E.L. Pairs Competition

Frank Ross & Katherine Golding

Congratulations to Frank Ross and Katherine Golding, representing Athelstaneford.  This makes three wins for Athelstaneford in the  'Nicoll Trophy'.  In this instance they beat Haddington's Shelagh Main and Lindsey Nicoll by a score of 5 - 1  (which I am advised was not representative of the game, but I await an eyewitness report)
It should be noted that three of the four finalists were ladies, so congratulations girls.

The Low Road was won by Callum Harvey and Graham Elder, for Dirleton.  They won the 'Doo'cot' Trophy with a score of  4 - 1 against Yester

The full results were:-

Murrayfield Proposals - Launch

Below are the current proposals from our curling rink and an invitation to the official launch

A Load of Bull - Presidential Postcscript

Well done to all the curlers who so impressively brought home the Black Bull to East Lothian Province!

 

I was delighted to receive the news of your outstanding victory on my way home from Stranraer (where we weren’t quite as successful!).  Many thanks for representing the Province so well, I’m grateful for all your efforts to be making my first (proper) year as president so fruitful.

 

I hope you all enjoyed the event and will be willing to help represent East Lothian again in the future.

 

Many thanks again and congratulations from one very chuffed president!

Cheers

Dave

A Load of Bull

Skips Johnny, Morgan and The Black Bull

Well done to the combined might of Team Shedden and Team Nicoll who both put in good performances in the Edinburgh Area Bonspiel (formerly the Area 5 Bonspiel).  Johnny, assisted by Ken (Chanty Star) Burchell, Paul Neison and John Trotter, blitzed their first game and played solidly in their other two games to come out +11 shots and the best team of the afternoon.  Meanwhile Morgan, with Graeme Maguire, Alex King and Cathy MacLean and John Trotter had a similarly consistent day to with  +3 Shots to finish in joint third place.
Overall, East Lothian came out the clear winners on +14.  Our nearest rivals, The RCCC, came second on +3.
Prior to a very enjoyable supper The Black Bull was presented to our team leaders.

Borders Challenge 2016 - Presidential Postscript

Ian Donald receiving the 'potty'

Province President, Dave Munro, extends his congratulations to all concerned on the excellent result at the 'Chanty Challenge'.   Dave was represented by Vice President Ian Donald at the event (and in part by his jacket, which was on ice with the team!)

Borders Challenge 2016

The day dawned bright but storm clouds were looming over the hills as our brave 16 lads and lassies set off to Kelso.  This year we were the hosts although the match was being held on Borders territory.  The Borders won the trophy last year although when we faced them in last seasons Waldie-Griffiths we were the narrow victors.  All was set up for a tight battle....... and tight it was.
We had been given warnings about 'tricky' ice and 'tricky' stones and the ice did seem to change character every end, so it is perhaps no surprise that the Borders got off to a flying start, after four ends we were trailing 17 shots to 6 i.e. 9 shots down.
During the fifth end our skips seemed to get the hang of the ice and all four teams took the end, boosting our tally by 11 shots and putting us 2 shots up.
The sixth end was one of consolidation and saw us increase our lead to 6 shots.
It was then that the Borders staged their fight back, winning the end by 9 shots to 2 and giving the lead back to the borders, at the last gasp, by 1 shot........
But all was not over, because one match went on to play an eighth end.  A nail biting finish saw Ken Burchell, with the hammer, facing facing a final shot, lying one shot against and partially covered.  A stroke of brilliance saw him remove the Border's stone and sit with two of his own. 
The final score was then East Lothian 28, Borders 27...... A win by 1 shot on the final stone of the final end.
Some say that Ken should be declared the 'Man of the Match' for his cunning quick play and final stone.  It should be noted, however, that of the four games, East Lothian won one and lost three.  Our only winning skip was John Good, aided by Dale Callander, John Black and Frances Donald and their 10 - 2 win was decisive in the teams overall victory.

The championship was followed by some 'short' speeches and some 'long' banter over a splendid carvery laid on by the local caterers.

The rain was lashing down on our way home but the moon was shining brightly over East Lothian.  This was probably more to do with astrological conditions than our curling though..... but it was still nice.

2016 / 2017 Competition Draws

The Draws for the Province Competitions have now been made and can be found, in their full glory, on the Fixtures Tab

Borders Challenge

A provisional date of Wed 16th November @ 1430 at Kelso is being discussed for this years Borders Challenge (Chanty)

2016-17 Competition Dates

Provisional dates for all our 2016-17 Murrayfield Competitions have been added to the Fixtures Tab.
The draws will be included at a later date.

AGM -

The East Lothian Province AGM will be held on
Wednesday 18th May 2016 from 7.30pm.
at
Byers Farm.

Each club may be represented by 2 members. 
Please contact your Club Secretary if you wish to attend.

Waldie Griffith - A Presidents Review

A good afternoons curling was enjoyed by all I believe with a fairly evenly balanced result, scores as follows....

 

Rink 1 Bill Gray, Balfour Stewart, Douglas Scott and Walter Scott won 13-5 vs Duns rink

Rink 2 Sandy Nicoll, John Good, Ian Donald and Stephen Dyer lost 8-7 vs Kelso rink (good rink with Graeme Baxter and Stuart Craig in their ranks, Sandy was 3 up playing last and lost a 4! He wasn’t happy with himself but had played really well till that point.)

Rink 3 Me, Frank Ross, John Trotter and George Fairley won 8-7 vs Earlston rink

Rink 4 Ken Burchell, Graeme Maguire, Frances Donald and David Affleck lost 6-3 vs Border Ladies

 

To save you any mental arithmetic the overall scores were 31-26 for East Lothian, a lead of 5 shots which gives us an average of 1.25 ( I reckon well short of a winning average!)

 

Lovely hospitality from Borders with most staying for tea afterwards so despite not being in the running this year it has been a good event.

 

Dave

Waldie Griffiths Trophy

Well done to our valiant rinks headed by Bill Gray, Ken Burchell, Sandy Nicoll and Dave Munro who vanquished Borders Province in their home lair to avenge our defeat in the 'Chanty Challenge' earlier in the season.  The games were all played in excellent spirit and many of them were finely balanced, with comfortable leads (and losses) quickly eroded (fortunately in the case of the losses).  The final result saw the East Lothian Province with a total of 5 shots up.
Unfortunately this is not nearly enough to return the trophy to our safe keeping, so it looks like we will have to try again next year.

Rink Championships - Qualifiers

One advantage of having a Province that plays at more than one curling rink is that every so often we can be represented by more than one team at the Rink Championships Finals.
Congratulations to Yester, who qualified out of Kelso and to Athelstaneford who won the finals at Murrayfield Yesterday.

The Waldie Teams - revealed

Our Province match in the Waldie Griffith looks a familiar affair, having been drawn against our rivals in the 'Chanty', the Borders.  We will be looking for our luck to change as we travel to Kelso for the second time this year to do battle.  The games will take place on Thursday 25th February 2016 at 2.30pm and will be followed by a supper.
 The teams will be as follows:-
1. Bill Gray, Balfour Stewart, Douglas Scott and Walter Scott.
2. Ken Burchill, Graeme Maguire, David Affleck and Frances Donald.
3. Sandy Nicoll, John Good, Ian Donald and Stephen Dyer.
4. Dave Munro, Frank Ross, John Trotter and George Fairley.
Reserves -  Roy Black and Bob Makin.

Good Luck.

Scottish Masters Champion

Robin & Yvonne

Hearty congratulations to Yvonne Aitken  who, skipped by Maggie Scott and aided by Margaret White and Fiona Rutherford won the National Masters Championships at the weekend.
They won all but one of their games in the group stages to qualify for the Semi-final.  At one stage they were 5 - 1 down but rallied to earn a Final place against last years champions.  The final was a tight affair and after six ends they were one shot down, however a good four in the penultimate end enabled them to run the former champions out of stones.
After a brief curling career of  twelve years Yvonne has managed to accumulate four championship medals, three in the Scottish Mixed and now one in the Scottish Masters.

Having read Robin's report, I can confirm that he is much calmer on the ice than when watching his wife.

USA Tour 2017

Once again, East Lothian players will be represented in a Scottish Men’s Tour. John Good, Callum Harvey and Frank Ross will set off for in January 2017 proudly carrying the Scotland flag and looking forward to three gruelling weeks taking in 30 games of curling.   They look forward to meeting up with some of the USA players they played against in Scotland in 2012, as well as making new curling friends.
The Herries Maxwell trophy will go the winner for the best results over the Tour.   Scotland has only a fairly narrow lead in ‘wins’ since the trophy was first presented in 1952 so, East Lothian expects ……. !

East Lothian Bonspiel 2015/16

EL Bonspiel 2015/16

Congratulations to Aberlady who won our 2015/16 bonspiel.
The team was led by Sandy Nicoll who follows in his fathers and grand fathers footsteps in winning this tournament.
He was supported by Karen Munro, John Good and Dale Callander.
Haddington were edged out into second place.