Christmas Bonspiel 2013

A very good turnout of 22 curlers made for an excellent Christmas Bonspiel last night. We played a slightly different format, with the skips and thirds and leads and seconds swapping positions after the first two games.
After the curling, we repaired to the bar for some sandwiches, mince pies, coffee and,of course, drinks.  The winning team were able to have first pick of the presents on offer, as well as their prize.  Congratulations to Dave Pittam's team of Sandi Wallace, Jim Paxton and Steve Kirby who finished on 7 points from their four games.

Sandi, Steve, President Mara, Jim and Dave

It was, however, a close contest.  Also on 7 points, but with two shots less, were the runners up Graham Spence, Margaret Morrison, Barbara Kirby and new member Robin White.

Robin, Graham, Mara, Barbara and Margaret

Autumn League

On Monday night, the final Autumn League positions were decided when David Wallace played his rearranged game against Richard Morrison.
It was very close, ending in a 4-4 draw.  This means that David Wallace's team of Margaret Morriosn, Mabel Hildebrand and Jennifer Peat won the league with 11 points. This beat Mike McNeill's team by one point.  Congratulations!

Autumn League Winners 2013
Jennifer, Mabel, David and Margaret

No winner - yet!

It's well known that curling is a slippery game and last night's result, a win for David Wallace over Mike McNeill by 8 shots, means that the Wallace team of Margaret Morrison, Jennifer Peat and Mabel Hildebrand  have put themselves in a very strong position in their quest to win the Autumn League.
Both the Wallace and McNeill teams have 10 points, but David still has a game to play against Richard Morrison next week.
Richard had a good 4 shot victory over Bill Inglis in the other game.
By my reckoning, David would need to lose in the rearranged game on Monday night by 17 shots to let Mike win the league.  It sounds unlikely but, as I said earlier, curling is a slippery game....

The results are here.

End of the League in Sight!

There's only one full week of curling left, although there is still one outstanding game to play.

Here is the current league position.

Team	Played	Points	Shots+	Ends	Position
B Inglis	7	7	2	25	3
DGilmour	8	7	-8	30	4
DWallace	6	8	17	26	2
MMcNeill	7	10	16	32	1
RMorrison	6	2	-27	18	5

Mike McNeill's team is leading the field by two points, but David Wallace has a game in hand, and will play Mike next week.

Bill Inglis can only achieve nine points and David Gilmour has no games left, so the decider may be next week, or it might have to wait until the rearranged game on 9th December.

Watch this space!

European Championships start on Saturday

Tomorrow sees the start of the 2013 European Championships. These are being held in Stavanger and Scotland are represented by our two Olympic teams.

David Murdoch and his team of Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow play two games on Saturday, against Denmark and Russia.

The Ladies team of Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan,Vicki Adams and Claire Hamilton play Russia in their first game.

Games will be broadcast on Eurosport and full details can be found here in the Event Website

Top Team Maintains Position

Mike McNeill's team carried on their good form at the top of the league with a 12-2 win over Richard Morrison.
In the other game, things were very close until Bill Inglis scored a 5 at the 7th end to win by 9-4 over David Gilmour.
Check out the league results and positions here or by clicking on the page above.

Fireworks Night

No Guy Fawkes tonight on the ice but plenty of fireworks and  some sparkling shots.
Bill Inglis beat Mike McNeill's team 11-2 and David Wallace's team had a 10-6 win over David Gilmour.
So we now have a new league leader, with David Wallace's team of Margaret , Mabel and Jennifer taking over from Mike's team.
However, the top four teams are all within a point of each other and Richard has a game in hand.  All to play for!

Autumn League - Mid Point

With every team now having played four games, we find ourselves at the halfway stage in the Autumn League.
Leading the way, with 6 points out of 8 is the team skipped by Mike McNeill, who tonight beat David Wallace by 8 shots to 5.
Richard Morrison's team had a good win by 10 -4 over Bill Inglis's team.
The up to date table is.

Team	Played	Points	Shots+	Ends	Position
B Inglis	4	3	-9	12	4
D Gilmour	4	5	0	14	2
DWallace	4	4	10	17	3
MMcNeill	4	6	13	21	1
RMorrison	4	2	-14	13	5

League Games on 15th and 23rd October

The League table has now been updated as far as we are able. However, we still don't have the card for last week's game between Mike and Richard.  If anyone has the details please let us know - we think Mike has them and he's away.
Last night saw a big win for David Wallace's team and a close win for Dave Gilmour's.  As Roy put it, in the bar afterwards, "We made the mistake of scoring in the first end and didn't manage another shot against David Wallace" - eventually losing 9-2.
In the other game, a score of 4 shots in the 6th end put Dave Gilmour's team ahead and despite scoring in the 7th and 8th, Richard could only close to within one shot, losing by 8-7.

Liz Boswell was out and about last night with her camera, and has sent us these photos.

An Entertaining Points Night

There were only 7 of us playing at Points tonight, accompanied by Alison Young who performed heroically as scorer.

The ice took a little while to speed up, which perhaps made points scoring more difficult but in the end some respectable scores were achieved.

The top three scores were:

3rd   David Wallace    17 pts
2nd  Mike McNeil       22 pts
1st   Ronnie Peat        29 pts

Everyone agreed that it had been an enjoyable night and we managed to have a go at all nine disciplines.

Some of the action

Week 2 Autumn League

There were two big wins tonight, for the teams of David Wallace and Mike McNeill. Both teams had previously lost their first games, so the league table is now very close.
Four teams have 2 points with Richard being without a win so far.  It must however be pointed out that he has only played one game. Early days.
All the results and league table can be found here or by clicking on the page tab at the top.

Autumn League Campaign Begins

Solid performances from David Gilmour's team and Bill Inglis's team marked the start of the new season.
David lost just one end to David Wallace's three man team, but steadily won the rest to finish up by 8 shots to 1.
On the other rink, Graham Spence played some excellent shots to triumph by 8 - 4 over Mike McNeill's rink.

Opening Bonspiel 2013

Four teams took part in a very competitive bonspiel last night.  It was good to see Hilary Henry and Jenny Syme joining us and we hope they both enjoyed themselves.

David, Alison, Jenny and Ian

The usual two ends then change opposition, move the team about a bit and play on a new sheet of ice made for an entertaining night, with the result close right to the end.

Hilary, Campbell, Ronnie and Sandi

Eventually though, it emerged that one team had won all their games and it was a fitting start to President Mara's year that her team emerged victorious.  Skip was Bill Abbott, Mara Lindsay third and Jim Paxton lead.  Our Treasurer Mabel would also have been there as second but had to withdraw at the last minute, due to injury. We wish her a speedy recovery.  The runners up were Mike McNeill and his team of Graham Spence, Forbes Watson and Jennifer Peat.

Winning Team
Bill, Jim and Mara

Runners Up
Mike, Jennifer, Forbes and Graham

Next week sees the first league games on Tuesday at 9.30 and we look forward to seeing everyone then.

Opening 40th Anniversary Bonspiel

Fullarton played in Ayr Curling Club's 40th Anniversary Bonspiel yesterday.  This also celebrated the 175th Anniversary of the Royal Club.
There were 3 sessions with a meal and speeches after each, and over 190 participants in the festivities.
We were represented by Vice President David Wallace, who skipped a team of Ian Snodgrass, Jennifer Peat and Mabel Hildebrand.
They say the results don't really matter in such games, perhaps just as well!
We did get a prize, however, being the losers (booby prize?) to the winning team, Kilwinning, in our session.

Teams for Next Season

The teams for the Autumn league have now been chosen and are shown above.

All the dates for the first half games can be found here

World Men's Curling Championships

The 2013 Ford Men's World Curling Championships start in Victoria BC, Canada this Saturday, March 30th.
If you've enjoyed watching Eve Muirhead's Team winning the Gold Medal in Riga, then  details of the Men's competition can be found on this website. Some of the games will be covered on Eurosport.

Scotland will be represented by David Murdoch and his team of Tom Brewster, Scott Andrews, Michael Goodfellow and Greg Drummond.

Your Curler Magazine

The latest issue of The RCCC Your Curler ezine has just been released.  It features articles on Ayr's magnificent wins in the Morton and Maxwell Trophies, plus a nice piece from Pat Galloway about Kirkoswald's 175th Anniversary Celebrations.
You can access the magazine with this link.

Letton Stone Winners

As promised at the AGM, here's a photo of our team being presented with the Letton Stone at Troon Portland's Bonspiel.

Congratulations on a great performance.

Letton Stone Winners
David Gilmour (skip) Sandi Wallace, Mara Lindsay and David Wallace

Closing Bonspiel and AGM

Eighteen players took part in our Closing Bonspiel and it was good to see Jenny Syme joining us to try out our wonderful sport.
After six ends of good play, the winners, being the only team to win all three games, were Mara Lindsay, Graham Spence and Alison Young.

Closing Bonspiel Winners
Alison Young, Graham Spence and Mara Lindsay

Thereafter we decanted to the South Beach Hotel for an excellent meal and our AGM.

A Report on the AGM will follow in due course.  Here are some photos of the Prizewinners.

Autumn League Winners
Alison Young and Mara Lindsay ( with David Wallace, skip, and Bob Handley)

Points Trophy
Ronnie Peat

Pairs Trophy presented by new President Mara
Ian Snodgrass (with Mike McNeill)

Spring League
Mara Lindsay, Richard Morrison and Mabel Hildebrand (with Alan Gorman)

New President Mara being welcomed by former President Ian

Bill Inglis
(winner of the Raffle)

Final League Placings and Women's World Championships

Richard Morrison's team of Mara Lindsay, Alan Gorman and Mabel Hildebrand made no mistakes and convincingly won the Spring League tonight.  They started off by scoring 5, 3 and 3 in the first three ends and finished with a 13 -3 victory over David Gilmour's team.

Spring League Winners
Alan Gorman, Richard Morrison (skip), Mara Lindsay, Mabel Hildebrand

The other game finished in a win by Mike McNeill over Bill Inglis of 9 shots to 5.
The final league position is

Team	Played	Points	Shots+	Ends	Position
DWallace	8	7	-21	26	3
DGilmour	8	6	-7	31	4
MMcNeill	8	6	-7	27	5
RMorrison	8	12	42	38	1
B Inglis	8	9	-7	35	2

Titlis Glacier Mountain

Women's World Championships

If you were able to see some of the World Juniors last week, you may also be interested in Women's World Championships.  These start on Saturday 16th  and are taking place in Riga, Latvia.

Scotland will be again be represented by Eve Muirhead's team and they will be hoping to improve on last year's 6th place.

You can follow the games on Eurosport, although the Scotland teams don't feature all that often. The Schedule of games can be found here.

League is Nicely Poised

Last night, we again saw two close games with David Wallace's team (skipped by Margaret Morrison) taking a single shot at the last end to beat Mike McNeill by 7 shots to 6.

Meanwhile, the rinks skipped by David Gilmour and Bill Inglis fought an honourable 5 all draw.

These results mean that the league title is still up for grabs.  Richard Morrison's team have 10 points and a huge number of shots, but the Inglis side are close on their heels with 9 points (and not quite as many shots).

The table is

Team	Played	Points	Shots+	Ends	Position
DWallace	8	7	-21	26	3
DGilmour	7	6	3	28	4
MMcNeill	7	4	-11	23	5
RMorrison	7	10	32	33	1
B Inglis	7	9	-3	31	2

Final games are next Tuesday.

Tonight's Games and World Junior Curling Championships

There were wins tonight for Bill Inglis and Mike McNeill.
Bill's game against David Wallace was very close, but was won with a single shot at the last end by 8 shots to 7.
Mike McNeill's team also won tonight, beating league leaders Richard Morrison by 7 shots to 5.

This Thursday sees the start of the World Junior Championships. The Russian resort of Sochi is hosting the event and this will be a further trial of their ice and facilities before they host the Olympics in 2014.

Scotland's Hannah Fleming from Lockerbie will be defending the Gold Medal she won last year and will no doubt be trying to put the disappointment of losing the Scottish Women's championship to Eve Muirhead a week or so ago.

In the Men's event, we are again represented by Perth's Kyle Smith. His team will be looking to improve on  a creditable Bronze from 2012.

The schedule of games can be found here. Please bear in mind that Sochi time is 4 hours ahead of us.

The WCF is providing free coverage and this can be found by using this link.

Games 19th February

Tonight saw Richard Morrison's team (Mara Lindsay, Alan Gorman and Mabel Hildebrand) continue their impressive run of form with a 9-4 victory over David Wallace, Margaret Morrison, Campbell Kay and Jim Lindsay.
Meanwhile, Mike McNeill and his team of Sandi Wallace, Ian Snodgrass and Bob Handley took a 4 at the last end to snatch a point in their game against David Gilmour, David Pittam, Alison Young and Ronnie Peat.

The latest issue of the Royal Club's Your Curler magazine has just been released and can be found here.

Games 12th February

The second half of the spring league started with Richard maintaining his position at the top and beating his nearest challenger Bill Inglis by 10 shots to 6.
David Wallace (ably skipped by Margaret Morrison) beat David Gilmour's team in a close finish by 6 shots to 5, moving up from fourth to third in league.

Spring League - Halfway Point

Everyone has now played each other once, and at the halfway stage there are two teams on 3 wins out of four - Richard Morrison and Bill Inglis.
Bill's team beat Mike McNeill 's by 9 shots to 3 tonight while David Gilmour beat Richard by 7 shots to 4.

Next week, fortunes could be reversed as we start playing each team again. Current league positions are found on the Results page above.

Two Close Games

David Wallace and Mike McNeil shared the points with a 5-5 draw tonight, while on the other rink Bill Inglis  took a shot at the last end to beat David Gilmour's team by six shots to five.
The League Results tab at the top of the page gives the up to date positions.
The evening was rounded off with a good meal for quite a few of the players thanks to Passion Caterers at the Ice Rink.

Results from Spring League 22nd Jan

Bill Inglis and his team had a good victory over David Wallace tonight, winning by 7 shots to 2. On the other sheet, Richard Morrison continued his good form by beating Mike McNeill's team 9-6.

The latest edition of "Your Curler" has just been released.  This features a photo of our own Bill Abbott. You can read all about it here.

Spring League Week 2

Richard Morrison's team followed up their 12 shot victory last week with an even better 13 shot victory over David Wallace. In the other game Dave Gilmour and Mike McNeill were tied at 3-3 in the final end, but the Gilmour rink took a 3 to win 6-3.

Fullarton CC Stranraer Weekend

Twelve Fullarton curlers enjoyed a fantastic weekend at the North West Castle, Stranraer - eating, drinking, dancing and singing, with the odd game of curling thrown in.

Stranraer Ice Rink

All the teams had close competitive games against curlers from all over Scotland, with mixed fortunes.

Margaret, Richard, Fiona and Bill

David, Sandi, Sandra and Bill

Ronnie, Jennifer, Mara and Jim

Ronnie's team reached the semi finals where, despite being one up at the start of the last end, they finished a close second to Drew Gemmell from Dalry.

There's a ceilidh on the Saturday with dancing and varied entertainment. After the band has finished, the curlers take over with songs, poems and other "turns".

Amongst the highlights were Bill Abbott and Jim on banjo and guitar, and some excellent songs from Fiona. Fullarton obviously has some great hidden talents and we look forward to hearing them all again soon.

Bill Abbott (with banjo)

Jim on guitar

Everyone enjoyed the friendship and fun of the whole weekend and are very grateful to Margaret for again coordinating such a marvellous event.

We're booked in again for next year and would encourage any other members who are interested to come along and join in.

Pairs Competition

President Ian Snodgrass won the Pairs Trophy for the second year in a row, this time partnered by Mike McNeill. In a close fought final, they defeated Bill Inglis and Margaret Morrison at the third end.

Pairs Winners 2013
Mike McNeill and Ian Snodgrass

Spring League - Game 1

The first games in the Spring League were at 5.00 pm tonight and resulted in wins for David Wallace and Richard Morrison.
David's team survived a strong fightback from Dave Gilmour but held on to win by 6-5.
Richard's team had a good 14-2 victory over Bill Inglis.

Strathcona Cup

The Strathcona Cup is the trophy played for by Scotland and Canada in their Tour matches. The next tour from Scotland leaves for Canada on Wednesday 9th January.

Billy Howat (Ayr CC President) and Andrew Kerr (former Fullarton member) are just two of the weel kent Ayrshire names amongst the 61 who will be trying to regain the trophy for Scotland,  playing just 427 games in the process!

If you're interested, you can follow their progress over the following three weeks by following this link. We wish them every success.