Sunday 17th March 2024

Eight Pairs set out to secure The Clock Trophy.

Penicuik should be proud of the standard of play that can be produced in our Club! From the first Stones delivered at 2.30 until the final Stones delivered after 9pm there was a very high standard of play and determination from all Pairs competing. Earning this years title was not an easy one and congratulations go to The Winners!

Four of our members walk away with their names logged in our history book. After their defeat against Kirsty McWilliam and Jean Noble in the first round, Craig Brown and Alex Moir fought off competition from Keith Morris and Graeme Cassie as well as Dave Carr and Pamela Ramsay in their Semi Final game to be announced as Pairs Low Road winners for 2023/24

The High Road ended after a partial Handshake after the 4th End because The Bell had rung BUT the Ice Man gave permission for another end (which he would later regret). The two Pairs agreed between themselves to accept his offer and play on but things didn’t end in the 5th End either as players had to Draw the House. This would be the second time that Margaret Carr, and partner Reg Dunbar were forced into a Button Draw. In their first win of the day against Liz Anderson and Alan McDonald in a tense 3-3 game Margaret and Reg secured their High Road journey.

Had the players fully shook hands at the 4th end, the title would have been in the hands of Carr and Dunbar but giving the remaining spectators a nail biting time McWilliam and Noble drew level. There was to be no more extra time from the Ice Man and it had to be a Button Draw. Kirsty’s Stone ended just short of The House while Margaret’s held on at the back which gave a ‘Shattered’ Margaret Carr and Reg Dunbar the 2023/24 title of High Road Pairs Champions! Many congratulations to all who took part but especially to High and Low Road winners.

On Thursday the 7th of March at 8.15, players offered each other “a good game” and play commenced in this annual game. The Penicuik non appearance a year ago was only mentioned once prior to the game. 37 Club took control of the trophy in our last tussle, so it was all for the winning.

Penicuik were represented by Jarrad Manesh, Karen Black and President David Gillespie in the Team Skipped by Dave Anderson, while Reg Dunbar, Graeme Cassie and Kirsty McWilliam were Skipped by Jim Ramsay.

The 37’s chose Blue Stones to lead their attempt to hold on to the Trophy. By the time that the first end was over Penicuik were 2 Up. In end 2 the Anderson Rink regained the 1 point they had lost in the first but Team Ramsay lost a 2 to their opposition which was being Skipped by Alister Hay. Both Penicuik teams won their 3rd end putting us into a 9-3 winning position! Looking Good! There is of course a But coming! BUT ends 4 and 5 were captured by The 37’s against both Penicuik teams. It’s only 9-7 to Penicuik now! In end 6 the Power came back to Penicuik when both teams added a further 7 to their lead. The clock was ticking and it looked as if End 7 would be the last. Unfortunately, together we had given 3 points back to our opposition but worse still, Team A led by Mr Anderson just made time to have an 8th end. The score at the close of End 7 was Team A, Anderson 6 37’s Williamson 9 while Team B had completed their game with a 10-5 win. Team B members couldn’t look at play and retired to The Bar with their opposition. Meanwhile back on The Ice Team A took a 1 which left their score at 7 against 37’s 9. Teamwork allowed Penicuik a winning score of 17 with 7 Ends against 14 and 8 Ends for 37 Club. A Great Game and congratulations to 37 Club.

Upstairs Mike Williamson did his best to hang onto The Trophy by repeatably claiming a win because of Ends which unfortunately is the case! As always, while being very sociable it was a competitive game. We know who really won!

THE DRAW HAS BEEN MADE

TEAM A Keith Morris & Graeme Cassie PLAY TEAM B Jim Ramsay&Stuart Blackwood

TEAMCCraig Brown & Alex Moir PLAY TEAM D Kirsty McWilliam& Jean Noble

TEAM E Dave Carr & Pamela Ramsay PLAY TEAM F Dave Anderson & Karen Black

TEAM G Margaret Carr & Reg Dunbar PLAY TEAM H Liz Anderson & Alan McDonald

The games commence on 17th March at 2.30 and are played throughout the afternoon into the evening to find eventual High Road and Low Road Winners. Why not JOIN US to watch the games, have a blether, have a snack, have a drink and collect autographs!

After Dave Carr and his Rink eliminated Team Ramsay and David Gillespie did the same with Team Anderson in the Semi Finals, the two teams met in the final. The Carr team was made up of C Brown at 3rd, R Scott at 2nd and A McDonald at Lead. Team Gillespie comprised of I Scott, A Moir and G Cassie who held the Lead position.

The 7 End game produced a convincing win for Team Gillespie scoring 11 Points with 5 Ends against Team Carr who scored 2 Points with 2 Ends.

Congratulations to President David and his team!

The winner of our Points competition was Graeme Cassie who scored 31 points over seven disciplines. Congratulations Graeme! Full Scoreboard can be found in the Points Page.

As far as our Friendly encounters were concerned, it wasn’t the best month for Penicuik Curling Club. On Saturday 13th, we put out 2 rinks in our now annual match against Tulliallan at Murrayfield. Tulliallan produced a magnificent new wooden trophy which Alan Paterson had sponsored for the event. (If a photo arrives, I will add it to this page). Both Penicuik teams were defeated with a final score of 18-8 to our visitors. Things didn’t get much better with our game against West Linton on the 30th. Another trophy gone in the West Linton Challenge! For the second year running W Linton took the honours with a 15-6 win this year. Since 1994 Penicuik has won this trophy 21 times and W Linton 7 including the last two years.                     Slightly better news arrived from Craig Brown after the Merchiston 1816 game on Sunday 28th. Penicuik sneaked a 6-5 win.

We did not attract enough entries for our Knockout Competition to run the planned Quarter Finals on Tuesday 6th of February (Semi’s on 14th & Final 16th) but the Ice was used for a New Stones/Penicuik game. Eight New Stones and Nine Penicuik members played a 6 end rotation game. Each team had 2 New Stones and 2 Penicuik Players. There were some interesting ends played and congratulations were passed to The Reg Dunbar Rink when most involved met upstairs to end our friendly get together.

Let’s hope that things change for the better now that February has arrived. Merchiston Points on Sunday 11th February and games against 37 Club and Irvine in March.

Sunday 21st January was the date for our annual singles competition.

Fresh Ice and all 8 entrants were ready to go, each vowing that they will not be chasing their stones. Of course that (just like our New Year resolutions) went out of the window after the first stone was delivered.

Craig Brown, Dave Carr, Jean Noble and Alex Moir found themselves competing for The Low Road after Jim Ramsay, Dave Anderson, Keith Morris and Kirsty McWilliam progressed to The High Road. Dave C and Alex found themselves in the final after beating their opponent by 1 in their Semi.

The High Road Quarter Final had Jim scoring 4 against Dave A’s 2 while Keith lost by 2 to Kirsty’s 4. All games were very tight and everyone’s sweat glands were now working overtime. Time for the Final between Jim and Kirsty. Jim takes 2 in the first of the 6 ends and Kirsty comes straight back in the 2nd end with an equally impressive 2. Last stone for jim in the 3rd end only managed a 1 but in this very tight game Kirsty had another 2 in the 4th. Yet another 2 for Jim in the 5th left the score at 5-4 for him. Keeping her cool, Kirsty matched and bettered every stone that Jim played around The Buttons the 6th. Kirsty was lying 2 when it was last stone time for Jim who tried to remove both of Kirsty’s stones. He only managed to remove 1 stone but because of stone positions it looked like he was fairly safe to earn a playoff end BUT NO! Kirsty played a fantastic last stone to make the final score 6-5 in her favour which earned her the Singles Trophy.

Thanks go out to those who stayed on to watch the final games and to Dave & Liz Anderson for sponsoring the event and providing refreshments for all involved.

KIRSTY McWILLIAM TOOK TOP HONOUR BY WINNING THE HIGH ROAD.

DAVE CARR SECURED TOP SPOT BY WINNING THE LOW ROAD.

The full score sheet is posted on the Singles competition page.

As has become the custom this event is led by some of the ladies in our Club. This year it was down to/up to Liz Anderson, Margaret Carr, Nicki Cassie, Jean Noble, Pam Ramsay and Jan Stuart (alphabetical) to secure The Marie Vinestock Trophy.

After 7 Ends all retired upstairs for food, drink and chat and then to hear the final outcome. Two Prize Winners emerged! Firstly, (actually last) was Team Ramsay(Mrs) who received a Goodie Bag and Boobie Trophy for recording a score of -14. Then up came Mrs Carr and her rink to receive The Trophy, A Medal and Wine for achieving an outstanding score of +11

WHAT HAPPY WINNERS

Chartered Surveyors came with The Trophy and left with The Trophy!

That’s about the story! The four clubs associated with Hamish got together for their annual bonspiel at Murrayfield on Saturday 9th December. The Bonspiel saw each club playing 2 ends against each other to determine the 2023 winners.

The games all started with low scoring with Surveyors taking a 1 from Penicuik and then giving the 1 back in end 2. On the other sheet Watsonians took a 1 in the first from Merchiston and then a 4 in end 2. Five Points up already, it was looking as if Watsonians were on the way to victory. However, they failed to score in the competition again until taking a 3 from Penicuik in the last end. This left them with a +3.

Of course, you will want to know more about the Penicuik Charge which was led by Iain Scott and backed up by Dave Carr, Jean Noble and Graeme Cassie. After being level from their first game, Penicuik did the same in the second game against Merchiston by scoring a 1 and losing a 1. Chances were slipping for ownership of the Trophy as they went into the last game. A 2 in the first end might have given hope but that was soon dashed when Watsonians took a 3, leaving Penicuik on -1.

Surveyors led by Martin Hall and supported by Archie Rintoul and a couple of ‘ringers’ Jim Cowper and Jim Ramsay only gave up 2 points during the whole competition. They ended The Hamish Tait Bonspiel on +5 and therefore retained The Trophy.

Iain Scott presenting Martin Hall

NEW HOLDERS OF THE CROOK

A REPORT HAS ARRIVED

In a tense Game of Thrones on 29^th November, Penicuik’s Curling Queens have been deposed by the new Kings of Curling, Dave Anderson’s Rink of himself, Geoff Dawe, Jim Hume and Graeme Cassie.

The Club Challenge Crook holders of Margaret Carr, Jean Noble, Pam Ramsay and Saho Arakawa (substituting for Liz Anderson) displayed the usual focus, but fell short with too many opening stones, whilst Graeme and Jim as lead men were getting their weight perfectly. The challengers took an early lead with a 2 in the first end, followed by a 1 in the second. In a tense third end, whilst trying to emulate Bruce Mouat’s Championship tactics, both teams played stones progressively on the centre line, with the ladies winning by 1 stone after a measure. Score now 3-1 for Team Anderson.

Great play from the men again in the fourth, as they took another 1. Saho’s perfect lead stone to the button in the fifth, then well protected by her teammates increasingly wider guard stones, was enough to secure another point for the ladies. Score now 4-2.

Another very tense game in the sixth, with a cluster of stones built up around the head. Skip Margaret’s only option was to play a Wick and Curl In from an outlying stone. Swept valiantly by sweepers Saho and Pam, the lady Skip’s brilliant shot scraped narrowly between two opposition stones to end up right on the button. Another point for the girls – now 4-3.

By this time Skip Anderson and his rink were looking slightly worried, whilst the girls were ever hopeful. However, Dave got his tactics just right, and with last stones to play had built up an impenetrable blockade at the front. Outlying stones forced Margaret to try to draw through the port, stopping just short, and Dave’s rink took the win by another 2 stones. Final score 6-3.

Retiring upstairs for a well-earned drink, Margaret commented on the tight match and excellent play by the opposition before presenting Dave with the Club Challenge Crook. Having been accused of witchcraft in the past, the ladies have now retired to review their book of spells, with a view to regaining the throne in the future.   

In the meantime, Long Live the new Kings of Curling – Dave, Geoff, Jim and Graeme. Their reign may well be short as another opportunity to usurp the holders is available in mid- February. Who is brave enough to try? 

Report by Jean Noble