2019 – 2020

A socially distant Social and AGM

End of year an’ a’ that.  What to do? What to do?

I know you’ll all be getting anxious about being unable to have a social night and prize giving and torturing yourselves about the AGM when we cannot get together.  I think you can easily have a wee celebratory drink of your choice to toast a fine season and recall the great games and marvellous shots you’ve played.  Well done. I’ll raise a glass too.  Club competition winners – You know who you are and the trophies will be handed out when things settle down (See ‘Old News’ if you need a recap).

Information will be issued in due course as to how we progress with the business of the AGM in due course and in the meantime, I wish you a safe conclusion to the lock down.  Wash your hands and stay healthy.

Competition Corona Conundrum

Sitting now in lockdown and wondering when it will all end.  Not the pandemic, silly – the remainder of the season.  Everything was teetering along in the final weeks of March and wheels were falling off right left and centre until it became bleeding obvious that the ice rink just could not justify remaining open.  It closed on 17th March.  For us that meant we still had a number of things unresolved…..

The Birlin Broom: The final game still to play with both Bill’s and Graeme Cowe’s rinks in with a shout at the trophy

The Ladies League: Marion’s Rink in pole position and Wendy’s in second place?

Stewart Salver: Jim Cullen’s rink through to the final.

9:15 League:  Graeme Wilson’s rink is in the mix with Keith Prentice team to lift the carriage clock this year. It all depends on the final round of games and rather tantalisingly, Wilson v Byers is a key encounter.

Oh Well!  Crystal Ball anybody?

Border Young Curler competition

Congratulations to Rachel for skipping her rink to win the BYC Bonspiel this year. This was the first time in a while that the Ice Rink had been able to run the competition but with a lot of interest and support, it was really fine event and egg’cellent result.  Rachel was aided in the win by D Redpath, G Thomson and S Ralston.

D’ram D’ram

Nope your thinking of an 80’s group.  This is your doubles competition and you can stop your pleading, I am going to tell you now.  This year congratulations go to Ewan and James for a blistering display in the final against John Stevenson and Lesley Cowe.  John was 2-1 down going into the fourth end, which indicates a pretty tight competition and then Ewan and James hit the turbo button, taking a six.  Ouch!  I’ve experienced that in doubles.  I feels our pain.  The low road final was won by Jim and Richard in their game against David and Andy.

Weekend Trophy

It’s been a busy weekend. Weekend? Ha! Yes the Weekend Trophy came to a conclusion with the final between Rachel Armstrong’s rink and the Ice Men. It was a reasonably tight affair up to 4th end at only 3-1 but eventually the stone cold experience of the ice men saw the slippery foursome safely nab the trophy. Out of an entry of 16 teams, this was a really good showing by Rachel and her dad, David, Walter Miller and Liz McClymont. Well done for making it to the final Rachel.

RCCC Rink Championships

Remember back in November I said the RCCC qualifier competition was best forgotten?  Well, both finalists were unable to go to the big show and we picked up representation of BIR in the Rink Championship finals at Forfar this weekend.  It’s as well we had forgotten that performance because Jim, Graeme Wilson, Bill and Liz had some great games, winning 12-3 against Fairywell club from Ayr, peeling the game against Rob Niven’s Delvine team from Perth and just losing by a shot to Lee McCleery’s Keir team from Stirling. The last game against section leaders Stewarton Heather was a different sort of curling and we shook hands with the Galleon boys(really from Greenacres) after 7 ends, when we were 6 shots down. Great games to play though with good bar chat. It turned out the Galleon team won all the way through to finally lift the trophy so overall, I’m not feeling too bad.  An excellent competition.

Points Challenge

Eighteen clubs entered this year and no less an intriguing competition for the slightly reduced number.  Jeez! That ice was difficult and well done to those that sussed it out.  I wasn’t one of them.  Winners on 43 points, were Glendale, closely followed by Ladies Branch President Select on 42 points.  Earlston came 4th= on 36.  Highest scoring male was Michael Sutherland with 24 points, which was fitting, given his history and support of Points competition at the ice rink.  Highest scoring female was Marion on 21 points.  Her partner in crime, Judith Dixon tied on the same 21 points but it went down to the greater number of 2’s scored.  Well done Marion.  That’s the way to do it.  Sponsored again by Maid by Marion and The Chinese Laundry, we are very grateful for their support and thanks go to them. Thanks also to club members for umpiring on the ice and working elsewhere during the evening.

Open Pairs

Congratulations to Graeme  Wilson who, together with Gary Craig, managed to win the BIR Open Pairs final against John Hodge, with a score   7-2.  The competition has run over 4 rounds from the end of January and they have had some pretty handy pairings to beat on the way.  Congratulations too, to John Burns for getting into the Low Rd final, unfortunately lost to Jim Lawson.

Scottish Seniors Finals

I said it before.  Much as we appreciate the sponsorship, the full title of  ‘The Ferguson Oliver Wealth Management Scottish Curling Senior Championships 2020’ is one heck of a mouthful and no wonder we shorten it.  The Seniors finals was in fact too much to swallow for both Jim and Wendy in their bid to get to Canada, with neither being able to get out of their pool section.  It really is a tough old game in this sort of company and congratulations are due to them for being there and having a tilt at it.

Cullen Cup Concluded

The Cullen Cup campaign was brought to a safe conclusion by Phil Brand’s team of Luigi Massari, Andy Ewen and Leslie Cowe (our Italian buddy subbing for David Mitchell, who for some reason was off to Rome??  Scotland better prospects than team Brand for success?  That’s a bit of a punt).  Graeme Cowe’s rink struck first with a two and the heavy weight of that final round robin game defeat was lifted from their shoulders. Graeme, Liz, Margaret and Kath, breathing a sigh of relief,  were off and running.  It was a game of 2s being scored each end but unfortunately for Graeme’s team, more of them went to Phil.   Some fine shots were played on the way, making it a good game for the gallery watching but a final score of 8-4 saw the cup safely into Phil’s hands.  Congratulations.

Marie Curie Bonspiel

Great fun at the Marie Curie Bonspiel which was held on Saturday there. Three Earlston club members competing this year and the big prize was won by Sheena playing in Liz Martin’s rink with Cathy Brown and David Tait, so well done to them. The Glendale Bowl went to runners up rink, skipped by Alan Nisbet and the Hamish Wilson trophy to Low Rd winners, Lucy Tile’s rink. Bill’s team was shaded to the ‘Hamish’ by a single shot margin.  Nae prize for runner up there though.   The evening social event went well with the usual fundraising games and Bill was last man standing in the Irish Bingo.  Yey!  Major interest this year in guessing how many games Luigi played during 2019.   The answer was an astonishing 248 games. The prize for that competition was provided and presented by the man himself….. once he had got himself home,  changed, fed the cats and back to the ice rink.  Well done Luigi – and the organisers for a very successful day.

Club Points Challenge

Eighteen clubs entered this year and no less an intriguing competition for the slightly reduced number.  Jeez! That ice was difficult and well done to those that sussed it out.  I wasn’t one of them.  Winners on 43 points, were Glendale, closely followed by Ladies Branch President Select on 42 points.  Earlston came 4th= on 36.  Highest scoring male was Michael Sutherland with 24 points, which was fitting, given his history and support of Points competition at the ice rink.  Highest scoring female was Marion on 21 points.  Her partner in crime, Judith Dixon tied on the same 21 points but it went down to the greater number of 2’s scored.  Well done Marion.  That’s the way to do it.  Sponsored again by Maid by Marion and The Chinese Laundry, we are very grateful for their support and thanks go to them. Thanks also to club members for umpiring on the ice and working elsewhere during the evening.

Four Nations Gold

I’ve been posting on this event for a while now and still find the competition hard to grasp.  Put simply, Jim Cullen won a Gold badge for his rink’s part in securing the biggest shot difference (+10) in Scotland’s 44-32 win over England.  For the record, Scotland’s Women also beat their English counterparts and elsewhere, Scotland beat Ireland too and there are various trophies for all of that.  Think that is all correct.  Great job and congratulations to Jim on the award.  Anyhoo! Next year, Scotland are hosting the fixture at Ayr.

District Medal

This year, we were at Murrayfield for our District Medal game, which was against Haddington and this was a fine and sociable event. The game of course was a pretty competitive thing. Graeme Wilson, Bill, Luigi and Russet fought a good game, keeping it tight but with it being peels going into the last end and a number of stones in the head, someone was going to win. A single shot was the difference and Haddington had the game. Have to say the ice was excellent with no hint of the fabled stone-gate issues.  All seems to have been sorted.  Thanks to our hosts for the craic and company before and after the game. A good Sunday.

Cowdenknowes Trophy

Congratulations to John Stevenson, Liz Cullen, Lesley Cowe and Richard Smith who played a superb final against Jim Cullen’s rink of Luigi Massari, Ian Sands and Kath Livesey. Losing a single in the first, then a two in the second, it seemed like John’s team were in for a tough time.  They came storming back tho’ with a six in the 3rd end and didn’t look back.  Taking a four in the next end piled on the pressure and ultimately, hands were shaken after the 5th to concede the game at 12-3. Worthy winners.

Club Points

Eight members turned out this year for the Points night and although down on last year’s event, they set about the event with a bit of gusto.  Grouped in pairs playing up sheet 1 and back down 2, we delivered 32 stones to see who could claim the pointy crown.  Do I have to write this again?  Kuh! I souldn’t really need to tell you this but you know the script – Graeme Wilson won this year on on 39 points and congratulations to him for that.  Close behind though, was Bill Byers on 38 and Jim Cullen on 36. Those three will go on to represent the club in the Club Points Challenge on 11th Feb.

The Potty Challenge

Oooo!  The Potty.  Earlston was on chanty duty this year in the contest between Border and East Lothian clubs. The required two players being Bill and Sheena who were playing in the same rink alongside Robert Letham and Rosemary Scott from Lees club against an Aberlady quartet.  This was a tight game and it progressed with us getting off to a fair start but then shipping single shots. The other three sheets were not faring too well either and the chance to make a final grab for the porcelain was taken when we scored a 4 in the last end.  Our profit couldn’t surmount the other three losses however and Borders went doon the drain by 1 shot.  Relieved it was all over.

Harry Hogged

Need a bit of a story here but at the moment, we lost a close final to Yester

Border Bonspiel & Quizspiel

I really thought this was going to be a constructive wee report since all of our three teams pulled off some good wins.  I don’t know.  This ‘three team average’ thing is tough stacking up against ‘two team’ club averages.  Ewan, Wendy, Marion & Bob Henderson had a +7 advantage over their Duns opponents.  Graeme Wilson, Bill, Sheena & James had another +7 against Selkirk and Jim, Graeme Cowe, Liz & Lesley Cowe were +3 against Kelso. In the end it was very close between Coldstream and Glendale, both with an average of 6.5 shots.  The competition was decided on ends with Coldstream just getting the edge.  I guess we were in third place with our very average 5.67.

If you think that was tough, so was the quiz.  Graeme, Jim and John and Eleanor Burns ended up being in 6th place with only 4 points separating them and the winners, Roxburgh. 6th???

Club Bonspiel

A great night where we played the Rhymers Reel format. Ten guests from Swinton, Duns, Coldstream, St Boswells, Murrayfield & Selkirk clubs joined us and made it a very sociable and yet keenly fought session. As we know, or really because we don’t know as the thing progresses, is that every end is important in this dance. The winners were revealed to be Phil Brand’s rink of Rachel Armstrong, Tracey Ross & Josh Hogarth with +6 shots.  Bill, Richard, Thomas Ewen & Lesley Wilson were next in line with +4.  It was all rounded of with a super supper in the club rooms with loads of Raffle prizes and an Irish Bingo and it was pretty late by the time the place emptied out. Thanks to everyone for making it fun.

Tweedmouth Kettle

A tough day at the office yesterday.  The Tweedmouth Kettle was a re-run of last year’s event but with a twist in the tail. The semi final against Foulden was a tough test but we won through to the big final against Duns.  That started off really well for us and after 3 ends we were sitting pretty well.  That margin was gradually eroded and unfortunately, the Dingers emerged the winners. Ewan, Wendy, Marion and James & Graeme Wilson, Bill, Andy and Sheena put up a sturdy defence of the title but this year the tables were turned and the Kettle went East and the fabulous Crawford cup, like our game, went West.

Senior Men’s Qualifiers

That is, ‘The Ferguson Oliver Wealth Management Scottish Curling Senior Qualifiers’ – No wonder we shorten it. Big congratulations to Jim and his rink for qualifying for the Seniors finals at the weekend. Playing with Paul Jess, Colin Martin & Andy Adams at Forfar, they won 4 of their 6 matches, which is no mean feat amongst that company. Well done guys.  best of luck in the finals in Feb.  Least said about our other Seniors who were playing at Ayr Ice rink.  Unfortunately John Stevenson, Bill and Graeme Cowe, playing with Roddy Mclain found it difficult to get  a win.  Not going to say any more about that.

Swan Trophies

Well.  In the singular, since we were left with only one Swan a-swimming this year. Congratulations to Wendy and her team – Margaret Robertson, Anne McAuley and Maggie Scott for winning the Ladies competition. All the men drew up short against Harry Dodds’ rink at various stages on their way to lifting that trophy which was thoroughly deserved.

Gala Cup

Tough old game in the final of the Gala cup yesterday. A case of nearly but not quite. A very tight match all the way through with great shots for the gallery. It was peels going into the last but Coldstream had the hammer. Jim’s final stone to tap back their shot just clipped the edge of a guard meaning the ‘streamers didn’t need to play their last stone. Otherwise a good match to play in but no Christmas present for us. Fake Christmas. Indeed.

Perfect Pairs

The Pairs competition finished off tonight with the finals of both the cup and plate being played. Top prize goes to Jim & Liz for their win over Graeme Cowe & James. Phil and Luigi won the low road Plate beating Ewan and Richard. Both games being very tight. Fab-u-lous! Special mention to John Stevenson. After he and Liz did the hard work in the early rounds he took a tumble on the ice (quite dramatic by all accounts) and was incapacitated for the final. Hope he’s up and running again soon. Well done to everybody else!

RCCC Rink Championship

Not too many clubs competing in this competition but we didn’t make much of a dent in it this year.  Jim, Bill, Phil & Liz not really going well enough to stop their Greenlaw opposition making it through to the final and representation of BIR at the National finals.  Best forgotten.

Yuill Trophy

The league competition is done and dusted with John Stevenson’s rink of Bob Henderson, Russet Fullarton and Kath Livesey coming out eventual winners. The final game against Marion Pat’e’s rink was the league decider and anybody that thought we couldn’t possibly get as close a finish as last year just wasn’t paying attention to the script. Marion, John and Graeme Wilson were all waiting to see how that last game went but with a 6-3 scoreline, John’s team get the Yuill Trophy this year. Well done.

Henderson Bishop Qualifier

Congratulations to Wendy Henderson and Marion Pate for their win in the BIR Henderson Bishop Qualifier. Playing with Margaret Robertson and June Swan, they played an excellent final against Glynnice Lauder to win the competition. They go on to play in the finals to be held in Aberdeen on 27th Feb.  Best wishes in that.

Mixed Invitation

The mixed invitation weekend was held, er! over the weekend there and I’m pleased to report that we had some folk involved in that.  Luigi, Russet and Rachel to be precise.  With a sense of deja-vu, Luigi was in second place in circumstances not unlike last year.  Playing in Paul Jess’ team with Rachel, they were just marginally short of being top dog.  Worth noting that this was a late substitution by Rachel and by all accounts (obviously, given the result) she made a great showing.  Watching the match scores over the two days, it was pretty tight between the top four teams as they entered their last game and in a weekend where even our best National curlers are picking up silver and bronze medals,  they are in fine company.

Virtual Success

Very happy to report that Andy and Danny won the Virtual Club bonspiel which was played at Braehead arena over the weekend.  Playing with Charles and Alyson Brooker, they lifted a very nice trophy for their troubles.  Many congratulations to them.

Berwickshire Bonspiel

Heroic charge falls short.  Well, it seemed that way.  After Bill’s first round team, of Graeme and Lesley Cowe and Sheena managed to get a win over Lauderdale, the 3 shot margin offered only a small platform for the second shift.  Graeme Wilson’s rink of Luigi, David and Rachel however, overcame their Ayton Castle opposition with a very impressive 13-5 scoreline. The combined score of +11 shots was only good enough to come second to the Coldstreamers +17.

Matthew Templeton

Congratulations to Graeme Wilson, Phil Brand, Ewan Pate and Luigi Massari on winning the Matthew Templeton with a deserved win over James Stark’s team.

A well worked three at the first end gave Graeme a great start but James fought back to level after three. With singles forced and stolen on both sides it was peels after seven with hammer advantage to Graeme. With debris out front it looked advantage James in the eighth as they had one drawn round to the four foot behind cover.  With his first, James opted to split the house but left his stone short of the tee and open. Graeme took advantage with a great hit and roll onto the shot stone and, with Graeme’s shot still behind cover, James opted for a difficult hit and roll on a tee line winger which hit and rolled across the house leaving the shot stone undisturbed. Game over.

We had thirteen members curling in the competition this year.  Three more than last year and that is not at all a bad turn out.

Ladies Challenge

Played out over two days, this year we had Wendy, Liz Marion and Russet involved in the contest.  Having three games to play before it got down to the nitty gritty finals, there were some interesting results.  Eventual winners were Maggie Scott’s rink but our interest lay in the Low Road final where Wendy and Liz were playing in Margaret Robertson’s rink against Russet in Joan Reed’s team.  It started at pace with the first three ends scoring 3’s in each.  Blistering. 6-3 going into the 4th but Wendy and Liz came out in the winning side on an 8-5 scoreline.  Well done.

Laid low in the Laidlaw

Tricky draw in the Laidlaw this year.  after seeing off Foulden we were undone by the Ayton Castle side in the second round.  Is it a consolation to hear the Castlers went on to the final?  Not really.  Just to note though, the silverware was lifted by Coldstream this time around in a 7-1 victory conceded after 6 ends.

Scottish Seniors Mixed Championship

This was a flagship event held at Kelso this year and a real coup for BIR to attract the Championship.  1st off, I have to congratulate Luigi for getting to the low road final in George Whitefords’ late-entry team.  Superb to see them getting so far in the competition and really felt for them missing that title. Also very close in the running were Wendy and Bob playing in Colin Martin’s rink.  They were beat in the semi final of the high road, having won all their previous four games. A record not to be sniffed at and, by the way, they had beat the eventual winners in the round robin.  Ouch.  Other participants from the club were Jim, Liz, John Stevenson and Bill who had more in common with Sniff’ ‘n’ the Tears. (a pop group from bygone years).  Oh, and John Burns was the umpire.  I think fielding seven members in a national, 16 rink competition is great though and having three getting so far, is pretty impressive.

Ladies Opening Bonspiel

Always our first competition of the season and this year we had a good representation of earlston Ladies taking a tilt at the honours.  Played over two sessions across three sheets in each, we had Liz, Lesley Cowe,  Lynsey and Sheena taking part. Achieving a bit of success, Liz and Lesley were in the winning rink for the  first session.  Congratulations ladies.  A good start to the season

The Rules, rule

Just a wee reminder that the proposals for changes to the club competition rules proposed at the  AGM were carried and  there is a new version available on the information tab in the website and a copy fixed to the noticeboard in the ice rink.

The key things are:

The ranking of position in the league(s) – After match points for w/d/l, ends now count before shots difference, shots scored and finally head to head result.

The penalty shots for late comers is now 1 shot per 10 minutes, up to a max of 3 shots.

Free guard zone rule is as per RCCC rule, which is currently 5 stones, except our pairs where we use a reduced number of stones and a 3 stone rule will apply.

Socially acceptable start

Nnnnnnineteen members turned out for the first ice of the season. Well some had jumped the gun by playing in the first session but by the time 7:15 came round everyone was too bust chatting to realise the time bell had rung.  After a quick welcome from President Sheena,  we split ourselves evenly (well 10 and 9, obviously) between the two sheets and set about getting to grips with the ice.   After a bit acclimatising, we settled into a couple of games of 3 ends.  Have to say, the ice was pretty good and long may that continue.  Heck of a smell of new paint around the place though.   Onwards to the first game of the league tomorrow night.

Good curling everyone.