That's it for 2023 Folks.

 Like your presents, that's a wrap for 2023.

Hostilities resume on Monday 23rd January 2024 with the Thirds Competition.

 

Shots Competition - Date Changes

I am delighted to advise that our New Stones Reserves have agreed to form a team for our SHOTS Competition, starting on 22 Feb through to the end of the season.

Rinks from the Trophy Competition will be redesignated using roman numerals:-

Team A - John Good will now be Team i

Team B - Julia Mackey will now be team ii

Team C - Graeme Maguire will now be Team iii

and Team iv will be formed by Zach Thompson from our new reserve members.

 

PLEASE AMEND YOUR DIARIES.

Christmas Bonspiel - The Movies

     

 Congratulations to everyone who contributed to the mass confusion of all the other curlers that witnessed
our Bonspiel.  The rules this year seemed to confuddle, not just our New Stone Members but evened the seasoned veterans of bonspiels, past. (I don't know why, there was only one new addition).

After surviving all the curling, Team Wood and Team Mackey were tied with only the 'guess the rock flavours' to mark.  With both teams only getting one flavour (out of 5) correct, it was still a tie and because of the larger winning margin, Graeme duly awarded the 'new trophies' to Mike Wood, John McOmish, David McKey and Zach Thompson.

By popular demand the 'Pink Lady' was declared the best dress but notable mentions also go to one of the Barbies and The Blues Brothers. 

Despite constant interruptions from Penicuik Curling Club the day was rounded off with a very good Xmas Dinner from Paul and his crew.

 

 

Province Pairs

David Wyllie and Dale Callander represented us at the Province Pairs.  

In their first game they went down by a single shot to the five time winners Athelstaneford and then went on to beat Haddington, again by a single shot.  Although they didnt progress it is good to know that they beat Haddington, the eventual winners of the Low Road.

Well played boys.

Successful defense of the Trophy

Team Maguire mounted a successful defense of the Trophy and become our second steak pie winners of
the season.  The final game between the two leaders (with Julia watching on supporting the team that could prevent her bottoming out the league) was a one sided affair that was marked by the majority of points being scored by the opposition skips !   Maybe they were practicing for the Christmas Bonspiel ?

With a change of form  The Good Squad go from top of the charts at the halfway point to close bottom at full time.  Will we see a comeback from the lucky mustache ?

Anyway, Congratulations to Graeme Maguire, David Wyllie, Adam Hicks (periodically) and Pam Clark.

Trophy @ 50%

With the first round of the Trophy Competition complete John "The Tache " Good and his squad take a narrow lead over Teams Maguire and Mackey.  So far no teams have 100% records with one game being peeled and another running to a 1 shot win.  

It is still anybodies for the taking.

Opening Bonspiel/Knockout/League

Despite late call-offs due to a spate of illnesses and injuries (coinciding with the Rugby World Cup final), three teams of three set about a new format for the opening Knockout/league/bonspiel competition.  This was to be decided by Total Ends won over two five end games.

The first game saw Graeme (who traded Pam to the undermanned opposition) squaring off against  John Good's duo (and Pam).  A tight game that ended up peels with 3 shots each but more importantly John winning the last end to be up by a single end.

Second up was Graeme's team again against Julia's squad.  Graeme took a while to adapt from playing a drawing game to Julia's hitting style.  Again a tight game peels in shots and ends going in to the last end which Julia took by a single shot.

The final game, fittingly saw the two winning teams, each with three ends under their belt face each other.  John struck hard and fast taking the first two ends leaving Julia having to win the next three to take home the 'pies'. Julia took the third end but John secured the fourth giving him an unassailable lead and hands were shaken.

Congratulations to John Good, Rosie Clark and Pam Clark (grateful now for the team swap!) who take the Knockout (!) Trophy and the seasons first Steak Pies.

Season 23/24

 Apologies for the late update.

The website has now been updated with the latest version of the Syllabus, which can be printed off.  The minor additions have been the draws for the Province Competitions, which can also be found on the Fixtures tab, above.

Hopefully the website will be fully updated and fit for purpose tonight.

President v Vice

 Sixteen specially selected men and women arrived to battle for their selected captain.  Rosie, our
president, again decided to play as second, delegating her skipping duties to Dale and her counterpart on the next sheet Graeme.  Meanwhile Julia, vice, took her duties seriously along with her nominated counterpart, Mike.

Both games were tense and nervy, with Julia even electing to blank her second end. After five ends, both games were tied at three shots each, Graeme while drawing for a two tapped Mike' stone up to drop a shot for the Pres, fortunately Dale and Rosie took a single, keeping the overall game tied after six ends.  That was when Dale (and Rosie) decided to turn up the temperature and the biggest score of the night by stealing a three!  Despite a fightback from Julia, she only managed a two in the final end.

The aggregated scores were President 11 and Vice President 9

So, for the final time this season it is a BIG congratulations to the outgoing (literally and socially) President Rosie Clark and her teams of Dale, Daniel and Suzanne and her deputes Graeme, Dave W, John N and Cathy.

Update - Corrections

 The results for the Peter Allan and the Shots Competitions have been updated to reflect the Mike/Graeme game which was a default game (not a peel as originally posted).

The Day/date of the Annual Dinner and Prize Giving (above) has now also been amended.  (The time and date were put in my Google diary when I was still in the 'Pacific Time Zone and it compensated !)

Nail Biting Finish for the Peter Allan

With Graeme still jet lagged the Peter Allan Shield still required some work to be done.  With on and off

ice discussions about a Default win, Adam was lent to an under manned Team Wood, so a game could be played.  As this was Team Mackey's and the Maguire Squads final games Julia needed a win, which she got to almost ensure the Shots Title while Graeme, with an ends and shots advantage needed a peel to take the overall.

The game (and the title) came down to the final two stones which saw Mike make a miraculous shot to edge out Team Maguire.  With the 'hammer' and his final stone of the regular season, Graeme answered the call with a delicate draw and diagonal tap back to take the end and secure the peel.  No further discussion of a 'default' game was needed (although it continued in the changing rooms).

So it is congratulations to Graeme Maguire, John Good, Adam Hicks (who Graeme will NOT be lending to the opposition in any future games as he played too well for Mike!) and Ian Campbell.  They started out the season strongly and managed, at the end, just to hang on to their advantage.

Province Knockout

The semi finals saw the holders, Haddington, being comprehensively beaten by Team Aberlady.  The other game saw  Dirleton triumph over Yester.

After a short break, it was back onto the ice for the victorious teams.  Aberlady got off to a strong start with twos in the first and third ends with Dirleton only taking a single in end two.  This gave Aberlady a 4-1 scoreline after three ends.  From there, it was one way traffic with Dirleton taking the remaining four ends.  It was still a tight match with them only managing to take more than a single in one of these ends.

The final score was 6 - 4 to Dirleton.

Big Congratulations to Julia, Dave W, Cathy and Adam. 

To put this in context, Aberlady have only won this competition once before (2007/08 - Mike) while Haddington have 12 titles to their credit.

 

What do Points Make ?

 A number of late call offs saw a depleted field of six, which included three 'skips' and two 'Points Virgins'.

Without last years winner or runner up, Graeme graciously volunteered himself and Julia to play first, which is usually considered a big disadvantage.  This and tricky ice saw them both get off to a poor start with Graeme considering he would lower his worst previous score. 

With good explanations of the 'exercises' and scoring and everyone pitching in with minding of the stones it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon for everyone and it turned out in the end to be an extremely close fought match both in the mens the ladies and the overall.

Rosie was the best performing President while Ian improved his previous best by 2 points. Jillian was the best 'first timer' and finished only 1 point off taking the ladies prize, won by Julia who upped last years score by 7 points.  Jillian's score was also only 3 points off the overall win - and all that while trying to come to grips with new shoes !

John Good, meanwhile, had got off to a great start end held the lead through to the second last end.  Graeme however came good at the last and was the only player to have an 8 point exercise (Chap and Lie) and stole it by 1 point in a relatively low scoring contest.

So its congratulations to Graeme and Julia.

A Third of John Good

 With one game left to play in the Thirds Competition, it is congratulations to Team Good, consisting of Pam Clark, Ian Campbell and Julia Mackey who are 'Bothy Bound' to cash in their Steak Pie vouchers.  My, by now famous, inability to count to two means that I could have claimed John and his merry men (and women) champions a couple of weeks ago but the extra suspense did us all good.

John has one game left to play, against Team McOmish.  The McOmish squad are currently sitting in fourth place and realistically second place is now out of their reach and has been claimed by David Wyllie.  They can still overtake the Peart team but need a peel to do so.

Skipper Good in USA action

Province Knockout

Congratulations to Team Aberlady who, despite a poor first end, prevailed to beat Doo'cot 10 - 7 in the first round.

They now go on to play Haddington in the Semi Final on Sun 12-2-23 at 14.30 - and then hopefully straight on to the Final.

Delivery !

A huge thanks to Vice President Julia who 'herded the cats' and arranged for a 'Sort your Delivery'  coaching session with the hugely experienced Paul.  The nine attendees were fascinated by the information imparted by Paul and all were given a LOT to think about with their own deliveries.

All in all, it was an extremely useful and enjoyable session.  

Remember Paul's words - There are 17 things that make up your delivery,  If you can improve just one or two, it will make a big difference.