On a warm Spring evening, Winners, Losers and Guests met at Glencorse Golf Club on 10th May 25, to celebrate our past seasons Curling. Our President David Gillespie gave welcome to all and presented the well earned Trophies and Medals to all.

The first of many awards was bestowed upon Christine Brown who was awarded Honorary Membership of our Club. Christine then went on to present ‘The Brown Salver’ to Paul Clapperton in recognition for his enthusiasm and dedication to PCC.

The Silverware presentations were completed with the awarding of ‘The Kettle’ to Team Scott for another season. Iain shared his joy by sharing his ‘Rusty Nail’ with the gathered guests.

Heather Harpur and Jim Hume were not in attendance but receive their medals soon!

After a Raffle which raised £250 for The British Heart Foundation the chat continued as winners were congratulated and players remembered the past season. Winners of The Thirds Trophy Skip Alan McDonald with Norrie McLean and Paul Clapperton. Ian Robertson was also part of the winning rink.

A Happy Kirsty being presented her prize for achieving High Road in The Pairs Competition. Her partner was Iain Matheson who will receive his Medal at a later date.

Our outgoing President David receiving his presentation for winning Pairs Low Road from our incoming President Margaret. Jan Stuart was David’s partner but was unable to attend our dinner. Jan will receive her prize at a later date.

Saturday 15th March, 25 was indeed a busy ice day for some of our members. On Sheet 5 Penicuik were hosts to Beechnut Curling Club from Irvine in a District Medal while next door on Sheet 6 was the Ramsay/Baptie Club Challenge game.

Penicuik represented by Margaret Carr, Liz Anderson, Pam Ramsay and David Carr met with “Beechnuts” (from Hamilton Curling Rink) for the District Medal Match on Saturday 15th March 2025.

The Teams met for lunch before playing and it was evident that “Beechnuts” had done their research having looked at the Penicuik Curling Club Website. They were very impressed by the number of matches the club played and the long history of the club. They were keen to hear more about both the history of the club and our outdoor ice. They were also interested in the “Challenge Match” about to be played on the adjacent sheet and perhaps introducing this to their own club’s schedule.

Play started at 12.45pm with everyone now focussing on the Match. After losing a shot on the first end Penicuik came back strongly to lead 3-1 helped by 2 lovely draws from Pam. Unfortunately by end 3 the score was all square. Another shot on end 4 meant Penicuik were once again in the lead.

The following 2 ends did not go Penicuik’s way, however, with the “Beechnuts” taking another 2 shots to win the match 5-3.

If only Margaret had got that guard on or had delivered the last stone more quickly to get another end in!

Afterwards everyone retired upstairs to enjoy refreshments and a pleasant chat.

Next door on sheet 6 Kyle Baptie, Kirsty McWilliam, Reg Dunbar and Paul Clapperton had laid down a challenge to take The Club Challenge Crook from the 2 time holders. A close game all the way through Jim Ramsay, Alan McDonald, Stuart Blackwood and Alex Moir were able to retain the trophy and are now ready for the next challenge.

Sunday 9th March found new homes for The High and Low Road Trophies. Eight teams were entered but the final winners were Kirsty McWilliam and Iain Matheson of The High Road. The Low Road award goes to President David Gillespie and Jan Stuart. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all members who entered.

Knockout Final

Team Carr: M. Carr, A. Moir, G. Cassie, S . Arakawa met with 

Team Anderson: K. Baptie, M. Hobbs, S. Blackwood, J. Hume on Thursday 27th February for the Final of the Knockout. 

The match started well for Team Carr gaining a shot at the first end. Team Anderson responded well with 3 shots over the next 2 ends. On end 4 Team Carr managed to get a good guard in place and came away with 2 shots to level the score. Another shot in the 5th end put Team Carr in the lead. Team Anderson came back strongly over the next 3 ends, however,  with some excellent draws and take outs and Team Carr were unable to respond. 

Well done to Team Anderson with a final score of 9-4.  

David Anderson who had come along to support his team congratulated both teams saying it had been a very enjoyable game to watch.

Report by Margaret Carr

The 2nd Points had a disappointing number of only 7 entrants. On the positive side the members in attendance did manage 9 out of the 10 disciplines played in Points. Nicki Cassie and dad Graeme took part in their own points battle and ended by Graeme just creeping a win in the last discipline. Also taking part were Reg Dunbar, Stuart Blackwood, President David, Secretary Jim and winner on the day Craig Brown with a score of 36 Points.

The Merchiston Team Points competition was held on 23rd February 2025.

Our team of Craig Brown, Iain Scott, Ian Matheson, Graeme Cassie, Reg Dunbar, Stuart Blackwood, Alan McDonald, and President David Gillespie enjoyed a very sociable game against Merchiston. Playing each discipline in just one direction allowed us to complete all the disciplines, which some of us had not previously done. 

The results were very close – the count was 114 to Penicuik and 113 to Merchiston – but one of the Penicuik team realised that his score was incorrect, and that he had been given a point in error – so we agreed that the result should be a draw, and that Merchiston should retain the trophy.

However – the following day – Iain recounted the results and identified a further arithmetical error, which would give Penicuik two more points – and happily for us Merchiston also spotted the error, and will return the trophy to us as winners. 

Overall best individual score was from Iain Scott on 24, closely followed by Craig Brown.

Played 5th January, 2025

The first game of the New Year might have been The Outdoor Medal but it was not to be and The Club Challenge took the place. Keith Morris put together a team of Martin Hobbs, Jean Noble and Norrie McLean to challenge Team Ramsay with Stuart Blackwood, Alan McDonald and Alex Moir who were the holders of the Crook.

It took Seven hard fought ends to determine a result in the first challenge of the season. Team Ramsay won the toss and managed a single point after a difficult first end. The Ice was keen and there appeared to be a huge last minute draw with most stones. However, not all stones performed to the same lines and this continued through the whole game. We later found that the stones had been given a ‘rub down’ over the Christmas break. End 2 went to Morris and 3 to Ramsay and then 4 to Morris with each scoring only 1 point in each. End 5 saw another 1 added to Team Ramsay. It was now Morris 2 and Ramsay 3. It appeared to be that everyone would take shots each winning the end where they had the hammer. In end 6 things looked a bit different with Morris lying with 4 with 1 stone left by each Skip. Jim Ramsay had tried to draw to the Shot stone with his first stone but was caught out by the sometimes massive draw. Keith had similar bad luck to guard the gap. The line in had been close with the first stone played, so it made sense to play the same again but be more ready for the draw. This time however, Team Ramsay’s stone did not draw as expected but did get a chance rub off one of their front stones. Stuart at Third saw the possible result and called Alex and Alan to sweep the stone into Shot. Unfortunately the stone was wide open for Keith to take with his last stone. Just like the opposition last stone, it didn’t draw and sailed passed the Blue counter. A slight advantage was now with Team Ramsay as the card read Morris 2 and Ramsay 4. End 7 was to be the final end. It was one of those ends that was played out at the back of the house (never good). Ramsay was determined to hold the Morris team to a maximum of 1. All yellow stones were put out of shot by excellent play by team members. By the last stone there was now a bank of Blue stones to come to for Keith who did take advantage and score a 1. Final Score Morris 3 and Ramsay 4. Team Ramsay retain The Crook until the next Challenge comes along. At this time it is a rink led by Kyle Baptie scheduled for 15th March but someone else may challenge before then. Well done to all players on the night with a special mention to Alex Moir who’s shoes came to pieces. Don’t worry! A new pair has been purchased for the next challenge. We did not go upstairs to relive the game because there was an anxiety to get home due to weather conditions.

Report by Jim Ramsay (trying to be non biased)