To all Braehead Curlers

Notice is hereby given that the Braehead Curling Development Group AGM will be help on Tuesday 22nd April 2014 at 7pm in the Management Suite, Braehead.

Any matters you with discussed at the meeting please put in writing to myself by Tuesday 15th April 2014.

All Braehead curlers welcome. We hope you will join us to head about our work in the past year and hopes and aspiration for the future to develop curling at Braehead,

Liz Scott
Secretary
Braehead Curling Development Group

Intu Braehead owes a huge debt of gratitude to the many coaches and volunteers that helped us achieve record figures for the Try Curling initiative following the Winter Olympics.

But one special person received a very special Braehead send off on 25th March.  Ever since the curling rink first opened in 1999 Meta Ecclestone has been at the forefront of coaching and has been an almost permanent fixture on the ice not only playing for three clubs, indeed her last season has been one of her most successful, but generously giving of her time voluntarily to teach newcomers the sport.

Meta may have been retired but she always exuded boundless energy for curling and the people involved, whether they were members of Glasgow ladies or someone stepping on to the ice for the first time. Always willing to accept new coaching practices, her infectious enthusiasm introduced many newcomers to the sport and as Braehead's CDO, David Horne, explained during Meta's farewell bonspiel her last few weeks at Braehead before moving to Canada became almost a full time job!

Arranged by Meta's many close friends the theme of the day was to be Scotland v Canada with all competitors donning either the Maple Leaf red or blue and Tartan for Scotland. After being piped on to the ice and following curling a delicious meal was served with the theme of the menu playing homage to Meta's new Winnipeg home and some more traditional Scottish fayre with Canadian salmon pie and Haggis and Venison Stovies followed by Maple syrup sticky pudding. Speeches and presentations followed the meal and everyone agreed it was a fitting send off .

A final word from Bruce Harley, Braehead Leisure Manager

" Meta has given up countless hours coaching at Braehead and we will all miss her dearly. On the final weekend of the season we invited all the new curlers that had signed up for lessons back for a bonspiel to give them some more ice time. Where others would have been resting on their laurels, or in Metas case thinking about doing some packing, there she was in the thick of it as usual teaching them the art and etiquette of the game.

Everyone at Braehead, staff and curlers, wish Meta all the very best of luck in the future and for her new life in Canada, she is simply irreplaceable"

The Braehead Wheelchair Curling Club is holding a Try Curling Session on Saturday 5th April 2014 from 11am - 12:00pm.

Registration will take place in the Curling Bar between 10:30 and 10:45am.

The Club looks forward to welcoming a large turnout on the day.

All you need is your own wheelchair and warm clothing.


For any more information contact the club by email braeheadwheelchaircurling@gmail.com

Many Braehead curlers will recall the South Korea junior team practising at Braehead during December and delighting the crowd with their unique dance on the ice following the Xmas bonspiel.

We have followed the girls progress closely since leaving Braehead and our “adopted” team got down to the serious business of winning the Pacific-Asia Junior Championships which enabled them to compete in the junior world championships in Flims, Switzerland.

And what an impact they made! Finishing the round robin with a 7 win 2 loss record they topped the group and played Canada in the page 1v2 playoff going down to a final stone defeat. There was still a route to the final and having won their semi they again faced a strong Canadian team in the gold medal match.

Another close affair saw the girls take silver going down 6 – 4 in the final match. A fantastic achievement.

Well Done Korea and good luck and good curling in your future endeavours !!

We hope to see you at Braehead again next season.

The rapid fire Robin Brechin Open took place at Braehead on 2nd March with a good representation from many quarters. Following the initial round of skirmishes which separated the Hi’s from the Lo’s the combatants continued their forays on the ice for a further three sessions of 5 end games.

Perhaps it was the hearty lunch that turned the results or was it just good play and good fortune – we shall never know. Played on a continuous schenkel throughout with little time between sessions – a scorekeepers nightmare when working results and next opponents – did bring the occasional repeat pairing among the 14 entries.

What proved to be the decisive match in round four pitched Partick’s Gordon Lyon [with California’s Matt Gamboa playing 3rd] against the combined Fossaway / Dunfermline challenge of Ian Nicholson.  Partick triumphed again making it four straight wins on the day and a delighted Gordon L was quick to thank all involved for a splendid days fun and enjoyment.

For those who fell at the first hurdle there was the ALL Comers event which was won in admirable style by a mixed Braehead / Lanark rink which included the ‘soon to emigrating to Canada’ Meta Eccleston. We wish her well on her retirement from Scottish curling.


Report and Photos by Robin Shand

The Braehead Curling Development Group are hosting a Seminar for all those interested in how to develop a thriving curling club

We are very keen to share best practice between clubs, and to learn from clubs and individuals on what we can each do to ensure that our clubs are really enjoyable and successful.

We suggest that every club should try and send 3 or 4 interested individuals, although the seminar is open to all. Cost £10 per individual and £20 for a club (up to 4 people)

7pm Introduction Gary Macfarlane - Chair of BCDG.

7.10pm Judith McCleary - RCCC Development Manager

7.40pm Questions

8pm Coffee

8.15pm   Olympic Moments

8.30pm - 9pm The experience of 3 Braehead Clubs

• The needs of people new to curling
• Key actions that make a successful club
• From Struggling to Successful

9pm Panel Questions and close

The Olympic Legacy is a very significant opportunity to build our clubs. Braehead has over 150 people booked into its Try Curling sessions. Now is the time to encourage our friends to consider curling, to book Club Try Curling sessions, and to organise our clubs better to take advantage.

To book, please email - seminars@curlbraehead.co.uk

The Ada Proven

Winners ;  Rolling stones
RU ;           Glasgow Ladies


The New Glasgow Trophy

Winners ;  Lois Brown, Ann Harvie, Anne Smillie and Mary Anderson.
RU ;           Kirstine Cochran, Jean McMaster, Judith Jackson and Sandra walker.


Henderson Bishop

Winners  ;    Kirstine Cochran, Jean McMaster, Judith Jackson and Sandra walker.
RU  ;             Elaine Semple, Helen Burton, Fiona McFarlane and Sheila Cowan.


The winners of the Henderson Bishop will represent Braehead at the national finals in Dumfries in February.

The 7th Glynhill Ladies International Curling Championship at Braehead Curling 17-19 January reached a thrilling climax when two of the Olympic contenders won through to the Championship final to battle it out for the magnificent silver kettle trophy.

Bingyu Wang and her fellow Chinese team of Yan Zhou, Qinshuang Yue, and Yin Liu, put on a devastating display of precision curling to overcome Switzerland’s representatives, the 2012 World Champions, Mirjam Ott, Carmen Schafer, Carmen Kung and Janine Greiner by a score of 9 shots to 4 after only 6 ends.

The contest was one of the best finals ever witnessed at Braehead and
was by no means one way traffic. Each millimetrically perfect shot was
followed by another equally brilliant. Ott opened with a 2 at the first end
but only after a measure had discounted a further 2 stones. The second end was even closer with five stones looking equidistantly clustered round the centre and by a matter of millimetres, Wang pulled back 2 to level the match.

The teams were level 4-4 at the half way stage, and 2 ends of sheer brilliance by the Chinese saw them pull away into an unassailable 9-5 lead, by which time the bemused Ott rink conceded.
Earlier in the day, Wang had beaten the fancied Russian Olympic rink of Anna Sidorova by 6 shots to 5 in the first semi-final, and Ott had outplayed the 2013 champion and fellow Swiss rink of Binia Feltscher by 5 shots to 2.

The three Scottish rinks competing had mixed results with only Lorna Vevers rink of Sarah Reid, Becca Kesley and Rachel Hannen winning through in the Consolation Event to the semi-finals where they lost out 7 shots to 5 on the very last stone to another Swiss Rink skipped by Alina Paetz. Paetz went on to secure the Consolation title with a thrilling 11 -9 win over Team Albatross from Russia.


Words: Alan Sloan
Photo: Leslie Ingram-Brown 

Maxwell Ladies reached the final by edging out Duntocher Ladies by 9 shots to 8. Meanwhile The Rolling Stones won their semi-final game against Bearsden by 9 shots to four. Several supports from both clubs had come along to support their own team in The Final.

Maxwell Ladies were represented by L Nisbet, D Carson, B Gardiner and skipped by Margaret McGregor. The Rolling Stones team were F Watson, M Lang, C Anderson and skipped by Val Aitman. 

In the first end, Maxwell Ladies opened the scoring with a Three, before The Rolling Stones team had a chance to settle. The next four ends all went with the hammer and each team picking up one shot so after five ends it was 5 shots to 2 in favour of Maxwell Ladies. However, in the 6th end an early stone into the house by Maxwell Ladies was continually well guarded until The opposition run out of Stones and the lead was extended to four. The Rolling Stones changed tactics by putting stones into the house and were lying Three up when Bev Gardiner (3rd) came to play her 2nd Stone. A miss would have put them in real trouble but nerves were steadied and Beverley played a great hit and roll to lie one shot almost on the pot Lid and behind a guard. Carol Anderson (Rolling Stones 3rd) managed to get round the guard and tap the shot stone back to lie One shot. The skips were unable to draw any closer than the Two stones that were lying within the four feet so it was one to The Rolling Stones. 

This still meant they were 3 down playing the last end and without the hammer. The rolling Stones had very little chance in the last end with eventual 10 guard stones lying in front of the house.  Switching to trying to draw into the house did not work as either the stones came up short or went sailing though the back of the house. Maxwell Ladies then managed to put a stone round all the guard stones to lie safely hidden and despite the efforts of Val Aitman’s team they were able to get past the 10 stones that were now lying in front of the house. 

Maxwell Ladies were delighted to win the competition but made a special mention of the standard of play and thanked their opposition for not only a great game but played in a very friendly manner. 

Report and photo
David Horne
CDO