Christmas comes but once a year !

With the theme of a 'Good Night' the motley crew appeared.  Murrayfield is used to 'fancy' dress from clubs at this time of year (and from Graeme all year) but even they were shocked by the formal and night attire.  (Not to forget Justyna's Japanese take on Little Red Riding Hood).
We attracted a large crowd of onlookers for much of the game which was run to Graeme's oft confusing rules.  These included the use of delivery sticks and juggling clubs!!
The atmosphere was as usual fantastic and the games extremely competitive.  We even managed to add an extra eighth end.
Congratulations to or winners, John 'moon and stars' Good, David Wyllie and Adam Hicks.
Special prizes also went to Sheena (Costume) David Wyllie (drawing skills) and Justyna (10 pin bowling skills).
The after dinner Christmas supper was enjoyed by all, which is more than can be said for the Cracker jokes....  sorry joke!

Trophy - Final Results

Sandy playing it cool

Well, it is a BIG congratulations to Team Nicoll (jnr) who emerge triumphant.
Sandy, David Wyllie, Cathy Maclean and the dream team combo of Liz Nicoll/Alasdair Robertson emerge with only 1 loss (Team Wood) and 1 peel (Team Nicoll snr).   This may also be the first time that a Son and Mother combination have taken the trophy (but I don't have the time or data to check, so lets just agree that it is!).
This result also puts Sandy in a geed position to take the Peter Allan Shield which is based on the Trophy and the Shots competition as he has a 3 point lead over Mike Wood's squad, who started and finished the competition strongly but were a bit disappointing in the middle.
The other three teams are only separated by one point, so the relegation battle looks as though it will go to the wire !
We now move on to the Thirds competition, with the first game next week and then on to the Christmas Bonspiel.  This year's fancy dress theme is 'Good Night' and the rinks will be announced shortly.  (If you have not already told Graeme that you will/will not be coming, please do so asap.)  The 'game' will be followed by a Christmas supper at the ice rink and partners/non players are welcome. (again some numbers would be grateful)

EL Knockout

Thanks to our team but unfortunately they failed to make it past a strong Haddington Team in the first round.

The updated draw can be found on the fixtures tab, above.

Trophy @ 75%

With all the teams having two games remaining Sandy sits top with one hand on the Trophy.
But Panic not........
Sandy is still vulnerable having survived a scare against the bottom of the table team last night and relying on a last end takeout to secure the 2 that he needed for the win!
With the exception of Team Maguire, all the other teams are still in with a chance of the title ! (and Graeme could still end up second
So Gambate .... as they would say in Japan

Welcome Julia

*** NEW MEMBER ALERT***
Please note that Julia Mackey has recently come over here from Canada on a 2 year contract
It is nearly 10 years since Margaret played with us and I remember how much she shook up some of the establishment (Willie in particular springs to mind!)
Julia is an accomplished curler who is comfortable playing in any rink position. She played a game for Aberlady last night (so some of you have already met her) and I quote 'is very good'

Please let us make her feel welcome and give her every chance to play games as a reserve, maybe we can persuade her to become a rink player (skip?) next year !
 

Her details are as follows:-
Julia Mackey
Julia DOT mackey AT hotmail DOT ca
She only has a Canadian mobile number just now but hopes to have a UK mobile in the next week or so.

East Lothian Province Competitions

The draws for all the East Lothian Competitions have now taken place and can be found on the Fixtures tab.
Congratulations also to Cathy, Sandy, Graeme, Morgan, John G, Pauline, Mike and Stan Howard who have been selected for East Lothian Teams in these external competitions.  The rinks can be found on the East Lothian Province website

Trophy at 50%

There are no run away winners, so far, with all teams having suffered at least 1 defeat.  Team Mike Wood heads the pack, supported by new member Tegan with 2 wins and a defaulted game.  Father and Son skips were obviously not 'working together' and took points off each other leaving Team Nicoll Jnr in second slot, 1 point behind Mike.  Team Maguire, however got off to a slow start, only fielding three players in their first three games by coming back strongly to in their last 2 games, leaving then two points off the pace, with team Nicoll Snr snapping at their heels.  Meanwhile Team Good sits strongly (holding the rest of the teams up) and suffering badly for their forfeited game, where they actually beat out leaders.
Hopefully the second half of the competition will be as entertaining as the first !

Normal Service - Resumed

Apologies for having missed the start of the season, for reasons of motorbiking pleasure.
I have now returned and will be updating the site as normal.  I am trying to catch up with the results of the games that I have missed and will update them when I get the score cards.
In the Meantime.

Knockout
Mike v Sandy
Mike suffering from a first time failure of the (now scrapped) Rota system, took on Sandy short handed.  A score of 4 for Sandy in the third end seemed to halt Team Woods resistance and Sandy went on to record a 10 - 4 victory.
Lindsay v John G
Lindsay deputising for her dad, as is now traditional in the Knockout, had a tight fight against a short handed Team Good.  With John leading 6 - 3 after five ends, Linsday made good use of the last two ends to record an 8 - 6 victory
FINAL - Sandy v Lindsay
The final, between two previous winners, ensured that the KO would be won by a (born) Nicoll for the third successive year.  Team Sandy obviously had a point to prove with a dominant performance, although the feminine side of the family (is she still family, now she is married?) ensured that he couldn't score more than 2 per end. Team Sandy however restricted 'big sis' to a single end and took the title with a 7 - 1  scoreline. 
The Nicoll family should be warned, they have never won it 4 years in a row !
Congratulations to Sandy, Dave Wyllie, Cathy Maclean, Liz Nicoll/Alasdair Robertson

Season 2018/19 - Housekeeping

As the 'New Season Packs' have now been distributed, I have updated the website with all information to hand.
PLEASE NOTE :- There are new session times on Thursday and Fridays.

Dinner and Photos

Happy Summer:-
It finally seems to have arrived.
It also marks the halfway point of my Presidency !
I have now added three new albums to the Flickr photofeed they are:-
Friendship Kettle 2017
Bonspiel 2017 and
Dinner 2017 (look I know it was 2018 but it was season 17/18 - hence 2017 !!)

You can get to the individual albums by clicking on them !

or you can check out our whole photo archive HERE

Annual Dinner and Prizegiving

The annual dinner and prizegiving will be held at the Longniddry Inn on Friday 20th April 2018, 7 for 7.30pm.

President v Vice President Mon 19-3-18

The Presidents teams for this vital game are as follows:-
1.   Graeme, Lindsey, Sheena, Justyna
2.   Sandy, John G, Cathy, Pauline

The Vice President's rinks will be selected from :-
Pam, Morgan, Dale, Rosie, Dave W, Stanley S, Stuart and Karen.

The game will be immediately followed by (hopefully a VERY short AGM) and supper.

Leagues - Final Positions

The last shots game of the season was between Mike's Rink and Morgan's Squad.  Morgan, hoping to capitalise on Mikes absence needed a 'decent' win to overtake Sandy for the final steak pies of the season.  Team Wood, led by David Wyllie, with new recruits Adam and Alsadair for the entire competition was not in the mood to suffer another defeat like in his first game against Sandy. Following a 'good' win against John (geddit?) he was hoping to maintain his form.  Hopes were strengthened when he added Graeme (Sandy's third) to assist.
The game was unlike a proper shots game, in as much as it was low scoring, which benefited team Wood (Wyllie).  Dave scored excellent singles against potentially large scores to frustrate Morgan and lead to questions being asked if Graeme was playing for Mike (Dave) or for Sandy.  The answer, of course, Graeme was playing for the pie!
With the final stone, Morgan failed to upgrade his 2 into a 3, which would have earned him a peel, so the final score was 5 - 4 to Dave Wyllie.
Due to his first round defeat Dave finishes the shots competition in last place, however he can take heart, If this had been a regular competition, he would have finished second to Sandy (on ends) .
So Congratulations go to Sandy, Graeme, John N and Sheena for securing the Shots Competition.

The loss in this final game means that Sandy and Morgan finish top of the Peter Allen Shield competition on six wins each.  Team Nicoll Snr. however secure the Shield with a 5 end margine.
Congratulations to Morgan, Dale, Pam and Rosie.

Shots Competition - progress

Team Nicoll Junior inflicted a huge 14 - 1 win against a very under strength Mike Wood team to take a strangle hold on the shots trophy.  With one game to go Sandy now has a 13 shot advantage over his father.  The final games will see Morgan pitted against Mike (who is still sidelined) and Sandy against John Good's team.
Meanwhile in the Peter Allen Shield race, the table is topped by both Nicoll teams tied on 6 wins.  Team Nicoll senior leads the race with the advantage of having won four more ends than 'junior'.  Sandy needs a big win over John win take the shield and even then has to hope that his father will falter against Team Wood.

Thirds Competition

Congratulations to Team Maguire Consisting of Rosie, Daniel and John Good who scored the necessary number of ends to lift the Thirds Trophy.  The team managed to restrict their one defeat, against Dale , to a narrow loss and to inflict two double digit wins to secure the title.  Graeme expressed thanks to his team because, as he admitted, he wasn't playing well.
And now on to the Shots Competition and a resumption between the father/son Nicoll battle for the Peter Allen Shield.

EL Bonspiel 2018

A slightly smaller field of 10 teams were mustered at Murrayfield for the annual bonspiel which was held in the usual good spirits.  Despite a 'blue light' injury to Pam Clark, Vice-President of Aberlady during the first game (She was released from hospital that night and hopes to be back on the ice with her new scalp staples next week!) the first round was keenly contested.  The defending champions, Haddington 1, started off with a peel against the remnants of the Aberlady team but it was Haddington 2 that went into pole position with a score of +5.

l-r  Richard Taylor, Ali Harvey, Willie Kerr, Dave Munro (skip)

After a break for soup and sandwiches, they took to the ice with the top billed match being the two leaders, Haddington 2 and Athelstaneford 1 (on a score of +4).  Haddington got off to a great start and looked 'nailed in' for the overall win until in the final end the wheels came off the bus and Athelstaneford bounced back with a 4. This was still not enough to derail Haddington 2.
We therefore issue our congratulations to Haddington 2 and, over post match drinks, watched President Dave Munro present himself and his team the ELCO Cup and associated silverware.
Congratulations are also due to Yester 1 who came in 3 shots behind for second place and an extremely creditable third place went to the 3 man Aberlady team, of Morgan & Sandy Nicoll, John Good and Pam Clark, who were a further 1 shot behind.

Strathcona Cup 2018 - An Invitation

Strathcona Cup Canadian Tour to Scotland 2018

The Canadians are HERE!

In January the Canadian Strathcona Cup Team arrive in Scotland to play for the Strathcona Cup, the oldest trophy in International Curling.

It is the grandest and likely the most valuable trophy in curling. It rarely leaves the vaults. It was specially commissioned by Lord Strathcona for the first Canadian tour to Scotland in 1909. (for more info and photos go to :- strathconacup100.ca ).

As a young man of 18, Donald Smith, (later to become Lord Strathcona) set out from Forres to work for the Hudson Bay Company eventually rising to the top. He made his fortune in trading, banking and investment and was a major investor in the Canadian Pacific Railway. He is famous for hammering in the last golden spike on completion of the transcontinental railway in 1855 at Craigellachie, B.C. He became an MP in the Canadian Government and was instrumental in forming the ‘Mounties’. Latterly he was appointed as the High Commissioner for Canada to Great Britain and entered the House of Lords as Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal.

His handsome trophy is all about bringing together the Scots who developed the game and the Canadians who have made curling one of their National sports.

It is unique in that it is a tour played Nationwide over a number of weeks where curlers of both countries have the opportunity to represent their country in the spirit and camaraderie that is the essence of the game.

It all started in 1902 when the RCCC decided to accept a long standing invitation to send a team of Scottish Curlers to Canada to further the special relationship of the international curling fraternity. A team of 22 worthy Scottish Curlers were duly chosen from the four Curling Areas of Scotland. Taking their own stones with them, they set out to play in January 1903 on a 2 month tour, including ocean and rail travel, from Halifax to Winnipeg, ending in a mini tour to the USA from Minneapolis to New York.

Such was the effusive praise from the Canadians of the success of this Tour, the RCCC invited the Canadians to send a team to Scotland and that such a Tour should coincide with the year that Lord Strathcona, with his unique honourable status in both countries, was the RCCC President in 1909. The Canadians sent curlers from every Province in the country, even one from Dawson City in the Yukon who started his journey to Scotland on a sled!

The enthusiasm for this event has carried on over the years and is now played for every 5 years alternating between Scotland and Canada. Every point in every game counts and is recorded, so competition is fierce right to the last stone played by every rink. Pride is very much at stake. Scotland won on the last Tour to Canada in 2013 by 2876 shots to 2621, to even it up at 11 matches all since 1903!

The Canadians arrive at Murrayfield on 30^th January to play their final games over 4 days against teams selected to represent their Provinces so these matches may be crucial to the overall result.

Even If you are not one of the 80 Edinburgh Area curlers selected to challenge for the Cup this time, please come along to welcome the Canadians and give your support on any of the days from 30^th January to 2^nd February.