I began yesterday at the Ice Bowl, Dumfries, when the Canadian women were playing local teams. Very festive it was too, with red and green predominating! Take a good look at at the photo above. It will soon be a thing of the past as curling moves from the big arena, shared with skaters and ice hockey, to a dedicated curling rink.
A tantalising view of the new rink, from the revamped entrance foyer.
There's six sheets. The ice is down and the circles in, as you can see. Hacks are still to be fitted and the scoreboards erected. CDO Graham Sloan expects to have some of his juniors trying it out next week, with full club curling shifting to the new rink by the beginning of December.
The rink has been constructed within what used to be the indoor bowling facility. This has led to compromises in design of course, but the general feeling from local curlers seeing the rink for the first time has been very positive.
I must admit to getting a big thrill on seeing the rink so nearly completed. One doesn't get to see a new curling facility in Scotland very often, certainly not in recent years. I wish the Dumfries curlers every success.Photos © Skip Cottage
