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 !