‘A new beginning‘

We met for the start of a new season in the modified bar and cafeteria area – the voices were full of cheer and with handshakes all round all were eager to get back on the ice.

Despite the revised bar area being somewhat restricted it serves a purpose and gives those enjoying a ‘wee libation’ to keep an eye on the action on the ice.

Both rinks took to the ice sporting a ‘sub’; Rink ‘A’ had ‘Flour Power’ standing in for ‘Hi Dee Hi’ whilst Rink ‘B’ were joined by ‘The Scalpel’ standing in for ‘Snudge’ who was off swinging bits of wood and metal at a ‘wee white ball’.

End one started off with range finding shots finding their mark and ‘The Young Yin’ closing it out drawing first blood with a two shot count.

Rink ‘Deemo’ settled to their task, and galvanising the sweepers to play their part, took singles at ends two and three to square the game again. End four saw rink ‘Deemo’ take two shots to get their nose in front. End five saw rink ‘Deemo’ building a solid shot count and were anticipating a potential count of four – ‘The Young Yin’ had other thoughts and in consultation with ‘Maverick’ plotted a course to reduce the count but failed in his elected shot to then contrive a ‘raise’ shot to close out that end counting one shot!!!!! Rink ‘Deemo’ now pegged back with a one shot lead  – neither rink could afford to relax.

End six saw shots building up in the head with a big swing on the out-turn making for some precise ‘tap backs’ on the pot lid. With rink ‘Deemo’ counting a single on the pot lid Deemo’s first shot was played on the opposite hand to run straight and lie against the shot rock for him to count two, ‘The Young Yin’ played his shot which came up a little short of altering the lie of the rocks, Deemo then came on the drawing side of the sheet to try and nudge an opposing shot back to count three but threw it short and was happy to take a two count to take a three shot lead.

The seventh end saw both rinks piling in the shots and with rink ‘Deemo’ sitting a single shot amidst a collection of opposing stones the task was to block the way in for ‘The Young Yin’ – the blockers fell short of  ideal and left the way open for ‘TheYoung Yin’ to rescue something from the end. Thankfully the dreaded rescue shot did not materialise and rink ‘Deemo’ closed out with a single counter and won the match seven shots to three.

We were all looking forward to retiring to the gallery for a swift refresher only to be told that the bar was closing early during the week – our spirits were dashed.  Then some bright spark mentioned the Murrayfield Hotel Unfortunate, we crossed the road and were refreshed!!

A good game was enjoyed by all and it was good to be back amongst ‘the company’ of our brother and sister curlers.

Regards for now.

Deemo

The Club Secretary Speaks to the Multitude

As the Holyrood 2022-23 league campaign starts in just a few hours time with the first clash of the titans, Team Auld versus Team Morrison, I thought I would wish you all an enjoyable and successful season and just reiterate some housekeeping points.

I was on the ice this morning and everything is pretty much back to normal at the rink (except perhaps my curling ). We don’t even have a one-way entrance and separate exit system any more.

The main physical change to the building is that the old bar room upstairs has now been walled off from the balcony area and a small café/bar counter installed in the corner by the external balcony and lift.  There is surprising amount of room for tables and chairs so hopefully post-game drinks will be able to continue just as before. 

As to Holyrood club play, I am assuming that we continue to operate under the arrangements from last year:

• I already covered the search for substitutes in earlier notes but just to reiterate, for the time being we will continue to use email for general requests (although by all means make your own one-to-one contact if you wish).  And please ask reserves first before turning to willing volunteers from the rest of the Club.

• Unless anyone has strong objections, I presume we continue with the same rules for late and missing players that we agreed at the last AGM.  That is to say a player has until the last stone is thrown on the first end to arrive with no penalty. After this three points will be added to the other team’s score.

• And no penalty points apply to a three person team, providing best efforts were made by that team to find a substitute but were unable to do so.

• 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’s a three point penalty.

As you did last year, please can skips submit signed score cards to me as soon as possible after the game (emailing a photo to this email address in the first instance – I will collect the physical copies from the box by our notice board at the rink later) so we can keep the league spreadsheet on the website up to date (https://holyroodcurlingclub.com/). Deemo has kindly volunteered once more to print off an A3 copy of the scoresheet and post it on the notice board at the rink at regular intervals.

I will continue to post your match reports on the website so skips, please include a few words with the scorecard (or shortly afterwards once the creative juices have started to flow).  Feel free to share this task with willing team members as appropriate.  Reports don’t have to be long – the main thing is we get one.  As I said last year, we want the unvarnished truth – name names, find scapegoats, punish the innocent.

Have a great season,

John.

26 September 2022