Final Curtain

I think it's time to say that the 2011-12 season is over, and that's it for Skip Cottage Curling. Very many thanks to everyone who has helped me in my efforts to keep the blog going. I am sorry that I am not able to continue it.

All 1,800 posts will stay up for the foreseeable future, as a record of the past three years.

Good curling everyone!

FIN

A Summer Challenge for You

 

Many of you reading this may never have had the opportunity to curl outside. Of course, that used to be the only way to experience the sport. It wasn't until the twentieth century that much of the game moved indoors. Still, outdoors continues when it can. If you were really lucky you were playing on the Lake of Menteith (above) on this fine day in 2010!

Perhaps you are aware of the project to map all the historical 'curling places' where the sport is known to have been played in Scotland and England. David B Smith kicked this off by making a record of all the places where a game of curling had taken place. He went through all the Annuals of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. He found 'places' in old minute books of curling clubs as well as in newspapers, and books. David then pored over old maps in the National Library of Scotland, in the days before these were available on line. All told, he found more than 2500 sites. Quite an accomplishment!

David's list was originally a Word document, but thanks to Lindsay Scotland and Harold Forrester, the information has been put into a database and from that database onto a map. The map entries link to the underlying database which records the original references, and where possible there are links to photographs and old maps. The project has its own website here, and is ongoing.

Now there's a chance for YOU to get involved, in one of two ways. Firstly, there are a number of 'places' which remain unidentified. Lindsay writes, "There are quite a number of places for which we have a name and description, but we have been unable to find on a map. Can you help? In many cases local or archaic place names are used, which will never be found with a search engine or on a map. However, someone with local knowledge might recognize the name and location." Check out his 'Unfound' list, a subset of the Scottish Curling Places tab, on the website here.

I'm scratching my head over some of the Dumfries and Galloway locations. For example, there is a listing (No 1097) for Curlingwater Loch, Kirkcudbright. I wonder if this is a miss-transcription of Carlingwark Loch, near Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, which is a well known 'place' (No 0045 on the list).

If you want to see what outside curling was like, the 'further info' page on Carlingwark has a link to a fantastic piece of video, from 1952, of the Queenshill Cup, see here. Let's just say that not every day was like the picture at the top of today's post. But not even a bit of water seemed to spoil the enjoyment back in 1952!

There's another way you can help. What about getting out with your camera, and photographing what the places on the map near where you live are like NOW? Look at the historical curling places map. Zoom in. Find the green dots in your area.

There may well be plenty 'places' to choose from. Just look at all the dots in the Perth area, in this screenshot of the map. Clicking on a dot will bring up the information about the site on file. Can you add to this information?

You might wish to consult the old OS 6inch maps, available online, see here, or here. Or just set out with a camera to find what's there now.

It can be quite a challenge, certainly. There may well be no trace of the place - other than a street name. But even that would be interesting. Many sites are overgrown. Whatever, Lindsay Scotland and Harold Forrester are set to put your photos on the supplementary pages accompanying each entry in the database. Lindsay's email address is on the website here. Make sure you indicate from which direction you took the photo, and any other observations you made on your visit.

Here's a couple of examples of what you might find, based on my own experiences recently. I had been writing about the curlers of Abington, see here, and I wondered where they might have played locally. The Historical Curling Places map site gave me two locations. I checked these out on the old OS 6inch maps, translated the locations to a modern OS 1:25000 map (Explorer 329), packed my camera, and set out to see what I could discover.

The first (Historical place No 0978) was easy to find. The site - the brownish area in the photo above - lies somewhat to the south of Abington village, east of the railway line, map reference: OS NS 933 221. It's been a natural pond, fed by a small stream running down the hillside behind. All overgrown now, and though there's no standing water, it's still a boggy place. I wonder if any of the passengers on the trains coming down the West Coast Main Line are even aware of this historical curling site, in use in the nineteenth century. I'm guessing here, but I suspect it might have been superseded by the man-made pond in the village itself, see below.

At first I thought it had been easy to find where the other Abington pond used to be, just beside the road on the west of the village, near the bowling green which is still in use (Historical place No 2170. Map reference OS NS 930233). It's shown clearly on maps from the close of the nineteenth century, so it must have been played on by this time. But where exactly was the pond? I found a derelict tennis court, which at one time has also been used for five aside football.  The area has been landscaped at some point relatively recently, with a car park.

Next to the old tennis court, the fence of which is on the right, is a flat area which I wondered might just have been the curling pond itself - not a natural pond but perhaps a clay-lined area that could be flooded. There are old steps and railway sleepers set into the bank at the rear of this photo.

It was only when I got home and studied the old maps again in some detail, that I realised that the photo above IS an old bowling green, and the curling pond was behind me, and had become the new bowling green! Fortunately, I did take a photo of the bowling green. So, here it is, the site of the Abington curling pond in the late nineteenth and well into the twentieth century:

This is shown as the 'Curling Pond' in the 1957-1962 Lanarkshire 1:10,560 map, and still as a 'Pond' in the 1980 Lanarkshire 1:2,500 map, which also shows the tennis court and the 'old' bowling green. You can see the general layout of the area as it is now in satellite view on Google maps.

The moral of the story is that it pays to check the location carefully on the old maps before you set out. (As an aside, sometimes the NLS website is slow, or even unavailable. The Old Maps site is often easier to use, and has more maps available.)

What now? Of course, there may be records, or even photos of the Abington rink in use. 1980 is recent enough that perhaps some Abington residents may well remember when their bowling green was a curling pond!

But every curling place will have its own history. Just how often were they used? Are there details in old minute books which show who played and when? There would seem to be no end to the information that's out there waiting to be discovered about our curling heritage.

Could you contribute to building up the information in the curling places project?

PS: Two young New Zealand filmmakers, Rachel Patching and Roland Kahurangi, have made a documentary about outdoor curling in the Naseby area in Central Otago. There's a link to the trailer here, where you might also like to contribute to a fundraising effort to bring the short film to the Edinburgh Film Festival. There's another teaser here. More here.

Photos © Skip Cottage

Behind the Glass

Robin Copland has penned a new Behind the Glass editorial, see here, stimulated by the recent Performance Selections.

I am acutely aware that the curling world, as I once knew it, is changing in so many ways. Copey highlights some of these changes today.

Make sure you bookmark Behind the Glass, now a standalone site separate from Skip Cottage Curling, to follow the stories in the months (years) ahead.

More on Performance Selections

The names of the athletes selected to the British and Scottish Performance Curling Programmes for the 2012-13 season were announced this morning. There are eight wheelchair athletes (three women and five men), sixteen women and twenty-one men.

The announcement is here, where you can see who made the selections, and I have reposted the names below. I think it is interesting that the curlers are not grouped as teams, as yet. However, from other sources it is clear that the Tom Brewster team of Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow - and now including David Murdoch - will operate as a five man squad, the fixed lineup to be decided by Soren Gran, the national coach in due course.

Logan Gray's team will be Ross Paterson, Alasdair Guthrie and Richard Woods, the lineup that did so well at the recent European Masters in St Gallen. Richard and Ross were the Murdoch front end last season. Glen Muirhead also receives support - I am presuming he will go back to skipping his own team again.

Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Claire Hamilton remain as an unchanged unit. Hannah Fleming's team of Lauren Gray, Alice Spence and Abi Brown, the Scottish and World Junior Champions are all listed, although I hear that this may not be the team for next season!

So too are Kyle Smith, Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell and Kerr Dummond, winners of the Scottish Curling Tour, Scottish Junior Champions, and World Junior bronze medallists.

The wheelchair squad remains the same as last season, the seven from last year being joined by Robert McPherson who moves up from last season's SWCA Spokes Development Squad.

MEN
Podium
Scott Andrews
Tom Brewster
Greg Drummond
Michael Goodfellow
David Murdoch

Performance 
Kerr Drummond
Logan Gray
Ali Guthrie
Grant Hardie
Scott MacLeod
Hammy McMillan Jnr
Jay McWilliam
Steven Mitchell
Billy Morton
Glen Muirhead
Thomas Muirhead
Ross Paterson
Cameron Smith
Kyle Smith
Kyle Waddell
Richard Woods

LADIES
Podium
Vicki Adams
Claire Hamilton
Eve Muirhead
Anna Sloan

Performance
Kay Adams
Mhairi Baird
Abigail Brown
Jennifer Dodds
Hannah Fleming
Lauren Gray
Jennifer Martin
Sarah Reid
Hazel Smith
Alice Spence
Lorna Vevers
Vicky Wright

WHEELCHAIR
Ian Donaldson
Gregor Ewan
Jim Gault
Gill Keith
Tom Killin
Angie Malone
Robert McPherson
Aileen Neilson

The Royal Club Academy and Talent Programme selections are still to be announced.

Brewster and Murdoch to join forces

It has been the talk of the steamie for a while, but it's now in the open that David Murdoch won't be skipping his own team next season, but will be joining forces with current Scottish Champion Tom Brewster.

The full list of supported teams will no doubt appear soon on the Performance Pages on the Royal Club's website here. Following selection meetings last week, today was the day that the athletes themselves were informed.

Eve Muirhead has already posted on her team's Facebook page that her current team will be in the World Class Performance Programme next season.

More news as it appears.

Photo of David and Tom skipping against each other is from the Bruadar Scottish Men's Championship in 2011 and is © Skip Cottage.

Gold for Switzerland at World Mixed Doubles

Nadine Lehmann and Martin Rios of Switzerland won the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Erzurum, Turkey, defeating Sweden's Camilla Johansson and Per Noreen in a close final.

Christian Roth and Claudia Toth won the bronze medals for Austria after defeating Brady and Cristin Clark of the USA in the 3rd-4th decider.

Find the results here, photos here, and links to match videos here if you missed the live webcasts.

Erzurum: Playoff Day

Judith McFarlane and Lee McCleary lost to Austria this morning in the quarterfinals of the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Turkey.

In the other quarterfinals, Sweden beat Canada, USA defeated China, and Switzerland came through against Estonia.

The lineup for the semis is Sweden v Austria, and Switzerland v USA, the latter game to be webcast. Watch that on the main event website here.

The linescores are here. Photo galleries are here.

Christian Roth and Claudia Toth are in the background of this photo of Lee encouraging his sweepers (make that, 'Hurry, Judith') is courtesy of Volkan Atar. Volkan is the photographer for the Turkish Ice Skating Federation, and this week has been photographing the World Mixed Doubles. See more of his photos from the event here.  

Erzurum: Saturday Update

There's one tiebreaker to be played today: Denmark v Italy

At 18:30 local, the qualification game matches Estonia against the winner of that tiebreaker. That game will be webcast on the event website (here) and on the WCF YouTube Channel.

Tomorrow the quarterfinal lineup is:
Game 1: Switzerland v winner of qualification game
Game 2: Scotland v Austria
Game 3: Canada v Sweden
Game 4: China v USA

Carried Shoulder High

I have always enjoyed meeting teams arriving back from championships with medals, usually joining a few family and friends at the airport. Recently I stumbled across a report of a 'welcome home' where the whole village turned out at the railway station to meet returning heroes.

So if you want to be able to answer the pub quiz question, "What connects the Boy Scouts to the Grand Match?", you will find the answer on the Curling History Blog, here.

(Follow me @Hoglinewamphray on Twitter if you want to receive tweets when occasional curling history articles are posted.) 

Erzurum: Scots reach quarterfinals

A big 'well done' to Judith McFarlane and Lee McCleary who beat Spain this morning in their final round robin game at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Turkey. That put the Scots on a 6-2 win-loss record in the Yellow section, and they have qualified for tomorrow's quarterfinals.

Sweden finished with the same win-loss record as Scotland, but the Scots will be ranked first because of their win over the Swedes in their second game. Who Scotland will play will become clearer later today.

Once all the round robin games in the three sections are complete, and any necessary tiebreaker games have been played, a ranking will be made for first, second and third position in each group. The first and second ranked teams directly qualify for the quarterfinals, as well as the third ranked team with the best Draw Shot Challenge (DSC) result. The other two third ranked teams play a qualification game to decide the last team for the quarterfinals.

Who plays who will be decided as follows:
(Game 1) 1st best DSC of the 1st ranked teams v winner qualification game
(Game 2) 2nd best DSC of the 1st ranked teams v 1st best DSC of the 3rd ranked teams
(Game 3) 3rd best DSC of the 1st ranked teams v 3rd best DSC of the 2nd ranked teams
(Game 4) 1st best DSC of the 2nd ranked teams v 2nd best DSC of the 2nd ranked teams.

The scores and standings are here. Photo galleries are here.

Erzurum: Day 5

Scotland's Judith McFarlane and Lee McCleary won two more games at the World Mixed Doubles in Turkey today. To judge from the scores, the game against Korea was straightforward, but the Scots needed to count three in the last end to get past Ildiko Szekeres and Gyorgy Nagy from Hungary. That was a key victory, and puts the team on five wins and two losses. One game remains, against Spain, at 08.00 local time tomorrow. A victory then will ensure a place in Sunday's quarterfinals.

 The scores and standings are here. Photo galleries are here.

Watch Ireland Win

If I remember correctly, there were only some 170 or so watching the live webcast of the extra end of the World Seniors Championship, Ireland v Canada. Coach Gordon McIntyre has now posted a YouTube video of the last two stones, so all can experience the Irish success and listen to the excitement behind the glass!

The video is embedded in the Irish Curling Association website, or you can see it here, or just click on the image above.

Erzurum: Day 4

Scotland's Judith McFarlane and Lee McCleary lost to Australia's Stephen Johns and Kim Forge today at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Turkey.

The scores and standings are here. Photo galleries are here.

Next up for Scotland are Korea and Hungary tomorrow (Friday).

Erzurum: Day 3

Judith McFarlane and Lee McCleary beat Italy today but lost to Denmark at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Turkey.

The win leaves Denmark as the only undefeated team in the Yellow Section.  The Scots have three wins and one loss. Judith and Lee have just the one game tomorrow (Thursday), against Australia.

The Denmark game was webcast, the last scheduled screen appearance of the Scottish pair in round robin games, see here. The full game will no doubt be in the vault in due course. Find it in the list here.

All the scores and standings are here. And photo galleries are here.

Erzurum: Day 2

Scotland's Judith McFarlane and Lee McCleary beat Romania in their first game of the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Erzurum. In their second game in the Yellow Section, they faced Sweden, the game webcast, with the teams miked up. The Scots were 7-2 up after six, but gave up four in the seventh to be one up playing the last with the hammer. There the Swedes stole a single, and it was into an extra end. All too exciting! In the ninth, Lee did not need to play his last, and it was a second win for Scotland.

You will be able to see the full game when it goes into the vault here.The highlights video is here.

I note too that friends Lorna Rettig and John Sharp, competing for England, are off to a rough start in the Blue Section, losing their first two games. Ireland, also in that section, is represented by Yvonne Chalmers and David Smith and they have had a difficult beginning.

All the results and standings are here.

Screenshot from the Sco-Swe game.

The Child in Me

If LEGO played a part in your childhood, you will be impressed with this display by David MacDonald from Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia, which was on show at the recent Sun Life Financial Players' Championship in Summerside, PEI. The photo is by CurlingZone's Gerry Geurts and he has more pix here. There's more on the story here, with details of how David put the 5,587 pieces together, and how long the project took to complete.

It's not the first time that curling and LEGO have got together, see here.

But I think it is this video from 2007 which will bring a smile to your face of a Tuesday. SKIP ROCKS! Enjoy.

World Mixed Doubles in Turkey

If you had said to me say, five years ago, that I would be watching live coverage of a complicated pairs format of curling from eastern Turkey one evening in April 2012, I would probably have laughed. How fast is the pace of change in the curling world.

And it's great!

The first round of the World Mixed Doubles in Erzurum has just begun. See here. The World Curling Federation's link with YouTube is proving to be as solid as it was with the World Juniors. Commentary this time is by a Norwegian (Sander Rølvåg) and a Swede (Sara Carlsson), in English, on a game between Italy and Spain. Good choice of game to webcast too, with young players on both sides, and good to show this now the event has been severed from the its association with the World Seniors. You may remember that the same two young Spaniards took Scotland to the last stone in Vierumaki four years ago, see here. They were just thirteen and fifteen years old then.

Twenty-seven countries are involved!

I've always been a big fan of Mixed Doubles. We have a Scottish MDs championship. Next season, this will be held at the Dewar's Centre in Perth. Perhaps some tuning in to watch this week's world event, might be tempted to enter. Entry forms are already available for download, here. Next year the World MDs are to be in Canada, the venue still to be announced. (ADDED LATER: Just announced, they are to be in Fredericton, New Brunswick, see here.)

Scotland is not on in this round in Erzurum. Judith and Lee will play their first game tomorrow morning against Romania, and will be on the ice again later in the day against Sweden. That game will be webcast. See the full schedule here.

Top photo is a screenshot from the WCF/YouTube webcast.

Tell Us What You Think

It has always been in the back of my mind to have my own 'awards' for the rinks I visit on my travels round the country. You know the sort of thing. 'The Best Bacon Buttie', 'The Warmest Welcome', 'The Cleanest Toilets'. I could also have done the 'alternative' awards, such as 'The Worst Food', or the 'I was made to feel like dog shit' award.

I thought better of it, of course, as when one commits these things to print there can be consequences down the line! So my opinions have stayed in my head. Safe to say though, that I have received a warm welcome in almost every rink I have visited in the last ten years, and that's all of them!

But it was good to see that one rink, Forfar Indoor Sports, is doing its own survey to get feedback on how the complex might get better, as it looks ahead to next season. I think this shows courage, as well as a commitment to improve. So if you've played at Forfar this season, here's your opportunity to say if you found the ice to your liking. Or even if you have just visited, perhaps as a parent or supporter, you can say if the other facilities on offer were up to standard.

Go here, and do it now! You don't get asked often.

On Approach

Here they are! World Senior Silver Medallists (L-R) Maggie Barry, Barbara Watt (skip), Jean Hammond and Val Mahon back from Denmark last night, at Edinburgh airport where they were met by family and friends. It was a bit special, I have to say. Well done to the team, not forgetting Judith Carr, the alternate who gave the team great support.

Note to self. "Must get a hat." For my next visit to meet homecoming teams. This was the Irish welcome! Kathie and Jim Nixon flank John Burns.

And here are just two pieces of Irish Gold, Dave Hume, the alternate, and John Jo Kenny, skip of the World Senior Champions - IRELAND.  There's a photo of the whole team here.

And read here to see just how close the Irish are to having their own dedicated curling ice in Dublin! Fingers crossed.

Photos © Skip Cottage

Weekend Summary

Logan Gray, with Ross Paterson, Alasdair Guthrie and Richard Woods, finished as runners-up to Norway's Thomas Ulsrud at an extra end in the final of the European Masters in St Gallen. Tom Brewster's team lost the fifth-sixth playoff to Switzerland's Peter de Cruz.

Eve Muirhead and her team won just one game of seven at the Sun Life Financial Players' Championship in Canada, and did not make the playoffs. The competition was won by Stefanie Lawton.

Silver Scotland in Taarnby

Barbara Watt, Jean Hammond, Maggie Barry and Valerie Mahon were beaten by Heidi Hanlon's Canadian side in the final of the World Senior Women's Championship in Denmark this afternoon. Scotland then have won the silver medals. Well done to our women! Sweden beat New Zealand for the bronze.

John Jo Kenny's Irish team of Bill Gray, David Whyte and Tony Tierney took Kelly Robertson's Canadians to an extra end in the men's final. With just two stones to come, John Jo and his team looked in trouble. But the Irish skip played a run back triple (!), and lay on the edge of the four foot. The Canadian skip was then too heavy with his draw for the game. Irish GOLD! Wonderful stuff.

Sweden won the men's bronze medal game.

The results are here.

John Brown's reports from the rink are in Toothy Tales, here. Louise Kerr's blog is here.

 

I found another webstream, this one with commentary from the Canadian Curling Association's Bill Tschirhart and was able to watch the last few ends of the men's final. This screenshot is not Photoshopped. I hope the Irish supporters might just pose a photo of John Jo next to the advertising on the scoreboard. As Ireland's first curling deity, John Jo and his team have improved Ireland's standing in the curling world immensely, and justified the support from their sponsors, see here.

Taarnby Semifinals

Very well done to Barbara Watt, Jean Hammond, Maggie Barry and Valerie Mahon (and alternate Judith Carr) for reaching the final of the World Senior Women's Championship. The Scots defeated Sweden in this morning's semifinal, and will now meet Canada, who beat New Zealand in the other semi, in this afternoon's championship decider.

In the men's event, Canada beat Sweden. But congratulations to John Jo Kenny's Irish squad who beat Norway at an extra end, to set up an Ireland - Canada final!

The results are here.

John Brown's reports from the rink are in Toothy Tales, here. Louise Kerr's blog is here.

 

I watched the last few ends of the women's game on the UStream webcast. Lo-res, fixed camera, no commentary, but it was still terrifyingly exciting! Honestly. The Scots were three up with the hammer playing the last, and everything seemed to go wrong. Facing a bundle, Barbara froze with her first. Ingrid Meldahl played the runback, but left Barbara with an open hit for the game. That's the position above. She made it perfectly. That's the Ireland-Norway extra end going on in the background.

Quarterfinals at Taarnby

Keith Prentice and his Scottish team lost to Canada in their quarterfinal match at the World Seniors in Denmark this evening.

In other games, Ireland beat Finland, Sweden beat New Zealand, and Norway beat Australia.

The results are all here. John Brown's reports are here.

Another Taarnby Update

Scotland beat Switzerland at an extra end and Keith Prentice and his team are through to the quarterfinals of the World Senior Men's Championship in Taarnby. That means the lineup for this evening's quarterfinals is:

Canada v Scotland
Norway v Australia
Ireland v Finland
New Zealand v Sweden

Follow the results here.

Taarnby Update

Well done to Barbara Watt and her team who beat the USA in a tiebreaker this morning to reach the semifinals of the World Senior Championships in Taarnby. The Scots will play Sweden tomorrow.

The Keith Prentice team beat Italy in an extra end in their tiebreaker. The team now plays Switzerland for a place in the quarterfinals. 

The linescores and standings can be found here.

World Mixed Doubles

Twenty-seven countries - Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and USA - will compete in the 2012 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship which begins on Monday in Erzurum, Turkey. It's the first time that Turkey has hosted a WCF World Curling Championship.

Judith McFarlane and Lee McCleary (above) won the Scottish Mixed Doubles title back in December (see here), and will have their first game in the World Mixed Doubles Championship against Romania at 08.00 on Tuesday.

The competing teams have been divided into three groups, and the round robin games lead to quarterfinals on Sunday, April 29. Scotland is in the Yellow Group with Australia, Denmark, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Romania and Sweden.

For the first time, there is to be live coverage of the Mixed Doubles event via the World Curling Federation’s YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/WorldCurlingTV which will be embedded onto the homepage of the event website www.wmdcc2012.curlingevents.com. The schedule for the webcasts is here.

News, live scores, image galleries and video highlights will be available on the event website here.

Photo © Skip Cottage

Day 5 at Taarnby

Keith Prentice, Lockhart Steele, Robin Aitken and Tommy Fleming beat Hungary in their last round robin match at the World Senior Championships in Denmark yesterday. This result means that the Scots finished the round robin on three wins, tied for third place in their section with Japan and Italy. How would that be resolved? It's not simple.

John Brown explains all here (thanks John). The upshot seems to be that Scotland is still in contention for a quarterfinal place, if Team Prentice can defeat Italy, for starters, today. Then Scotland will need to get past Switzerland for a chance to play against top-ranked Canada in the quarterfinals.

A 'well done' to Ireland's men, skipped by John Jo Kenny, who finished top of Section B, undefeated in seven games.

In the women's competition, Barbara Watt, Jean Hammond, Maggie Barry and Valerie Mahon faced Canada in their last match, having earlier beaten Ireland. The Scots lost to the Canadians and so finished tied with the USA in second place in their section. So the Scottish and USA teams will play a tiebreaker to decide which will contest Saturday's semifinal against Sweden. Canada and New Zealand will contest the other semifinal.

Linescores and standings are all here. The results are mirrored on the WCF website here, and there are lots of photos here. The timings of the upcoming games, and quotes from some of the competitors are here.

Thanks again to John Brown whose reports from the rink are in Toothy Tales, here. Louise Kerr's blog is here on the Irish Curling Association's website.

We Invite You to Estonia

Here is a different type of invitation to compete in a curling event. Click on the image above, or here, for encouragement to play in an international competition in Tallinn, Estonia. There's the Tallinn Cup in October or the Jeti Cup next January. The event websites are here and here.

Estonian style! Very clever. And brightened up my Thursday morning!

Sexist? Never! Now, where do I sign?

Day 4 at Taarnby

Keith Prentice and his team lost to Italy this morning, but defeated the Netherlands this afternoon. The team's remaining game is against Hungary tomorrow evening.

Barbara Watt's side won against the USA. Ireland and Canada are the games to be played tomorrow.

Linescores and standings are all here. The results are mirrored on the WCF website here, and there are lots of photos here.

John Brown's reports from the rink are in Toothy Tales, here. And Louise Kerr is blogging on the Irish Curling Association website here.

April Editorial

I've just posted a new editorial (the last one on Skip Cottage Curling) with some thoughts on 'communications'. Read it here, or click on the tab above.

Enjoy.

Day 3 at Taarnby

Keith Prentice, Lockhart Steele, Robin Aitken and Tommy Fleming got off their mark at the World Senior Curling Championships in Denmark today. The Scottish men defeated Japan in their third game. They have two games tomorrow, against Italy and the Netherlands.

Barbara Watt's team defeated Finland. The Scots meet the USA tomorrow.

Linescores and standings are all here. Note though that the standings are expressed in an unusual way, see left.

If the table says 4-4, this does NOT mean four wins and four losses, the way that standings are traditionally expressed. It means that Canada and New Zealand have each played four and won four. Scotland looks to have three wins and one loss. Not so. It's one win and two losses.

Stupidity? Ignorance? Does the wheel have to be invented at every competition? Perhaps this is just the traditional way of doing things in Denmark. But it's wrong, and confusing in my view.

The results are mirrored on the WCF website here, with the standings listed in correct format. There are lots of photos in the WCF galleries here.

John Brown's reports from the rink are in Toothy Tales, here.

Day 2 at Taarnby

Barbara Watt, Jean Hammond, Maggie Barry and Valerie Mahon beat Denmark yesterday at the World Senior Curling Championships in Taarnby. The Scots play Finland later today, in the third of their six section games. Their record so far: won one, lost one.

Scotland's men lost to Canada yesterday, their second loss in as many games. Four more still to play. Up next for the Prentice team is Japan.

Scores and standings are all here. There are lots of photos in the WCF galleries here.

And do read John Brown's reports from the rink, in Toothy Tales, here.

Muirhead in Canada, Brewster in Switzerland

Both Scottish Champion teams are in action this week. Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Claire Hamilton are already in Canada to compete in the 2012 Players' Championship at Credit Union Place in Summerside, PEI, April 17-22. The competition, the final event in the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling, has separate men's and women's events, each featuring many of the world's top ranked teams from the 2011-12 season. There are no Scottish teams in the men's draw in Canada.

However, Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow are competing in the European Masters at St Gallen in Switzerland, which begins on Wednesday.

Also in the draw is David Murdoch. But David is recovering from surgery to his shoulder and won't be taking part. Logan Gray will skip the Murdoch entry with Ross Paterson, Alasdair Guthrie and Richard Woods. The European Masters is only a men's event this season.

Day 1 at Taarnby

Scotland's women were beaten by Russia in their first game at the World Senior Curling Championship in Taarnby yesterday. The Scottish men were beaten too, by New Zealand.

The event website is here. Results are here, but you will also find them on the WCF website here for the men, and here for the women.

Barbara Watt and her team meet Denmark today (Monday). Keith Prentice's side face Canada.

Make sure to keep your eye on John Brown's blog here.

Toothy Tales from Taarnby

John Brown is blogging from the World Senior Championships in Denmark.

Find his first post 'Welcome to Copenhagen', with photos of the rink, here.

Curling in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh

If you have an hour to spare and you are in Edinburgh in the months ahead, make sure you head for the National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street to see Playing for Scotland: The Making of Modern Sport. The story is on the History Blog here.

Last summer it had been hoped that the Charles Lees painting of the Grand Match on Linlithgow Loch might have been part of this exhibition, but this painting remains in store whilst fundraising for its restoration continues. I note from the recent minutes of the Royal Club Communications Committee that the fundraising efforts are to be relaunched. That's good news! I really hope that in my lifetime I will see the painting on display once again.

The National Portrait Gallery exhibition includes a steel engraving of Lees's painting, as well as other paintings, and some artifacts from the Royal Club's collection of memorabilia. I enjoyed my visit and look forward to seeing it again. There is an introductory film, with a section on curling history.

World Senior Championships

Scotland will be represented by the Keith Prentice and Barbara Watt teams (see here) at the World Senior Curling Championships 2012 in Taarnby, Denmark. The first games are on Sunday.

There are fourteen women’s teams which will play in two groups. Scotland (Barbara Watt, Jean Hammond, Maggie Barry, Valerie Mahon with alternate Judith Carr) is in Group A with Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Russia and USA. Russia is the first opposition for the Barbara Watt team on Sunday afternoon.

Group B contains the Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Each group will play a round robin. Then the team ranked first in Group A will play the team ranked second in Group B in one semifinal, and the team ranked second in the A group will play the team ranked first in Group B in the other semifinal. No Page Playoffs in this competition. The winning semifinalists will contest the Championship final. The losing semifinalists will play for the bronze medals.

The twenty-three men’s teams play in three groups. Scotland (Keith Prentice, Lockhart Steele, Robin Aitken and Tommy Fleming, with alternate Archie Craig) is in Group A with Canada, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands and New Zealand. Poland, who were originally listed in group A, have had to withdraw from the championship. So each team in this group will have a bye during the games scheduled against Poland. As Team Prentice was due to play Poland in the first round at 09.00 on Sunday, Scotland has the bye in the first round, and will play New Zealand in the afternoon.

Group B has England, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland and the USA. Group C has Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Wales.

It's always a bit complicated to get the playoff teams sorted out when there are three sections, but after the round robins have been played (plus any tiebreakers) the top three teams in each section will be ranked. The 1st and 2nd ranked teams from the three sections qualify for quarterfinals, as well as the 3rd ranked team with the best Draw Shot Challenge result. The other two 3rd ranked teams play a qualification game to decide the last team to go into the quarters. Thereafter it will be straight semis and final.

The event website is here where you will find the team list, draw, and results.

Things to do in the summer

The 2011-12 season might be over for many, but here are some suggestions if you need to get a curling fix over the months ahead.

Firstly, you could sign up to play in the Hollywood Summer Blockbuster in California, July 6-8, see the poster above and here. That would give you a chance to meet up with the Bond Girls again (reminisce here).

Nearer home, the Fourth Stirling Summer Skins will take place August 3-5 at The Peak, Stirling. The competition is run in a skins format and is open to all abilities. Last year, thirty-two teams took part and this year the organisers hope to reach a full capacity of thirty-six teams. Entry costs £200, but of course some of this may well be recovered by winning some skins!

Email Logan Gray at grayl@activestirling.org.uk for more information.

The Peak Sports Village also has summer ice on Wednesdays and Thursdays from April 18 through to June 21. Curling sessions are available between the following times: Wednesdays: 12.30pm – 11pm. Thursdays: 10am – 6.00pm. Curling ice can be booked for practice, club outings, private coaching or corporate bookings. To make a booking contact Jamie Brophy at brophyj@activestirling.org.uk or on 0300 028 0101.

Or you could go Caveman Curling. It's not what you might think! It's a board game, a 'dexterity' game, produced by Gryphon Games. For younger blogallies, this is what your elders might have played in the days before computers and the internet!

Actually, it's a simple concept, and effective. Watch here how to play, and here for a review. For ages 7 and over. Just like the real sport!

Dalrymple Cup at Stranraer

The final weekend of the year at Stranraer Ice Rink saw twenty-eight teams play off for the Dalrymple Cup with the prize of a ten night holiday at the Cally Palace Hotel, Gatehouse of Fleet.

The winners were the rink from Ayr skipped by Neil Kennedy with his wife Sheila at third, and his sister Susan Middleton at second with her husband Roddy at lead. The Kennedy team defeated the Dumfries/Stranraer side of Ryan Carson, skip, Keith Dempster, Debbie Torbet and Cathy Stevenson in the final.

Top photo L-R: Sheila Kennedy, Neil Kennedy, Janet McMillan (presenting), Roddy Middleton, Susan Middleton. Photo courtesy of Gail Munro.

Men's Olympic Points

The 2012 World Men’s Curling Championship earned Olympic qualifying points for the competing nations.

Based on cumulative points earned for their finishes at Basel and in next season's World Men’s Championship in Victoria, BC, the top seven countries will compete at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, plus the host nation, Russia.

The points gained in 2012 are as follows:

Canada 14, Scotland* 12, Sweden 10, Norway 9, New Zealand 8, China 7, Denmark 6, USA 5, Switzerland 4, France 3, Germany 2, Czech Republic 1.

*Great Britain’s qualification points are gained by Scotland at World Championships.

As I noted before (see here) an additional two nations will have the chance to play in Sochi at a new World Curling Federation Olympic Qualifying Event to be held in December 2013. All nations having competed at the 2011, 2012 and 2013 World Championships will be eligible to compete in this event if they have not already secured their spot at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Here is the Scottish team with coach and alternate on the evening they were honoured at Basel. L-R: Ron Brewster, David Edwards, Michael Goodfellow, Scott Andrews, Greg Drummond and Tom Brewster. Photo © Leslie Ingram-Brown.

World Men's: The Final

Glenn Howard's Canadian side of Wayne Middaugh, Brent Laing and Craig Savill are the World Champions, edging Scotland's Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow 8-7 after an extra end!

An overthrown freeze attempt on Tom's last stone at the third cost the Scots a three and they were chasing the game. Still, they got two back at the fourth and, after a great double from Tom, forced the Canadians to a single in the fifth. That made it Canada 3-2 at the break.

It was exciting to watch on the Eurosport Player with commentary from Kenny Edwards and Alison Walker!

Glenn Howard hadn't missed much all week, and given the slightest of chances for a two at the seventh, he took it perfectly, angling a Scottish stone six inches to the side to pick up two and go 6-4 ahead. The Scots came right back with a pair of their own, and it was 6-6 after eight.

The team forced the Canadians to take their one in the ninth, and it was into the last end one behind, with last stone!

As a Scottish supporter, I have never watched anything quite as exciting live on a curling webcast. Tom made a fabulous hit and roll behind the corner guards. Glenn corner froze, but there was a chance, albeit a slim one, for Tom to edge it away cleanly to count two. His stone needed to curl a fraction more, but didn't. Good enough for a single, and it was into an extra end!

It came down to the final stone. With two Scottish stones lying against him, Glenn had to draw the four foot, and his team put it on the button! What a game.

The scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages are here.

See highlights and post game interview here. And you can watch the whole game on the TSN VOD here. (Or just relive the tenth, and see how close Tom, Greg, Scott and Michael were to becoming World Champions!)

Mike Haggerty's reports are here. General reports are here. Richard Gray's photos are here.

L-R: Glenn Howard, Wayne Middaugh, Brent Laing and Craig Savill.

Photos © Leslie Ingram-Brown. My thanks to Leslie for sending his photos for the blog.

World Men's: Bronze

Sebastian Kraupp, Fredrik Lindberg, Oskar Eriksson and Victor Kjaell from Sweden won the Bronze Medal game, defeating Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, Torger Nergaard, Thomas Loevold and Haavard Vad Petersson at the World Men's Championship in Basel.

Sweden got up in this one early - they were 7-3 ahead after six - but Norway fought back, taking the game to an extra. Sebastian had to find the four foot circle with last stone, and he did.

The scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages are here.

Top: Sebastian Kraupp.

Thomas Ulsrud.

Photos © Leslie Ingram-Brown

World Men's: The Semifinal

Scotland met Sweden in the semifinal of the World Men's Championship in Basel this evening. With skip Niklas Edin now recovering in hospital after surgery on a disc in his spine, Sweden was again skipped by Sebastian Kraupp, with Fredrik Lindberg, Oskar Eriksson and Victor Kjaell.

Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow took a three in the fifth, which set them on the road to their win. Sweden closed things by stealing in the seventh, but a well taken two shots in the eighth extended Scotland's lead again, to 7-4.

The Swedes should have had their two in the ninth, but Sebastian's shooter rolled out on his double attempt. That meant that Scotland was 7-5 up coming home, with the hammer. A perfect angled runback from Tom made sure that his final stone would be an open takeout. That was right on target too, and the Tom Brewster team will be in the world final for the second year in a row, and guaranteed, at least, World Silver medals. Magic stuff! Very well done to the whole squad.

Interesting commentary setup tonight on the Eurosport Player, with Alison Walker and Logan Gray being joined by Dean Gemmell, lead on the USA team, who some blogallies will know from The Curling Show podcasts. So a lot more was being talked about than just the game on the ice!

The scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages are here.

The Bronze Medal game between Sweden and Norway is tomorrow morning, and Scotland will meet Canada in the Championship game tomorrow afternoon.

Yes! Tom's reaction as his last stone hits its target.

L-R: Scott Andrews, Michael Goodfellow, Greg Drummond.

Photos © Leslie Ingram-Brown

World Men's: Page 1-2

Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow lost out to Glenn Howard's Canadian side of Wayne Middaugh, Brent Laing and Craig Savill in the Page 1-2 game in Basel, in an extra end.

Good to watch on the Eurosport Player - when the feed wasn't dropping off! Frustrating, but thank goodness for CurlIT's play by play graphics as the stand by. When there were moving pictures on my laptop screen, I saw some great curling! Tom's tap up in the fifth saw the Scots steal a point to go 2-1 up.

But the game turned in the eighth when Tom failed to find a good position with his last stone, leaving Glenn a double takeout to count four, and a 6-3 lead. Great shot! It should have been enough. But the Scots did get two back in the ninth, to be one down coming home, Howard with the hammer. Despite two tick shots from Craig Savill, Scotland was able to lie two when Howard went to play his last. A draw to the button would win the game, but it looked as if the Canadian sweepers failed to keep it clean, and the Canadian stone picked, and came up short.

So it was into an extra end. Two more tick shots from Savill! This time Glenn had a draw to the eight foot, and this was made perfectly.

Canada is now in tomorrow's final. Scotland will meet Sweden tonight in the semifinal, the winner gaining the other final place. So, there's another chance for Scotland to meet Canada again.

The linescore and shotmaking percentages are here. And you can watch the whole game with the TSN commentary team here.

Top: Greg Drummond encourages Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow who are working on their skip's stone. Photo © Leslie Ingram-Brown.

World Men's: Page 3-4

Sebastian Kraupp again skipped Sweden against Thomas Ulsrud's Norwegians in the Page 3-4 game at the World Men's Championship in Basel. Errors on the Norwegian skip's stones saw the Swedes take control, and they were 5-2 ahead at the interval. Although the Ulsrud team fought hard, they were still three down in the tenth and were run out of stones.

Logan Gray and Kenny Edwards were the commentators on the Eurosport Player webcast this morning.

Norway now drops into tomorrow's Bronze Medal game. Sweden advance to play the loser of the Page 1-2 game between Canada and Scotland. That game is next up in Basel.

The scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages are here.

Photo of Thomas Ulsrud and Sebastian Kraupp is © Leslie Ingram-Brown.

World Men's: Tiebreaker

Sweden won the tiebreaker against New Zealand for fourth place in the rankings at the World Men's Championship in Basel today. The Swedes were skipped by Sebastian Kraupp, Niklas Edin again sidelined with his back injury. He was in obvious discomfort on the ice in yesterday's games. Kraupp's team was always in control against Pete de Boer's side, and a five in the seventh finished it off.

Sweden will now face Norway in the Page 3-4 game.

The timings of the weekend's games, should you want to know when Scotland is back on:

SATURDAY, April 7
Page 3v4: Norway v winner of tie-breaker (09:00 local)
Page 1v2: Canada v Scotland (14:00 local)
Semifinal: Loser of Play-Off Game 1v2 v Winner of Play-Off Game 3v4 (20:00 local)

Basel local time is an hour ahead of Scotland.

SUNDAY, April 8
Bronze Medal Game: Loser of Page 3v4 vs Loser of Semifinal (11:00 local)
Gold Medal Game: Winner of Semifinal Vs Winner of Page 1 v 2 (16:00 local)

The scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages are here.

Mike Haggerty's reports are here. General reports are here. Richard Gray's photos are here. Highlights and interview videos are on the WCF's YouTube channel here.

John Brown has yet more goodies from off the ice here!

Pete de Boer delivers. Kenny Thomson and Scott Becker are the sweepers. Sean Becker in the house. A great week for the New Zealand team, to finish in fifth place in the rankings!

Photo © Leslie Ingram-Brown.

New Scottish World Champion

Remember I wrote about the World Lefthanders Championship in Oakville (here). Well, David Edwards' team won two and lost two, and went out at the quarterfinals stage.

Maureen Mackay, Dornoch Curling Club, and wife of Ian who played in the Edwards' team, led for three Canadians, and came home as world champion! The story is here. Sorry I don't have the names of Maureen's teammates, and the competition was played out of sight of the online curling community.

Senior Sightings

The World Senior Curling Championships are just over a week away, April 14-21, at the Taarnby Curling Club in Copenhagen. Yesterday, Scotland's women were on the ice at the Lanarkshire Ice Rink in a practice session against the English men. I have filed this photo, courtesy of Phil Barton, in the category of 'things you don't see every day'! Great to see the English men adopting a colourful approach to the sport with their Loudmouth trousers!

L-R: Tommy Campbell, Barbara Watt, Phil Barton, Maggie Barry, John Summers, Val Mahon, Michael Sutherland, Jean Hammond.

Whereas it will be an international debut for the Scottish women, Michael and his team are hoping at least to match last year's performance in St Paul, when they finished in eighth place, just one place behind Ken Horton's Scots.

Good to learn that Albert Bartlett, the UK’s leading grower and packer of potatoes, is continuing sponsorship of the Irish Senior curling teams. That's Christina Graham, Louise Kerr, Gillian Drury and Marie O’Kane above.

The Irish men’s team: John Jo Kenny, Bill Gray, David Whyte, Tony Tierney and David Hume.

World Men's: Game 11 v USA

Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow had their second game of the day, this time against the USA, at the World Men's Championship in Basel. Heath McCormick failed to score in the first three ends, and the Scots went 5-0 ahead. The US came back strongly and twice got to within a shot of the Scots. Two for Brewster in the ninth saw Scotland three up playing the last, and it was enough!

Does the win puts Scotland into the Page 1-2 playoff? Norway won their game against France, at the last stone of an extra end, and finish on eight wins, the same as Scotland. Does Scotland get second place in the rankings, by dint of their win over Norway in their second game? I await confirmation.

(Added later. Leslie in Basel confirms Scotland in Page 1-2!)

But great stuff from our men! Well done to them.

Story of the day though was Pete de Boer and his New Zealand team defeating Canada, again at an extra end. The last couple of ends were shown on the Eurosport Player, and I confess I was cheering for Pete, Sean, Scott and Kenny. What a boost for curling in New Zealand! The win put the de Boer team in fourth place in the rankings with seven wins. However both Sweden and China, on six wins, have a game to play this evening. If either, or both, win, then tiebreakers would be necessary to find the fourth place team, who would then meet Norway in the Page 3-4 game.

The scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages are here.

Mike Haggerty's reports are here. General reports are here. Richard Gray's photos are here. Highlights and interview videos are on the WCF's YouTube channel here.

John Brown's Toothy Tales are here.

Top: Tom and Greg look at a difficult situation. USA are red. Photo © Leslie Ingram-Brown.

World Men's: Game 10 v Czech Republic

Scotland played the Czech Republic this morning at the World Men's Championship in Basel. Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow led Jiri Snitil's side 4-1 at the break, and 6-3 after seven. But the Czech team hit back with three in the eighth. Tom's side got their two in the ninth though. Faced with a double with his last stone in the tenth, Snitil only removed one. Scotland stole a single, and had the victory.

That win brings Scotland's tally to seven wins and three losses, equal with Norway, with one match, against the USA, to play. Canada top the table, without loss. New Zealand beat China this morning, and lie in fourth place, on six wins, equal with China and Sweden.

The scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages are here.

Mike Haggerty's reports are here. General reports are here. Richard Gray's photos are here. Highlights and interview videos are on the WCF's YouTube channel here.

John Brown's Toothy Tales are here.

Scott Andrews and Greg Drummond are ready on Michael Goodfellow's stone. Photo © Leslie Ingram-Brown.

World Men's: Game 9 v Canada

Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow faced Glenn Howard's unbeaten Canadians in their ninth round robin game of the World Men's Curling Championship in Basel.

It was the Eurosport Player for me again this evening, and this was enjoyable to watch with commentary by Logan Gray and David Murdoch. There were some great shots played. The game was tied 3-3 after five ends. Canada was two in front after stealing the seventh. The Scots tied it up after eight, and, after a blanked ninth, the teams went down the tenth at 5-5, the Canadians with the hammer.

Tom made a perfect draw behind a Canadian stone in the eight foot, but Glenn Howard played the run back for the win.

Scotland has six wins and three losses, and is in joint second place in the rankings alongside China and Norway, with two more games remaining. Canada remains top, unbeaten in nine games. First up for the Scots tomorrow is the Czech Republic, then the USA.

You can find all the scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages here.

Mike Haggerty's reports are on the Royal Club website here. General reports are here. Richard Gray's photos are here. Highlights and interview videos are on the WCF's YouTube channel here.

John Brown reports on WCF deliberations, including what lies in the future for that organisation, here.

Wayne Middaugh and Glenn Howard watch behind Tom Brewster as Greg Drummond's stone comes into the house. Photo © Leslie Ingram-Brown.

World Men's: Game 8 v Sweden

Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow beat Sweden, with Niklas Edin in that team for the first time this week as skip. Three shots at the fifth gave Scotland a 5-2 lead, and it was over after nine ends.

You can find all the scores, standings, and shotmaking percentages here.

Mike Haggerty's reports are on the Royal Club website here. General reports are here. Richard Gray's galleries are here. Highlights and interview videos are on the WCF YouTube channel here.

John Brown has some fascinating insights on what is happening behind the scenes in Basel here.

The coaches' bench. L-R: Soren Grahn, Ron Brewster, David Edwards.

Good to see Niklas Edin back on the ice, after a back injury.

Photos © Leslie Ingram-Brown.