Team A (Deemo) vs Team B (John Mac)  23rd October 2023

‘And So It Begins’

‘Happy New Season to one and all’,

With the sound of lawn mowers still filling the air, the flowers still blooming in the pots and borders, the squirrels still being chased from the bird feeders, it is hard to reconcile the current mild weather with the thought that we are kicking off the new, even slightly delayed, ‘rock throwing’ season. But we are and with a degree of both anticipation and delight.

With the usual formalities attended to we took to the ice for our first game. The ice was pristine and the new balcony was being admired by one and all despite the news that the liquor licence was not yet in place to enable us to partake of the much enjoyed after match discussions and debate that is an essential part of our sport!!!!!

Both rinks took to the ice at full strength. Rink ‘MacCornerkicky with ‘Super Lube’ at 3rd, ‘Hoss’ at 2nd and ‘Hardcore’ as anchor man lead. Rink ‘Deemo’ fielding ‘Maverick’ at 3rd, ‘Newsprint’ at 2nd and ‘Ivor The Engine’ (????) in at lead to counter the ‘Hardcore’ attack.

Ends 1 & 2 saw rink Deemo taking single for a 2 shot lead – a very close opening salvo only to see rink MacCornerkicky’ respond with a two on the third end and we were all square again.

Rink ‘Deemo’ followed up scoring a three in end four and a single against the hammer in end five. At six shots to two up rink ‘Deemo’ were feeling a little more relaxed but complacency is a dangerous thing and with rink ‘MacCornerkicky’s never say die attitude the game was certainly not over when they struck back with a single in the sixth end.

At six to two in favour of ‘Deemo’ there was an eye on the clock ticking down in end seven – stones gathering in the house with at least two shots in favour of rink ‘MacCornerkicky’ and rink ‘Deemo’ trying desperately to run the opposition out of shots and time whilst lying possible third and fourth shots in the head!!!! With an opposition stone lying tantalisingly close to counting as a third counter ‘Maverick’ was asked to clear it out and so he did. All that was left for ‘Deemo’ to do was plug any possible routes into the house that might allow ‘Mr MacCornerkicky’ to pick up at least one shot to secure a draw.  This was duly accomplished with some judicious sweeping and holding of breath.

Rink ‘Deemo’ have their league campaign off to a winning start but it was the normal close, nail biting affair we expect from rink ‘MacCornerkicky’. Thanks for a good game and congrats to my squad .

Bye for now.

Deemo

Notes : ‘Ivor the Engine’ was formerly known as ‘I don’t believe it’ and it was thought the new moniker might be more appropriate – unless I hear to the contrary I will assume this is considered inoffensive & acceptable.

New Season, New Space, New Teams, Same Rules

Holyrood Curling Club’s 2023-24 season commenced on Monday 23rd October. Later than usual (the season normally begins at the end of September) curling at Murrayfield was delayed by the extensive work taking place to improve the facilities provided by Curl Edinburgh.

And it was well worth the wait. The new upstairs club room is clean and bright with an impressive view over the ice – and has a shiny new bar and fully-fitted kitchen. There is ample space to enjoy a post-game drink while dissecting the game and catching up on the gossip. And the ice hall below the club room has benefitted from a significant smartening up too.

Holyrood Curling Club continues to thrive. We have 18 full members and two reserves. After some discussion we decided to stick at four teams for our 2023/24 League with two teams of four players and two of five. A number of members have seen an interest in curling expressed by non-playing family or friends so it is hoped that we may attract new members by organising a Try Curling session and signing-up those who wish to take things further as reserves for this season and then perhaps expand our league to five teams for next season.

As we do every year, we have re-jigged the League teams so that members don’t end up playing with the same people as last season. Furthermore, we welcome new skip Ken Herd, promoted as a result of winning the Thirds League last season.

Playing Rules and General Housekeeping

During the closed season we held a much-needed AGM. Amongst the many things discussed, we reviewed the Club’s rules of play. We concluded that we would stick with our existing rules which are:

  1. A player has until the last stone is thrown on the first end to arrive with no penalty. After this three shots will be added to the other team’s score.
  2. No penalty shots apply to a three person team, providing best efforts were made by that team to find a substitute but were unable to do so.
  3. However, if a team member fails to turn up on the night without having given notice and not having tried to find a sub, then it is a three shot penalty.

Regarding substitutes, we agreed to adopt the RCCC rule that states: ….a substitute may play in any position in any round but not higher than the position of the curler being replaced.

In term of finding substitutes, reserve members should get first dibs before opening it up to the rest of the club.

Please can skips submit signed score cards to me as soon as possible after the game (either emailing a photo to holyroodcurlingclub@outlook.com, or a WhatsApp to 0775 190 5817) so we can keep the league scoresheet up to date and post the score card here on the website. 

Enjoy the season.

John Waterlow

25th October 2023

Team A (Dougie) vs team B (Deemo)  8th March 2023

Nail Biter?

‘Hello’,

I was made aware that Victor of Meercat Manor might be doing this match report from Meercova but it transpired that he was unable to witness proceedings due a sports black-out (can he say that now?) by Recast who decided not to take up the TV options to cover this critical league game.

What a shame.

The facts as remembered by me are as follows! Both rinks took to the ice with steely determination knowing that rink ‘Deemo’ could clinch second place in the league so long as they did not lose by more than four shots it would also mean that rink ‘Tides Out’ would win the league by one point!!!!! It has been a closely fought season.

The first end was straight into action with ‘Sweet Chariot’ placing stones in the house with ‘Flour Power’ sitting close by. Then ‘Snudge’ for rink ‘B’ continued to build the head before ‘Hoss’ swung into action and with plenty of weight and keen direction from his skip started clearing all opposing stones in his path. ‘Round ‘Em Up’ and ‘Maverick’ then traded blows leaving ‘Deemo’ and ‘the Young Yin’ to close out the end with rink ‘A’ (The Young Yin ) counting a four!! If panic was setting in on ‘Deemo’ it was imperative not to show it. The second end saw rink ‘A’ maintain their dominance to take a further two shots against the hammer.  Rink ‘A’ were now seven shots to zero up and ‘Deemo’ was fearing the worst – was the ‘granny’ on the cards? Could they claw back three shots to end the season in second place – ends were running out!

End three saw rink ‘B’ take a three shot count and at least the ‘Granny’ was off – could they perhaps score another four shots to peel the game’

Ends four, five and six all went to rink ‘B’ with the team fighting hard and sweepers fit to burst but ‘The Young Yin’ and his band of warriors kept managing to reduce promising ends to one shot losses.

The score was now 7- 5 to rink ‘A’ but rink ‘Deemo’ now had the bit between their teeth and dared to dream……………..2 shots to peel.

The seventh end kicked off with ‘Deemo’ mentally scolding the opposition over time taken deliberating over shots to play and having decided then taking what seemed like an eternity to play the shot!!!!! With one eye on the clock ‘Deemo’ played his shots at pace while ‘The Young Yin’ took time to consider his options – the shot then played, ‘Deemo’ could only pray that it came to a halt before the session bell sounded, and so it did. To ‘Deemo’s’ surprise rink ‘B’ counted three shots to take the lead 8 shots to 7.

With a skip on the neighbouring rink commenting on how we were getting our monies worth by managing an eighth end it was now ‘Deemo’ who was cursing the ticking of the clock and the thought of and eighth end, not having the hammer, and the potential for a loss!

As it transpired rink ‘Deemo’ managed to build a head and score a further three shots having shut out ‘The Young Yin’ from doing the damage he had inflicted earlier in the match. 

A great game was had by all with true grit and determination shown by ‘Sweet Chariot’, ‘Snudge’ and ‘Round ‘Em Up’ who never gave up hope.

Have a good summer one and all .

Regards for now.

Deemo