More Schools

Some forty-nine teams entered this year's Scottish Schools Championship, Stranraer having the most entries with five. After local qualifiers, twenty-four teams contested the title at the Murrayfield rink at the weekend, playing initially in four sections: 1 Merchiston Castle Kelvinside Academy, Stirling High, Webster's High, Dollar Academy, Loudoun Academy; Mary Erskine, Stranraer 1, Earlston High, Millburn Academy, Bell Baxter, Garnock Academy; Hamilton Grammar, George Heriots, Stranraer 2, Longridge, Forfar Academy, Inverness Royal Academy; Strathaven Academy, Craigmount High, Douglas Ewart, Arbroath High, Pitlochry, Lockerbie.

Two qualified from each section and the quarters matched Merchiston against Mary Erskine, Hamilton against Lockerbie, Arbroath against George Heriots and Garnock against Loudoun. It was to be Merchiston v Hamilton, and Arbroath v Loudoun in the semifinals.

We can pick up from the semis with some photos. This is the Loudoun team in action. Skip Euan Cunningham is in the head, and that's Mark Guthrie, Kirsty Morton and Eilidh Drummond all sweeping. It was to no avail, as their opposition on the day, Arbroath, were too strong and ran out easy winners.

The other semifinal between Hamilton and Merchiston was a much tighter affair, and the game could have gone either way. That's the Hamilton team in action. It's John Ballantyne's stone which is being swept by Rachel Hannen and Craig Waddell. Skip Kyle Waddell is in the head.

The game went to an extra end after Hardie's takeout in the eighth clipped a guard. Then in the extra, his first took a horrendous pickup and removed his own shot stone. Waddell put a third Hamilton stone in play, leaving the Merchiston skip a real pressure draw to the four foot for the game! He made it perfectly.

So this is how the teams lined up for the final. Merchiston Castle: Grant Hardie, Hamilton McMillan, Alastair Brunton and Mark Munro.

Arbroath Academy: Duncan Menzies, Robert Fawns, Alistair Stewart, Angus Dowell

The skips.

The Merchiston team were really up for the final. This is young Hammy.

Mark and Hammy look after Alastair's stone.

Grant Hardie

The pundits behind the glass all thought that Duncan called too aggressive a game early on, and his team fell 4-0 behind.

Front end Angus Dowell and Alistair Stewart work to bring Robert Fawns' stone past a guard.

Duncan adjusts his third's ice.

Duncan delivers.

This end was the end! Merchiston lies four, but Duncan is short with his draw to save, and Arbroath falls 8-0 behind. All the competition results are on the Royal Club website here.

And a caption competition to finish. Mark is saying to Alastair, "Just look at these blisters." Or, "I've got five digits, how many do you have?" (Other captions are available)

Photos © Skip Cottage

Curling outside

With low temperatures in many parts of Scotland over the Christmas period, I've been keeping my eyes and ears open for news that keen curlers have been finding ways to play outside. The members of the Highland Curling Club maintain an outside rink at Kingsmills in Inverness. There are four sheets at the rink. They have a concrete base and are sealed with bitumen, and have been in operation for 111 years. They were completely refurbished in 2000, and new floodlights installed then. With only one exception, 2006-7, there has always been sufficient frost for curling.

This season has been no different! Here are members using the tee-ringer to mark out the house.

And here are members ready to go, outside their fine clubhouse. Thanks to Jim Brown for the pics. Jim advises that the club had three games yesterday (Boxing Day), and were set to play Nairn CC this afternoon.

Keen curlers are always welcome at Kingsmills, and anyone who fancies a game should just get in touch with Jim or anyone else in the club. The Highland CC has a Facebook page here.

This would seem to be a good time to flag up the project, headed up by Lindsay Scotland and David B Smith, to have an interactive map of all the places where outside curling has been played. Lindsay notes that they have now completed their first pass through all the places in David’s original list (which was a simple pdf file), and now 2454 places are on the map!

Have a look at the news information on the RCCC site, here. Lindsay says, "There’s lots more to do to make it more complete and accurate, and we also have plans to add pictures, but I think it is pretty impressive already."

As do I! But it's going to take a lot of work yet to get the maps accurate, and to the point that the information can be relied on. I searched for the Kingsmills rink, above, and I've posted the screenshot. Each map icon, when clicked upon, brings up a description, eg, 'Annual 1905. Photograph 1937; Rectangular curling ponds, probably tarmac, shown in OS 6 in, 2 ed; 1906. Perhaps still in use in 2009...'

No 'perhaps' about it! If the above photos are not acceptable as evidence, then there are further ones on Highland's CC Facebook album here, and the pics on this link here show play at Kingsmills last January!

And here are some pioneering curlers! There's no historical evidence, as far as I am aware, that curling was ever played on this little lochan near Cowans Farm, Kirkgunzeon. Here's John Munro showing good style, despite the absence of a crampit!

Young Grant Hardie was in action too.

Here's Grant giving ice. I like the use of an empty whisky bottle as a dolly! There are lot's more pics on Grant's Facebook album here.

Thanks to Jim Brown and Grant Hardie for permission to use their photos. Let me know if anyone else has been outside this holiday period.