Drew Duncan Quaich

Last night saw us play our annual bonspiel for the Drew Duncan Quaich.

The winning teams were Jimmy Niblock, who skipped Robert Boyd's team, Ken Ross and Jimmy Begg, who skipped Peter Reynolds' team.  Jimmy had the highest up total of +6 shots.

Everyone had a shot at skipping and it proved to be a very convivial night, with a good meal from Passion Caterers afterwards.

The results are here.

For anyone unaware of Drew Duncan, please follow this link to read the late Jim Henry's excellent summary of "a true gentleman"

Ken Ross wins Fraser Cup

Congratulations go to Ken Ross and his team of Bob Cherry, Euan Lawrence and Francis McCrossin. Despite losing  8- 5 to Richard Morrison's team tonight they comfortably stayed in front of Peter Galloway's team, who finished second.
Ken had set the pace by winning the first 5 games and had never looked in danger. A well deserved victory.

There was also a win tonight for Ernest Mutter, who beat Peter Galloway by 5 shots to 4.

Robert Boyd and Peter Reynolds both were missing from the games tonight but the teams finished tied at 8 shots each in an exciting game.

The final league table is here.

Next week at 5.00 we play for the Drew Duncan Quaich.
The games are decided by the finishing positions in the Fraser Cup, so the games will be:

Ken Ross             v   Peter Galloway
Robert Boyd         v   Ernest Mutter
Richard Morrison  v  Peter Reynolds

There will be a meal after the game.

Ken Ross consolidates at Top of League

We can't give the trophy yet to Ken Ross and his team but it'll take some amazing results next week for him not to triumph.

Ken's team of Bob Cherry, Euan Lawrence and Francis McCrossin have now won 7 games out of 9 and thus have 14 points. In second place are Peter Galloway's rink of David Gray, Austin Thomson and Peter Kennedy with 12 points.

Ken has won 44 ends and Peter 37 so Peter has to win 8 ends next Monday and hope that Ken wins none! Well you ever know, but as Steell and George found out at the races today you would get good odds against it.

The table is here.

Can I also point out that we have now updated the website to include the minutes from last year's AGM.  Follow the link to the right of this page or if you prefer, click here.

It's getting closer at Top of League

There were wins last night from Robert Boyd and Peter Galloway which took both teams to 10 points.

Ken Ross lost to Robert and this means that the top three teams are separated by only two points, with  two games to play.

At the other end of the table, Steel McFadzean skipped Richard's team to a 6-3 victory over Ernest, who retains 4th place, but only by one end.

The table is here

Week 7 Results

Normal Service has now been resumed, with wins for Ken Ross, Robert Boyd and Ernest Mutter.

Ken now leads the league table with 12 points.  Robert and Peter Galloway are both on 8 points and the other three teams are fighting for the lower places.

The table is here.

Fraser Cup Week 6

Now you all thought I was havering when I suggested that if every game in the return fixtures went the other way, we would all finish equal.  Read on....

Ken Ross, having beaten Ernest Mutter well in the opening game, lost to Ernest Mutter by 8 shots to 6.
Robert Boyd, having beaten Peter Galloway in the opening game, lost to Peter Galloway by 8 shots to 5.
Peter Reynolds, having beaten Richard Morrison in the opening game, lost to Richard Morrison by 6 shots to 2.

Spooky eh?

Here is the table.

Fraser Cup - Halfway Stage

5 games played and 5 games to play - we have reached the halfway stage.

Leading the way is Ken Ross who had an 8-2 victory over Steell McFadzean, skipping Richard Morrison's team.

Peter Galloway and Robert Boyd also had close games with Peter winning 7-6 over Ernest and Robert pulling away with 4 shots over the last two ends to beat Jimmy Begg, skipping Peter Reynolds rink by 12 shots to 8.

The league table is here and I suppose nobody is out of it yet. If the reverse fixtures go the other way then everyone will finish on 10 points. That would be interesting!

Ken Ross Sets the Pace

Good to see that our President Ken Ross is taking his responsibilities seriously and is showing everyone else a clean pair of heels in the Fraser Cup. Four games played - four wins!

Mind you it's a long competition this year and he has to play everyone twice. Scope for revenge, perhaps?

Last night his team of Bob Cherry, Euan Lawrence and Francis McCrossin beat Peter Reynolds team by 6 shots to 3.  There were also wins for Robert Boyd and Peter Galloway.
The league table is here.

Fraser Cup - Week 3

It was a night for big victories, and the biggest was from Peter Galloway's team who beat Peter Reynolds by 12 shots to Nil.

In the other games, Ken Ross took a 5 at the last end to win by 11 shots to 8 and Ernest Mutter won by 11 shots to 5.

The league table can be found here.

Week 2 Results

President Ken is continuing his good form. Having scored 6 ends last week, he's only gone and done it again, this time beating Peter Galloway 10-1.
In the other games, Richard Morrison beat Robert Boyd 5-4 in a tight and good game, while Peter Reynolds won his second game by 8 shots to 5 over Ernest.

The league table is shown here.

2016-17 Season is Now Underway

The first games in this year's Fraser Cup heralded the official start of Gangrels New Season yesterday. This despite already having had a good training session, a game against the Disney Club and a good win for each of our Day League Teams.

We were delighted to see Honorary President Roy Penney in attendance as President Ken Ross threw the first stone.  Ken was obviously saving his expertise for the game afterwards, when he leapt to the top of the league with a 9-3 win over Ernest Mutter.

Unfortunately your correspondent somehow managed to take out of focus shots 4 times last night so no photos to mark the occasion.

There were good wins also for Robert Boyd and Peter Reynolds.

The first league table can be found here.

Teams for New Season

You'll not be surprised to hear that the Committee have been hard at work during the summer.

Teams for the new season have now been drawn and are as follows:

Rink 1;  K Ross, B Cherry, E Lawrence, F McCrossin.

Rink 2; E Mutter, R Charters, G Hodge, G Hay.

Rink 3; P Galloway, D Gray, A Thomson, P Kennedy.

Rink 4; R Boyd, J Niblock, B McKay, J Dunlop.

Rink 5; R Morrison, S McFadzean, R Peat, H Peters.

Rink 6; P Reynolds, J Begg, D Cattanach, A Hay.

Reserves, A Brown, J Lyburn, J Peat, C Naismith, R Wilson, W Inglis, D Hope

Frame Salver and A G M 2016

Robert, David, Ken, President Francis, and Jim

Ken Ross and his team of Robert Charters. David Hope and Jim Loch won the Frame Salver last night with a score of +7 shots.

After our usual excellent "fare" from Passion Caterers, the AGM started.

The Office Bearers hard at work

 Full minutes will no doubt be published in due course, but the following are what I can remember of the significant items.

Office Bearers

President                  Ken Ross
Vice President          Ernest Mutter
Secretary                  Peter Galloway
Treasurer                  Ronnie Wilson
Match Sec                Ken Ross
Comm. Members     Harry Peters, David Hope, Colin Naismith and Bert McKay.

It was agreed that the subscription for next season will be £42 if Gangrels is your Mother Club and £23 if RCCC sub paid elsewhere.  All members will require to be members of RCCC.

It was agreed to continue with engraving of trophies and production of a fixture card.

It was agreed that the club had no significant preference between 5.00 and 6.00 pm for our games, if Ayr Ice Rink decide to amend the session times.

Next Season's Skips

Ken Ross
Ernest Mutter
Peter Galloway
Richard Morrison
Peter Reynolds
Robert Boyd

Presentation of Prizes

Fraser Cup Winners,
Colin Naismith, Robert Charters, Steell McFadzean and Charlie Jack

President's Cup Winners
Ken Ross, Ernest Mutter,(skip), Jimmy Niblock and Ronnie Peat

Drew Duncan Quaich Winners
Peter Galloway, (Peter Reynolds), Bob Cherry and Jim Loch

Pairs Competition
Ken Ross and Ronnie Peat

Points Competition
David Hope

Kirkbride Rosebowl
Peter Kennedy, Robert Boyd, Bert McKay and Austin Thomson

The Henry Sportsman's Award
Alistair Henry 

Finals of the Kennedy Pairs Competition

The Low Road Final last night got off to a good start when Jimmy Niblock and Peter Galloway took two at the first end.  Ernest Mutter and Bob Cherry played some great stones at the second and took four shots. Despite creating a significant clutter at the last, the Niblock Galloway team could only score one shot, leaving Ernest and Bob the winners.

The High Road Final was a very close game. Ronnie Peat and Ken Ross drew some good stones into the head at the first but Steel McFadzean, playing with Richard Morrison, played a great shot to lose only one. He was unlucky not to get the double!

The second end was similar with lots of stones in play. Ronnie and Ken were lying a well guarded shot and Steel was again very close to scoring big with a raise tap back.  But it finished another shot against.

The third end was a good one for Richard and Steel, who were lying the two shots for game for most of the end. Eventually Ronnie managed to remove one of them and then he drew for second shot with his last. Steel tried a hit and roll- in, but was just the wrong side of the nose.  A 2 shots to 1 victory for Ronnie and Ken.

Points Competition

Tonight's Pairs Competition was competed for by 16 Gangrels over two half sessions. We managed 6 of the disciplines on swingy but keen ice and  the winner (after a recount) was David Hope with 29 points.  Second place went to Euan Lawrence with 28 and third was David Gray with 27.

Kirkbride Rose Bowl Finals

After four ends, each of the finals played last night seemed decided. But great fightbacks ensued, one successful and one unsuccessful.

In the Low Road Final, Peter Reynolds was skipping in place of Peter Galloway and after 4 ends his team of Jim Loch, Alan Brown and Ronnie Wilson were 8- 3 down to Ken Ross's rink. They went on a scoring spree, scoring 1, 2, 4 and 1 to finish well deserved winners at 11-8.

Low Road winners
Alan Brown Jim Loch Peter Reynolds Ronnie Wilson

In the High Road, Peter Kennedy's team of Robert Boyd, Bert McKay and Austin Thomson built up a 5-0 lead after four ends.  Euan Lawrence's team staged a similar fightback and were 5-3 down playing the last. Euan's last stone missed the double take out to lie game by a whisker, and Peter did not have to play his last stone.

Kirkbride High Road Finalists
Winners (on left) Austin Thomson, Peter Kennedy, Bert McKay and Robert Boyd
Runners Up (on right) Euan Lawrence, Jim Lyburn, Alistair Henry, David Gray

Kirkbride Rose Bowl Semi Finals

Euan Lawrence and his team of Alistair Henry, Jim Lyburn and Harry Peters scored a 9-5 victory over George Hay to progress to the High Road Final.  There they will meet Peter Kennedy.  He and his team of Robert Boyd, Willie Scott and Austin Thomson scored a magnificent three shots at the last end to beat Colin Naismith's team by 8 shots to 7.

In the Low Road semis, there were wins for Ken Ross and Peter Galloway.

Kennedy Pairs

The Kennedy Pairs was played over two sessions yesterday.  There were 10 teams and it was decided to play in a Schenkel System where the teams were ranked after each session.

After much calculation by Messrs Galloway and Peat the rankings were as shown below.
Teams ranked 1st to 4th  played in the High Road semi finals and teams ranked 5th to 8th in the Low Road.  The two finals will be played on Monday 7th March.

                                              Game 1                            Game 2                         Total            

	+	-	ends	points	+	-	ends	points	up	scored	ends	points
Kennedy / Begg	3	1	2	2	3	0	3	2	5	6	5	4
McFadzean/Morrison	4	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	3	6	4	4
McKay/Grassom	2	1	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	5	4	4
Ross / Peat	1	3	1	0	6	1	2	2	3	7	3	2
Mutter / Cherry	3	1	2	2	1	2	1	0	1	4	3	2
Reynolds/Lawrence	1	2	1	0	2	1	2	2	0	3	3	2
Galloway/Niblock	3	2	2	2	0	3	0	0	(2)	3	2	2
Hay / Boyd	2	3	1	0	1	3	1	0	(3)	3	2	0
Gray / Lyburn	1	3	1	0	1	2	1	0	(3)	2	2	0
McCrossin / Scott	2	4	1	0	1	6	1	0	(7)	3	2	0

The results of the semi finals were:

High Road                                               Low Road
Kennedy / Begg    1                                   Mutter / Cherry   6
K Ross /   Peat    5                                   Hay / Boyd         5


McFadzean /   Morrison      4                    Galloway / Niblock      4
McKay / Grassom              1                    Reynolds / Lawrence   1

Kirkbride Rosebowl - First Round

The first round tonight saw the teams skipped by Peter Kennedy, Colin Naismith, George Hay and Euan Lawrence all progress to the Semi Final of the High Road.

The losers will compete in the semi finals of the Low Road and all four games will be at 5.00 next Monday, 15th February.

Click on the link at the top right of the page for the draw.

Next Sunday (14th Feb) will see the first round, second round and semi finals of the Kennedy Pairs. The top half games start at 1.30 and the bottom half at 2.30.

Close Finish to President's Cup

Where to start to describe such an exciting evening in the President's Cup?  Perhaps the semi finals would be the best place.

Despite being unbeaten in 5 matches of league play, Robert Charters, Steell McFadzean, Charlie Jack and Colin Naismith were well beaten by the team skipped by Peter Reynolds, with Bob Cherry Jim Loch and Peter Galloway.

Losing Semi Finalists Charlie, Steell, Robert and Colin.

The other semi saw Ernest Mutter skip Jimmy Niblock, Ronnie Peat and Ken Ross to a 7-4 victory over Jim Lyburn, Willie Scott, Bill Inglis and Harry Peters.

Losing Semi Finalists Bill, Harry, Jim and Willie

The final was a very interesting game. Ernest's team started well and scored 3 shots in the first two ends. Peter Reynolds  and his team then played some great curling to score 2, 3, 3, and 1 at the next 4 ends and lead by 9 shots to 3 after 6.

The plucky spectators in the bar decided that the game was probably over but Ernest played a superb quiet weight take out with his last stone to score 5 shots at the seventh end.

The 8th end was also looking good for Ernest since he was lying 3 shots, touching the button and guarded, when Peter came to play his final stone.  Nothing daunted, Peter took the scenic route and somehow managed to lie second shot!  9 shots all.  Time to draw the button.

Peter won the toss and elected to play first, but did not draw the rings.  Ernest, taking it all in his stride, drew his stone to about 3 inches of the button and secured an amazing comeback victory.  A game with some great shots by both teams - and, of course,  a few best forgotten.

Runners Up Bob, Peter, Jim and Peter

President's Cup Winners
Jimmy, Ken, Ernest and Ronnie

Final League Matches in President's Cup

Colin Naismith's team maintained their 100% record tonight, beating Ken Ross by 7 shots to 5. They take first place in the Semi Final line up next week.  Joining them are Ken Ross, Euan Lawrence and Peter Galloway.

The games to be played at 5.00 next Monday are

Colin Naismith v Peter Galloway
Ken Ross        v Euan Lawrence

The two semi final winners will play in the final, which is also next Monday at 7.15.

The final league placings are here.

The following Monday (8th Feb) will be the first games in the Kirkbride Rose Bowl.

Some Close Games in Tonight's President's Cup

Prior to tonight's games, there were three teams who found themselves without a point in this year's President's Cup. However all three managed to break their ducks, with wins for George Hay and Francis McCrossin and a draw for Peter Kennedy against Ken Ross.

Colin Naismith's team, meanwhile, continued their 100% record under the expert skipping of Robert Charters.

The league table is here and next week sees the last of the league games. The top four will qualify for the semi finals and final, all of which are played on 1st February at 5.00  and 7.15 pm.

Ayrshire Province Medal

So Very Close!
Our two rinks, skipped by Peter Galloway and Bob Cherry nearly brought off a sensational victory in last night's Province Medal.

Here is Andrew Kerr's Report

Ten clubs entered this year's Province Medal and the final result went right down to the wire.

After the first round of games Troon Portland was in the lead with a score of +9 followed by Ayr with +5 and Galston and Gangrels on +4. In the second round Troon Portland were pegged back to a combined score of +4, Ayr slipped back to +2 and Galston to level. Gangrels won both their games and increased their combined score to +5 and Dalmellington increased their score of +1 from the first game by a further 4 shots to share top spot with Gangrels.

The rules of this competition are such that, in the event of a tie, the winner is adjudged to be the club which has scored the most shots and Dalmellington had scored 16 - 1 shot more than Gangrels.
Accordingly, the winner of this year's Province Medal, for the second year running, is Dalmellington.

Final placings -

Dalmellington +5 (16 shots)
Gangrels +5 (15 shots)
Troon Portland +4 (20 shots)
Stewarton +4 (14 shots)
Crosshill
Ayr
Galston
Sorn
Symington
Dundonald
Ayr & Alloway
Beresford Ladies

There were some really tight games and a close finish - what more can you ask for ? Thanks to all those who took part.

Andrew Kerr
President
Ayrshire Province

President's Cup Update

With two weeks to go in the league stages of this year's President's Cup, four teams are out in front.

Ken Ross and Colin Naismith are setting the pace at the top of the league with three wins each from their three games - credit for which must of course go to Ernest Mutter and Robert Charters for skipping the teams so ably.  The game between Ken Ross and Jim Dunlop was notable for having 22 shots over 8 ends, with Ken's team winning by 13 shots to 9.

Close behind on 5 points each are the teams of Peter Galloway and Euan Lawrence, skipped by Peter Reynolds and Jim Lyburn.

The league table can be found here.