Start Curling with the BBC

The BBC has a programme called Sport Nation and last Tuesday it had a feature by Rhona McLeod about curling.
This showed how Rhona had a first lesson from Eve Muirhead and is quite interesting.
If you would like to see it, the link is here.

World Seniors Championships

If you're having withdrawal symptoms after three weeks away from the Rink, why not keep up to date with events at the World Seniors.  They start this Saturday in St Paul, Minnesota, USA and three of the Scottish team are from my other club, Reform.  The team is skipped by Ken Horton.

Follow this link for details.

And finally, a link I have taken from Bob Cowan's blog.  This is a genuine advert for a certain disposable razor, but it certainly sheds a completely new light on the game of Curling.



Click on the picture above.
Try it yourself if you wish, but don't ask me along!

Gangrels AGM

Following the usual good meal at the ice rink, Robert Boyd chaired the 72nd AGM of Gangrels Curling Club.

Robert gave his review of his President's year and highlighted the successful season which the club had enjoyed.

David Hope included his report on the Competition Year and this can be viewed here.
Details of the Prizewinners have been previously reported with accompanying photos.

The following Office Bearers were elected:

Office Bearers

2011-2012

Honorary President

JIM WATSON

Immediate Past President

ROBERT BOYD

President

RONNIE WILSON

Vice President

BOB CHERRY

Secretary

BOB CHERRY

Treasurer

JOHN SHARP

Match Secretary
DAVID HOPE

Committee

2011        FORBES WATSON                                          PETER KENNEDY
2012        RICHARD MORRISON                                     DAVID MURPHY
2013        RONNIE PEAT                                                  FRANCIS McCROSSIN

John Sharp recommended that the subscriptions continue at the existing level and this was unsurprisingly agreed unanimously.

David Hope and Francis McCrossin were elected as the new skips and after a few matters of AOCB, Charlie Jack found a brief moment to pass on Jim Smith's message that the meeting should now be brought to a swift close with a vote of thanks to Robert and Ronnie Wilson for chairing the evening so well. 

 

World Championships start on Saturday April 2nd

The Ford Men's World Championships start this Saturday in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Tom Brewster's team are representing Scotland and of course they have Ayrshire lad Scott Andrews as their second player.

The championship website is here, and TV coverage is being provided on Eurosport.

Gangrels Rink Wins Kyle & Carrick Challenge Final

A superb performance from Euan Lawrence and his team of Bob Cherry, Ronnie Peat ( a last minute deputy for Russell Boyd) and Allan Hastie saw them beat the fancied team from Crosshill in the Kyle & Carrick Challenge League Final.

The key point in the game came at the third end when a great score of three gave Gangrels a 4-1 lead. There was then a wobble in the sixth, when Crosshill narrowly failed with a shot for a four which would have tied the game.  However, it was not to be, and Crosshill shook hands after seven ends, with the score at 9-3 to the Gangrels.

This is a major achievement since I had heard that Crosshill had previously been unbeaten in the league for four years.

Frame Salver, AGM and Presentation of Prizes

A brief report on the AGM will appear later.  For the moment, the Frame Salver was won by the three man team of Robert Boyd, Bert McKay and Jim Dunlop.

They overcame a three shot penalty to win the competition with a shots up score of +8.

Here are some photos of the last night's winners and all the other prizewinners.

Fraser Cup Winners
Allan Hastie, Steell McFadzean, Euan Lawrence and Peter Reynolds (absent)

Drew Duncan Quaich
Jim Henry, Ian Ruthven, Bob Cherry and Roy Penny (absent)

President's Cup
Allan Hastie, Steell McFadzean, Euan Lawrence and Peter Reynolds (absent)

Kirkbride Rosebowl - High Road
Robert Boyd, Charlie Jack,  Ronnie Peat and Willie Scott

Kirkbride Rosebowl - Low Road (with Mars Bars)
Ronnie Wilson,  Bert McKay, George Hay and Forbes Watson (absent)

David Gray with the Points Trophy

Pairs High Road
Steell McFadzean and Austin Thomson

Pairs Low Road
Allan Hastie and George Hay

Steell McFadzean receiving the Sportsman's Award from
Alistair Henry

Kirkbride Rose Bowl Finals

Two very close games featured tonight in the High and Low Road Finals of the Kirkbride Rose Bowl.  In both games the scores were level after 6 ends.

Robert Boyd's team of Charlie Jack, Ronnie Peat and Willie Scott took a two in the 7th end and just hung on to win, when David Gray ran out of stones in the 8th.

The winners
Ronnie Peat, Willie Scott, Robert Boyd (skip), Charlie Jack

David was very keen to let everyone know that it was exceedingly close and a cracking game - and it was! His team of David Kidd, Colin Naismith and Ernest Mutter fought hard all the way.

High Road Runners Up
Colin Naismith, David Kidd, David Gray (skip), Ernest Mutter

Low Road Runners Up
Jim Dunlop, Malcolm Bowden, David Hope, Austin Thomson (skip)

Low Road Winners
David Murphy, Bert McKay, Ronnie Wilson (skip), George Hay

The Low Road final was just as fiercely contested, with Ronnie Wilson's team of Bert McKay, George Hay and David Murphy eventually winning 8-6 against Austin Thomson, David Hope,Malcolm Bowden and  Jim Dunlop.

The final table looks like this

Starting tomorrow is the Capital One World Women's Championship in Esbjerg, Denmark. Three of the girls who won the World Junior Championship last week are representing Scotland again, skipped this time by Anna Sloan, with Clair Hamilton joining the team and Eve Muirhead being the alternate.

Games are being shown live on Eurosport and you can catch up with all the results here.