RCCC Rink Championships Semi-Final

As I was unable to be in attendance, I will post a message from the Musketeers :-

Graeme

Many thanks for letting us postpone the original date. As you may have heard we were then very rude, and managed to win the game with a big 5 down the last.

Thanks also to Willie, James and the other 2 lads for a fun, friendly game.

Alan

For the records, the final score was 9 - 3 to the Musketeers.

East Lothian Knock-out

Our draw for this competition resulted in the toughest first round match with a very strong Athelstaneford team, boasting one ex-world champion and two international tourists in their line up.
The Haddington team skipped by James Pate and supported by Elinor Logan, Simon Kesley and Andrew McCrone took a three point to two lead after the second end and then lost the next two ends.  The fifth end was blanked and Haddington drew level again at five all after the sixth end.  Robin Aitken in the final end with the hammer duly made their two and ran out seven to five victors.

Rennie at 66%

The Rennie has now completed round 2 of three.  The new boys are leading the way with Colin Baird still clear of the pack but with his lead reduced.  Simon has now climbed the ranks and is in second spot, 1 win behind Colin but with the same number of wins and 1 end more ahead of Willie who is also mounting something of a comeback. 

Wingate Game Postponed

This notice is for Rinks 1 & 3 of the Wingate Rosebowl Competition (James Pate's and James Logan's rinks) only.  The game on Tuesday 18th December at 5.30 has been postponed until Monday 18th February 2013 at 7.30 pm.

This notice does not apply to the other game (Rinks 2 v 5) which will still be played on 18th December as scheduled.

The Fixtures page has been amended and a revised syllabus has been emailed to members.

Wingate @ 50%

Last night saw the Wingate competition reach the half way mark.  This shows Andy with a 100% record with 4 wins, while James Logan and Morgan are locked together for runner up spot ,  with 2 wins and 15 ends each.
There is all to play for at the other end of the table with the bottom 2 places being separated by only 2 ends.
Please note that some scores have been amended showing a 3 shot deduction to rinks that were a player short rather than the addition of 3 shots to their opponents.

Points Winner

Congratulations to James Pate for winning the Points Competition last night.  Again there was a good turn out with 11 players taking to the ice, down from last years record of 16.

It was a night of fun and as usual, gamesmanship.  Last years champion Sandy played first which hurt his eventual score.  Quick play meant that we scraped through 9 exercises, compared to only 7 last year.  The final discipline produced a turn round in the scores to provide us with a worthy winner.

The full scores and comments are on the results page.

Points Competition Wednesday 21st November

Points Competition 21 Nov 2012at 5.30pm

Our annual Points Competition 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, or been asked 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.

Come and Try Curling

We are having another Come and Try Session on Sunday 18th November 2012.

This is open to all comers, friends, family, club juniors and anyone else wanting some practice/ coaching.  There will be an introduction to the sport for all newcomers followed by some on-ice coaching and we will finish off with a short game before returning to the bar.
Please tell Graeme 07990 545 792 if you, or anyone you know, wants to come along.

The ice is booked from 8pm until 9.45pm.
We will meet in the bar in the bar at the curling rink between 7.30 and 7.45.
The entrance to the curling rink is through the small blue door to the far right of the entrance to the main skating rink at Murrayfield (beside the bike stand and the big wheelie bins).  The bar is up the stairs.
You will need warm clothing (but not too warm) that is loose and lets you bend and preferably nothing that sheds fluff or anything else.
Most importantly you will need a clean pair of trainer type shoes (Ideally a squash or badminton shoe that has some but not too much tread).
It would be appreciated if you could wash/scrub the soles of the shoes before you come and change into them inside the ice rink.
(A small piece of grit or a hair or a piece of fluff can do seriously strange things to the path of a 20kg piece of granite.)

Edinburgh International Curling

This is your chance to watch 24 of Europe’s finest curling teams coping with the same ice as we face on a regular basis.  12 of the teams are from Scotland while the others are come from France, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Norway, Czech Republic, Italy, Russia and Netherlands. A great spread of nations taking part and a very strong lineup.
Last year the winners were Dave Edwards and his squad from Aberdeen.
Play has already started and will continue all weekend with with the finals on Sunday.
More information can be found on their website.
If you cannot get down to watch try catching up with their live webcast, which this year is FREE.

Rennie completes round 1

The first of three rounds of the Rennie Quaich is now complete with shots and ends deciding the look of the league table.  All teams have now suffered losses and experienced the joy of wins.  Round 2 looks to follow in the same pattern.

Men v Women

Well done to our men who faced Edinburgh Ladies in the first round of the Swan Trophy.  The result was taken on aggregate scores over two matches.  Due to Shelagh being injured Haddington fielded two all male teams against the Ladies and ran out with an easy victory.  The final scoreline showing that Haddington were over 20 shots up !
Currie & Balerno had to play an extra end to ease their way past Mid Calder and await us in the next round on the 4th of January. 

Haddington Skins 2012

The Skins competition this year was a nail biting affair.  The winners of last years competitions squared off against each other with Willie Kerr substituting for James Logan and Graeme Maguire replacing Colin Baird in the Rennie team (Colin being in BOTH winning teams last season.).
With a final scoreline of 12 - 4 to Dave Munro's Wingate team of Shelagh Main, Colin Baird and Frank Brogan, it may seem strange to say that it all came down to the last stone but that is the way skins can work.
After a winning start from Willie, Dave took the next three ends before Willie picked up 3 skins at the fifth end leaving Dave's team leading by 5 - 4.  No skins were won at the sixth end leaving 7 to be won on the final end.  Willie had a double take-out for the win with his last shot but narrowly missed taking only the one and leaving Dave to pick up the 7 skins by stealing a single shot.

Province Competition Draws

The draws for the Province Competitions  can now be seen at the bottom of the Fixtures Page.

RCCC Rink Championships - Rnd 1

Fresh from his recent defeat in the Rennie, Willie Kerr led his team of James Pate, Rowena Kerr and Graeme Maguire in to their first round match against Gogar Park.  This was always going to be a tricky first round game and Willie decided to skip and play lead stones.
Both teams were had opportunities to build big ends but neither managed to capitalise.  After the first couple of ends, with Gogar leading 2 shots to one, singles were traded following a pattern of Haddington scoring to draw level and then Gogar moving ahead by a single shot again.
They do say that you only have to lead a game at one point and indeed at one shot down and sitting with a single, James had a draw for a two and the match.  He obviously didn't fancy having to draw the shot to decide the match and made sure that his last stone counted.  Haddington scored their first 2 shot end of the day to take the game.
Next up, The Barbarians on 17th November.............

Rennie Underway

Our Thirds competition got under way last night with decisive wins for Shelagh and our new skip Colin Baird.
Results, as ever will appear on the Results Page (D'oh, where else !) as the season progresses.

Way to go Karen Munro

copyright - Kinross Classic website

October seems to be a great month for Karen.  For the last 2 years her team, skipped by Rebecca Steven, has been the winners of the Dunvegan Trophy.
This year, assisted by Jennifer Paul and Claire Dagen they have gone on to win the Kinross Junior Classic.  Previous winners have included numerous World and Scottish senior and junior champions, so no pressure there Karen.  Congratulations from all in the club.

Wingate Underway

The Wingate Rosebowl competition got under-way last night at Murrayfield.  First blood went to Dave, the current champion and Andy McD.  Both games produced close results with only 2 and 1 shot separating the winners from the losers.
The results are now posted on the Results page and will be updated throughout the season.

Website Problems

I have been having problems with the website recently. It has recently been upgraded and is now not playing nicely with my browser for posting items, results etc.
If anyone is experiencing problems viewing the site, please let me know.
Graeme

Syllabus Errors - Oops

The Secretary

Apologies to anyone inconvenienced with the wrong start time for last nights match published in the Syllabus.  I don't know how this slipped through, but thanks to Shelagh spotting it just in time for me to text players.
Please also note that the SKINS match  on Monday 29th October is at 5.30 not 7.30 as previously published.

This has now been corrected on the fixtures page of the website and by hand to the copies of the Syllabus on our noticeboard at Murrayfield (Please help yourselves to copies).

Updates

FIRST GAMES
This is just a reminder that the first Wingate games are due on ice on Wednesday (1st Oct) at 5.30.
The first Rennie games are on Thursday 18th October at 5.30.

Remember, if your name is on the card and you cannot play, it is YOUR responsibility to find reserve and to let your skip know.

Would all skips please contact their rinks before their first games.

EARLY SEASON DRINKS
Would anyone intending to come to our president's drinks on Friday 12th October from 7.30 pm please RSVP to either Shelagh or Graeme.

SUBSCRIPTIONS
There are still a few outstanding subscriptions.  These are now overdue, please contact Graeme and arrange payment if you think you may be in arrears.

SYLLABUS
A revised Syllabus (as at 1-10-12)  has been emailed to all members, the minor revisions have been indicated in BLUE.  There will be hard copies of this revised syllabus on the club noticeboard at Murrayfield (at the end of sheet 5/6), please help yourselves.

Edinburgh Curling Club - membership
All our members are members of ECC.  If Haddington is your mother club please see Graeme or Shelagh, after a game and ask for your membership card/sticker.

Come & Try/ Junior/ Open Coaching
Following 2 successful sessions we have a further coaching session arranged for Sunday 18th November 2012 at 8pm.  This is open to anyone wanting some practice/ coaching, but places are limited and will be prioritised.  If you know of anyone who may want to try curling, or you want to come along yourself, please contact Graeme.

Finally ????  (well probably not)
Have a good season and see you on the ice.

The View from the Hack

Following the sad retirement of Bob Cowan and his excellent skipcottage blog site at the end of last season, Ted Edmunds, has decided to try and step into Bob's very large shoes.  He has started 'The View From the Hack' blog.
This site has some interesting items and contains a lot of links to other curling and curling related sites.  We would like to wish Ted every success, so why not visit the site and have a look round.
The more traffic that sites like this generate, shows the demand for this type of information.

Haddington Sports Hub

We are pleased to be members of the recently launched Haddington Sports Hub and hope that this will help create closer links between our club and the community.  The Hub have now launched their Active East Lothian website and our club page can be found by following this LINK - or the link on this page.

Some of our activities will appear on the Active East Lothian website, but this site will remain our public face.

Novice, Junior, and Open Coaching

We have coaching sessions booked for Sunday 23rd September and Sunday 18th November 2012, both from 8pm.
These sessions are open to anyone wanting to Come & Try Curling, Juniors and all Leads/Seconds and will consist of practise and coaching.
Please note that places are limited, if you want to come along please email or text Graeme beforehand. (details are on the Contact Us tab, above)

Opening Bonspiel

The season has now officially started at the newly decorated Murrayfield.
For the records Shelagh's team was beaten by Andy's team by 6 shots to 4, with our newest player narrowly missing his shots as skip and bringing 'oohs' and 'aahs' enough to make those on the next rink pay attention.
On the other sheet Graeme's rink beat Simon's by 7 shots to 4.

Dont know what the 7 represents Sheena.

Sheena Munro wishes it noted that under her 2 end stint as skip more shots were amassed than by any other skip.
I am therefore proud to announce Sheena as the winner of the Bonspiel !
After the game we retreated to the bar and to sample the delights of Bruce and Lorette's catering (Bill & Anne having retired at the end of last season).
The evening was a very relaxed one with friends, old & new, enjoying the chat as much as the game.
With that under our belt we can now look forward to the more serious stuff...........

Come & Try session

Sunday 16th September saw our first Come & Try Session of the season.
We had 5 newcomers and Steven who had attended a C&T 2 years ago with coaching from John Good assisted by the lovely Graeme.
The session went well and everyone that was there seemed to have a good time and said that there was a high likelihood that they would give it another shot.  As usual we finished up with a small 3 end game.
Thanks to everyone that came.
Jane ( a friend of Gill's)
Jim & Moira, from Grahams the Jeweller in Haddington (where our trophies are engraved)
Ronnie & Morag (Graeme's brother and sister-in-law)
and Steven, who is on our reserves list and will be playing in the Opening Bonspiel and in the 3 Rennie trophy games in October.

Syllabus & ECC Membership Cards

Would all members please note that there will be a supply of  Syllabus Cards on our Club Notice Board (opposite sheet 5/6) at the ice rink.
If these are finished please ask Graeme.

ECC Membership cards/stickers
Would all members please see Graeme at the ice rink to obtain their stickers/ cards.

Opening Bonspiel - Monday 17th September

The Opening Bonspiel on

Monday 17th September at 5.30pm.

Where has the summer gone (did it ever arrive ?)

Supper will follow and will give us a chance to test the new catering contractors.

The ice fees are £10 per Adult and £ 5  per Junior

The teams are:-

S Main, K Dun. J A Good, S Dyer v A McDiarmid, J R Good, J Aberdein, L Starrs
and
S Kesley, C Baird, A Aberdein, P Blacker v  G Maguire, S Munro, S Nicoll, C Hood.
Please remember, like any other game, if you cannot make it, it is YOUR responsibility to arrange a substitute player.

Season 2012-13 Membership Pack

The membership packs for the 2012 - 13 season have now been dispatched.

This has mostly been done via email, although where indicated, some have been sent in the post.
If you have not received it please let Shelagh or I know as soon as possible.

Please note that the fixture on 12th February will be on TUESDAY and not Thursday as noted on the original syllabus, I will email revised ones nearer the time, the fixtures list on this site has been amended.

Please let me have your subscriptions and forms back as soon as possible.

There is now only a few places remaining for the Come & Try on 16th September, although there will be more places available on 23rd September for Junior and Open Coaching.  Please let me know if you are interested.

Should you have any queries regarding this, please let me know.
NB I will be away between 25th August and 9th September.

Season 2012 - 2013

With the season only a few weeks away, the teams have been selected and the fixtures finalised.
All the team information, ice dates and draws for external competitions can be found on our Fixtures Page.

The Waldie Griffith in East Lothian

Following last years win of the Waldie Griffith Trophy by East Lothian Province, which included 4 Haddington players in the squad of 16, the Sir Richard Waldie Griffith Trophy is now on public display.  This is as part of the exhibition at the new John Gray Centre in Haddington by East Lothian Council Celebrating Sport.
For over 100 years, curlers from around Scotland have competed for the honour of taking this huge silver trophy back to their home area. East Lothian first won it in 1911, the second year of the competition. It has not been seen in public in East Lothian since that date although East Lothian won it again in 1965 and 2010. In February 2012,  East Lothian won it again for the second time in 3 years.  The sixteen curlers from six East Lothian Clubs took the competition with the highest average shots-up, more than twice that of the runners-up !

It is planned to have a further exhibition on two aspects of East Lothian’s Curling history in the John Gray Centre in the autumn.

This is an extract and adaptation from the press release by David Affleck.  The full press release can be found by clicking here

Swan Trophy & RCCC Rink Champs

The draw for the Swan Trophy sees us drawn against Edinburgh Ladies on the 1st November, with a potential meeting against Currie & Balerno in the second round.
The draw for the RCCC Rink Championships sees us drawn against the Mighty Gogar Park on the 21st October.
The full draws for both competitions is now on the 'Fixtures' Page

Summer Bowling 2012

The winning touch - Sandy & Megan

A big thank you to Shelagh and James for organising this years summer activity.  Congratulations on picking almost the first dry evening of the summer.

It was a very relaxed evening with some occasional bowling to keep us away from the bar.  The experienced old hands were shown how to master this game by the youngsters.  Sandy Nicoll eventually took his second win in three years, this time partnered by Megan Dun.  The fact that Sandy was wearing a bowling club tee-shirt should have tipped us off that he was something of a ringer.

Shelagh takes time out from the organisa

After some time, we were forced inside, due to the onset of darkness and a resurgence of midges.  The conversation and consumption of even more food and alcohol continued and was enjoyed by everyone that managed along.



More photos can be found on our Flickr page

Dave tries a slide delivery

Summer Bowling

Summer must be here - it hasn't rained for at least 4 hours and it's the Haddington Curling Club Annual Bowling tomorrow night.
The hardy ones will need no reminding that it is at the Gifford Bowling Club starting at 7pm tomorrow (Friday 20th July)

2012-13 Fixture List

A Provisional fixture list has been added on the 'Fixture List' Tab
Rinks will be selected and added when known.

Season 2012/13

Yes, Season 2012-13 starts here.
You should already have received your forms asking you to let us know your playing intentions for next season (Willie says that his intention is to play better!).
Please return these forms or contact Graeme by FRIDAY 15th JUNE as our Ice has already been booked.
The new season will see the removal of the dreaded 'Friday before Christmas' ice and will also see the Pairs Competition shifting slot, by request at the AGM to a Sunday in January.
The Season will start off with a Come & Try Session on Sunday 16th September. Anyone interested or that knows of anyone that might want to try our sport, please get in touch with Shelagh or Graeme. All the other usual competitions will also be returning for another outing.
We also welcome Colin Baird to the rank of Skip for the Rennie Trophy.
The Season is sure to be a busy one, especially with Dave, Morgan and Graeme all going absent to Canada for the whole of January (players and reserves, stand by!)
We have also added some links to other websites in the right hand column. These links are currently to the Strathcona Cup Tour website which is under construction, The East Lothian Province Website and to the RCCC Website.

AGM - 2012

Just a quick reminder to everyone that the AGM is on :-

Sunday 22nd April 2012

at 106 Woodhall Road, Edinburgh, EH13 0HU.

We will be starting at 7.30 pm prompt.

Canada Tour 2013 - update

Dave Munro and Morgan Nicoll will now be joined by Graeme Maguire on the Strathcona Cup tour to Canada.  John Good remains on the reserve list and we all wish him well
As the tour covers the whole of January the club is going to need all the reserves it can get for this period which is traditionally a very busy time for club games.

Late for Dinner

The Wingate Winners

There was another very successful dinner & prizegiving held at the Open Arms Hotel in Dirleton.  The speaker, Mr Archie Baird, as well as telling tales of his own son kept us amused with an entertaining speech, prior to his wife handing out the winners prizes and wooden spoons to Willie & Graeme.
It was particularly nice to be joined by ALL the clubs sponsors.

Talking of Colin Baird, is that him I see in both the winning Wingate and Rennie rinks ?

The Rennie Winners

More Photos can be seen on our Flickr Photostream.
If you register (free) you can leave comments too !

Rennie Winners 2012

In another tight competition, well at the top and at the bottom anyway, congratulations to James Logan, who having served his time in the Rennie will be promoted back to the Wingate Rosebowl league next season.
James and his team of Colin Baird, Willie Thomson and Colin Hood, sat out the final round knowing that they could be beaten by either Kath or Simon, if either had a decisive win over the other, as was nearly the case.  In the end, both James and Simon finished with 6 wins from their 8 games and James emerged the victor having won 32 ends to Simon's 30 over the entire season.
The other game was very much for the wooden spoon between Graeme and Shelagh, with Shelagh emerging the winner, leaving them both on the same points but Shelagh surviving demotion by the margin of ONE end over the whole season.

Wingate Rosebowl Winners 2012

Dave pull himself together

Congratulations to Dave and his team of Shelagh, Colin and Frank, who in a very tense final round of games finally wrested the championship lead (and title) from Andy McDiarmid's team who have led the competition from the first game until the final stone of the last game. The final stone just stayed out leaving Dave with Championship Stone by no more than one inch.
The final round was a tense affair all round.  In fact with the final end to play in both games and Dave and Andy at peels Morgan was leading the title chase, but that end turned everything round, with Willie taking a 4 from Morgan leaving them equal on points for last place.  Morgan survives in the Wingate, thanks to having won more ends
throughout the season, while Willie departs for the Rennie.

More Pairs

Dave Munro and Pat Blacker

In a busy weekend of Pairs Competitions, our very own Pairs Tournament was won by Dave Munro and Pat Blacker, who beat Sandy Nicoll and Roy Black in the High Road Final.

The Low Road was taken by Morgan Nicoll and Lisa Starrs who beat Andy Aberdein and Richard Taylor in their final.

Inaugural Province Pairs

Congratulations to our James Logan and James Pate for securing the first ever East Lothian Province Pairs title.  It was a tight match that ended 4 - 3 in Haddington's favour against East Linton's pair of Shaun Govan and Dan Arrondale.

A full report can be found HERE on the Province Website.

President John Shedden congratulating James Pate and
James Logan on winning the inaugural Province Pairs

Dinner & Prize Giving

Please see below a letter from Shelagh inviting you to our Dinner.
Please let Graeme know as soon as possible if you will be attending, or even if you cannot attend.
(Click image to enlarge)

Wingate - Update

And so with 1 round still to play the overall championship can still be won by 3 teams, although it is most likely to come down to the top of the table clash between Andy and Dave.  Should they 'peel' their game and Morgan win, he too could lift the trophy.

RCCC Medal

Another weekend, another visit to Murrayfield for Dave, Graeme, Shelagh and John Good.  This time to take on the Barbarians Curling Club for a RCCC Medal Game.  This is the first time that we have entered the RCCC Medal for many a year.  (For interest, all the medals on the Balyarrow Trophy are old RCCC Medals won by that club!)
The competition consists of one match, drawn at random by the RCCC between clubs mostly based at the same ice rink.
A 10 am. start on a Sunday morning was never going to be the most popular idea.
Both sides started off steadily and the score was 2 - 2 going into the fourth end on frighteningly quick (but dirty) ice.  We were always in trouble in that end and eventually dropped a big 4.  The following end, we also looked to be in trouble but some good sweeping and excellent calling by Dave enabled us to turn the end round to take the 4 straight back.  A stolen 1 in the next gave us a 1 shot advantage, without the hammer for the last.  With their last stone to come they were sitting with one and a relatively simple tap up or draw for the win.  However no amount of sweeping was going to help their light final stone.  Game peeled, handshakes all round until it was pointed out that there was a medal at stake and a winner was required.
With their draw shot slightly long, Dave had to draw the 4 foot to take the game.  The speed of the ice caught him out and his stone slipped to the back 8'.
It was a high quality game played in very good humour and enjoyed by all the players, but unfortunately no medal for us this year.

President v Vice President 2012

Well done to Simon Kesley for taking the Presidents Cup at his first attempt.
Simon got off to a good start with his game and took an early lead only to be pegged back by Sheilagh's team.  He then pulled away again and was almost countered by a late charge from Shelagh.  Simon going on to win by 7 shots to 6.
Meanwhile his deputy, James Pate was giving Graeme chances at several ends.  Despite Graeme taking a few ends, usually by having to wick in it was always a game of catch up and the final score line was 8 - 3 in favour of the Vice President.
Both games were played with a lot of friendly banter (and some less friendly at times too!) and it was good to see George Playfair back on the ice again.
The evening was rounded off by a well attended and highly enjoyable meal courtesy of Bill and Anne.

Canada Tour 2013

Morgan Nicoll

Congratulations to Morgan Nicoll and Dave Munro for being selected for the 2013 Tour of Canada.  Selection was a hard fought process with over 90 curlers applying for the 60 places.  Mention should also be given to John Good and Graeme Maguire who are on the reserve list.
We wish them lots of luck on their quest to bring the Strathcona Cup back home.

Waldie Griffith Trophy

Andy Aberdein

Well done to Andy Aberdein, Roy Black, James Pate and Sandy Nicoll, who took part in this years Waldie Griffith Trophy match.  The Waldie Griffith is an inter province tournament which this year pitched four East Lothian teams against Breadalbane.  We returned with 3 outstanding wins and 1 loss yielding and average win of 7.5 shots up, the last time that it was won by East Lothian, we did it with a 6.5 average, so things look hopeful that we can achieve another win.
For a fuller report and link to the current standings please see the Province Website

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.












************************************************************************************

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

************************************************************************************

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.