It's a crowded season, but it takes courage for event organisers to grab the nettle and change to a new date in the calendar. Last season, the Aberdeen Ladies Invitation clashed in January with the Glynhill at Braehead, and the Four Nations. The committee has now taken the decision to relocate the event to earlier in this coming season, feeling that there is less going on in November than post Christmas. And it's an anniversary year for the popular competition.
Louise Wood writes, "This year’s event is particularly important as the competition has reached a significant milestone and will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The committee of Judith Carr, Kay Gibb, Kate Henderson and Louise Wood are determined to ensure that this year’s event both builds on the successes of the previous years of competition but also looks to the future with a few new elements and tweaks being added to the event.
The first big change for the competition is when it takes place, typically the competition has taken place in early January however the committee have acknowledged that the competitive calendar is extremely full at this time of year and have made the decision to move the weekend competition to earlier in the season, Friday 11 - Sunday 13 November.
In order to celebrate and mark the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the competition the committee are keen to ensure as many previous champions take part in the weekend as possible. If you have previously won the competition as a skip we will be making every effort to get in touch with you – if you haven’t heard from us please do drop Judy an email (judithcarr7@gmail.com). The entry fee will once again remain at £160.00 per team. We hope to see as many of you at the weekend as possible – even if you don’t want to play we would be delighted to welcome you to Curl Aberdeen as a spectator."
I am sure the event will be a big success, and as much fun as ever! If you have played in it before, why don't you consider a weekend in Aberdeen to join the celebrations!
I should just make it clear that the Ladies Invitation is quite separate from the second leg of the Women's Tour which also goes ahead at Curl Aberdeen, the weekend following the ALI, on November 18-20.
Kay Gibb (skip), Kim Brewster, Louise Edwards and Laura Mutch won the Aberdeen Ladies Invitation on Sunday. That's them above (L-R: Laura, Louise, Kim and Kay) with Bill Aitken from Redback Drilling Tools who sponsored the prizes and Chief Umpire Albert Middler.
One of my earliest, and happiest memories, is helping my mum make cupcakes at our home in Cardonald when I was a wee boy! Thanks, Louise Edwards for bringing back this memory.
Here are all the competitors. Click on the image to see a larger size, and see how many you recognise!
It's a crowded season, but it takes courage for event organisers to grab the nettle and change to a new date in the calendar. Last season, the Aberdeen Ladies Invitation clashed in January with the Glynhill at Braehead, and the Four Nations. The committee has now taken the decision to relocate the event to earlier in this coming season, feeling that there is less going on in November than post Christmas. And it's an anniversary year for the popular competition.
While I was gallivanting down to Fenton's Rink for the Four Nations last weekend, the Aberdeen Ladies Invitation was taking place. The competition was its 24th year and was won by Jacqui Crawford, Elaine Semple, Alison MacLennan and Pat Ross (above). The Crawford team beat Alison Petrie, Carol Scott, Phemie Philip and Jan Kay in the final game.