The winning rink in this year’s invitational bonspiel, held on the 31st January, was Drystanes. Our congratulations to the team skipped by Andrew Henderson. After an evening of excellent curling, all of the players enjoyed a fine meal of Haggis, neeps an’ tatties.
President Craig Thomson presented the beautiful glass curling stone, The Wilson James Stone, to the winning rink.
A great evening’s curling was had as the Points Competition was held alongside our annual Christmas Dinner. with some “interesting” Christmassey outfits on show. To the delight of many, there was a new name on the Lochhead Quaich – our hard working Match Secretary, Sandy Halliday. Congratulations Sandy. Any many thanks to the various non-playing members who came along to help out with the scoring… well done Graham Steele and John Finlay.
President Craig writes… It was great to get back on the ice for our opening Bonspiel. Four teams played for our first trophy of the season and after some close games Team Fergus “ Pot Hunter “ Corbett triumphed, ably assisted by his 3 Sandy “ Someone Nicked my brush” Halliday and Ken “younger than ever” Fish.
The usual camaraderie and “if only” debate quickly ensued. Sure, it would have been nice to get a bigger turnout, but the participants had a really good night with some excellent curling.
It was particularly nice to play in a game with nearly no falls on the ice, Clarke ended up on his knees at one point but I’m sure that was just a quick prayer for one of Bobby’s stones.
President Craig, Secretary Alan and Treasurer Colin were very welcome when they visited the Richmond’s Hope Charity and presented a cheque for £510 to fundraiser Rebecca Amiel. The monies were raised from the raffle at our annual prize giving dinner.
Rebecca commented…
The past two years have been incredibly difficult for many of the children and young people we support and some of the children we see have experienced extremely challenging situations in their young lives. Covid19 and isolation have really magnified the impact of bereavement and reduced the access of children and young people to their regular coping strategies – such as friends, family, and routine. Your donation will really make a difference and help provide face to face sessions, therapeutic play, and specialised grief activities to bereaved children and young people.”
Our Annual Dinner celebrated the many club prizewinners as summarised below in the Match Secretary’s Report.
Well done to President Craig Thomson who organised a superb evening and provided a great array of after dinner speakers including Rev. James Jack, Minister at Duddingston in Edinburgh and Sheriff Officer Roddy MacPherson.
Match Secretary’s Report:
The curling season got off to a good start with the Opening Bonspiel being held on 20th September 2021 and there was no issue in getting 4 teams. In fact, three committee members stood down to allow members to play. The Willie Watson Trophy was won by Ian MacDonald’s team with Alastair Kerr, Stuart Pollok and new member Alistair Smith.
In the Swan Medal competition, it was a clear win by Craig Thomson’s team. At the half-way point they were 12.5 points ahead and increased this to 17.5 with a final score of 40. The team members were Stuart Pollok, Steve Malloy & Colin Mclean. The runner up team with 22.5 points was Ian MacDonald’s team. The Wooden Spoon goes to Alastair Kerr’s team.
In the Terregles Cup Sandy Halliday’s team beat Stuart Pollok’s team in the final with Stuart unfortunately unable to play due to injury. This was a close fought game with the score at 7/7 going into the final end finishing 8/7.
The Points Competition was well supported with 16 players and the Lochhead Quaich went to Craig Thomson with 19 points. Once again the Christmas Dinner held that night was an excellent affair with fancy dress and free flowing refreshments prior to a cheery bus trip home.
The Annual Invitation Bonspiel held on 1st February 2022 was well supported and the Quaich for the home teams was won by Bobby Corbett’s team and the winning invited club was XX Club.
The Jubilee Trophy for Pairs was not played this year due to a lack of interest. Only eight members were interested in playing.
Once again, we had a reduced number of teams playing in Outside Competitions. The following were not entered this year: Arthur Frame, David Duncan, Glenalmond, MacKenzie Crook and Rink Championship.
We only entered one team in the Province Bonspiel this year and were not successful with a heavy loss.
We were drawn against Neilston in the District Medal but unfortunately lost this game played at Greenacres.
The path to the final of the Terregles Trophy wasn’t easy. Skips Halliday and Pollok should have faced off on the 7th March with Stuart Pollok back match fit from an earlier fall on the ice. Unfortunately, he suffered a second slip 3 ends in, and the match was sportingly abandoned by all sides.
Last night, the 6th April, the match was finally played with Malloy promoted to skip and substitutes Craig Thomson (lead) and Graham Steele (two) supporting him and John Couper at three. Sandy Halliday had his full side with the exception of Stuart Daye, also injured while curling previously, replaced by Alastair Smith but with Ian MacDonald at lead and John Finlay at three.
As a sidelined Stuart Pollok watch on from the, err, sidelines, the match swung back and forth with the sides all square at 6-6 after the 6th end. Halliday came into the final end of the game with the hammer and despite good early gains in that end from Malloy’s side, the game slipped away from them and a one was enough to settle the game in Halliday’s favour. 7-6 in the end.
Our Giffnock players are falling apart! Due to Covid, dodgy knees, skiing holidays, concussion and needing a haircut the last Swan game of the season was agreed as a peel (the result couldn’t affect any of the placings).
So, the thought was move the Pairs tournament to a more sensible time. However, on the night, the appetite for playing only three ends wasn’t there so the Pairs this year has so far been abandoned.
This meant we had an opportunity to do, what never happens, play a friendly between anyone who turns up.
Amazingly 8 players did so – R. Corbett, Halliday, Cowper, Daye, Thomson, Griffiths, Malloy and Finlay.
We quickly split the players up, into who sat on the same side of the table, and rotated the position of the players each end.
This led to a hugely enjoyable nights curling. One team went 4-0 up… two ends later they were 10-4 down. They fought back and just before we started our eighth end, yes Giffnock we could have played 8, an honourable peel at 10-10 was agreed.
Great fun, although tarnished by yet another injury, as poor Stewart Daye suffered a muscle injury which will put him out for some time.
A great evening’s curling at Greenacres as Giffnock hosted their popular Inter Club Bonspiel. Giffnock fielded 4 teams which is impressive in these difficult times, but sadly lost in overall points to the visitors.
Best outside team and winners of the beautiful Wilson James Stone were 20 Club. Bobby Corbett skipped the best-scoring Giffnock side on the night.
Well, what a game! Craig Thomson’s team of Colin Maclean, Steve Malloy and Stuart Pollok came up against a feisty skip in Fergus Corbett last night (Wednesday 2nd February).
Thomson’s side made a good start and kept Corbett at bay although it was nip and tuck for the first 5 ends. At this point, Thomson had never been behind and led 4-3. However, in the 6th end, disaster! A loss of 4 saw Corbett’s side leap into a daunting 7-4 lead. The Swan medal was slipping away.
The 7th end started with a steady build up of stones in the house by Thomson and a determined effort by Corbett to shift them. With Thomson lying 4, Corbett played his final stone… a tricky draw into the house which would have ensured a win for his team. Unfortunately, it wrecked on a guard and Thomson was quick to ‘turn the handle’ and gratefully accept the 4.
This, an overall win of 8-7 saw Thomson and his team secure the Swan Medal for season 2021-22. Congratulations!
