The Midlothian Province Bonspiel took place on Monday 26^th January, with Penicuik fielding 2 rinks instead of the usual 3, due to Stray Dogs not being able to get a team for the last game.

Dave Anderson’s rink of Ian Robertson, Martin Hobbs and Liz Anderson had an early match against a Mid Calder rink skipped by Ian Keron. Penicuik got off to a good start winning by 1 stone in three of the first four ends, but were unable to able to maintain the advantage and eventually lost 3-8.

In the afternoon, David Gillespie’s rink of Alex Moir, Jim Hume and Geoff Dawe took to the ice against a DAFS rink skipped by Graham Thomson. Penicuik led 3-2 after three ends, but DAFS came back and eventually took the match, 4-7.

The overall winners of the Province Bonspiel were SIAE Curling Club on equal score of +6 with Gogar Park Young Curlers, however SIAE winning by 11 ends to Gogar Park’s 10.

Full results can be seen on the Midlothian Curling Website, where you can also see that Penicuik are currently leading the Division 2 League Table with one match still to play. Fingers crossed for the last game.

Report by Jean Noble

Penicuik Curling Club were drawn against Abdie Curling Club (a Team from Fife) for the Match on Saturday 24th January 2026. Two Teams were involved, the President’s Team (Iain Scott, Dave Carr, Margaret Carr, Karen Black) and the Vice President’s Team (Ian Robertson, Liz Anderson, Jean Noble, Jarrad Manesh)

Both Teams arrived early for a relaxed get together before stepping onto the Ice.

Once on the Ice, however, focus was required against two very strong all male Teams who adapted to the Ice very quickly and immediately put Penicuik under pressure.

The President’s Team lost a 4 at the first end and despite a 2 at the second end continued to be under pressure as Abdie took control with accurate draws and take-outs. By the 5th end Penicuik were trailing 9-2 and finding it difficult to respond. However, on the 6th end after good play from Penicuik and an excellent run back from Skip Iain, we managed to score a 4. This was followed in the final end by another strong end from Penicuik and a take-out from Skip Iain to gain a further 3. Final score 9 all!

The Vice President’s Team were also put under pressure from the first end and by end 4 were losing 5-0. They rallied in the 5th end getting well protected stones in the House and with great take-outs gained a 4. More tight play in ends 6 and 7 increased Abdie’s lead again to 7-4 but left time for a final 8th end with all to play for. All looked hopeful with Penicuik having stones in the house but despite tap ups Penicuik took only a 1. Final score 7-5. An overall win of 16-14 for Abdie Curling Club.

Both Teams retired upstairs afterwards for refreshments and pleasant conversation. The Abdie Team were full of praise for Curl Edinburgh and the condition of the Ice. Their President in his thanks to Penicuik mentioned that his Club had the edge on Penicuik as they were much younger having been founded in 1831 compared to Penicuik being founded in 1815.

A very enjoyable afternoon of Curling for both Teams, with the Abdie Team seeming reluctant to head home.

Report by Margaret Carr

This 2025-26 seasons District Medal draw has now been published.

Penicuik Curling Club will play against Abdie Curling Club, and the match will take place at Curl Edinburgh on Saturday 24th January at 12.45pm.

Penicuik’s campaign in the Province League Division 3 came to an end last night, Tuesday 7th March.

During the season the rink of Iain Scott (Skip), Dave Anderson, Kirsty McWilliam and David Gillespie played against rinks from Edinburgh Rotary, Merchiston, RBS and Clydesdale Bank, winning three of the four games and finishing on equal points and ends won with Clydesdale Bank who were placed top of the league by dint of their superior shot difference of 3.

However, in this competition the top two teams are required to play-off to ascertain 1st position so the rink, with Liz Anderson standing in at very short notice for unavailable David Gillespie, played this game against CB which we managed to win by 7 shots and 4 ends to 4 shots and 3 ends.
Iain and Dave stood very nervously in the head as we suddenly realised that if the opposition skip playing his last stone had managed to nick out our only counting stone and lie he would have achieved an 8. Fortunately for us his shot drew more than he expected and clipped our guard leaving them with only 1 shot. Relief beyond belief!

The upshot is that both rinks under current rules are promoted to Division 2 for next season.

Report by Dave Anderson

Penicuik’s trip to Kinross for the District Medal match against Dunfermline CC was a lot of fun – even though we didn’t win. Team Gillespie (David, Kirsty, Reg and Graeme) realised early on what they were up against when Kirsty noticed the Strathcona Cup brooms of the Barr brothers. However, Penicuik played as best we could, were quite chuffed to win a two in the first end, put in our place firmly by six against in the second, won a couple of singles but the final end was four against us. Result: Barr 12 – 4 Gillespie

Team Scott ( Iain, Dave Anderson, Stuart and Roger) were also up against a strong team skipped by H Geyer. Alternative singles traded in the first 3 ends before Team Geyer took a four, then another couple of singles. Team Scott came back with a single in the last end, but result finished Geyer 7 – 3 Scott.

Overall result, Dunfermline win the District Medal 19-7.

The Dunfermline hosts were always welcoming, sociable, and good fun, and with soup and sandwiches and a few more drinks enjoyed after the match, Penicuik accepted their loss with good humour, before departing on a very late journey home.

Report by David Gillespie

On Saturday 18^th February, the Anderson and Scott families represented Penicuik to compete for the Pate Trophy, an annual competition between Midlothian and Border Provinces played alternatively at Murrayfield and Kelso curling rinks.

Dave Anderson, Iain Scott, Liz Anderson and Roger Scott played against a rink from Duns skipped by Colin Martin. Lying 4 shots against in the 1^st end we managed to cut it to 2 shots. We found our way in the 2^nd and 3^rd ends scoring consecutive 3s but then conceded 1, gained 1 and conceded 1 in ends 4, 5 and 6. In the 7^th we gained an impressive 3 shots and finished with 2 shots against the hammer so with an 8 shot advantage we, along with SIAE, DAFS and a President’s select, helped Midlothian to + 18 shots for part 1 of this competition.

Three more games are to be played to complete the fixture.

Report by Dave Anderson

Vic, Jim, Reg and David Gillespie ( Skip) represented Penicuik in an enjoyable BHF Bonspiel on Friday 10th February, playing against BMA Ladies.
The format was two ends of “quick curling” – both teams scoring points for stones in the house – followed by “normal” ends until the bell.
Penicuik did well in the first two ends, scoring in the mid-teens, before winning 9-3 over the remaining ends. The result is that Penicuik CC have the Lennie-Brown Trophy to look after again for the year as Winners of the BHF Bonspiel.
Congratulations!

Report By David Gillespie

Penicuik Curling Club fielded two teams for the Province Bonspiel held on Monday 30th January.

Craig Brown skipped his rink of Roger Scott, David Gillespie and Mike Mauchline. Unfortunately they were drawn against a strong Carrington rink, and lost by 11 shots to 5, i.e. – 6 shots.

The other rink of Dave Anderson (Skip), Jim Ramsay, Dave Carr and Reg Dunbar won their game against Merchiston by 15 shots to 3, i.e. +12 shots.

The overall score for Penicuik was therefore +6 shots with an average for the 2 teams of +3.

Carrington, with 3 teams entered, were declared Bonspiel Winners with an average score of +8.67 Barbarians, with 2 teams, were runners up with an average of +7, whilst Gogar Park CC, with 3 teams, finished third on average +6.67.

On Friday 9th December, Penicuik played SIAE in the next round of the King George 1V Competition. SIAE took an early lead which the Penicuik team managed to claw back, but the end result was Penicuik 4 – 7 SIAE. David Gillespie as Skip reported that it had been an enjoyable game in good company but SIAE proved to be the better team. They will go on to meet Holyrood in the next round.

Commiserations to David and his team of Dave Carr, Reg Dunbar and Kirsty McWilliam.