Wingate @ 66% plus a bit

At the two thirds mark, Team Nicoll Snr is holding a lead with only one defeat so far.  Chomping at their heals, however is the McDiarmid quartet, who are only 1 win behind having survived a very close game against the Pate rink.  The Pate rink are the only team,so far, to have stopped Morgan in his tracks, with a close 6 - 5 game in the second round.  It looks like the league could come down to the final game on the second of March between Teams Nicoll Snr and McDiarmid.

Morgan and his rink went one step closer to taking the title, having now played Team Sandy, in the first (and only) game of the third round.  Morgan secured a big 8 - 1 win, in the opposition skips absence.  More importantly they scooped a bucket load of ends.  This leaves his closest rival two wins and twelve (!) ends behind but with 1 game in hand.

Meanwhile with only two games left Team Nicoll Jnr are stuck at the bottom of the table and even winning both cannot move up.  

Province Pairs

 Congratulations to Andy McDiarmid and Hamish Logan who went one step higher for the club this year and won the High Road Province Pairs Championship.  The steal of 2 in the second last end was crucial, as was a 'hit' with the final stone of the qualifying round which netted a good 3 which was enough to see them into the High Road.

 Their win was result of careful calculation and courage (!) by Andy and Hamish as Athelstaneford had the hammer going in to the last end, and the HCC men manoeuvred to keep the opposition from getting a 2 which would have meant a peel on 3. Add ‘close’ to the alliteration

J Good

 

Club Description

Taken from the Indoor Grand Match syllabus 2025

"Haddington Curling Club

Founder 1846 - strong community based East Lothian Club

Early curling on ponds near the River Tyne. ~  Now plays at Murrayfield Ice Rink, Edinburgh. ~ Inclusive and welcoming environment for all levels. ~  Runs full season of leagues, internal competitions and friendlies. ~ Occasional outdoor curling when conditions allow (last in 2010). ~ Continues to uphold strong local curling traditions. " 

 aw shucks, you guys. 

Rennie @ 33%

With the first round of the Rennie completed, past president Andy Aberdein is gunning to bounce back to the Wingate after only one season.  With two convincing wins, team Aberdein managed to hold on to a single shot victory over second placed new skip Keith Anderson.  The Anderson squad is also leading the 'most played ends' in the Rennie, but that could have something to do with one 'early handshake' by two of the other teams.

Surprisingly the bottom two places are occupied by a couple of our most successful skips over the past few seasons, with 7 titles over the last 9 seasons, between them.  Perhaps Messrs Aberdein and Anderson should take heed that it may not be wise to back the Munro, father/daughter combo into a corner, with still two thirds of the season to go.

All to play for still. 

Indoor Grand Match 2025

Haddington v the World (but only the part of it that comprises North Scotland)

Mega Congratulations go to the Haddington Team of Andy McDiarmid, Graeme Maguire, Roy Black and Heather Harpur who in their fourth end managed a steal of 8 !  The only 8 to be scored in the Grand Match this year and giving them the highest winning margin (certainly at Greenock)
and winning them a bottle of whisky each.   

Haddington alone contributed over 25% of the South  of Scotlands winning margin 

 

Graeme and Andy getting nervous as Oban play their hammer

 

 

The 8 Ender is achieved !

     

Happiness all round

 

 

 

East Lothian Province Clubs sent 8 teams to Ice Rinks in Lockerbie, Greenock, Kinross, Forfar and Edinburgh to compete in the 2025 Indoor Grand Match, representing the South of Scotland.  Everyone involved had an enjoyable and mostly successful day of curling and socialising.

The various Clubs scores were:

East Linton 1          8 - 3  Verses Kippen

East Linton 2          5 - 7 v Broomhall 

Yester                      6 - 4  v Broomhall 2

Markle                    9 - 5 v Forfar Young Curlers

Athelstaneford 1    7 - 7 v Clunie

Athelstaneford 2     7 - 6 v Forfar 2

Aberlady                 8 - 5 v Bridge of Allan

Haddington            20 - 3 v Oban 

That is a total of six wins and one peel and one loss.   The South were overall winners with a margin of 69 shots up.  East Lothian Province Teams provided almost 50% of that winning margin, with a cumulative score of 34.

 

New Stones Challenge 2025

We welcomed Ella, Fraser and Nick to our friendly (well I thought we were friendly!) challenge game.

The game ended up as 3 v 3 players with the New Stones taking it in turn to rotate positions, in the meantime non-playing graeme helped (well, I think I did) with advice and explanations to the players and with sweeping.  With one brand new player in one of his first ever games, the New Stones acquitted themselves well with good length (maybe once sweeping had been applied).  Although the score card shows a Haddington win, the newcomers took two ends.  However the score was not the point of the game and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

At post match drinks and food, all three agreed to join Haddington's reserves and have been added to our WhatsApp groups. 

Wingate @ 33% - ish

 Last night saw the second Father / Son duel as Morgan and Sandy went head to head for the second time.  It was a tight game with Team Nicoll Senior once again taking the win, with the same scoreline of 6 - 5.  Despite the loss Team Nicoll Junior took the bragging rights of taking five ends to Dad's three. 

The league is slightly out of balance Sandy v Andy McD, still to play their first game.  Regardless of this Morgan's squad are still firing at 100% and have yet to concede a single point.  After the first round, he will have a lead of two points, assuming Team Andy McD beat Sandy, or 4 points from the entire field, if Sandy's squad take the win.