting in a win for Team Scott.

In the Semi Finals, Team Scott came up against Team Anderson in another very competitive game with teams level at 6 each after 5 ends. Iain’s rink then took a single at the penultimate end, and with Dave sitting 1 and his last stone still to play, all the pressure was on him to prevent another ‘drawing of the house’ by the Skips to settle the match. However, Dave was up to the task and triumphed with a great final shot to take the 2, winning 8-7 and progressing to the Final.

In the second Semi, Team Ramsay (skipped by Ronnie Hope in Jim’s absence) met Team Brown. This was a more clear cut result with Craig’s rink taking an early 4-0 lead after two ends, and although Team Ramsay clawed back a 2 in the third and then a 1 in the sixth, by this time Craig had increased his lead to 7-3. The final score of 9-3 to Craig’s rink didn’t really reflect the closeness of the game, although Team Ramsay never really got into their stride against better playing opposition. Team Brown will now play against Anderson in the Final.

Report by Jean Noble

Many congratulations to Skip Dave Anderson and his rink of Liz Anderson, Jim Hume and Ian Neil who are the 2021-22 Kettle Competition Winners.

After building up a seemingly unassailable lead right from the start, the Anderson rink were, in the end, unbeatable although the final result was much closer than expected in a very well fought competition. After the final match lost against Team Ramsay, Dave’s rink won by just 1 clear point over Team Hope.

After all the uncertainty and special measures over the last 2 years, it is fantastic to get our first competition of the season completed, so many thanks to all who played and once again many congratulations to Dave and his team.

Report by Jean Noble

Six members of Penicuik took the ice for the first point competition of the season; one curtailed by COVID, but one that brought opportunity to two Points first timers.  The competition started strongly with three individuals scoring a full 8 points – including first timer Norrie! 

The two ice sheets began to bring their influence as they ran a different speed early on and the amount of swing differed throughout – but as ever – it is the same for all.  As can be seen from the scoring shown in the Competitions page, each member had their good ends and their bad, but from the midpoint it was clear John was the one beat.  But having taking the lead John pulled clear of the pack to become the clear winner; with Craig & Iain a joint but distant second. First timer Norrie was hot on their heels, followed by Neil and a faltering end meant Keith became the ‘strongest’ participant.

Well done to John on his strong performance throughout and we look forward to Norrie and Neil returning in the future!

Report by Iain Scott

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.

As you will all be aware Murrayfield Curling Rink closed on 18th March until further notice. 

In the few days before the closure and in view of  the latest Government advice on Coronavirus, it was left up to individual Skips  to decide whether or not they would play their remaining matches. Most had justifiable concerns over their own health or that of family members.  As a result, only one of the two Thirds games was played on Monday 16th, and neither of the two remaining Kettle games was played on Wednesday 18th.

With no way of knowing how long Murrayfield will remain closed, or Rule to cover these extraordinary circumstances, it has been agreed that the results of  the Kettle and Thirds  competitions will stand as of now.

Many congratulations to Iain Scott and his rink of Ken Hunter, Barbara Gillespie and Jenny Wray on winning the Kettle League, after a very closely fought final few matches where in fact any one of three or four teams were in contention to win.

Also many congratulations to Craig Brown, in his first year as Skip for Penicuik, and his team of David Ballantyne,  Kirsty McWilliam and Frank Duffy on winning the Thirds League.

It is  increasingly unlikely that the Annual Dinner and Prize-giving will go ahead this year but hopefully the winners of all the Competitions can be presented with their Trophies at some point in the near future.

Enjoy your summer and keep well.

Jean Noble

Many congratulations to Margaret Carr and her rink for winning the Alpha Challenge Competition on 8 points. Margaret’s team was drawn from her pool of players which included Dave Carr, Christine Hope, Janette Lambie and Jim Ramsay.

This was a very closely contested competition with each of the four Rinks playing each other twice over the last three months of the season. In the end it was all down to the last games where Margaret’s rink beat Ronnie Hope’s by 6 stones to 4, leaving Ronnie’s rink finishing as runners up on 7 points. Full results below.

Jean Noble

The Second Points Competition was held on Monday 9^th March at 5.30pm.

Only seven members played in this latest ‘skills test’ after a couple of late call-offs due to illness. In starting order, the participants were Jean Noble (the only lady present and very nervous at having to play first), David Ballantyne, Jim Cowper, Iain Scott, Reg Dunbar, Dave Anderson and Ronnie Hope.

The competition was played on Sheets 1 and 2 and there did appear to be some difference in the way the shots played out. However, the competition flowed smoothly with lots of words of encouragement or otherwise between players. 9 out of the 10 disciplines were completed before the bell, although no-one managed to score in all nine.

Many congratulations to Reg Dunbar who came out a deserving winner on 37 points, at the end of a very competitive tussle with Iain Scott who finished second on 33 points, and Dave Anderson on 31 points. The top scorers in each discipline were as follows;

Striking                           Iain Scott & Reg Dunbar (8)

Inwicking                        Iain Scott, Dave Anderson & Ronnie Hope (3)

Drawing                         David Ballantyne (6)

Guarding                       Iain Scott (5)

Chap & Lie                    Ronnie Hope (6)

Wick & Curl In               Jim Cowper (4)

Raising                          Reg Dunbar (6)

Chipping the Winner     Iain Scott & Reg Dunbar (8)

Drawing Thru the Port   David Ballantyne (2)

Jean, as Sponsor, would like to thank all who took part. (Her only consolation was that she scored more than her previous attempt last year). However, playing Points is a great way to gain more decision making and shot experience so we would encourage everyone to try it.

Jean Noble

Club Pairs Competition – Sunday 6th March. 

In the first rounds: team Scott and McWilliam won against Hope and Dawe,  team Lambie and Noble won against Anderson & Lambie(J),  team Carr(D) and Ballantyne beat Jacobs and Mauchline(M) whilst team Carr(M) and Dunbar won against Brown and Anderson(L).

In the Low Road semi-finals, Anderson(D) and Lambie(J) beat Hope and Dawe whilst Jacobs and Mauchline beat Brown and Anderson(L). 

A short rest now for the Low Road finalists whilst the High Road semi-finals were played out.

Whilst Lambie and Noble didn’t quite get the breaks with their shots, Scott and McWilliam were getting everything right. Kirsty was chasing her stones up the ice and sweeping them into perfect position. Despite Andrew’s best efforts Iain capitalised with his stones, winning outright by 6-0. In the other semi Dave C and David B came up against wife Margaret C and Reg. This was a closer match eventually won by Margaret and Reg 4-2 thus setting up an intriguing High Road Final.

After a bit of negotiating with the Ice Man, both Finals were played at the same time albeit at opposite sides of the Curling Rink which made it a bit difficult for the spectators.

In the Low Road Final, Dave A and Janette were all square 1-1 against John and Mike after two ends. However, they then made a 3 at the third end before clinching the Final by scoring a 2 at the last end winning 6-1.

At the other side of the ice floor, Iain and Kirsty employed aggressive tactics from the start taking out any open opposition stone and scoring a 5 in the first end before Margaret and Reg replied with a single in the next. A further 2 for team Scott left team Carr with a lot to do but they persevered and, with Iain missing a hack-weight opportunity to take shot, Margaret’s pairing took another 2 in the fourth to sit 3-7 down. With many stones in play and both sides trying to wick-in, Iain and Kirsty took a 1 in the fifth end, before Margaret and Reg conceded to end the match. Final result: 8-3 for Iain and Kirsty.

Overall the Pairs Competition was a successful and enjoyable day albeit a long one. It is fair to say that it was a bit of a struggle to get 16 players this year, so a big thank you to everyone who entered and many congratulations to the Low Road winners Dave Anderson and Janette Lambie, and the High Road winners Iain Scott and Kirsty McWilliam.

Report by Jean Noble