Surprise Boxing Day Gifts

A surprise package was delivered to my doorstep on Boxing Day.  (In time honoured fashion, 'A big Boy/Girl done it and run away')







What on earth could it contain ?

Now where can I put it for the next 5 years ?

Xmas Message

Have a great Xmas Break and a Fab New Year

Christmas Bonspiel 2017

Back l-r:- Pam, David, Richard, Mike, Cathy, Pauline, Dale, Stanley, Sheena.  Front:- Graeme, Justyna

 

Once again the club dispensed with their usual tasteful purple outfits in favour
garments conforming to the theme of Europe for this years bonspiel.  Some interesting and unusual explanations for costumes were exchanged before everyone got down to trying to work out Graeme's Rules for this years extravaganza.
Two tight games were played out with Graeme's team of Sheena and Justyna powering through the first four ends before Team Dale (David and Pam) got their heads together and took the next three ends leaving them the Bonspiel Winners by 2 shots.  Meanwhile John and Mike battled hard to come away with a peel.
All the players were confused when asked to play to the 'half length' houses in ends four and five (The second time from opposite ends of the rink) and then resorting back to the 'normal' houses.  Seldom have I witnessed so many hogged stones !
An excellent turkey dinner was then provided by Paul and his caterers and a toast drunk to 'Absent Friends' as last years Bonspiel was the last time that George was with us.

Edinburgh Area Bonspiel

Due to reasons that we wont go into here, East Lothian were unable to defend the Black Bull Trophy.
However a fun 'Draw Shot' Competition was added and this was dominated by one of the East Lothian Teams.  This team was made up by Morgan Nicoll (representing Aberlady) and Colin Baird and Sandy Nicoll (representing Haddington).
Well done and enjoy your drinks.

Christmas Bonspiel theme revealed

Our Christmas Bonspiel is on Sunday 10th December at 3.45pm and will be followed by an early supper at the rink.
The rinks will be skipped by Dale, John G, Graeme and Sandy.
Due to a multitude of alternative activities the rinks will be revealed on the day (We are short of numbers, so if anyone knows someone that may want to join us, please let Graeme know)
Current confirmed players are:-
Pam
Cathy
Sheena
Stanley
David
Pauline
Justyna
and possibly Mike.

THIS YEARS THEME IS -  EUROPE any country or anything identifiable with any european country will count.

Trophy Competition - They think its all over.

Finally the new format double round robin Trophy competition has been finalised.  As previously reported it was a Nicoll one-two with father just pipping son for the win.
In the meantime Team Good is going to have to look to their laurels in our (final) Shots competition if they are going to escape relegation.  In the meantime, if Morgan decides to retire now and not compete in the shot competition, he would already be safe from relegation.  This I suspect is unlikely and we will see Nicoll Snr back to try and win the Grand Slam.
The Grand Slam could of course be decided on the President's decision as to who actually did win our Knockout.  The decision has been made but not yet revealed !!!  (The President's bank account details are available on request to the two involved skips!)

A Difficult Few Days

RCCC District Medal
This year the RCCC threw up as our 'random' draw - Haddington.  This seemed less random than a derby match.  Our team pool was considerably shortened by illness, work commitments and especially our players having been pre booked by our opposition.  Our team consisting of Mike Wood, Graeme Maguire, Pam Clark and (supersub) Stuart Ronald were...... outplayed would seem an appropriate word.
The loss of a 3 in the first end resulted in our team never being able to settle, while Haddington, led by Dave Munro settled into a smooth groove.  It wasn't until the fifth end that we managed to get on the score card.  The final score was 8 - 2, so congratulations to our neighbours for their well deserved victory.

East Lothian Province Knockout
This time we were up against East Linton and again 'up against' would seem to describe it.  This time, led by John Good, Dale Callander, David Wyllie and Pam Clark, we took an early lead in the first end, however E Linton fought back with a 2 in the second.  A single in the thrid saw us draw level again but that was the last point that we managed to score.  The rest of the game was a tight affair with all the remaining ends going to singles but the final score was 5 - 2 against.  Congratulations to East Linton and we wish them good luck in the semi finals.

Trophy Competition - A Nicoll one-two ?

It has taken until the last game of the expanded round robin for Morgan to lose his first Aberlady game of the season.  This takes away his 100% winning record in the Trophy Competition.
However with 5 wins from 6 games he can no longer be caught therefore He along with Dale Callender, Pam Clark and Rosie Clark are our WINNERS.
This marks a comeback and his name will again appear on the trophy, just below son Sandy's from last season.
Elsewhere in the table, the only game remaining is John Good v Sandy Nicoll.  Although Sandy cannot be denied second place , John can avoid the wooden spoon.  To leapfrog Mike he must not only beat Sandy in his final game but in doing so must either win 6 ends OR win 5 ends and beat Sandy by 17 shots ! 
Realistically,  Mike will be looking to Santa if he requires additional wooden cooking equipment.

Stats - Trophy Competition

With the Trophy Competition nearing its conclusion, Morgan still has an unbeaten record, with 2 games to play.  He also has an impressive 20 ends won (compares to 8 lost) which is an average of 5 ends won per game.  This is 3 ends clear of Sandy but with a game in hand over Sandy.
Morgan is also 17 'shots up' which means that his average win has been by 4.25 shots per game.  This is where his son gets the better of him with an average win of 4.6 shots. 
Sandy has amassed 49 shots in his 5 games, which means that his average score is merely a tickle away from 10 shots (he still has 1 game left to try and reach that milestone.
At the other end of the table Mike, still leads John G by having scored 13 ends to John's 9 (although John still has a game in hand).  Mike is also 10 'shots up' better off than John, although both teams have conceded the same number of shots.
The season opener, defaulted game between Mike and John could yet prove to be very important.

Pairs Competition 2017

Following a successful Pairs Competition, the convenor, Dale has sent the following report:-

Just to let you know that we managed an enjoyable Pairs Competition yesterday. 8 curlers in total - 4 pairs: Sandy/Stanley; John G/Cathy; Karen/Stuart; Dale/Pauline. Over the first round of three matches - playing each other, the result was that Sandy/Stanley won all 3, Dale/Pauline won 2, lost1. So the High Road final was contested between Team 'Double S' and Team 'Calexander'.
Going in to the final end the score was level but the excitement of possibly winning a pie voucher stole D&P's concentration and they crumbled!
John and Cathy won the low road. Everyone warmed up with soup, cakes and tea upstairs  afterwards.
Good fun!

Aberlady Friendship Kettle

Winners - ABERLADY - John Good, Pam Clark, Morgan Nicoll, Sandy Nicoll (absent) and Graeme Maguire - with the 'disguised' kettle

Runners-up - HADDINGTON Jnrs. Lorna Nicoll,
Daniel Peart, Callum Harvey and Karen Munro

After a delay of 7 years, we were finally able to run our Friendship Kettle Competition.

Special 'Scunnerd' Award winners - LESWALT
J Ross, John Agnew,
Norma Lammie & Alison Bathgate

The competition was originally run in November 2010 to celebrate our 150th anniversary.  It was intended to be run on a 5 yearly basis but was postponed in 2015 due to a clash with the Indoor Grand Match.  It was again postponed last year when it clashed with a Murrayfield 'Rugby Day' meaning that our guests would have no access to car parking.  This year, things finally fell into place, with the exception of the trophy having gone AWOL.
The clubs that share our 'birthday' were again invited and
we were delighted when Leswalt, Blairdrummond and Kenmore/Breadalbane accepted our invitation. Unfortunately Portpatrick and Belmaduthy were unable to raise teams this year, but East Lothian Province and Haddington 'Juniors' kindly stepped up to complete our draw.

The teams were greeted by President, Graeme.  The rules explained (much simpler than his Christmas Bonspiel rules, thankfully) and the teams sent out to play.
Each of the visiting teams were paired with a 'home' team for the first round and some close games ensued (which made the second round draw extremely difficult).
The first games saw our Aberlady Team of John Good, Morgan Nicoll, Sandy Nicoll and Pam Clark take a narrow 1 shot lead over Leswalt and therefore facing off against each other in the second round.  The other 4 teams were all snapping at their heels.
The second round saw a lot of thinking going on, in all the games, with lots of stones in the heads and some fine curling going on all round.  Some could accuse Aberlady of not being very 'friendly' in their 'Friendship Kettle' administering a severe defeat on their opponents.  This resulted in a win for the 'Home' team and their opponents, Leswalt, tumbling from second to sixth place.  Meanwhile Haddington Juniors were capitalising on their late comeback in the first game, to control their second game, against Blairdrummond, from the outset.  They eventually came out of both games with a score of +2 which was enough to give them second place.

Kenmore/Breadalbane, with one win and one loss and a final score of 0 shots up, was enough to secure them a third place.
The games were followed by supper at the ice rink.
The President's observations on the day was that it was delightful to see so much 'chat' going on in a series of tight games.  The games were all played, very much in the spirit of friendship and it was especially nice to see so many 'younger' players on the ice, between Haddington Juniors and the double father/son rink put out by Blairdrummond.  This all bodes well for the future of our clubs and the sport in general.
Hopefully we will have found the trophy in time for our next anniversary  'Friendship Kettle' competition !

MISSING !

MISSING !

Answers to the name 'The Aberlady Friendship Kettle'

Last seen in the Aberlady/Longniddry area

circa 2014

 

If anyone knows of its whereabouts, please contact Graeme

who is keen to re-unite it with its current owners. 

Province Competitions

The draws for the Province Competitions have now taken place and can be found on the Fixtures Tab

New Member Wins Title

Already, this early in the season, our new super sub member has made history.  He is the first player that is able to say that he has played in this years winning rink.  He has achieved this by playing as a reserve in ALL the club's rinks. 
So Congratulations Stuart.

Trophy Competition - update

Mr Nicoll Snr.still holds an unbeaten record and stays at the top of the table. Meanwhile, the holder, Mr Nicoll Jnr. has returned to winning ways and along with Mr Good are snapping at his heals.  This leaves Mr Wood as the only other skip with a 100% record, so far, but he will be hoping to change that soon.

Trophy Competition - opening salvo

With the new double round robin format for our Trophy Competition Morgan has made a strong start, winning his opening two games.  It has also come to my attention that 9 seems to be Morgan's lucky number with him having scored 9 shots in each of his four games this season.  Other skips, be warned.
Meanwhile, Mike Wood is again mired in controversy, with a shortage of players in his game against John Good's rink.  With the game being void, players were swapped and a four ended, one sided game played resulting in a 12 - 0 win for team Good.  Under RCCC/Club rules the result for a forfeited game is 6 Shots and 4 Ends.

The Knockout

We have a Winner - or do we ?
The first rounds saw the Final being contested by Morgan Nicoll's squad and Team Wood.
The After an early start by Mike, Morgan edged ahead while the teams swapped 3's, although Morgan always held the upper hand, drawing into the lead then being pegged back.  True to form, Mike scored a 3 in the final and and peeled the game. 
There ensued a discussion as to the club rules (which although they exist for the leagues are strangely silent regarding the Knockout).  In order to make a decision, they decided to play a Draw Shot, and argue about the winner later.
The eventual result was that Mike's team would be the winners, IF the game was decided on ends BUT....
Morgan would be the winner if the Draw Shot was the decider.
As this game has no bearing on the other competition, an anonymous ballot will be held amongst the 'non-involved' committee members and the result made known at the prize giving!
(I really hope that there are an odd number of committee members for the vote!)

Start of the Season

The good/bad news is that after missing the start of the season, the President is back, from playing on his motorbike.  This also means that I am trying to get the results up to date, so please bear with me.

Spring Cleaning

With the new season only a month away, we have updated the website with all the information that you should require to get yourselves organised.  A copy of our syllabus and other fixtures and contact details can be found in the appropriate places.

Please ensure that your ice fees are sent to Mike Wood before 11-9-17 and that you have ALL your fixtures firmly in your diaries.  Please remember that it is YOUR responsibility to find a sub, if you cannot play any of your games.

We are pleased to announce that for the coming season our Trophy Competition will consist of two rounds instead on one.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and see you on the ice soon.

Graeme

Annual ACC Dinner

Just a last minute reminder that the dinner is at the Longniddry Inn on Friday 21st April 2017.  7 for 7.30pm.

The president sends his apologies and hopes everyone has a great time.

President v Vice President

Congratulations to the President, Sheena Munro and her rinks for regaining the quaich by a combined
with both her teams winning.
The night unfolded with two tight games.  In the first Sheena took on the vice president, Graeme.  Sheena along with Dale, Dave Wyllie and John Good took a three point lead into the final end but Graeme had a shot with his final stone for a possible, but tricky three (well he said a four just to worry Dale). In the end though it was very close but he only secures a one to lose the game by two shots.
In the other game, the president's team led by Sandy with Mike, Cathy and Stanley Simpson were all tied, against Morgan's side, going in to the last end.  With Sandy's last stone to play The Vice President's side was sitting with three shots, enough to secure the overall win should Sandy be wayward.  Our outstanding player of the season was not to be denied and played a beautiful draw for a one shot win giving the President a three shot advantage over the two games.
It was an enjoyable evening and both games and the overall contest came down to the final stones.

The game was followed by the AGM and a very enjoyable meal before everyone said their good-byes, until the dinner at the Longniddry Inn on 21st April at 7pm.

The Importance of Leads & Seconds

OR - the over-importance of skips.

The recent game where Scotland's Ladies were beaten by the Korean team in the World Championships goes to show that without good lead and second stones a game can easily be lost.
The score was 8 - 6 to Korea but the stats show Eve outplayed her counterpart 83% to 76%, while the thirds were almost level.  The Korean lead however played at 99% and their second at 100%, compared to the Scottish team at 88 and 86%.
Basically the Leads and Seconds set up the end and are therefore essential to the teams results.  Even Eve couldn't do anything to prevent the loss as Scotland were always being forced to play catch up.

Never believe that anyone is just on the ice to make up the numbers, Leads and Seconds are critical to a game and often as important as the Thirds and Skips ! (whatever they may tell you)

League Round Ups

After a considerable gap in games, we have now completed all our league games.
The first league to wrap up was the Thirds, one game having been postponed when the cooling pipes in the floor burst earlier in the season (This is why we need a new floor and why you should all support the appeal to upgrade our facilities).
Appropriately the game was won in fine style by George Chisholm's rink, being skipped by Karen.  They served a 13 - 5 beating to Dale's rink.  In terms of league positions, this game was merely dotting I's and crossing T's as the table was already topped by Mike wood and his band of merry men and women.  This win confirmed that George's team took second spot.
In the Shots competition, there was also a one sided result, in favour of Morgan.  A 14 - 3 win over Graeme's rink saw Morgan move from bottom position to top the table and lift the title.  Graeme however slid from joint lead to the bottom.  This win means that Morgan and his rink, of George Chisholm, Raymond Preston/Pauline Alexander and Pam Clark lift the Shots Trophy.
The conclusion of the Shots also finishes the Peter Allan Shield contributing matches.  This had long since been won by Sandy Nicoll's team and Graeme's rink had captured the vital relegation slot.  Morgan's win in the final game saw him leapfrog John Good (something that would be worth watching) and secure second spot in the table.
Now all that is left is the President v Vice President game on Monday 20-3-17 followed by supper and the AGM.

CURL EDINBURGH 2018 APPEAL

The Curl Edinburgh 2018 Appeal recently kicked off with great interest and curiosity from our members! The appeal is looking to raise funds for essential modernisations of our curling facility.
The detailed plan, prepared in conjunction with architects, structural engineers, costs consultants, and others, was set out at a launch event last month. In brief, it schedules work in three phases to coincide with our off seasons. The sequence of work is still being confirmed, however the modernisation includes:

• a new concrete cooling floor,
• recladding the elevations,
• energy efficient lighting,
• the creation of an additional floor above the plant room, and
• doubling the size of the viewing gallery

The project will be funded by a combination of cash reserves, grants, loans, and donations.
More than 30 years ago, a previous generation of Edinburgh curlers dug deep to ensure the continuation of curling in Edinburgh. Now, it is our turn. We are certain we can meet this challenge and emerge with a modern and efficient facility of which we can all be proud!
Donation forms are available at the bar or in the office or download a copy here. Send in your donation today!

A Closer Look

Phase 1

Planning consent has been secured for Phase 1 of construction. During the first phase of the project, the following will be undertaken:

• Insulating the curling rink walls
• Installing energy-efficient LED lighting
• Modernisation of scoreboards and ice hall décor

Phase 2

Phase 2 includes the critical replacement of the curling floor:

• Replace the aging concrete cooling floor
• Install new flow and return headers
• Construct foundations to allow for the Phase 3 extension of the first floor viewing area

Phase 3

The final phase of the project will ensure that we control our own destiny and are not at risk of losing communal gathering space. The construction will include:

• A better-integrated bar and viewing area
• New office space and roof plant area above the existing plant room
• A DDA-compliant passenger lift
• Toilet provision on the first floor

Want to learn more? You can view and download the original launch presentation online:

Launch Presentation

Peter Allan Shield

Congratulations to Sandy Nicoll and his rink of Mike Wood, Cathy Maclean and Stanley Simpson.  Sandy becomes the fourth member of the Nicoll family to get his name on the shield in the past three generations.  He is probably also the youngest winner.
His rink have already won the Knockout, The Trophy and he leads the Shots Competition with only one game left to play.

Thirds Medal

Congratulations to the Mike Wood Rink consisting of himself, Dave Wyllie, Rosie Clark and John Good for winning the Thirds Medal.  His victory against Stan Howard's rink gives him a 100% win rate and ensures the medal and promotion.
I do only have Mike's word for it, as the card for this game has not been returned and the information on it could alter the other positions in the table.  If anyone has the card or knows the scores/ends, please let me know.
One game in this competition remains and that is the rescheduled game between Dale Callander's rink and George Chisholm's rink, which will settle which team will take home the wooden spoon.

RESCHEDULED GAME

Due to the coolant pipe failure at Murrayfield on 25-1-17 the Thirds Competition game was cancelled.

This game has been rescheduled to Tuesday 14th March 2017 at 7.30

Those due to play are:-
Dale, Stanley S, Sheena, Sandy, Raymond/Pauline, and Pam 

Individual Points Competition

Thanks to Sandy for all his efforts in trying to round up the troops.  Despite his best efforts there was a slightly depleted field of 9 competitors this year.  This meant that we were able to play all 9 exercises instead of last years 7, giving everyone a great opportunity to beat their previous high scores.
In the overall competition Morgan, last years winner, suffered from the curse of playing first and this resulted in a a poor final score.  Being beaten by both of his children must have been extra disappointing.  Raymond, on the other hand, bounced back from a poor result in 2016 to find himself locked in battle with Karen.  Both faired poorly in the 'Wick and Curl In' only scoring one point between them (Pam was the highest scorer in that exercise with a creditable three!).  With the final exercise to come Karen had a two point lead but was comprehensively beaten in the 'Draw thro' Port' with Raymond taking six points.
The final scores saw Raymond Preston as our winner with a new 'all time' high score of 47 with Karen taking runner up spot and First Lady with 44 points.

The full scores and All Time List are on the Results page.

George Chisholm 1952 - 2016

 Thanks to Morgan Nicoll, Cathy Maclean and Sheena Munro who attended and represented the Club.
As can be seen from the Order of Service, the George that we all knew was the 'real' George.  Despite being a very private man, he was bit of an eccentric and that is not an easy combination to pull off successfully.   Aberlady Curling Club has lost one of its real characters and we will all miss him.
Our wishes go to his wife.

If anyone wants to make a donation, they can do so to UNHCR Syria Crisis Appeal.  A collection will also be taken at the Club Dinner.

USA Tour 2017

With only a few days to go ex President John Good will be packing and repacking his bags ready to set off on the 2017 Scottish Curlers Tour to the USA.  He will be playing 31 games in three weeks and hopefully will return home having regained the Herries Maxwell Trophy for Scotland.
The tour will cover from Cape Cod in the East to Minneapolis in the West.
The best wishes of the club goes with him, Callum Harvey, Jim Ramsey and the 17 other curlers.

You can follow their day to day exploits on their website  https://rccc2017tour.com.
This link is also on the right hand panel along with other useful links.

George Chisholm

It was with great regret and sadness that I can confirm that George became ill on Christmas day and died, suddenly, the following day.  He was on his annual holiday to a small town in Egypt, with his wife Anne.

George has been a loyal member of Aberlady Curling Club for many years.  He originally joined us when the Civil Service Curling Club ceased.

George was definitely a larger than life character and was easily recognised on the ice with his trade mark striped tank top.  He was also a three time winner of The Musselburgh Medal including once when he missed all three games, which never ceased to amuse and embarrass  him.  His last game was the Christmas Bonspiel, for which he dispensed with his normal attire and instead went instead with the Bah Humbug hat (see posting below).

The funeral will be held at 2pm on on Monday 16th January 2017 at Inverness Crematorium.  Should any member wish to attend they should contact Graeme Maguire who will try to arrange a car share.

George was a one off and will be greatly missed.  Our thoughts are with his wife Anne