Scottish Seniors Update

The lineups for this morning's semifinals of the Scottish Senior Championships at the Lanarkshire Ice Rink are:

Women

Kate Adams v Barbara Watt
Margaret Robertson v Enid Brown

Men

Gary Macfarlane v Willie Jamieson
Keith Prentice v Don Stark

All the results are here and here.

Senior Women at Hamilton

Spring was in the air today at the Lanarkshire Ice Rink, Hamilton, as the Scottish Senior Women's Championship got underway. Two sections were on the ice today, although the third section doesn't start until Thursday. As usual, here are a few photos to give a flavour of the event so far.

Team Janice Howard certainly had a summer look, much appreciated by this blogger! Maggie Rutherford and Jean Cousar are the sweepers on Margaret McDougall's stone.

Here's their skip Janice Howard. How did this team get on today? You can find all the results on the Royal Club website here.

Mary Barr. 'Look, no hands!'

Margaret Robertson

Helen Burton delivers, with Alison MacLennan and Pat Ross the sweepers. Skip Elaine Semple in the head.

Here are the girls again. Pat Ross and Helen Burton ready on Alison MacLennan's stone.

Here's Elaine, with Grace Paterson behind.

Teresa Hill

Ann Smith

"It was just this size," says Anne Malcolm to Catherine Raeburn. (Other captions are available!)

The Judith Carr team (Barbara Oag, Liz Welch, Kate Henderson) in action.

Lynne Stevenson does her "I'm a little teapot" impression for Sue Cameron!

Maggie Scott is in the head, as Kate Burnett and Valerie Davidson (and Umpire Ian Addison) watch behind.

Fiona De Vries and Liz Horton sweep Maggie Scott's stone. Hazel Swankie is in the head.

You will remember that Fiona had an awful accident when competing at the World Seniors last season. Great to see her back on the ice today, here beside Liz Horton.

Now, a heartwarming story. A longstanding blogally was so concerned about my wellbeing and how this might affect my continuing blogging activities, that she suggested what I needed was a 'wee hottie'.

?

I got really excited when I heard they came in twos!

I was brought back down to earth when I discovered that 'Little Hotties' are, in fact, handwarmers, here being modelled by Alison Taylor, who many might describe as a 'wee hottie' herself, but of course that would be sizeist.

More from Hamilton on Thursday, if they let me back!

Photos © Skip Cottage

Now for the Seniors

Twenty women's teams have entered the Scottish Senior Championship. That competition begins at the Lanarkshire Ice Rink tomorrow (Tuesday). There are three sections, two with seven teams which begin playing at 10.00 tomorrow, and one with six, and these take to the ice on Thursday. The top three teams from Sections A and B, and the top two from Section C, will qualify for the quarterfinals on Saturday evening. You can follow the women's results on the Royal Club website here.

The men have already had qualifying competitions and the twelve teams that have made it to the finals begin their title hunt on Thursday, in two sections, results here.

The rink at Taarnby is the venue for the World Senior Curling Championships, April 14-21.