Kirkbride Rosebowl Final

 Last night's final in the Kirkbride Rose Bowl competition saw Ernest Mutter, Bob Cherry, Jimmy Begg and David Stubley (Rink 6) face off against Peter Galloway, David Hope, Anne Hay and Peter Reynolds (Rink 5).  From the start it had all the hallmarks of being something of a battle of the Titans but in the 3^rd end Team Mutter secured a 4-shot score despite every effort to prevent them from doing so.

 Notwithstanding being a potentially morale sapping 2-5 down at this stage, a spirited and determined team effort from their opposition resulted in a peel 4 ends to 3 (7-7) score in the final end and with the last Team Galloway stone soon after the bell had rung.  The Skips then decided on an unassisted no sweep draw to the button as the means to decide who would win.  Both stones were then drawn to the house with Ernest Mutter's just being closest to the button. A fine and well-deserved win to Ernest Mutter and his Rink 6.

KIRKBRIDE ROSEBOWL SEMI FINAL AND OTHER RESULTS

 Last night saw the semi-finalists face off in the Kirkbride Rosebowl.  Both games had a good development in shots up in  the first 4 ends but then a fightback to redress the balance in the last 3 ends.  In the last end, Gordon Todd had 2 shots well buried for a peel but with the last stone, Peter Galloway secured a winning tap up.  The results were:

Jim Dunlop 3 Ernest Mutter 7

Gordon Todd 6 Peter Galloway 9

The finalists will play on Mon 27 Feb at 1715.

Earlier, on Sunday, four Gangrels represented the club at Ayr Curling Club's 50th Anniversary Bonspiel. This was an excellent day with three sessions of inter club games.
Our team was drawn to play in the last session and played well to beat a strong Ochiltree Club team, headed by Billy and Mungo Howat.  Our team was Ronnie Peat, David Hope, Peter Galloway and Gillian Watson.
We were also playing on Monday in the semi final of the Ross Low Trophy.  This time we were up against Crosshill.  Our team of Richard Morrison, Ronnie Peat, Bob Cherry and Willie Scott had a very close game but lost to Crosshill after an extra end.

Kirkbride Rosebowl Round 1

 Tonight saw us play the first round games in the Kirkbride Rosebowl. The results were as follows:

A                                                

Jim Dunlop 8   Gordon Todd 3                       (+/- 5)

B                                                                                                        

Jimmy Niblock 4  Peter Galloway 10             (+/- 6)          

C                                                                                                            

Willie Scott 1 v Ernest Mutter  9                     (+/- 8)   

The draw for the games next week at 5.15 are therefore:

D  Ernest Mutter (highest winner)  v   E  Jim Dunlop (3rd Highest Winner)    

F  Peter Galloway (2nd highest winner) v G Gordon Todd (4th Highest Winner)                                   

 The two winners next week will play in the final on 27th February at 5.15 pm.                                               

Robert Boyd Memorial Points

 Fourteen of the Club membership took part in the competition for the Robert Boyd Memorial Points Trophy this evening over consecutive 1 hour slots and completed 6 of the set disciplines in the time allotted.  The adjacent ice sheets allocated were markedly different which made consistency of delivery and scoring success something of a challenge.  Sheet 1 was keen with little draw while Sheet 2 was slower and swingier!  The winner and current trophy holder fresh from the West tour of Canada in the Strathcona Cup and still jet lagged, was David Hope with 26 points.  Bob Cherry was second with 20 points and Peter Reynolds and Peter Galloway were 3^rd equal with 19 points.

Latest News from David Hope in Canada

 As I write to you it is hard to believe that I will be leaving Canada in a couple of days time. Before I left I was counting the number of sleeps down. Once here I was counting the number of games played. Tomorrow I will play my final game in the Strathcona Cup 2023 which will be game 27. 

Many miles have been covered by the West Tour as we travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa. We have visited many ice rinks along the way. For me personally there were two stand out ice rinks in this journey. The first was Qualicum Beach CC on Vancouver Island. The ice rink was jumping with 6 or 7 deep of spectators on both floors hammering the window whenever either side made a great shot. You could feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when I came off the ice after our game. The next ice rink is Banff, which is the only ice rink I have played in which has windows! These windows gave you views onto the mountains which changed with the light. Magical!!!

Recent results have been mixed for my rink and have met a few tough rinks along the way. We had a win yesterday morning play at RCMP in the morning which had no advertising at all but the hog line had Police tape telling you “Do not cross line”. In the afternoon we travelled to a new ice rink at City View CC where we lost by a shot. A great days curling.

This evening we are heading to the Ottawa Hunt Club for dinner. Will play our final game at the Hunt Club tomorrow and have our closing banquet there.

David