CHANGE OF FIXTURES (WINGATE)

Due to a clash of our final Wingate Fixture on 31st January with the incoming Strathcona Cup Dinner, the games have been rescheduled as follows :-

Wed 31st January - CANCELLED

Mon 29th January @ 5.30pm  Rinks 1 v 4 - James Logan v Willie Kerr
Fri 2nd Feb @ 5.30 Rinks 2 v 3 - Dave Munro v Sandy Nicoll

 Please update your cards/calendar accordingly.

Xmas Message

Have a great curling break and a Fab New Year

Early Christmas for Dave Munro

Following last weeks dip in form (only a peel) Dave was looking to wrap up his second championship in a week.  (Last week he won the Currie and Balerno Kettle League).  However he was up against a resurgent Willie Kerr who was not about to make it easy for him.  True to form, Team Munro was only able to win two ends while the Kerr Squad scored in five ends.  Unfortunately for team Kerr, they were only allowed a single each time while Team Munro Snr took a four and a two to secure the match AND the Wingate crown by 6 - 5.
This represents a hat trick for Dave, having won it for the last two seasons.  We will have to create a Hall of Fame to induct him into as he is the first member to take a hat trick since my records begin (1891).  It could also be noted that Dave has also won our Presidents Cup, three times in a row, again the only person to do so. Before he is overly consumed with his own greatness, he still has a bit of catching up to do as Lindsey has won the ladies points for seven straight years.
Dave has occasionally been assisted (and hindered by his team of Graeme Maguire, Colin Baird and Richard Taylor.
In the other game Sandy powered to a 13 - 8 win over the absent James Logan and moves himself into second place and now only needs to secure another 1 point to guarantee himself safe in the Wingate for a second year.

Rennie @ 50%

The new and enlarged Rennie reached the end of the first round with a couple of interesting results.  Both games went to the seemingly underdogs and both teams that won the most ends, ended up losing.
The undefeated Team Aberdein was in a top of the table clash with Team Morgan.  Willie Kerr, at the helm of Andy's team always seemed to hold a small advantage, whenever Morgan built up a good end, Willie would manage to get one stone into the middle of the pack that was impossible to dislodge.  With the score at 5 - 3 in Willies favour he left Morgan a draw, with backing, for a 2 and a peeled game.  Despite Graeme's advice, Morgan instead elected to play a heavy weight strike, with only a thin edge visible (and the necessity to catch the stone even finer).  When the debris had cleared, the measure was brought out and Morgan had made the necessary three and took the game
6 - 5 despite having lost four ends to three.  Andy had suffered his first defeat of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Rowena was also absent from her team, which was led by Lorna.  Lorna managed to engineer a 5 and a 4 shot ends in the second and fourth ends to take a commanding 9 - 2 lead.  Team Baird fought back with a win and a steal in the next two ends.  At this point Lorna, with brother Sandy subbing in third, seemed to relax and Colin, Hugh and both Donalds almost pulled off an unlikely come back.  Unfortunately they only managed a steal of 3 in the final end and narrowly lost out 9 - 8, despite having won five of the seven ends !
So at the half way point, Teams Aberdein and Nicoll Snr. are top with only one defeat each and the A Team topping the table by virtue of having won two more ends.  Teams Kerr Jun. and Baird are next, respectively one and two wins behind the leaders.  Meanwhile Teams Pate and Munro Jnr. are at the other end of the table with one win each.  Team Pate however has a relatively comfortable six end advantage over the junior squad.  If the table was to be determined on ends ONLY, the James Pate quartet would be in third place.

East Lothian Province Knockout

Despite a close match, unfortunately the holders (yes, us!) went out in the first round match against Yester.  The game was evenly matched until the second last end where our draw was slightly heavy and instead of taking a 2 shot lead into the final end, we were 2 shots down.  Yester then proceeded very clinically to remove our stones until we simply ran out of stones.

East Lothian Province Pairs

Dave Munro holds up the Doo'cot Trophy

On keen and swinging ice, the 1st round of the Province Pairs developed into 4 very closely contested games. The games were played over 4 ends and after the 3rd end was completed Haddington held a slim 2-1 advantage over Doocot. However at the end of the next end Doocot (after a draw shot challenge) successfully made it through to the high road and Haddington was relegated to the Low Road. 

In the high road semi finals Haddington edged out Markle and proceeded to the final.

The low road final took place first and East Linton, skipped by Paul Neison with Emma Hood leading, took a single point at the 1st end but Haddington took the following 2 ends scoring 3 then 2 to lead 5-1 going down the 4th and last end. Although East Linton managed to score 2, the victory and the Doocot Trophy was won by Haddington pair Dave Munro (skip) and Colin Baird by a final result of 5-3.

 The High Road was between the father & son pairing of Balfour and Sandy Stewart for Yester and Frank Ross and Katherine Golding for Athelstaneford. This proved to be a really intense event but in the end Frank and Katherine successfully defended their title.

Wingate at 2/3rds distance

Last night saw the teams completing their second leg of the triple round robin league.
Dave Munro our leader was stuck in traffic on the M8 while his deputy (my name will not be mentioned to protect the guilty) steered his team into a 6 - 1 losing position against Sandy.  Unfortunately for Sandy, Dave turned up in the middle of the fourth end and proceeded to win that and every successive end to pull back to an unexpected 6 - 6 draw. (I am not sure if I am relieved or annoyed at the embarrassment).  This was the first peeled game of the competition.
Meanwhile, on paper, another close tussle was being fought out between Elinor (standing in for James L) and Willie (the man with the two tone shoes).  This game resulted in our second peeled game of the competition with a score of 4 - 4. Although Mr Kerr was overheard to say that he probably did not deserve the point !
So two peeled games leave Dave still out in front although Willie and Sandy could still catch him by winning ALL their remaining games AND by dramatically increasing their winning ends.  In the relegation battle, Willie, Sandy and James L are all within 2 points (one win)  and 2 ends of each other.  So it looks like Dave is odds on to get his hat trick but the only thin that is certain is that he cannot be relegated and James Logan cannot now win this year.

Meanwhile in the Rennie, approaching the half way point, an important victory for Rowena lifts her team up from last place to third, which improves the prospects of the youngsters for this season, but there is still a long way to go in this competition yet.

Edinburgh Area Bonspiel

Due to reasons that we wont go into here, East Lothian were unable to defend the Black Bull Trophy.
However a fun 'Draw Shot' Competition was added and this was dominated by one of the East Lothian Teams.  This team was made up by Morgan Nicoll (representing Aberlady) and Colin Baird, Sandy Nicoll (Haddington) John Shedden, Shelagh Main (Athelstaneford), Ian Donald (East Linton) and Ken Burchell (Doo'cot).  Sandy was also the ONLY player to 'cover the hole' (although faither was not far behind
Well done and enjoy your drinks.

Rennie Update

For Karen Munro's team the half way point was reached by securing their first win.  This was well deserved as ALL members of their team played the game slightly better than the previously undefeated Nicoll Snr. team.  The overall score of 12 - 6 did not however reflect the game (but I would say that, wouldn't I?)
The other teams still have a way to go to reach the half way point but Andy Aberdein came away from a very 'loud' game against James Pate with an 8 - 4 win.  This game came down to the last stone.
This leaves Team Aberdein as our only undefeated Rennie team and he now has a two win (and healthy end) margin over Morgan and Colin, although they have a game in hand.  Their next game, against each other could be decisive.
At the other end of the table, Team Munro Jnr's win lifts them off the bottom of the table and puts them above Rowena and below James Pate, all on one win a piece.  Rowena however has two games in hand and James has one to alter this before half term.

Young v Old

Having last taken this well fought over title for the last time in 2014 the youngsters, led by Karen Munro, were out for blood.  Supported by Lindsey McConnell, Alistair Harvey and Douglas Pate they got off to a flying start with a 3 in the first and after holding James Logan's Oldies to a single took another 2 in the third.  The score was therefore 5 - 1 after three ends.
It was this point where either the wheels started coming off the Karen's bus or James successfully galvanised his team of Elinor Logan, Hugh Broad and David Wyllie because it was all one way traffic (to keep the motoring metaphor going).
Congratulations to the Oldies for once again retaining the title with a final score of 8 - 5.

It should be added that there is an extra note on the scorecard in Karen's handwriting that 'We played better !!'    - Maybe Karen but it is the result that counts !

RCCC District Medal

This year the RCCC threw up as our 'random' draw - Aberlady.  This seemed less random than a derby match.  Our team pool was considerably shortened by some of OUR players/committee playing for the opposition.  Our team consisting of Dave Munro, John Good, Andy Aberdein and (oops sorry !)  simply outplayed our East Lothian brethren.
The win of a 3 in the first end resulted in our team being able to settle, while Aberlady were never able to settle into the game.  We scored consistently and it wasn't until the fifth end that Aberlady got on the score board (and that wasn't due to the generosity of the Haddington team).
The final score was 8 - 2, so congratulations to our boys and girls for their well deserved victory.

Young v Old AND District Medal news

Reports to follow but for those that dont know.

Yay - the resurgence of the OLDIES and

Yay - Haddington beat (severely) Aberlady in their derby RCCC District Medal Game

Irish Curling

 Congratulations to Frances Donald, who took part in the Irish Curling Association's Fyfe Trophy at Braehead.  Each team completed five, three end games to establish the winner of the Irish Championships.  David Whyte's rink claimed victory with four wins from their five games.  Among David's rink was our own Frances Donald.
When interviewed afterwards Frances cited her games with Haddington for her improvement in form.

National Province Championships

The 'Prize' for winning the East Lothian Province Knockout is the opportunity to represent the Province at the National Championships held every year at Greenacres. This year, the honour befell to our victorious team of James Pate, Dave Munro, Sandy Nicoll and Andy Aberdein.  The actual formation of the team caused many headaches with the event clashing with weddings and rugby matches, as each team is restricted to a pool of six players.  The Nicoll family stood up to the mark and the team for Saturday was, Morgan, James P, Sandy and Andy,  with Dave coming in to skip on Saturday and sister Lindsey replacing Sandy.  History does not relate who would be playing on the final day.
Our first game was against Cupar, a very strong team.  Nerves were settled taking a single in the first end and losing it again straight away in the second.  However a run of 1, 4, 2 and 1 against in ends two to five saw the end of our challenge and we went down 9 - 4 against our eventual group runners up.  Our second game of the day was against Upper Strathearn, which was a much more cautious affair.  The opposition stole a 2 in the first end and after that all the ends went on singles.  Going in to the last end we were 5 - 3 up but a tactical error saw us lose a four and the game 5 - 7.
The second day dawned with us on a played 2, lost 2 record and perhaps the strongest team in the group against us first.  Refreshing our playing pool must have helped with Dave and Lindsey joining the team.  The game was poised at 3 - 3 after 5 ends, including our first blanked end ot the championship however Angus took a, possibly decisive 3 in the fifth end.  Fighting back we scored a 2 in the seventh end and managed a steal of 2 in the final end to take a 7 - 6 win (against the eventual group winners).  Our first points were on the board and the fightback had started.  Next up, Selkirk, representing the Borders.
We were against more familiar opposition, which seemed to help.  Despite a come back with a 3 in the seventh and and a steal of 1 in the final end, Haddington had done enough to record a 10 - 7 win and leave qualification a (small) possibility.
The final group game and third game of the day,  was against Inverness.  The decisive moment was a steal of 3 in the third end which laid the foundations for a relatively easy 7 - 2 win, leaving Haddington on 3 wins and 2 losses.
Unfortunately this left us third in our group and failing to qualify by 1 point.
It should be noted that the two teams that topped our group, one of which we had beaten, both won their quarter final games and lost in the semi-final round.

Well done to our six players, who certainly did not disgrace themselves or our club.

As a final note, Yester were also taking part as a 'reserve' entry.  They also finished third in their group with three wins from five.  Yester tied with Renfrewshire on both points and ends but missed qualification on 'shots-up'

East Lothian is one of the smallest Provinces and to produce two teams that were close to qualification is a testament to our abilities.  Well done again to both Haddington and Yester teams.

Swan Trophy - aka Oxenfoord rnd 2

Following our early season departure from the Rink Championships, where our very talented team led by Willie (other names withheld to prevent embarrassment) were humbled by cunning Oxenfoord, we were looking forward to revenge when we were again drawn against them in the First round of the Swan.
Our teams, led by Willie and James Logan applied themselves and things were going well until both teams lost big scores in the third end.  Willie bounced back with a good fourth end and a steal in the fifth while James slowly pegged the scores back.
When the curtain finally came down, it was mission accomplished for Willie taking a 9 - 5 win, meanwhile James Logan managed to restrict defeat to 4 - 5 scoreline, leaving Haddington the victors.

We now go on to face Corstorphine in the Semi-Final on Friday 26th January 2018 @ 12.05.

Wingate at 1/3 distance

With the first round now complete, our defending champion Dave Munro and his team have opened some clear blue water between themselves and the other teams.  This is not so much as a mighty river as a small trickling stream-let.
The Munro squad have managed to win all three of their games in what looks on paper as quite comfortably.  In reality the games were all much closer than the results make them look.
The remaining three skips are meantime squabbling among themselves, in that they all have one win to their names.  Sandy beat James L but lost to Willie.  Willie on the other hand lost to James Logan who had already been beaten by Sandy etc etc.  All these games, however,  were decided by a single shot, leaving Dave as the only skip who has won by more than one shot.
The remaining league positions are therefore decided by ends, so James L takes second spot having won 10 ends to the others having 9 a-piece.  Sandy pips Willie by only being four shots down compared to six.  Maybe the results would have been a bit different if someone hadn't stolen ONE of Willie's curling shoes after the first game of the season.  (Sandy/James, I hope you are going to give him it back at the Dinner?)

Individual Points Competition

The youthful Mr Munro

It is always the fun part where I try and create some facts and figures on a game when I have not been
there myself (for the second year!)
OK - Here we go.
This years winner is Dave Munro with a monumental 45 points from 8 disciplines.  This was an improvement of 11 points from his best performance (since 2010) and catapults him up 7 places in the rankings to top the 'Best Ever' table.  He wasn't the only player to improve their personal bests, both James and Elinor improved their best scores by 1 point and David Wyllie by 10 points.  This boosts David Wyllie from 15th to 8= in the overall tables.
It should be no surprise that Lindsey took the Ladies prize for the fifth year running, although maybe the change of name should reset this winning streak to 1.

Aberlady Friendship Kettle

Congratulations to our 'Juniors' who were invited to take part in the Aberlady Friendship Kettle.
This is an event, similar in nature to our Balyarrow Trophy and is played between clubs sharing their 'birthday' and selected clubs with whom they have a close association.  This close link is demonstrated by three out of our four players also being members of Aberlady !
The competition is played on an accumulated shots-up basis.  Our Juniors, skipped by Karen Munro made a strong come back in the final two ends of their game against Breadalbane/Kenmore to secure a +2 shot score.
In their second game, Lorna Nicoll took the helm and along with Karen, Callum Harvey and Daniel Peart.  Playing against a double father/son pairing, representing Blairdrummond, they pulled out a narrow lead and managed to retain it for the rest of the game, giving them their second +2 shot score.
With a total +4 shots they were able to secure second place to an Aberlady team that were taking no prisoners by winning their second game 8 - 0, thus ensuring them a win with the score of +11.

A Full House

A rare occurrence in the Wingate last night with all 4 teams fielding their 'designated' rosters.  No reserves or other players were on the ice, despite David Wyllie on standby in the gallery.

Two tight and well fought games were played with Willie Kerr's side just getting the better of Sandy's team.  Despite some large scores being traded only one shot separated them at the end of the night.

In the other game, a full 8 ends were played, although Dave Munro's rink elected to blank one end.  This (fortunately) seemed to have paid off with Dave going in to the last end two shots up.  James Logan played his final stone with a chance of a diagonal raised takeout to leave him with a five and the game.  In the end though Team Munro picked up another shot to end the game with a comfortable looking 7 - 4 scoreline.

Province Competitions

The draws for the East Lothian Province competitions have now taken place and can be found towards the bottom of the 'Fixtures' page

Skins 2017

Double Skins Champion, Dave Munro

.... and so the victorious teams from last season assembled for our annual 'Skins' competition.
The Munro team, the current Skins champions mustered an experienced team looked on as the 'rules' were explained to Sandy Nicoll's team.  The NEW club rules were then explained to both teams.
Team Munro's experience showed and they took skins in the first four ends to make the score 6 - 0.
Sandy then took the more valuable skins on ends five and six to level the score at 6 - 6.
The referree made sure that both teams were aware that in the event of the four skins available for the seventh end, not being won, that a winner would be determined by drawing the shot.
With his last shot remaining, Sandy had worked out that to win he would have to hit the button, not once, but twice in order to take the title.  This added pressure caused him to over throw his shot and leave Team Munro victorious with a score of 10 - 6.

Balyarrow 2017

For the history of the Balyarrow trophy see the appropriate tab
Firstly thanks to Colin Baird and Shelagh Main for the organisation of this competition, which we were hosting this year.  Despite difficulties with some clubs raising a full compliment of players, approximately 70 players from each of the 5 clubs turned up to engage in their three yearly bonspiel.

In the early session, our teams led by Morgan and Sandy both secured victories giving Haddington the lead going in to the second session.  Dave Munro, the man that scored the winning shot in the 2014 competition took an early and commanding lead before getting pegged back.  In the meantime James L was getting a lesson in curling from Strathendrick.  In the final end Dave seemed to remember the script and that the winners get to host the next event, and lost a three and the game.  (I am sure that that was the furthest thing from his mind)

The two losses in the second session meant that we finished in third place overall and the well deserved victors were Strathendrick.  This was fitting, as they were the originators of the Bonspiel, and were the only club of the original five that had yet to win the trophy.

The afternoon was concluded by testing out the capabilities of our new caterers with over 55 players sitting down to a meal, drinks and banter.  The caterers, like Strathendrick, came out with flying colours.

Our skips and senior players also produced a series of prizes for a raffle in aid of the Murrayfield Renovation Appeal.  This raised £340 and thanks were expressed to ALL the Balyarrow Clubs, by Murrayfield for their effort.

RCCC Rink Champs

An early season start for our first 'external' competition resulted in an early season defeat for Willie Kerr and his team.  Despite, fielding a team of experience and youth (You are still young in heart and mind Willie) consisting of Rowena Kerr, Karen Munro and Sandy Nicoll, they were out foxed, and played by Oxenfoord, who progress to the next round.

Opening Bonspiel

Lots of summer rust was dusted off as the four teams led by Graeme, Sandy John G and Colin squared off against each other in the Opening Bonspiel.
New faces, Paula Arnott and Susan Stanton were making their presence known, on the ice and many players found themselves in unusual positions in their rinks.  This afforded them the novelty of getting to play different shots and to experience, in some cases, what a curling match looks like from the other end of the sheet.
Graeme v Sandy started off very positively for Sandy winning the first four ends and racing to a 6 - 0 lead.  At that point, maybe the summer excesses started getting to him, or Graeme remembered he was no longer on his motorbike but anyway the tide turned.  Graeme took all the remaining ends but alas still came up short with a 6 - 3 defeat.
Meanwhile.... John Good and his team of Roy Black, Paula Arnott and Colin Hood were in not in a compromising mood.  From what I witnessed, the only thing they made a mess of all night was the score card!  Before the conclusion of the game John's team reached the end of the new scoreboards and left the ice with a 12 - 0 win.
Congratulations to John, Roy, Paula and Colin H.

President's Drinks

President's Drinks.
A huge thank you to James and Elinor for hosting one of the best 'Early Season Drinks' that I can remember.  It was extremely well attended and the hosts very attentive (although maybe next time, both ends of the cocktail sticks could be sharpened !).  There was a lot of good 'chat' going on in all corners of the room and hallway.
It was great to see some old and newer faces and to catch up with past events.

Rennie - update

With the match secretary now back from his start of season jaunts, the first games for all the teams in the Rennie have now been completed.  Looking at the results, there must be a few people with smirks and high hopes, while some must still be hoping to get rid of the summer rust.
An interesting looking table but can the teams improve and/or maintain their level.

Spring Cleaning

With the new season only a few weeks away your committee has been hard at work securing the required ice and drawing teams.
The website, although looking very familiar (like an old pair of curling shoes) has been updated with all the info for the new season.  Please take some time to trawl through it.

This is a big season with something like an extra 20 sheets of ice having been booked.  Ten of these sheets are for our Tri-annual Balyarrow Competition and the other sheets are to accommodate the additional team for our Rennie Competition.
All the upcoming fixtures should be listed at the top of the webpage.
Remember, if you are on Facebook you can always join our page here .
This page is moderated by Lindsey (Not Nicoll) McConnell, to whom congratulations are sent, and is especially useful for those in the Rennie Competition as she issues 'game alerts' for the junior teams.

Final reminders -
Pay your subscriptions by 5th September
Don't forget to reply to Presidents Drink's Invite
Note the times of ALL your games (Not just the Wingate and Rennie ones)
Arrange your subs early if you cannot make a fixture.

.......enough nagging.
Enjoy, what is left of the summer

CURL EDINBURGH 2018 APPEAL

CURL EDINBURGH 2018 APPEAL

The Curl Edinburgh 2018 Appeal recently kicked off with great interest and curiosity from our members! The appeal is looking to raise funds for essential modernisations of our curling facility.
The detailed plan, prepared in conjunction with architects, structural engineers, costs consultants, and others, was set out at a launch event last month. In brief, it schedules work in three phases to coincide with our off seasons. The sequence of work is still being confirmed, however the modernisation includes:

• a new concrete cooling floor,
• recladding the elevations,
• energy efficient lighting,
• the creation of an additional floor above the plant room, and
• doubling the size of the viewing gallery

The project will be funded by a combination of cash reserves, grants, loans, and donations.
More than 30 years ago, a previous generation of Edinburgh curlers dug deep to ensure the continuation of curling in Edinburgh. Now, it is our turn. We are certain we can meet this challenge and emerge with a modern and efficient facility of which we can all be proud!
Donation forms are available at the bar or in the office or download a copy here. Send in your donation today!

A Closer Look

Phase 1

Planning consent has been secured for Phase 1 of construction. During the first phase of the project, the following will be undertaken:

• Insulating the curling rink walls
• Installing energy-efficient LED lighting
• Modernisation of scoreboards and ice hall décor

Phase 2

Phase 2 includes the critical replacement of the curling floor:

• Replace the aging concrete cooling floor
• Install new flow and return headers
• Construct foundations to allow for the Phase 3 extension of the first floor viewing area

Phase 3

The final phase of the project will ensure that we control our own destiny and are not at risk of losing communal gathering space. The construction will include:

• A better-integrated bar and viewing area
• New office space and roof plant area above the existing plant room
• A DDA-compliant passenger lift
• Toilet provision on the first floor

Want to learn more? You can view and download the original launch presentation online:

Launch Presentation

Pairs Competition

Rather late but the results of the Pairs Competition have now been added to the 'Results Tab'
Congratulations to Dave Munro and Ian Donald who took the High Road and Sandy Nicoll and David Wyllie who took the Low Road title.

Rennie Trophy - Winner Crowned

Congratulations to Sandy Nicoll who alongside his young team of sister Lindsey, Hamish Logan, Alistair Harvey, George Meikle and Emma Pate, took the Rennie title.  Their battle was a fierce one against the Karen Munro team but they came out the victors with the final stone.  They have therefore assured themselves of the crown with one game still to play.
In the final game Karen will play James Pate (second and third in the standings) to decide whether the youngsters take first AND second place.
In the other game our new champion Sandy will play Colin Baird.  Colin is still in a position to avoid relegation, but he needs to topple our champion elect.

Young v Old

With the Younger element rampaging all over the Rennie competition, it was a matter of pride for both sides to win the prestigious Young v Old crown.  The last winners were the Oldies who retained the title after a peel in last years edition.
Rumour has it that this was a match both teams were wanting to win and that honours were shared with one win to each side.  Overall however the Oldies took it with one impressive win.
On the other hand I may be talking rubbish, but the Oldies still won.
An eye witness report would be appreciated.

E.L. Knockout 2016/17

Hot on the heels of our Province Bonspiel success comes another victory.
Haddington are the Province Knockout champions.  Below is a short report on the semi final and final:-

The Haddington team of skip James Pate, third Dave Munro, second Sandy Nicoll and lead Andy Aberdein played Athelstaneford (Johnny Shedden, Douglas Scott, Frank Ross and Roy Black) in the semi final. From the start we managed to control and dictate the game and even when an end looked like drifting away from us James would pull out a saving shot and either keep the loss to a minimum or even claim the end. So we built a reasonably comfortable lead and Athelstaneford offered their hand in the 7th end to see Haddington through to the final. This gave us the opportunity for a brief rest before the final which followed in the next session. Meanwhile Yester and Dirleton were having a close battle and Dirleton skip Susan Meikle drew her last stone on the 8th end to gain a peel so their game went to a draw shot challenge. Susan unfortunately threw her stone through the house and Yester skip, Sandy Stewart, with all 4 of his team sweeping as hard as possible, managed to touch the front of the house so scraped into the final too.

So it was Haddington against ‘young’ Yester (Sandy Stewart, Andrew ?, Jack Kerr and Zoe Bain) in the final. It was a completely different type of game from our semi final with much more striking and much less use of guards. There was very little scoring in the early stages but from the 4th end Haddington managed to gradually ease away from Yester and by the time we reached the 8th end Yester skip Sandy had to try a ‘miracle’ shot which wasn’t really on to try and force the game to a peel. He didn’t manage it so Haddington took the trophy for the East Lothian Province Knock Out for the first time in 6 years. The club now have the opportunity to represent East Lothian in the Province Championships.

D.M.

E. L. Bonspiel 2017

Congratulations to both our teams in the East Lothain Bonspiel.
In the first round Haddington 2 came out of their match against Dirleton 11 shots up.  This gave them the half time lead over East Linton by 4 shots.  Unfortunately as this is a Shenkel competition, when they came to play each other East Linton came out on top.
Meanwhile, Haddington 1 started quietly with a single shot win over Yester.  This gave them a second round game against Doo'cot, who reached half time sitting in mid table.  The Haddington quartet then 'caught fire' and administered a severe 17 - 1 beating to Doo'cot.  This result gave Haddington 1 a total score of 17 shots up.  This was enough to secure Haddington the Elco Cup, for the nineteenth time in the history of the trophy, which dates back to 1859.
So well done to James Logan, James Pate, Andy Aberdein and Elinor Logan (helped out in the first game by Roy Black)

Wingate - Tablets of Stone

The penultimate round of the Wingate saw top and bottom of the table clashes.  The results lock in everyones positions and no more movement is possible.  We can all enjoy the final round with nothing but pride at stake.
We hail Dave Munro as our winner, for the second year in succession.  A feat that has only been achieved on six previous occasions, since the war !  They are:-

A McDiarmid 2013, 2014
P Rennie 1996, 1997
J Logan 1990,1991
J McLaren 1972, 1973
R Howden 1961, 1962
T Fortune 1953, 1954

I notice that no-one has achieved a hat trick, yet........  No pressure Dave.
Dave was assisted by James Pate, Colin Baird and Frances Donald.

At the other end of the table, a high scoring match was taking place with Morgan, skipping for Simon, stealing a 4 in the first end before losing a 4 in the second.  The third end saw him reestablish his lead with another 4 before the symmetry was lost by James Logan taking a 5 in the fourth end to make the score 9 - 8 after only four ends.  The game then settled down with James taking a 2 in the final end to win 12 - 10.
With 22 shots scored, this was easily the highest scoring game of the season.  The second highest with a total of 19 shots scored was also between James and Simon, this time in favour of Simon's rink.  That was also the first Wingate match of the year.

USA TOUR 2017

With only a few days to go President John Good will be packing and repacking his bags ready to set off on the 2017 Scottish Curlers Tour to the USA.  He will be playing 31 games in three weeks and hopefully will return home having regained the Herries Maxwell Trophy for Scotland.
The tour will cover from Cape Cod in the East to Minneapolis in the West.
The best wishes of the club goes with him, Callum Harvey, Jim Ramsey and the 17 other curlers.

You can follow their day to day exploits on their website  https://rccc2017tour.com.
This link is also on the right hand panel along with other useful links.

Access to Murrayfield

Bridge Closure - As from Wednesday 11th January 2017 the main road bridge into the rink will be closed.  The bridge into the back car parks (rugby parking) should be used - this will be well signposted.  Parking will still be in the usual car park, with the overflow in the back car park.

President v Vice President

Maybe this is the first time this match has, in name if not in fact,
been won by a Vice President who was in the Caribbean at the time.
President John, encouraged by Willie Kerr, Lindsay Nicoll and David
Wyllie headed off the challenge by Morgan Nicoll, Sandy Nicoll and
Colin Baird with a seven to their five.
Dave Munro, Jack Kerr, Karen Munro and John Playfair, playing for the
President, finished with four shots, three behind James Pate with his
VP team of Roy Black, Liz Nicoll and Richard Taylor.
Result: The Vice President wins with a total of twelve shots to eleven.

It was good to have George Playfair, for many years one of our members
and possibly the most reliably consistent  lead some of us will have
curled with, watching the match and joining us for the supper which
followed.