Province League Div II – 2015/16

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.

 

SIAE 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 3
Penicuik 3 1 0 1 0 0 2 7

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

Opening Bonspiel

Although a couple of League games were played on Friday evening, our 2015-16 season got off to a formal start with the Opening Bonspiel on Sunday afternoon.  Each of eight teams played single ends against six of the other teams, ensuring a good mix on the afternoon.  Players who had not previously ventured onto the ice this season, strove to reach the peaks attained during the previous season (with mixed success).  After what seemed like a busy afternoon, members repaired to the bar and then partook of an enjoyable meal in the Murrayfield Club Room.

Success went to Team Ramsay who won on +11 shots.  Team Hunter were second on +9, and Team Anderson just pipped Team Brown to take third place on +1.  The booby prize went to Team Lennie.

Thanks go to sponsor Ian Neil, and to Barbara Gillespie and her colleagues on the Social Sub-committee for organising the event.

Full Results and photographs can be viewed on the Competition & Gallery Pages.

Indoor Grand Match

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

Edinburgh International Curler’s Gathering

The Penicuik squad for the Gathering this year was led by President Jim Ramsay, Vice-president Dave Carr, and Andrew Lambie.  The other players included Liz Anderson, David Ballantyne, Margaret Carr, Andrew Dalgleish, Ronnie Hope, Janette Lambie, Pam Ramsay, and Jan Stuart.  Penicuik got off to a really good start with victories over Prairie Fire (Canada), Nic Nacs (Norway), and YODA (Scotland), and ended up in the top group for the final stages of the weekend tournament.  The Club teams put in some really good performances against seasoned teams of Midcalder, Red & Blue, and the Swiss Schimidis in their games, but just failed to turn it into points.  This top group was won by Midcalder.  

Murray Hope and John Jacobs enjoyed the opportunity to play as part of the Red & Blue team and featured well in a performance that took the team to a game that was the group decider in the final session of the tournament. 

Iain Scott kindly agreed to supplement another Swiss team, CC Limmattal, who had lost a player to injury back home in Switzerland before the Gathering started.  This team went on to win Group C, so well done to Iain for his contribution.

Overall the Gathering was a great success yet again.  Jim Ramsay and your Web Master, of the EICG Organising Committee,  are indebted to the team of Penicuik members who always appear to make the event work, assisting with transport for our visitors, helping out at the ice rink, selling raffle tickets, and making the Dinner/Dance so enjoyable.

 

Closing Bonspiel

The last round-up in our club programme was the Closing Bonspiel on Wednesday 25 March.  Eight teams played seven ends against different opponents, in this very social event.  In a close finish, Ken Hunter’s rink with John Jacobs, Pam Ramsay, and Pauli Holmes, ended on +8 shots to pip Walter Brown’s rink on +7.  Having enjoyed success in the Opening Bonspiel,  Andrew Lambie’s rink ran out with the Wooden Spoons on this occasion.

Afterwards, Members retired to the Murrayfield Dining Room to enjoy supper together and a few refreshments.  Our thanks go to Jean Lennie for her sponsorship of the prizes for the Bonspiel.

Glenfarclas Province League Playoff

Last night saw the end of season playoffs for the divisional titles in the Province League. Penicuik, having topped the Division III league, played second placed team, Stewarts Melville.  Your Web Master was given the opportunity to join the Penicuik ‘Young Guns’, substituting for team captain Dave Anderson.  The ice was very keen for a 5.30pm start, and this led to a lot of play at the back of the house in the initial ends.  Stewarts Melville took the early initiative with a two in the first end, followed by a steal of a single in the second end.  A well controlled strike with his final stone by skip Murray Hope gave Penicuik a single at the third end.  This proved to be the turning point in the game; Penicuik went on to take threes in both of the next two ends, and a two in the sixth end.  The game was concluded when Penicuik took a four at the seventh end.  Iain at lead, and John at second, both played well to set up each end and when necessary deal with threatening early shots by the opposition.  Murray led the team well and restricted any opportunities for the opposition to regain a foothold in the game.  Final score 13-3.

For my part it was a good opportunity to play with the guys and to see how they worked as a unit.  They may face harder opposition in Division II next season, but they can build on the experience gained this season to do well.

Balfron Invitational Bonspiel

Dave Anderson (skip), President Jim Ramsay (third), Liz Anderson (second), and Janette Lambie (lead) travelled through to Braehead on Saturday 7th  March to take part in the annual Balfron Invitational Bonspiel, involving eight rinks including two from Balfron, and one each from Bearsden Ski Club, Uplawmoor, Troon Portland, Harlequins, Loch Ard and Penicuik.

This was a closely contested, ends then shots-up, competition which is played over two four end games before and after lunch. The outcome  was two rinks finishing on 7 ends, three on 8 ends and three on 9 ends. Harlequins were 3rd on 9 ends (+ 1 shot), Bearsden Ski Club (last year’s winners) were runners-up on 9 ends (+ 2 shot)s and Penicuik were winners on 9 ends (+ 5 shots); so a Penicuik rink won the Balfron Crook for the second time in the competition’s history having previously won it in 2010

‘Many thanks go to President Jean, organisers Grant and Eileen, and the members of Balfron Curling Club for a most enjoyable day. We look forward to welcoming them to the Gathering when the engraved Crook will be presented’. – Dave Anderson

Glenfarclas Province League

Update from Team Captain Dave Anderson

The final game in this league was played on Thursday of last week, skipped by Murray Hope with Dave Anderson at 3, Iain Scott at 2 and John Jacobs at lead.  We managed to maintain our winning run by beating Boswell Curling Club by 10 shots to 2 and by 5 ends to 2, thereby finishing at the top of the Division III on the same points as Stewarts/Melville but with a better ends and shots difference. This means that we are promoted back into Division II, which will be a much harder task for us, but hopefully the experience of playing together this year will help in our endeavours in that Division. Many thanks go to Murray, Iain and John for making this season so successful and enjoyable to play in.

We now have the prospect of a play-off match against Stewarts/Melville to determine who takes the Division III title.

Waldie Griffith

Midlothian played Ayrshire  in the Waldie Griffith inter-province competition at Murrayfield on Monday 9 February at 3.00pm.  Penicuik provided one of four teams representing Midlothian in the fixture.

Overall, Midlothian won the match by 2 shots.  In their game, Penicuik beat Troon by 4 shots.  The Penicuik team was Walter Brown, Dave Anderson, Keith Morris, and John Jacobs.

Merchiston Team Points Match

The annual team points match against Merchiston took place on Sunday 8 February at 6.00pm.  The match involved eight players from each club.  The Penicuik team is as follows;

Dave Anderson, Walter Brown, Jim Cowper, Ken Hunter, John Jacobs, Keith Morris, Jim Ramsay, and Roger Scott.

Penicuik won the match with a score of 118 points against Merchiston’s total of 107 points.  The highest scorers for Penicuik were Dave Anderson (22), Walter Brown (19), and Ken Hunter (18).  Top scorers for Merchiston were Ron Eadie (18), Ross Angus (15), and three players were tied on 14 points.