2023-2024

Waldie Griffiths

Where’s Waldie? Well, other than I can report we won our club game, I cannot say who played but Borders did manage to beat Breadalbane Province 37-23. Is the SC website up to date? We have the best average score out of three matches reported. Does that mean we actually won that muckle big trophy???? I need to find out. (PS. Yes we did).

Gateway to Success

Big congratulations to Lynsey who enjoyed a fair bit of success in the recent National Gateway Challenge. The competition saw 16 teams from around the country with experience ranging from 1-4 years of curling competing in 4 groups. There were two teams from the Borders and the team Lynsey was in won 2 games in the group stage which took them through to the Low Road Semi-Finals to face Glasgow B. Mike Stevenson, Andrew Sim, Eric Halquist and Lynsey had a bit more success here in a tight game which was won 6-5. Finding themselves through to the Low Road final against last year’s winners ‘Chill Thrillers’ from Stirling, they made a good account of themselves but lost out in the last end where they conceded a 3, making the final score 5-2. A tough one but well done to the team.

Big Fat Quiz of the Year

At a time of the year when the ice action has all finished, the big question was: Is the new plant getting installed? YES! Came the resounding answer and a very welcome one it was too. Quite coincidently, it was also time for the much delayed Border Quizspiel. This was deferred from mid-January and it’s usual slot following the Border Bonspiel. We couldn’t come up with the answers during the curling (see earlier post) but we certainly did in this. Our team – ‘The Fairies’ – namely John Burns, Graeme Cowe, Jim Cullen and Ian Gibson, scored a very impressive 60 points out of 80. Second place went Kelso and Swinton came third. Congratulations. Thomas would’ve been proud.

Ladies League

Big Congratulations to Marion for her team’s performance in the Ladies League this year. Finishing the season at top of the board with 11 points from seven games, they put the icing on the cake (Har! Har!), by winning the final against Brenda Robertson’s rink 8-1. Well done to Marion, Isla Forsyth, Liz Martin & Nina Clancy. Also worth mentioning that we also had Russet playing in Brenda’s team, so commiserations there.

Scottish Schools

Having just posted about the Auld Yins, at the other end of the spectrum we had Kelso High School pupils participating in the Scottish Schools Curling Championships at Curl Aberdeen over 8th-10th March. Club member Rosie Letham was playing along with Emma Neill, Douglas Redpath and Ben Scott and with three wins in their section seeing them in second place, they qualified through to the quarter finals day. Their game against Perth Academy proved to be a toughie however and this ended their competition. Great to get the wins over Forfar, Mary Erskine and Stranraer though and definitely worth our congratulations.

Auld Yins

It is worthy of note that our members continue to harvest success amongst the Auld Yins curlers. In the earlier part of the season John Burns and Eleanor found success within James Dixon’s team in their Oct/Dec League, similarly John was with Ian Dykes winning their Jan/Feb League and with Colin Stirling in the EoS Bonspiel. Queue rush for John to be in your team next year.

Morton missed

Marion, together with another eleven Border ladies, headed up to Greenacres to play in the Finals Day of the Morton Trophy. The ladies won all their semi finals in the morning which meant after lunch they faced Ayr in the final. Our Kelso ladies put up a strong fight but came away with 1 win and 2 losses. It’s a big thing though to get to this level of this National competition and huge congratulations to them for ending up runners up. Well done Marion.

Rhymer in ‘Steamer’s’ win

March has roared in like a lion as we find another member featuring in Bonspiel wins this year. Lesley Cowe was in the Coldstream Bonspiel winning rink with Andrew Letham, Cathy Brown and Robert Walker.

Birlin’ Broom brush off for Bill

What can I say? Our Birlin Broom barely had enough folk for a round robin. It was a pretty skinny bird this year with only three teams formed. Before we got to the last game which was between Bill and Graeme, we already knew the final would be a further clash of the same two teams. Whilst Bill’s team had the better of Graeme and ended up top of the totty wee league, Graeme totally outsmarted the team in the final. Congratulations to Graeme, James, Russet and Harry for playing so well and nabbing the Border Chainsaw and Lawnmower Services Trophy.

Cullen Cup Conclusion

Where were you on 6th March? A momentous date this season. Having started the night with a Dram we are then served up a full blown Cup. We had another tightly contested Cullen Cup league for club members this season with the run of 5 games for each team not settling the competition until the last dates. In a final between family members Marion and Cammy, the congratulations go to Cammy, James, David and Lynsey on their success.

Cammy managed to edge ahead in the match with a number of single shot steals against Marion, Graeme, Lesley and Steven. Although going into the last end with a three shot advantage it all got a bit “squeaky bum time” as Marion piled in a few shots but Cammy managed to get that vital shot in and covered, thereby securing the win. Excellent.

A Dram Good Final

After seeing some good games in the road to the final we had a fine encounter to cap it all off. Ewan Pate and John Burns against John Stevenson and Rosie Letham in this year’s final was a closely fought match. Having taken an early lead, John was overtaken by Ewan but managed to regain the lead at the fifth. One shot separated the teams after the seventh end and Ewan and John secured a two at the last to claim victory. Congratulations to the worthy winners.

B’League’red

After coming through our Border League section unscathed with 5 wins from 5, we were into the playoffs for the final. Facing Swinton in the group leaders face off, we were defeated in that game and awaited to see who we should play from the runners up match. That emerged as Coldstream. Sadly for Jim, Graeme, Bill and Phil, this game although closer, resulted in Coldstream going forwards to finals day and our campaign being consigned to the dustbin. For the record book, champions for this season are Swinton CC.

Marie Curie Bonspiel

That time of year again and the MC got underway with a full eight teams featuring three club members, Bill, Jim & Linsey. All in separate teams and all enjoying the thrill of success. At least for one game anyway. Lynsey was with Colin Martin’s team and they had a stonking great win in their first game against Tim Price to put them well into the high road. Bill made the high road too, after winning his game against George Whiteford. This match featured Bill lying eight shots in the 2nd end before George played an excellent last stone to spoil that party and lie one. Jim lost his first game against Lucy Tile but he managed to come out top in the second match sufficient to win the sculpted glass Hamish Wilson trophy. Those of you following this will know that Lynsey was into the big final and that was against Lucy’s team. Playing on the sheet next to Bill’s encounter with Andy Adams, which was going disastrously for Bill, it had a bearing on the possible final destination of the trophy. If Bill hadn’t eventually won an end at the last, Andy would’ve won but Lucy ultimately didn’t need her final stone against Colin to snag that. So close for Lynsey to winning on her first time playing the event. Claret Jug trophy to Lucy, then and Glendale Bowl to Andy. A really good supper and evening was held in the bar afterwards.

Club Points Challenge

The Club Points competition was held last night attracting 16 playing clubs. Fielding our own best performing points players, Graeme Wilson, Cammy and Phil we were unable to make an impression on the top end of the board. After completion of the eight disciplines we had 29 points. The winners on 37 points were Swinton, represented by John Hodge, Alistair Hodge and Robert Walker. Pretty close runners up were a Ladies Branch team on 35 points and that was down to Judith Dixon, Liz Martin and Lucy Tile. Impressive scoring but all put in the shade by the individual prize and Points Trophy being won by Judith who scored a phenomenal 27 points out of a possible 32. Fantastic. Next in line were Colin Hanley and Robert Walker, both on 19. Our own best scorer was Cammy on 15 points. A really good night and thanks go to John Burns for all the organisation, to the mystery sponsors and to the helpers.

Border Bonspiel

The rescheduled Border Bonspiel started off this week and both our teams were playing in the same session. Phil, Graeme Cowe, Andy and John Burns had a really great grip on their game against St Boswells running out of that with a 14-6 win. Ewan, Marion, Cammy and Willie had more stormy seas to navigate against Glendale and tried gamely to limit the damage. That was tough and they eventually ran aground with 10-4 defeat. The arithmetic of all that is +8 – 6 = +2 divided by 2 = a marginally positive score for the club of +1. Hmmm? Ach well, we’ll have to wait to see who the winners are after play of the further sessions in the competition. We’re not likely to trouble the top spot. Especially since both Glendale teams seemed to fare pretty well in the same session and why I’m reporting this now. Will there be a Quizspiel? That is a different question.

Mair Pairs

I think we only had one member entered in the Pairs competition and Jim progressed all the way through to the final. Paired with Paul Jess, they first beat Robert Walker’s entry and then John Sinton’s. That put them in the final against James Stark and Callum McLain. It turns out this was a hard fought game falling all square at 3 shots on completion of the regulation six ends. The extra end went the way of team Stark by a single shot and that was that. James and Callum go on to the finals at Stranraer.

PS – Jim and Paul did get to go to Stranraer but that’s another story. Please ask Jim.

Club Points

Our club points were held last night in which we had 10 members turning out to test their skills. Clear winner this year was Graeme Wilson with a score of 23 points from a possible max of 32. Cammy was runner up with 18 and Andy 3rd with 17. Fair to say it was a night of good fun with lots of witty banter on the ice. Unfortunately Andy is unavailable to go on to to represent the club in the Club Points Challenge next week, so that slot falls to Phil. Best of luck to Graeme, Cammy and Phil then for that competition next week. The rest of us are slotted in for umpire support duties.

Pate Trophy

The annual match between Midlothian and Border Provinces was a home tie in which we were drawn to play. Skipped by Phil with James, John Burns, and Russet, we faced a DAFS rink and a good game ensued. It was reported we had difficulty in finding the right gear but came good with a 5 in the latter part of the match, ultimately losing with a score of 9-8. That effort contributed to holding down the Midlothian challenge to allow Borders to prevail with a 30 shot margin and win back the trophy. (Has to be noted though that Lucy Tile’s 25-1 win contributed a fair bit too.) Well done everyone.

These friendly matches have been played since 1962 and with this win, I understand the tally stands at: Midlothian 32 wins to Borders 29.

Club Bonspiel

This year we held our club bonspiel on a Friday, displaying a new desire to kick the traces of tradition, become more flexible and try living on the edge more. Kuh! As if there’s not enough changes to flex around. Anyway, we had our traditional Rhymers Reel. Joined by thirteen guests, as you would expect, the session went with a great deal of fun and chat going on, on the ice. By the time the dance finished, the winners were Jim Cullen’s rink consisting of Isla Forsyth, Bill Burges and Sheena Byers. Two guests helping Jim to a +8 score. As tradition would have it, Isla and Sheena were in last year’s winning team too. Second spot ended up with +6, so pretty close. Hard luck there to Cammy, John Burns, Thomas Ewen and Ann Burgess. Stretching the tradition thing a bit further, we had Willie Pate and his three sons playing this year. A picture was taken but the film is off to be developed. Gonna stop with that now. Thanks to members and guests for making it such a good night.

District Medal win

Our District Medal match this year was an away game against Aberlady CC. Graeme Wilson skipped a team of hardened campaigners – Phil, Graeme Cowe and John Burns to a 9-5 win at Murrayfield. When asked of his experience, GW reported that they had a very sociable game and managed to get a good result when they eventually caught the swing of the ice. All good then. Well done folks.

Rhymer in Soutar’s Bonspiel win

Not much to report on this. All I know is Graeme Cowe won Selkirk’s Bonspiel.

Would Jubilieve it?

The much delayed Jubilee Bonspiel took place at the weekend there, with a full session of curling. We had four members taking part – Richard, Andy, Graeme Wilson and Bill, all in different rinks. The rub however, was that Andy and Bill were drawn as skips against each other and a tasty encounter ensued. First blood went to Andy with a single shot but in the second, Bill’s team took a five. Thereafter it was all singles with Andy taking the third and almost every end had us peering down over the stones to see who was shading the win. Ultimately, the game fell to Bill’s team. Even more ultimately, there was sufficient margin to pip Paul Jess’ team into runners up spot. Congratulations then to Bill with David Tait, Cath Brown and Alison Johnston for winning the trophy.

Cowdenknowes Winners

The Cowdenknowes Cup found a new home this year. The very safe hands of Graeme Wilson, James, Richard and Willie. The final against Bill’s rink – John Burns, Bob and Rosie, turned out a bit one-sided but it always felt tight. Well, up until the last couple of ends, that is. With singles exchanged in the first two ends and Graeme making a very good draw in the third to save an otherwise big end, they built on that with singles until they found another gear and bagged two shots in each of the last two. The writing was indelibly on the wall. It was a great match to play in and congrats go to Graeme and his team. Cowdenknowes Cup. Willie Pate now a winner in two competitions!!! Keep an eye out for him in the Cullen Cup.

Tweedmouth Kettle

Its no sooner New Year than the Kettle hove’s into view. The first round had us facing Coldstream with Graeme Wilson’s rink of Phil, Andy and John Burns facing James Stark’s team and Ewan’s rink of Marion, Bill and Graeme Cowe meeting John Fleming’s curlers. Fair to say we were all knocked back on our heels in the first end as we watched James attempting to register an eight-ender with his last stone. Pheeweee! Only a six. Meanwhile Ewan bagged a two. Settling into the games, Graeme restored his six deficit by the time end 3 was finished and Ewan was four up. That six obviously stung Graeme’s crew because James never scored again and being 11-6 down and seeing how the neighbouring match was progressing, conceded at the end of the 6th. Ewan’s team similarly had control ending up winners with 11-4 score. Onwards to meet Duns in the next round with Jim in as sub for Phil and both our teams set off and just kept going. Graeme carded a 13-3 win and Ewan an 11-3 win. In the meantime Ayton Castle had won their semi against Swinton and were ready for the fray. This was a mega tussle with ends hard fought on both sheets. It was 3-3 on Graeme’s sheet at the end of the 5th and at the same stage, Ewan was two shots down. Graeme’s team landed a 3 in the next end and Ewen also took a 3 taking the combined tie to 13-9 in our favour. The wheels game off a bit with Ewan’s team losing a 3 in each of the last two ends in what was an 8 end game and Graeme losing a single in their 7 end game. 16-13 was the final tally, landing Ayton the prized Kettle and our teams, the lesser sought Crawford Cup. Cracking but knackering.

Cunningham

Who’d have thought we could say this again? We had a member involved in the Cunningham Trophy this year and with a great deal of success. Rosie Letham playing in Callum Potts’ rink came out a winner in a final against Callum McLain, which saw some terrific curling. Four shots up after two ends, they then lost 8 shots over the next three before fighting back to peels by the end of the eighth. It then went to an extra end before they emerged victors with a score of 9 shots to 8. Everyone in the winning rink were all first time winners so well done to Callum, Thomas Stevenson, Douglas Redpath and Rosie.

Swan & Swan

I’m sorry to say I have very little intel on the Swan competitions this year. I can only report that Marion’s rink of Isla Forsyth, Liz Martin, Anne McCauley won the Ladies trophy and Jim’s rink – Graeme Wilson, Andy Adams and Phil came in as runners up in the Gent’s competition. Between these two rinks, the ladies won the sartorial elegance award (by a country mile) modelling their Christmas themed jumpers.

Pairs are good this year

In the run up to Christmas, it’s nice to have some decent pairs to enjoy. Well, it could be argued that only goes for half of the participants. The main event was the final of the Trophy game between John Stevenson & James and Ewan & John Burns. The gallery* was treated to some fine shot making by both teams and by completion of the 3rd end, it was peels on two shots each. Ewan played a super shot with the last stone of the 4th to slash John’s front stone across the rings to take out John’s shot stone to leave himself lying three. Game changer. The final end was tight too but with John’s side running out of stones to claw back the three, it was a big ask. It ended 5-3 to Ewan and John Burns.

The Plate game was no less thrilling with each of the four ends hard fought by Bill & Marion and Graeme Wilson & Russet. Two substitutes appearing in this final – Marion in for Cammy and Russet for Tommy. The first end went to Bill, then it was one to Graeme but Bill claimed a two in the 3rd to put the pressure on Graeme in the last. Bill and Marion had contrived to lie three shots by the time Graeme came to play his last and this held out running a bit straighter to get the required angles, cutting the final end to two shots. Result being 5-1 to Bill & Marion. A couple of good games there and congratulations to both winning teams. Results

* Gallery = the non-playing teams at the time.

Senior Qualifiers

Time for another National competition and Jim was off to Forfar with his rink of Paul Jess, Colin Martin and Andy Ewen to play in the Seniors. The draw placed them in a section with two previous winning teams so it was hard games all the way. Their first match was against one of those winners and sadly it was time to shake hands after the sixth end. It was a closer but still hard fought local derby against Keith Prentice’s team but a lost 3 shots in mid-match was the telling blow. Ultimately after their four games, they finished the Section without a win but both Jim and Andy are upbeat about the experience and otherwise fun time.

Yuill brought to a close

Yuill remember at the first game of the season how the league opener had to be abandoned due to a failure of the ice plant necessitating the ice pad to be cleared of all players. That game was between Bill and Cammy and as it turns out, the rescheduled match became the penultimate game in the league and the key one in deciding whether Cammy or Bill’s rink would win the league. Cammy was league leader having had a great campaign and amassing a shed load of ends and shots, Bill on the the other hand had gone unbeaten and had the points but not a great deal of smash to back it up. It was all to play for.

With thoughts of that abandoned game strong in everyone’s mind, it was Bill’s rink who claimed the first end with a four. Cammy’s team came back by scoring in ends 2, 3 & 4 by which time they had five shots. The lead changed again in the 5th with Bill getting a two, then it was peels as Cammy claimed a singe back. In the last end, Bill’s team found themselves being one shot up in a crowded head and sensibly, for Bill, he decided not to play the final stone. Cracking game to decide the competition.

Bill’s rink were not finished though as they had another rearranged fixture to play against John Stevenson. This time, it was a different story as John’s rink took a firm grasp of the game and the champs were more, er? Chumps. That game went 8-2 to John, springing them from bottom of the table to 3rd place. As our President Ewan said “Once again the league has been a great contest and again, coming down to the final games played” Well done to all the teams and to Bill, Graeme Cowe, Bob Morris and Willie Pate for their success.

The table and all the results can be seen here – Yuill Trophy.

Gala Cup

Taking to the ice for the Gala Cup, we had Bill, Phil, Sheena and Megan set to play Roxburghe and Jim, Graeme Wilson, Liz and Russet against Selkirk. Bill’s rink had a good start against former member Alan Forrest’s team, swapping single shots but then they took a three and for every single shot reply we made, they took a pair. That ended our hopes for progression here. Jim’s team were having a similarly turgid time against Gary Craig’s Soutars – up until they bagged a six and turned the tables, that is. The final ends were therefore tightly controlled to let our team sail into the next round. Hopefully a silver Christmas present to come?

Mixed Invitation Bonspiel

Only one of our members in the mix for this competition this year as Bill played in Paul Jess’ rink with Helen Forbes and Debbie Higgins. Winning all three of their section games over Friday and Saturday took them into a Sunday showdown against Sandy Nelson’s rink to play a repeat of last year’s similar top of the table tussle. This time though, the Borders team took a firm grip on the game after a cagey first couple of ends to edge ahead and kept doing that. So much so, that the game was conceded after the 6th end. A really good win to savour, as Sandy had lifted that trophy for the previous four years.

Greenlaw Bonspiel

First off, congratulations to Greenlaw on their 150th Anniversary. They hosted a great day’s curling and a most enjoyable social night afterwards, all of which was much appreciated by the attending guests. We had Liz, Jim, Sheena, Bill, Russet and Richard there for the two session spiel. After Richard’s travails in the previous weekend’s bonspiel, the boot was well and truly on his foot this time around and his team of John McCririck, Gordon Fettes and Alistair Lindsay emerged winners. Well done Richard.

National Masters

Jim and Bill took part in the National Masters Qualifier held at Greenacres last week accompanied by Paul Jess and John Hodge. In what was a really great competition, our boys won a couple of ties, narrowly lost one by a shot and the other by three. Ends, shots difference and overall shots? It all matters in these keenly contested ties with three teams jostling to qualify and ultimately, whilst we won the last game, our other section game was being played out on the next sheet, giving Bill Gray’s team the extra end they needed to make the cut. Just as we were being warned to prep for the draw shot challenge. (#sad emoji).

Half a Hogg might be plenty

The first round of the Harry Hogg was pretty uneventful for the club. Principally because both our teams had managed to get bye’s into the next round. Round two then and we were well set for action. Graeme W, Graeme C, James and John Burns faced an Ayton Castle team and found this a difficult game to make headway in but ultimately, just losing out on any further progression. Our other team; Marion, Phil, Richard and Liz, drawn against Greenlaw, were able to forge a win, albeit in the final stones of a similarly hard fought game. So, they get to move on to the next tie and hopefully we will see them progress all the way. I’ll let you know.

PS Win over Ayton Castle takes them into the final. Woo!

PPS Sadly a pretty tough final against Coldstream in which we struggled to get back from being 7-0 down. Tough in anybody’s language but we managed to get it to 7-6. Pig sick though.

St. Ronan’s Bonspiel

A full session of curlers took part in St Ronan’s Bonspiel with Bill, Sheena and Richard taking part, although to be fair, Richard was probably more in the role of chief organiser for the host club. By some contrivance, Richard was playing against Bill in their game and that will remain a very memorable encounter for both, for different reasons. Bill, with Bill Burgess, Dave Lucas and Jill Sinton won the event. A very sociable event it was however, with an excellent meal and lively company later on, in the clubroom.

Laidlaw Lost

By that I mean we failed to make anything of our easy slide into the quarter finals against Swinton. This transpired due to opposition withdrawal in our first round tie. Jim, Bill, Graeme Cowe and Marion started off fairly decently but by the later ends, the Swinton team were controlling things too well and the game was won on an 8-5 score. No need to shuffle the pack for next round then. Ok. What’s next?

Turnbull Trophy

Previously known as the Ladies Opening Bonspiel and it got their season officially off to a grand start with five of our members competing – Liz, Marion, Sheena, Russet & Lesley Cowe. Sheena played in Brenda Robertson’s team which unfortunately was the game from which the winners emerged. Ann Redpath’s team took an eight shot win and took away the trophy.

Ladies Challenge

First competition at the Ice Rink this year and it was a biggie for them to host. A full 16 teams entered with eight raised from Borders players and eight visiting teams. We had five members taking part – Marion, Sheena, Liz, Leslie Cowe and Russet. All teams had three games over two days before the contenders for the High Road and Low Road finals were established. The High Road featured two of the visiting teams but Marion’s rink, with Liz, played the Low Road final against Sheena in Lucy Tile’s rink. Marion steadily extended a lead in the game and held on to win the encounter. The whole event seemed to be a great success and big congrats are due to the organising team for that.

Yuill start to new season

All set to go for a new season and with a slight delay and some reshuffling of dates, we’re straight into our Yuill League with skips Cammy v Bill. The new playing surface was very crisp and clean looking and happily clear of any of the bumps and lumps so prevalent at the start of last season. Obviously this suited Cammy and his team much more than Bill’s, because by the time three ends were completed, Bill was being gubbed. Coincidently, by this time, troubles with the ice plant failing earlier in the day meant that all games had to be abandoned and the ice pad cleared of players. Not sure how this will all pan out yet but there was time for some different sport and banter in the bar after. Anyhow. We’re off and running. Here’s to an enjoyable season. Follow the unfolding story here – Yuill Trophy.