The Second Points Competition was held on Tuesday evening (19 Feb).  Nine members  entered the contest for the medal and another opportunity to test their skills against the current ice.  In starting order of play, the participants were Iain Scott, Dave Anderson, Ronnie Hope, Ken Hunter, Craig Brown, Keith Morris, Jim Cowper, David Gillespie, and John Jacobs.

The ice was somewhat different in that we were on sheets 3 & 4, with Oxenfoord also playing Points alongside us on sheets 1 & 2.   At the close of play Keith Morris emerged as the winner on 36 points,  narrowly beating Ken Hunter in second place (35 pts), followed then by a chasing pack of Craig Brown, Ronnie Hope, and John Jacobs all on 32 pts.  It was a very enjoyable evening, and afterwards we adjourned to the bar to take refreshments and engage in a good old natter.

As to the details of the event, 6 members managed to score at all eight of the disciples played, these were Craig Brown, Jim Cowper, Ronnie Hope, Ken Hunter, John Jacobs, and Keith Morris.   The top scorers in each discipline were as follows;

Striking                           Dave Anderson, Craig Brown, & Ronnie Hope,  (8)

Inwicking                        Iain Scott (5)

Drawing                          Dave Anderson & Ken Hunter (5)

Guarding                       Keith Morris (6)

Chap & Lie                     Ronnie Hope & Ken Hunter (5)

Wick & Curl In                Jim Cowper (5)

Raising                            Ronnie Hope (6)

Chipping the Winner    Dave Anderson (7)

Points is a great way to learn and to gain more experience about how to play the ice we have.  The Intermediate Points Competition is on Wednesday 27 February.  

Penicuik played DAFS on Friday 1st February in the quarter final of the King George IV Trophy Competition, having beaten Stewart’s Melville FP and Holyrood in previous rounds. Our rink on this occasion comprised John Jacobs (skip), Robert Beaton (third), Ronnie Hope (second), and Liz Anderson (lead). DAFS put out a strong rink with Alistair Henry (skip), Michael Young (third), David Lindsay (second), and Neil Sinclair (lead). Once again, we were allocated sheet 7, which is proving to be less and less reliable as the season progresses, and both rinks found it very tricky to read.

DAFS took the first end with a single and Penicuik respond with a single at the second, when John’s draw avoided a big end for DAFS. The next three ends were also won in singles, but all of them for DAFS.  Liz up front played well, but the midfield of Ronnie and Robert found conditions frustratingly variable, so Penicuik went into the penultimate end 4-1 down and needing four to win the game, (a peel would give DAFS the win on ends). Lying one at the sixth end, John’s final draw was marginally long. A disappointing single, so Penicuik went into the final end 4-2 down, needing three to win and last-stone advantage to DAFS.  DAFS looking confident and odds-on to win; oh dear! 

A cluttered head in the seventh end, DAFS lying shot, just short of the button, with only three Penicuik stones left. Robert’s very difficult in-turn around the front guards on straight ice just misses – blast!  Only John’s two stones to go and Penicuik still needing three to win!  DAFS put in another guard.  John was forced to the swingy out-turn to try a difficult angled raise. Well played but slightly light, it pushed back the DAFS stone to second shot.  DAFS put in another guard but there was still a narrow route in to the head from the wing. John plays a cracking wide-angled raise with his final stone on to an outlying Penicuik stone, through the port, and pushes the DAFS stone back to lie three!!

However, one Penicuik stone lies open, if DAFS can take this out they win the game!  It’s guarded for the out-turn, so Alistair is forced to take an unplayed line down the centre on the in-turn. Penicuik players can hardly look! Will it pass the guard?
…..
NO, it catches and we’ve won by a shot, 5-4!  Both teams in shock at the result!  A win is a win however, and although we genuinely commiserated with our friends in DAFS in the bar afterwards, we are delighted to enter the semi-final against Sweepers on Friday 22 February. The other semi is between Edinburgh Rotary and RBS.

Ronnie Hope

After a long interval of eight years, the Club at last had the opportunity to return to our spiritual home, the Low Pond.  The surprising cold snap at the end of January had resulted in a good ice cover on the pond.  Our Surveyor (J Cowper) journeyed to the pond on Friday 1 February to assess the likelihood of play, accompanied by his Trainee (R Hope).  Two inches of ice! The call to members went on Friday afternoon.  

A work party of Messrs. Anderson, Carr, Cowper, Hope, Hunter, Ramsay, and Scott (Snr) made their way to the pond on Saturday morning to begin preparations.  First an overnight fall of snow had to be cleared, then it was down to marking two rinks and sweeping them clear. 

Once members had gathered, Skips for the day were appointed (D Anderson, D Carr, J Cowper, and J Ramsay) and teams drawn.  Then after opening stones by Jim Cowper and President Christine Hope, play commenced.  The event started with the intention of playing three rounds of 4 end games.  However after the first games, the rising temperature  necessitated a decision to make the second two rounds only 2 ends.  As it turned out this was a little optimistic, part way through the final games play had to be abandoned for safety reasons when the ice was penetrated on one of the rinks. 

Team Carr had won both of their first two games and were well up in shots scored, so they won the Outdoor Medal.  Well done Dave, Keith Morris, Martin Hobbs, and David Gillespie.

A reminder from Jim Cowper that 40 years ago on 3 February we had 18 rinks playing on the Low Pond. We had 4 Penicuik rinks entered and won three of them. It was a great day, only to be outdone with the Grand Match that week on the 7 February 1979.

The annual Province bonspiel was played across Monday 28 January.  As usually Penicuik fielded three teams.  Dave Anderson skipped the first game at 10.00 am against MIdcalder.  His team included Liz Anderson, Dave Carr, and Ronnie Hope.  They came away with a 9-5 win.

The second rink played at 2.00 pm against the Bank of Scotland.  Jim Ramsay skipped a team of Ken Hunter, Roger Scott, and John Glidden.  The outcome was an 11-3 win; it could easily have been 12-1 but for a very fortunate (and somewhat undeserved) result from the opposition Skip’s final stone.

Our final game was against Corstorphine at 6.00pm, when Addrew Lambie skipped a team including John Jacobs, Iain Scott, and Margaret Carr.  Corstorphine probably represented the toughest opposition in our draw this year, and Penicuik went down to a 2-7 loss.

We finished the tournament on an average of 2.33 points.  The competition was won by Currie & Balerno with an average score of 11.67.  The Colin Black trophy for the highest up rink on the day went to Royal Bank of Scotland with a score of +14.

Our troops took up position to engage those of Merchiston on Sunday evening (27 Jan) for the annual Team Points match.  When the smoke from the opening salvos (Striking) had cleared and our skirmishers had returned (from Inwicking), we found ourselves to be just holding the opposition at bay.  However, our infantrymen gathered strength to take ground at Drawing, Guarding, Chap & Lie, and Wick & Curl In to establish a significant bridgehead.  A lead of 17 points looked unassailable, but undeterred our opponents responded with a strong late surge to almost take the day.  As it turned out the match was won with the final shot of the encounter when Trooper Hope (R) made his final shot at Chip the Winner.  Penicuik emerged victorious by the narrow margin of one point (131-130).

The Penicuik team consisted of Dave Anderson, Dave Carr, Reg Dunbar, Murray Hope, Ronnie Hope, Ken Hunter, John Jacobs, and Jim Ramsay.  Dispatches reveal that our top scorers on the night were Dave Anderson (24), Jim Ramsay (23), and Reg Dunbar (18).  The Top scorers for Merchiston were David Cunningham (22), John Addinall (21), and Avril Anderson (20).

After the fray of competition all parties withdrew to the bar to share a refreshment and take the opportunity to review scores of contests since 1995 in the record book.  Another great evening.

Avril Anderson , the Merchiston President, presenting the trophy to Dave Carr, Past President of Penicuik

Penicuik met Corstorphine on Sunday (6 Jan) afternoon.  The Penicuik team was again Andrew Lambie, Dave Anderson, Jim Ramsay, and Ken Hunter.

The ice was particularly dour in the first end; Corstorphine adjusted better,protected two early counters and went on to draw two additional shots for a four.  They then managed to steal a single in the second end to go 5-0 up.  Penicuik responded in the third end, getting the better of drawing around corner guards.  Andrew drew to the centre front of the house with his first shot to protect three shots whilst Corstorphine failed with an attempted raise.  Andrew then raised his own first shot to get a four.  Corstorphine played well to take a single in the next end to go two up, but Penicuik came back with a two in the fifth end to reduce the deficit to one shot.  Corstorphine were held to a single in the sixth end and led 7-6.  In the seventh end, Dave Anderson played a fine raised take out through a fairly narrow port to leave Penicuik lying shot.  Andrew was able to get a good draw into it with his first shot, and subsequently made an excellent draw to freeze on his first shot leaving the opposition with no choice but to attempt a draw to the pot lid;  the weight or sweeping was just off and Penicuik took a two to go into the lead (8-7) for the first time in the match.  Penicuik took the early initiative in the eighth end and were lying quite well, but Paul Davis (Third) got a great result from a take out, not only removing the target stone but also removing two other Penicuik counters.  Andrew drew in with his first shot for Penicuik to lie with two shots one of which was then removed.  Andrew drew in again with his second shot but keen sweeping took the stone perhaps just too far to leave Corstorphine the chance of a slight tap back to tie the match.  The final shot may have been slightly wide, limiting the options for sweeping and it just moved the Penicuik counter slightly without gaining shot.  So Penicuik progressed (9-7) to the semi-finals on Saturday 19 January to play Gogar Park.