Saturday 12 December 2015

This bonspiel competition is played in memory of Hamish Tait.  Hamish, a Penicuik Curling Club member, was a remarkable man who had been involved with three other clubs, namely Chartered Surveyors, Merchiston, and Watsonian.  Each club field two rinks which play single ends against each of the rinks from the three other clubs.  Regretably this season Chartered Surveyors only had four players so their rinks were augmented by Jim Cowper and Ken Hunter, and by John Jacobs and Jim Ramsay.  The Penicuik teams were Walter Brown, Jean Lennie, Tom Alexander and Vic Ramage, and Dave Carr, Reg Dunbar, Andrew Lambie, and Peter Occleston.

At the end of the afternoon’s play Chartered Surveyors emerged as winners, with Penicuik in second place, Watsonian in third place, and Merchiston last.

Penicuik suffered a respectable but comprehensive 9-4 defeat to a very strong Currie and Balerno team, led by former World Junior Champion Kerry Barr, in the latest fixture. The first, and hopefully last, loss of the season.

Without much room for error, Currie and Balerno were quick to punish any stray shots or seek openings in the game. Whilst this was our toughest test in the last two seasons, playing at this level is excellent experience for all of the team and lets us see where we can individually improve. Despite the late evening and facing a 6 shot deficit, we showed great spirit in fighting on for two shots in an eighth end (albeit via a slightly unconventional delivery of a dirty stone!). The PCC team continues to play competitively but with warm friendship – embodying the values of our club and enjoying the respect of all those we play. Of course, it’s even nicer to be on the victorious end of these historic friendly rivalries!

Murray Hope

Penicuik met Helensburgh at Murrayfield, on Tuesday afternoon, to compete for a Royal Club District Medal.   The format was a double rink game, decided on aggregate score.  As usual, our President and Vice President were responsible for organising a rink each for the fixture.  

The President’s rink was Dave Anderson (Skip), Jim Ramsay, Andrew Lambie, and Dave Carr; the Vice President’s rink was Ken Hunter (Skip), Ronnie Hope, Liz Anderson, and Christine Hope.  The Helensburgh rinks were Adam Clark (Skip), Robert Cornwell, Bob Park and Ian McArthur,  and J Laverty (Skip), C Howat, G Kerr, and D Morton.

Everyone was at the rink early so there was ample opportunity to meet and chat before the action commenced.  The President’s team were quick out of the blocks and established a 6 – 0 lead after three ends.  The Vice President’s team were slow to settle, and were 4 -1 down at this stage; a two and a steal of three in the next two ends took the VP’s team to a 6 – 4 lead whilst the President’s team had moved on to a handsome 10 – 1 lead.  The President’s team ran out winners at 14 – 5, and the Vice President’s team hung on to win 8 – 7.  Afterwards, the teams joined company in the bar to socialise, before the visitors began their journey home to Helensburgh.

Penicuik were drawn against East Linton in this double rink knock-out competition.  Team A, skipped by Walter Brown, with Ken Hunter, Keith Morris, and Jean Lennie, were comprehensively beaten (3 – 9), whilst Team B, skipped by Dave Anderson, with Jim Ramsay, Andrew Lambie, and  Dave Carr, almost pulled the situation back in their game but unfortunately at the end only won by a 4 shot margin (8 – 4).

Congratulations to East Linton on their win.

Saturday 24 October 2015

South of Scotland 2154  North of Scotland 1928

See Gallery page for photographs

Elgin: 

Penicuik 3 were drawn to play Strathspey in our first fixture of the day (10.00).  Dave Carr, Dave Anderson, Liz Anderson, and Margaret Carr made up the Penicuik team.  Penicuik got off to a good start taking a single in the first end, followed by steals of a single and then a two in the next two ends.  They lost a single in the fourth end to leave the game 4 – 1 in Penicuik’s favour at the mid-point.  The same sequence of results was repeated in the second half with Penicuik closing with a  8 – 2 victory.

Murrayfield:

Penicuik 1 were drawn against Bridge of Allan in our second fixture (12.45).  Walter Brown skipped the Penicuik Rink, with Ken Hunter, John Jacobs, and Pauli Holmes making up team. Penicuik got off to a good start by taking a single in the first end, and followed this up by stealing another single at the second end.  Bridge of Allan responded with a single in the third end.  In the fourth end, a strike from Walter moved the opposition counter to yield a three. Penicuik then managed to steal another single in the fifth end after which brooms were stacked for a refreshment.  Bridge of Allen restarted with a single at the sixth end, but Penicuik took singles in each of the last two ends to take the game by eight shots to two.

A meal afterwards was enjoyed in the company of our opponents Stefan, Arthur, David, and Jean.  Bridge of Allan will be celebrating their 225th anniversary this season, so our best wishes go to them for their bonspiel.

Finally, the organising committee at our home rink are congratulated for their successful organisation of such a good day at Murrayfield.

Kinross:

Penicuik 2 were drawn against Dunfermline ladies in the our final fixture of the day (15.30).   This Penicuik rink was skipped by Andrew Lambie, with Murray Hope, Iain Scott and Jim Cowper. Dunfermline Ladies had the better of the early stages in the match and Penicuik were fortunate to take a five in the seventh end to claw their way back to a narrow victory of 9 shots to 7.

The Midlothian Province King George IV Cup competition 2015-16 got off to a start last week, with Penicuik drawn against the current champions, Clydesdale Bank.

Penicuik Team: Robert Beaton, Ronnie Hope, David Ballantyne, and Iain Scott at lead.
 
Clydesdale Bank gave themselves an uphill task by losing three penalty shots for a late arrival by one of their members. Penicuik added to the Bank’s difficulties, with Iain Scott at lead and David Ballantyne at second, playing a solid, tight game, and took the opening two ends with singles. The Bank countered with a two at the third, but Penicuik kept up the pressure with two more singles. Score after five ends;  7 – 2 to Penicuik.  Robert Beaton was skipping well, minimising the opposition’s opportunties to get into the head, but the Bank came close to reducing the difference to two shots at the penultimate end; a very close measure proved to be a two rather than a three, and the teams went into the last end with Penicuik defending what they thought was a comfortable three shot lead. For the first time in the game, nerves showed in the Penicuik ranks and despite a good double take-out by Ronnie Hope at third, Robert was faced with three, well guarded opposition counters. He played a cracking draw to rest on an opposition stone and reduce the lead to two. The Bank skip failed with his take-out and Robert was persuaded to stick his final stone up his jumper, to take the game 7 – 6.  A fine win, and one that sets up Penicuik for a difficult second round tie with 37 Club in January.  

Match report from Ronnie Hope

Monday 19th 21:30 Penicuik V’s Watsonians

The second game of the season took place against Watsonians. They finished second last year and decided to refuse promotion to Division 1 – preferring to stay in Division 2. 

The team  got off to a good start taking the first 3 ends against the hammer. This was mainly due to John and Iain setting up good heads which we were able to consolidate into a 4 shot lead. We lost a single in the 4^th end but came back in the 5^th with a single thanks to a fine hit and roll which froze against the opposition stone fully protected by a bank of guards. In the 6^th end we took two shots against the hammer but lost a single in the last end resulting in a satisfying 7 shots to 2 victory.

A very enjoyable game played on fast swinging ice.

Team: – Skip Murray Hope, Dave Anderson at 3, Iain Scott at 2 and John Jacobs at lead

Report – Dave Anderson

Penicuik 1 played Barbarians in the first round of the 2015-16 Rink Championship qualifier at Murrayfied on Saturday afternoon.  The team was skipped by Walter Brown, with Ken Hunter, Jim Cowper, and John Jacobs completing the ranks.

In the first end, Barbarians placed a centre guard, and subsequently drew round it to the pot lid.  Jim managed to tap this stone back and replace it with his first shot.  After that the guard on the singleton stone in the house was successfully removed and replaced until last stone , when Walter raised a front stone 6-8 feet for a second shot.  Barbarians threatened with a high scoring response in the second end, but were restricted to a single.  Moving onto the third end, Penicuik took 2 shots; then stole a single in the fourth end following a well judged double take out by Walter, and a slightly underplayed tap back from the opposition.  Barbarians again threatened with a big score in the fifth end; Penicuik played a second stone into the head with last stone to lie two, leaving Barbarians to attempt a double which did not quite come off.  So Penicuik went into the sixth end 6-1 up.  Barbarians could only manage a single, and shook hands on completion of that end.  Final score 6-2.

A good start for Penicuik.  The next round is not until 24 January (9.30am).  Before then Penicuik 2 play their first round match on 13 December.

Monday 5th 21:30 Penicuik V’s SIAE

After achieving promotion last season, Penicuik made a successful start in their first game in division 2.

Penicuik’s Midlothian Province League Division 2 campaign started against SIAE, well skipped by Jon Addinall. We got off to an excellent start with a well protected 3 at the opening end, followed by a steal of 1 to give us a 4-0 lead. Trading 1’s over next 4 ends, we went into the last end with a 2 shot lead. Murray went on the offensive hitting anything that made the house, SIAE tried all they could to hide, but Murray continued the hitting game to pick up a good 2 to finish the game 7-3.

A hugely enjoyable game played in great spirits on good swinging ice.

Team: – Skip Murray Hope, Dave Anderson at 3, Iain Scott at 2 and John Jacobs at lead

The draw for the Indoor Grand Match being staged on Saturday 24 October has been announced by the Royal Club.  Penicuik will be fielding three teams and their fixtures are as follows;

Strathspey 1                        v     Penicuik 3    Elgin 10.00am

Bridge of Allan                    v     Penicuik 1    Murrayfield 12.45pm

Dunfermline Ladies 1       v    Penicuik 2    Kinross 3.30pm

The Penicuik teams have been drawn and are as follows;

Elgin

Dave Carr, Ronnie Hope, Margaret Carr, and Christine Hope

Murrayfield

Walter Brown, Dave Anderson, John Jacobs, and Pauli Holmes

Kinross

Andrew Lambie, Murray Hope, Iain Scott, and Jim Cowper