PRESIDENT’S CUP ROUND 2 REPORT

The second round of the President's Cup was scheduled to take place at the Galleon on Tue 16 Jan at 1500 but at very short notice had to be cancelled, after consultation with the Ice Manager and with his recommendation, due to problems with the ice on the 2 outer sheets.  Appreciable efforts had been made by the ice technicians to recover the situation in time for the scheduled event but to insufficient effect to guarantee the quality of draw consistency required for satisfactory play.  Subject to the future availability of players, an additional play slot has been provisionally booked for 1500 on Tue 20 Feb 24.  The fixture list will be updated/amended in due course.

President's Cup - Round 1

 The start of the New Year with the first round of the President's Cup on Tue 9 Jan was a close competitive game played on very pleasing clear, keen and swingy ice.  The Galleon ice staff had worked hard over the festive period closed period to restore the ice hockey/skating ravaged ice to a good curling standard for our first event for 2024.  

A shortened Team Port (Begg, Graham and McFadzean) set the mark on the first end with a score of 3 against Team Starboard (Galloway, Morrison, Charters and Hogg).  Shaken but not stirred, Team Starboard responded by taking the next 4 ends to lead 7-3 at the close of the 5^th.  

A cocktail of fine play for the subsequent and concluding 3 ends resulted in Team Port taking the lead winning the game overall 8-7. The results table is shown here or click on the side panel.

Province Medal 2024

David Hope with his team of Ronnie Peat, Bob Cherry and David Graham represented Gangrels in yesterday's Province Medal.  The Gangrels combined with Ayr & Alloway to cover the required two sessions. We were very pleased to come a creditable second.  

The report of the bonspiel follows.

Stewarton Heather won yesterday's Province Medal competition. Greenacres Ice Rink provided the ice, which was very good, and catering, which was also very good.

In the first session, Stewarton Heather had a 4 shot victory over Sorn. Their second team didn't take their feet off the pedal and had a significnt victory over Troon Portland in session two.

Second place went to the combined tems of Gangrels and Ayr & Alloway.  Taking a session each, Gangrels played a good game against Dalmellington and finished six shots up.  Ayr and Alloway had a much closer game against Sorn, but won by one shot.

Third was Crosshill. Despite losing their first round they had a good victory over Ayr Curling Club and finished on +5.

Douglas Reid is to be congratulated for organising an excellent event.

Ist  Stewarton Heather                +24 

2nd Gangrels /  Ayr & Alloway     + 7

3rd Crosshill                                  + 5 

STRANRAER CHRISTMAS CHEER VISIT 13 DEC

 "Fourteen Gangrels and 2 Spouses (Margaret Morrison and Linda Wilson), the latter who were kindly filling in gaps in available Playing Members, made up 4 Rinks for a day's Christmas cheer social curling at North West Castle on Wed 13 Dec.  Our first Club visit in October had set the bar high in terms of quality of ice, ambiance, food, bar service and overall support.  Once again, everything was first class and a must be there for the next scheduled visit in Feb 2024.

The competition scoring was based on cumulative shots up with the morning Rinks being swopped for play in the afternoon session.  Team Cherry (Cherry, Chapman, Dunlop and Hogg) met Team Galloway (Galloway, Peat, Cattanach and Margaret Morrison) while Team Reynolds (Reynolds, Hope, Gray and Henry) played Team Morrison (Richard Morrison, Steell McFadzean, Ronnie Wilson and Linda Wilson) in the morning session.  

At the snack lunch break, served in one of the function suits with us all seated together at a long table, Team Reynolds were 9 shots up with Team Cherry hard on their sliders with +8.  With hunger pangs and thirst slated, the Rinks moved back on to the ice with the titans Team Cherry facing Team Reynolds and Team Galloway against Team Morrison. Team Reynolds kept their brushes up and in front with another +3 shot win to win overall.  Team Cherry came second with neither Team Galloway nor Team Morrison able to make up the gap in score differentials from the morning tussles. 

 Vice President Donald presented the prizes and thanked Gail Munro and the hotel staff for a superb day of curling, hospitality and social bonding opportunity."

Many thanks to Peter for the above (and other) reports.  The photos above were taken with my old phone.  I picked up a new one yesterday and hope it can manage without the light interference.

Ronnie

(and for some, still to be discovered, reason the link to the Fraser Cup table after round 10 is not working) 

Fraser Cup Round 10

 In nautical terms, Port is red and Starboard is green but in tonight's final round of the Fraser Cup at the Galleon, it was a whitewash!  Team Port (Watson, Cherry, Gegg and McFadzean) sailed a course against Team Starboard (Galloway, Charters, Hogg and Morrison) which was true team event, incisive and achieved the result they aimed for.  

Six ends were played on good ice and all were won by Team Port, even when Team Starboard thought  they were well placed to break their duck, the measure determined otherwise!  Team Port left the ice with their heads held high with a final win of 9-0 and an impressive overall total points win for the Fraser Cup.  The results are shown here or click on the link opposite.

Gangrels Christmas Dinner

 What a great idea it was to have a Gangrels Dinner. It was an opportunity for everyone to get together, have a chat, swap stories and enjoy the club atmosphere that we miss from our weekly games at Ayr. 

The food and service were very good and the time flew by, always the sign of a good night.

Congratulations to Gillian and Peter for all the effort they put in to the organisation. Our next event is this coming Wednesday (13th) when we travel to Stranraer for two games and a lunch.

FRASER CUP ROUND 9 REPORT

 Team Port (Watson, Begg and Cherry - Stubley still injured from his fall 2 weeks ago) continued its relentless quest for supremacy in the Fraser Cup against Team Starboard (Galloway, Charters, Peat and McFadzean) in the 9^th round yesterday afternoon at the Galleon.  

The ice was in fine condition and with 4 Rinks from A&A also playing at the same time as us followed by Rinks from Tarbolton and Symington, it was quite like the recent past when playing at Ayr!  This was a close game initially on pleasingly keen and swingy ice which Team Port got the measure of very quickly and were 4-3 in the lead at the fifth end.  Team Starboard thought they had secured a well hidden peel in the 6^th end with just a hint of their lying stone showing behind 2 of Ports' but a superb back weight last stone from President Gillian ended that hope with them scoring 2.  

They went on to take another 2 in the last end to win 8-3.  One final round of the Fraser Cup to go on Tue 12 Dec at 1500.  The results table is shown here or click on the side panel.