King George IV Cup

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

Province League Div II – 2015/16 Game 2

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 4th end but came back in the 5th 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 6th 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.

Watsonians 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2
Penicuik 2 1 1 0 1 2 0 7

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

Report – Dave Anderson

Knock-out Challenge Trophy 2015-16

The Knock-out competition got under way on Tuesday 20 October with a preliminary game between Team Anderson and Team Dunbar.  First blood went to Team Dunbar with a two in the opening end.  Team Anderson responded vigorously, taking a 6 in the second end and a 4 in the third end, to lead 10-2.  Team Dunbar pressed hard and won all of the remaining ends, but were unable to make up the deficit.  Final score Anderson 10 Dunbar 8.

Team Anderson will play Team Hunter in the quarter finals on Thursday 29 October (5.30pm). 

Rink Championship – Penicuik 1

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.

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.