Category Archives: Competition

1816 Commemorative Match

In February 1816, curlers from the newly formed Penicuik Curling Club ventured into Edinburgh to play the club’s first inter-club game against opponents Merchiston Curling Club.  Penicuik emerged as victors on the day however, in a return match played on Penicuik ice at the beginning of March 1816 the Merchiston curlers took the day.  To mark the bicentenary of these games, the Merchiston and Penicuik clubs met in a friendly fixture at Murrayfield on Tuesday evening (12 Jan).  The Penicuik team was Ken Hunter, Keith Morris, Tom Alexander, and Dave Carr; and the Merchiston team was Jim Cannon, Keith Anderson, David Hume, and Archie Smith.

Merchiston started off on the front foot and took a single in the first end.  They pressed hard in the second end and were unfortunate to lose a single.  After that the Penicuik team started to get a better grip on the game, and took two shots in each of the next three ends to go 7-1 up after five ends.  Merchiston came back with a well worked two at the sixth end.  In the final end a fine draw by Keith Morris saw Penicuik lying shot behind a gaggle of front stones.  However it was not to be, Jim Cannon with his last stone managed to just avoid a front stone and get an angled raise within the house to take shot.  Final score 7-4 to Penicuik.

Afterwards the players gathered to enjoy a sociable refreshment together and discuss the long association of their two clubs.  David Hume, President of Merchiston, had drawn up information from the PCC minutes to entertain the party.  It was mutually agreed that the fixture should become an annual event if suitable arrangements can be put in place.

First Points Competion

On Thursday evening (17 Dec), ten members turned out for the last fixture before the festive break.  The event was played out in a grand atmosphere of mutual support with participants eager to learn from the shots played by colleagues and to garner any information that could be passed on.  Time passed quickly as our ranks were marshalled by orders from Ronnie Hope,  taking on a sergeant-major’s roll (his next booking is as Goldilocks! at the ECC Christmas Bonspiel).

Eight disciplines were completed, and the contest remained pretty even until the seven discipline (Raising).  Ken Hunter took the medal with 44 points, Walter Brown was in second place (37 pts), and Dave Anderson and Ronnie Hope tied for third place (33 pts).  There was a good standard of play overall which was reflected in a relatively high average score of 28.5 on the night.  David Gillespie made his debut and set a good opening benchmark for the future.

Hamish Tait Trophy

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.

Knock-out Final

The final of our KO competition was played on Monday 7th December. It turned out to be a very close and exciting game. The teams were Jim Ramsay, Roger Scott, Kirsten Mauchline and Alister McDonald, against Ronnie Hope, John Jacobs, Barbara Gillespie and Margaret Dalgleish.

It was very nice to see some of our newer members playing in the final.

The standard of play was excellent, although both teams had problems with wide, out-turn shots going away from the bar.

Ascendency swapped from side to side, with good strikes and raises to win ends.

Ronnie went into the last end 2 shots up.  His first shot (on the difficult out-turn) was slightly over swept and then he was slightly heavy when he tried an in-turn draw onto Jim’s back stone. He hit the stone but rolled away from it, leaving Jim with 3 shots and not having to play his last stone.

Well done to both teams for a great game and congratulations to the new champions, Jim and his team.

Final Score:  Team Ramsay 7  Team Hope 6

Dave Carr

Singles Competition

In some respects the 2015-16 Singles may well be remembered more for the weather conditions on the day than the competition itself. Road conditions were extremely bad, resulting in some late arrivals. Modern communications allowed some adjustment of the proposed programme to keep the event on track.  After it was all over, participants faced a difficult and tedious journey home.

As to the curling, your web master was amongst the late comers and missed the preliminary round altogether.  Those progressing to the quarter finals were David Ballantyne, Walter Brown, Keith Morris, and Ronnie Hope.  In that round Keith, Ken Hunter, and Dave Anderson ran out winners.  The closest tie was between David Ballantyne and Walter Brown.  David took a single followed by a two to lead by 3 shots.  Walter played a fine strike with his last stone in the third end, removing two opposition stones to take a four and lead 4 shots to 3.  In the final end David’s attempts to tap back or rest on Walter’s stones failed, and Walter took the tie.  On to the semi-finals;  Walter proved too strong and eliminated Keith, and Ken overcame Dave A.

As you might expect, the final was a fairly tight affair.  Ken led in the first end, and ended with a counter at the back right hand side of the house guarded by a biting stone at the front of the house and a shorter stone. Walter could see a fair proportion of the house and took a single with a finely judged draw.  After a number of draws and strikes, the second end resulted in a single for Ken after a final strike.  Ken then managed to keep two stones in play for most of each of the next two ends, and Walter was only able remove one without staying in the house with his final stones.  So 3 shots to 1 for Ken after four ends.  In the fifth end Walter’s first stone drew past ken’s stone on the outside, so Ken tried to remove it but only managed a fresh air hit (technically a horrible attempt) .  Walter went on to extract the maximum penalty for this miss and took a two.  So game even at 3 shots all after five ends.  In the final end Walter opted to play just short of the house on the right hand side; Ken replied with a deep draw to the other side.  Walter played a second stone just short of the house but nearer the centre, and Ken played a strike on the out turn to remove it.  Walter then drew around his short stone into the house for second shot, his stone only gaining marginal cover from his short stone.  Ken drove but only removed the guard leaving Walter to attempt a take out on his counting shot.  Walter’s final stone only just touched the counter and Ken took the tie by 4 shots to 3.

Province League Update

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

Knock-out Semi-Finals

The semi-finals of the 2015-16 Knock-out Competition were played out last night (19 Nov).  In the top half of the draw Team Ramsay eventually prevailed over Team Morris (7 – 4); whilst in the lower half of the draw Team Hope enjoyed a comfortable victory over Team Anderson.

The Final is scheduled for Monday 7 December at 7.30pm.

District Medal Match

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.

Swan Trophy

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.

KO Competition Update

In the quarter final matches on Wednesday evening Team Ramsay, skipped by Roger Scott, ran out winners against Team Lambie by 12 shots to 8; and the three-membered Team Morris overwhelmed Team Alexander (12 – 2).  In the second group of matches on Thursday evening,  Team Hope, skipped by John Jacobs, pipped Team Brown at the last end (7 – 6); and Team Anderson came back in the last two ends to win against Team Hunter (7 – 5).

Please remember that the semi-final matches are at 5.30pm on Thursday19 November.