Success at the 4 Nations

Another year, another 4 Nations.  Once again, I had a great time and helped the Scottish Men (officially this time) retain the Tom Ballantyne Trophy from the English.  With only the result from the eighth and final match to come England were beating Scotland by 5 shots however a 12-3 scoreline saw the result reversed to give a Scottish win by 4 shots.  I was privileged to play with a great skip and third combo, Hamish Lorrain-Smith and Alan Chalmers, both of (Musketeers) and we contributed a total of 16 shots up, over our two games, to the overall Scottish winning margin of +4.

Alan Chalmers, David Wright,  Graeme & Hamish Lorrain-Smith

Scotland also won the Connie Miller Trophy (Scot v England ladies) and the Marshall Millenium Trophy (Scot v Ireland)

Our rink also won the ECA Medal for the best Scottish rink, the second year in a row that I have won this.












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East Lothian Bonspiel Champions

CONGRATULATIONS.

James Pate, Ann Redpath, Shelagh Main & Dave Munro

Following last weeks news that we were officially East Lothians most successful club, our teams were obviously inspired during their games in the EL Bonspiel.
Both our teams were undefeated, each playing two games.
Indeed both teams managed to beat Athelstaneford, the club that recently won the province knock-out.









For the statisticians, the results were:-
Both Haddington rinks won both their games.

HCC1 (Skip D Munro, J Pate, S Main & A Redpath) beat
Direlton in the first session 11-2 and Athelstaneford (1) 14-1 in the second session winning the competition.

HCC 2 (A McDiarmid, W & J Kerr. S Kesley & W Thomson) beat
Yester (1) 7-4 and Athelstaneford (2) 7-6

This was the first time Dave has won this competition.  All had a very enjoyable afternoon.

Top 3 results below:
                                                Shots up               Shots up            Shots up
                                                 round 1.                round 2              Total
WINNERS       Haddington  1               9                        13                   +22     
R'Up                Aberlady                     -2                        12                   +10                 
Third               Athelstaneford 2            7                        -1                     +6

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Most successful club in East Lothian

It is official.
Haddington is the most successful curling club in East Lothian, based on the results of Province Competitions:-


and (updated with 2012 result)

Willie storms back into form

With two games of 2012 under his belt, Willie has now beaten both the teams at the top of the Wingate standings, to move off the bottom of the table.  In the process he also gained revenge against Andy for the 'granny' he received in the first part of the season.
Look out everyone - Willie is coming.

Knocked out of the Knock-out

Commiserations to Morgans team, consisting of Dave, Kath and Shelagh, who tumbled out of the Province Knock-out competition.  At the end of the game it was a fairly heavy defeat by East Linton.  The final score was East Linton 9, Haddington ........ (well it rhymed with hero).
For the record East Linton went on to lose the final to Athelstaneford, who now go forward to the nationals at Greenacres next season.  A match report on the final can be found on the Province website.

The Swan-song

The two Haddington teams took the ice on Saturday, pleased to have avoided Currie & Balerno, who were on for a hat-trick of wins, in their semi-final.  Instead we faced Mid-Calder.
It must be said that the games didnt go according to plan.  Our first team suffered early losses while the second Mid-Calder team adjusted their tactics and just started hitting.
On the day neither of out teams played up to their potential and the best that can be said is that the match was kept live until the last end.  Although the prospect of scoring a couple of 8's was slim, at best.
Congratulations to Mid-Calder, who couldn't celebrate too long in the bar as the final, against C & B followed in the next session.  A report on the final and some photographs can be found on Robin Copeland's blog.
In a tight final Mid-Calder edged C & B to stop their hat trick.
Well at least we can say we reached the semi-finals for the first time in several years and were put out by the eventual winners.  This is becoming a bit of a theme this season !

Junior Coaching / Come & Try

Please note that due to circumstances the Junior Coaching on Sunday 15th Jan 2012 (7.30) will no longer be only for Juniors.
We propose that this ice is used as another COME & TRY SESSION
If you know of anyone interested (or could be persuaded to give curling a shot) please let me know.
I already have two or three people interested.
The session will still welcome juniors and ice permitting (we only have one sheet) anyone else wanting some practice/ coaching.
If you are thinking about coming along, or know someone that wants to try, please let Graeme know in advance, so that we can make sure that there are not too many !
Priority will be given to Juniors and Come & Try-ers, followed by leads and seconds.

2012 - An Early Start

Happy New Year to all our members.
2012 Kicks off with a glut of games, including external competitions.  So this is just a quick reminder of the first few games:-

I hope you all had a great New Year.
This is just a quick reminder of what we have coming up.

5-01-12    Thu     5.30  Wingate Rosebowl Games
                   James P v Andy and Dave v Willie

6-01-12    Fri  12.30 Swan Trophy Semi Final 12.30 (Final at 3pm)  (Mid Calder)
                   Shelagh, Morgan, James L, A McCrone. and
                   James P, Willie, Graeme and Colin

13-01-12    Fri  5.30  EL Province KO  (East Linton)  (Final Sun 15-01-12)
                     Morgan, Dave, Kath & Shelagh

16-01-12    Mon  5.30  Wingate Rosebowl Games & supper night.