Young v Old - part 2

Having retrieved my camera from the second ice rink it has been left at this season.  Here is a picture of this years Young v Old competitors.
More photos can be again found on our Flickr Site -
(click on the link to go directly to the site.)
(click on the images to enlarge, or click on the 'sets' to see other ..  well err..... sets)

left to right
Sandy Nicoll, Douglas Pate, Rowena Kerr, Emma Pate,
Becca Elder, James Pate, Morgan Nicoll, Hugh Broad

Young v Old

left to right
George Playfair, Willie Kerr, Hilda Nicoll, Hogo Elder,
Elinor Logan, Jock Robertson, James Pate, Liz Nicoll

Last night saw the revival of our Young v Old challenge.  Originally proposed by Willie Kerr in 1994, it was first held in January 1995 and won by the youngsters.  The following year the oldies won and as that was the last time it was held, the oldies remained the champions.
The only player from the original event playing saw James Pate jump ship and this time skip the 'Older' Rink consisting of himself, Sandy Nicoll, Hugh Broad and Emma Pate.  The 'Younger' team was skipped by Morgan, supported by Rowena Kerr, Becca Elder and Douglas Pate. 

left to right
?, Sandy Nicoll, Helen Meikle, Kath Simpson,
Willie Logan, Peter Rennie, Elizabeth Rennie, Tom Tait

The game itself, played before a packed gallery of anything up to 5 spectators was a high quality match, although this was perhaps not reflected in the scores.  If it hadn't been for bad luck, James and his team wouldn't have had any at all.
The final score recorded a victory for the 'Younger' Team.
Some Photos from the original 1995 game, and following Chinese meal can be found on our Flickr site.

If I have got any names wrong or if anyone can add names, please contact me.
Photos from the 2011 running will be added shortly.

E L Province Knockout - Round 1

In a busy weekends curling, congratulations are due to our team, who beat Yester, in the first round of the defence of the title.  Hopefully more details of this game later........
The semi-final will be on Friday 13th January 2012 at 5.30 pm

E L Province Pairs Competition

James Pate, slick on the draw.

Congratulations to James and James (Logan and Pate) who represented us in the inaugural Province Pairs Competition.  In their first round match, they convincingly beat Markle to go forward into the High Road.
There they met Dirleton in their semi-final.  With only a single being scored in the last end the game was peeled and would require a draw to the button to decide the winners. As both Rennie Trophy games had by this time finished the Haddington boys had a lot of support (pressure) leaning over the barrier.
James Pate played the shot, which everyone though looked light but with excellent sweeping they brought the stone to approximately 1 foot from the button.  Callum, from Dirleton then played his stone which slipped to the back of the house.
Haddington are through to the Final, which will be played on Saturday 11th February at approximately 8.30 pm.

Rennie Trophy @ 50%

And so, before the Christmas Break, the Rennie Trophy also reaches the half way point with the leaders, James (L) and Kath, like in the Wingate, level pegging on 3 wins and 1 loss each.  James holds the slim advantage having won 3 more ends.  Potentially the crucial return match between the two leaders is on Tuesday 20th December at 7.30, our final game before the break.

Balyarrow in RCCC e-zine

An article on the history and a brief report of this years Balyarrow competition can be found in the latest edition of the RCCC's e-zine  - Your Curler
Just click on the link.
Also look out for mentions of John Good and his 'unforgettably humorous' speech and Morgan Nicoll elsewhere in the publication.

Wingate Trophy @ 50%

Last night took the Wingate Trophy into its Christmas Break with the championship neatly poised, with Andy's victory over Dave meaning that the two teams top the table with Andy holding the advantage having won an additional two ends.
The night also saw for Dave and Andy the shame of only getting in 6 ends, but in contrast, Congratulations to Morgan and Willie for their 8 end peeled game.  (I wish I had enough energy to watch some of it).

Pointing the Way

In a very well attended points competition, the Nicoll family swept the board taking the first 3 places, lucky for the rest of us that Liz and Lorna didnt turn up too.  With the exception of the Nicoll's it was an extremely tight competition with 9 players within 4 points of each other.  Almost everyone managed to beat last years scores, well except Dave, last years winner, who as a result had to play first each end to show everyone the line.  (You know what to expect next year Sandy)
Congratulations to Sandy and Lindsey, our winners and everyone else who helped make it such an enjoyable competition.
Full results in all their glory / horror are on the Results Page

POINTS COMPETITION TONIGHT

A last reminder of the Points competition.
See you all there !

Points Competition 29 Nov 2011

Our annual POINTS COMPETITION is on :-

Tuesday 29th Nov at 5.30.

It is open to ALL Members and Reserves

For those unfamiliar with a Points Competition, it is a solo competition, so no fear of letting anyone (other than Yourself) down !

It consists of a series of exercises (Take outs, draws, tap ups etc) with 4 attempts at each type of shot.

Most importantly it is a FUN competition which allows you to practice shots that you may not have had the chance to play before.  You will also play about twice as many stones as you would in a normal club match.

The benefits:-

• Its Fun
• Its good practice.
• (If you ask the skips they will try and give you pointers and help)
• It is for ALL standards, from beginners to experts.
• It allows you to measure your progress (against yourself or others)
• It show your skips how good you are !
• It allows you to witness gamesmanship between the skips.

The cost of the game is £10 per head.

Come along and try it out.

National Province Championships

Dave and his team of James (Pate), Graeme and Andrew (McCrone) acquitted themselves well with 2 extremely good wins and two hard fought losses to end their competition third in their group.  The winning two teams qualifying for the High and Low Road.  Midlothian (Gogar) the team that won our group ended up as losing finalists, while Upper Strathearn, the runners up in our group went on to win the Low Road.  The boys played well and had they been in another section rather then the 'Group of Death' who knows what the result would have been.
A full report of our exploits can be found on the East Lothian Province Website
A fuller report of the event can be found on Skipcottage HERE and HERE

Dave can be seen enjoying the Healthy Option Lunch (note the non-alcoholic drink !) before a crucial game.

JUNIOR COACHING

MURRAYFIELD Sunday 20th NOVEMBER 2011 at 7.30

Junior Coaching Dec 2010

Following the successes of last years Junior Coaching Sessions, James Logan has agreed to run a couple of sessions again this year.  The first session is on Sunday and is open to the family and friends of all club members.  Juniors are the life blood of any club and we hope that this year will be as well supported as last year.
As a direct result of last years coaching, we have reintroduced a one off 'Young Vs Old' game to be held later in December.
For any more details of Sundays session, please contact James - (contact details on the syllabus - a copy of which can be downloaded from the Fixtures page).

Incoming American Men's Tour

East Lothian Province has been asked to provide one four-man team (sorry ladies, this one is men only) to play a game against one of the incoming American teams at Murrayfield on 18 February 2012 at a time yet to be announced.

 

East Lothian Province's President, John Shedden, has asked each of the 8 clubs to nominate 1 player, from which the team, of 4, will be selected. 

 

If you wish your name to be put forward, please contact Graeme as soon as possible. 

Swan Trophy - 1st Round

In a surprising turn of events, Haddington eased their way past the local Corstorphine team and into the semi-finals, for the first time in several years.
It was definitely a day of two or more parts with Morgan, James L, Andrew McCrone and Shelagh romping away to an early lead enabling them to run out easy winners.  On the other sheet, however, James P, Willie K, Graeme and Colin struggled against a strong side consisting of three of Murrayfield's finest ice men !
For a change it was the opposition that was a man short, and after borrowing a player from another match (for one end) incurred a penalty of four shots, which effectively doubled our score to 8.  Unfortunately this did not match their 11.  Willie put a large part of the blame onto his shoes and his next game will see him in a brand new pair, purchased immediately after the game.
The combined teams scores however mean that we will now face Mid-Calder in the Semi's on Friday 6th January 2012.

Skins 2011

In a game where the teams are still coming to grips with the different tactics from normal games, this match hinged around, of all things the coin toss.
To win a skin, you must either win the end by 2 shots, if you have last stone, or simply steal the end if you don't.  It was agreed part way through the game that it was easier to steal then win by 2, so James Pate made Dave Munro's side regret winning the toss and taking last stone (as normal).
James, fielding a strong team managed to steal the first 5 ends, forcing Dave to keep last stone and making the score 9 - 0.  Dave made a good come back though with a strong 6th end and stealing in the seventh.  As the successive ends are more valuable, the final score was a much more comfortable 9 - 7 for last years Wingate Trophy winners.

Balyarrow 2011

Bridge of Weir 2 - Champion of Champions

The dust is finally starting to settle over our defence of the Balyarrow Trophy (see here for the history of the Trophy and the 2011 results).
At the midpoint, Haddington were leading Bridge of Weir by a couple of ends, both clubs on 2 wins.  In the second half, and after a couple of BIG ends (one for and one against) the crucial game was peeled going in to the last end.  Unfortunately we dropped a couple of shots and went down by 2.  All was not lost though, because Bridge of Weir 4 were losing by 2 shots going in to the last end against, St Andrews on the next sheet.  If BoW lost that game, Haddington would still win by the total number of ends up.
The result was revealed to me when after a tight end a resounding cheer broke free from the Bridge of Weir Ranks, signalling their 2 shots for a peel and the overall win with 3 wins and a peel from their four games and Haddington only on 3 wins.
It was an enjoyable day, which fittingly came down to the final stone in the final game on the ice, to produce a winner.
Sixty Eight people stayed on for the prize giving and a welcome supper, provided by Bill and Anne.
With the success of the first Balyarrow not to have been held in Perth, we look forward three years to the next meeting of the five clubs, most likely to be at Greenacres in 2014.
A special thanks to Shelagh for all her help and organisation (and apologies for the photo - I left my camera in Stranraer)

Opening Bonspiel

Finally (It has been a busy week) I can report that in last Tuesday's Opening Bonspiel, John Good and his team fought out a tight Peel 8 - 8 against Andy McDiarmid's squad.  Unfortunately Graeme's team were not quite so lucky, receiving a sound thrashing 13 - 4 from Oor President's rink.
Despite the score lines everyone had an enjoyable night and the newer members got the opportunity to see what the game looks like 'from the other end' when they took their turns in the head.
As usual, Bill and Anne supplied an excellent supper after the game.

Two in a Row

Dunvegan Trophy winners 2011

As reported and photographed by Robin Copeland and  skipcottage :-
Congratulations to Karen Munro, who along with her team-mates Rebecca Steven (skip), Jennifer Marshall, and Hannah Findlay who won this year’s Dunvegan Trophy.
Can you spot the difference between this years winners and last years winners ?
Hmm ! It would appear that Dad, Dave was the event organiser too, so congratulations to the whole Munro family.

Dunvegan winners 2010

CHECK YOUR DIARY

We have now had the opening games in both competitions and both nights have been marred by players not showing up or having arranged reserves.
This spoils the games for everybody and can cost your team the game, given the costs incurred both in ice fees and travelling represents a large waste.
Please ensure all your games are in your diary and that you either turn up or arrange for a reserve.

Calling ALL Members

Would ALL members please contact Graeme, and obtain their Edinburgh Curling Club Membership Card/Sticker.
Correction to the Syllabus, Please note that Pat Blacker's Phone Number is 07713 097667 and James Aberdein's contact number is 07803 262579 and not as printed on the original Syllabus.
Additional copies of the Syllabus (updated) can be downloaded from the Fixtures Page or in paper copy from the club noticeboard at Murrayfield (at the end of sheet 6 ?)

Syllabus Corrections

Since the Syllabus was issued, there have been minor alterations, an updated version of the syllabus is available for download on the Fixtures Page.  Revisions are noted in RED.

Come & Try

The club ran a successful 'Come & Try' session on 25th September.  There were several complete beginers along with on or two of our newer members, watched by our President and coached by John Good and Dave Munro.  Several of the participants have expressed that they would like to try curling again and all the participants AND coaches expressed what a fun time they had.  A big thanks to all those involved.

We hope to have another 'Come & Try' towards the end of the season although will arrange another one if interest is expressed. 

There are Junior Coaching Sessions arranged on 20th Nov and 15th Jan.

The Presidents Drinks

Thanks to Shelagh who, having drafted in some hired help from another club, hosted another superb season opening drinks party.  There was a good turn out with many of the usual crew and some of the newer member staying well into the evening. Now all that remains is opening hostilities on the ice on Tuesday 18th October.

Andy, Trish, Colin, Gordon and Kath

Welcome to the New Haddington Curling Club Website

Due to difficulties editing the new RCCC microsite, we have moved to blogger and created our own web/blog site.
We will maintain the RCCC microsite with a link across to this site.
PLEASE NOTE the RCCC site will not be updated with results, news and events.

You may like to bookmark this site or add it to your list of favourites  which will make it easier to find and connect to and keep updated with the latest information, scores, standings etc.

Features of this site include the facility to add comments to any of the items that appear on the 'Home Page'.
In addition, if your browser features an RSS Reader, you can add this site to it via the buttons at the bottom of the page and you should receive automatic updates any time this page is updated.

Many thanks to Bob Cowan (SkipCottage) for his encouragement and help and his continued permission to 'borrow' from his site.

We are still learning the functionality of this site, so if you notice any errors etc, please contact Graeme.

If you have any news that may be of interest to the club, please contact Graeme