The annual competition took place on Wednesday the 4th of December and attracted several teams from The West of Scotland but also included a team who travelled all the way through from Kirkcaldy.  All teams met in the bar at 9.30am for registration and morning coffee, followed by the usual tradition of making the draw using the Braehead’s Inter Net Game Organiser machine.

Teams taking part were skipped by the Following;- E Semple : A Harvie : V Saville : P Paul : S Gray : V Browning : A Reekie and V Lindsay.

The 1st round results were;
E Semple - 6 v A Harvie - 5
V Saville – 7  v P Paul - 5
S Gray - 7 v V Browning - 2

In the other game defending champions A Reekie’s team lost out in a closely fought game by 3 shots to four against local team skipped by Valerie Lindsay. 

Every team plays Three x 5 end games with lunch and afternoon coffee in between so loads of time to enjoy the company in the bar. The winners of the competition is the team who finish top of the group based on The Shenkle system.  

After the 2nd round of games Valerie Saville’s team from Kirkcaldy were the only unbeaten team on 4 points but still in contention were 2 teams on 3 points.

Valerie Lindsay’s team took on V Savilles’ team knowing they had to win to have a chance of winning the competition. However, Elaine Semple’s team could still overtake them if they won their last game by scoring loads of ends as well.

The Kirkcaldy team opened the scoring with a four at the 1st end but The Braehead team fought back by scoring Two one’s to close the gap. However they lost another one in the 4th end and although they tried to attack in the last end to try and get the four they needed it was all in vain as Valerie Saville’s team won by 8 shots to 2.

The runners up in the competition were Sally Gray’s team who although in 5th place going into the last round managed to win their last game by 5 shots to one but more importantly picked up 4 ends allowing them to sneak past the other teams above them.

Photo shows leisure manager Bruce Harley presenting The winning Trophy to;-

L Page, V Saville (Skip), F Macdiarmid and L Hyslop (All from Kirkcaldy)

To mark the 175th Anniversary of the Royal Club, Area 4, namely Glasgow, Dunbarton and Argyll Provinces arranged a special one day Indoor Grand Match at Braehead Curling Arena on Sunday 1st December. Within the limited records of the Provinces, there was no mention of any previous inter-provincial matches, so it was deemed appropriate that this would be an ideal event to have a ‘birthday’ party.

128 curlers assembled over the day at Braehead with all eight sheets filled over a morning and afternoon session. Glasgow Province clubs were drawn against Dunbarton and Argyll clubs out of the hat, and games were eight ends with shots on either side accumulating. Competition was fierce but friendly as each Province sought to gain the advantage. However there was plenty of time during a stacking of brooms after four ends to take stock and have a laugh and a tale.

28 different clubs put in teams to challenge for the champion province accolade, ranging from as far afield as Millport, Dunoon , Tighnabruach, Helensburgh, Cardross and Forest Hills.

The Dunbarton and Argyll clubs showed they meant business by taking a handsome 72 to 40 shot lead into lunch. Suitably roused by Glasgow Province RCCC Representative Bobby Corbett’s words of encouragement after lunch, the next 64 curlers took to the ice for the second 8-end challenge.

Clive Thomson’s Dunbarton/Argyll charges however showed they were in no mood for charity or complacency and ended the day with a victory tally of 152 shots to Glasgow’s 111.

Bruce Harley and the Braehead ice and catering teams put on a splendid day, and all participants agreed that it was as good a way as any to celebrate the birthday milestone. Who suggested it should become an annual event…?!

A great story of human triumph for another sports champion by the name of Mo. Only this time, it is not the famous Olympic champion Mo Farah, but our National Wheelchair Pairs Curling Champion Mo Simpson, who secured the winning championship title for the second consecutive year with her curling partner Ian Donaldson.

The Braehead Curling Development Group is pleased to announce the launch of the new Coaching Structure being offered to Curlers of all levels and experience from Beginners to the more advanced Elite level Curler.

Details of this exciting new Coaching Structure can be found here.

The intu Juniors Section is an exciting new Initiative at intu Braehead to assist in the Development of our next generation of Curlers, to get involved details can be found here.

For the outright beginners why not get involved in our Saturday Sweep, details and booking arrangements can be found here.

We have our Improvers Course arranged for Friday 10th January 2014, again details can be found here.

The intu Coaching Section is currently being fully developed, more existing initiatives and information to follow.

All Coaching related queries should be directed to coaching@curlbraehead.co.uk

The Braehead Curling Development Group is pleased to announce they will be running a Curlers Improvers Course on Friday 10th January 2014 from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.

This is an excellent opportunity to kick start the New Year and Improve on your basic skills.

The Course will be tailed to suit your experience and ability.

Limited spaces are available and to avoid disappointment please either book online here or email David Horne direct at david.horne@intu.co.uk

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club was awarded 60 new performance brushes by the World Curling Federation under the "Curling Equipment Programme". The decision was made to award these 60 new brushes to the first 60 curlers who join an affiliated Virtual Curling Club in the 2013/2014 season.

Braehead is proud to have SIX new Virtual CC members who received the new brushes!

Norman Cathcart, a founding figure of the Virtual Curling Club movement, was on hand to award the shiney new brooms to their deserving recipients.

The competition was held over two evenings at Braehead Curling Rink and attracted the strongest field over the last few years. Teams included several current & previous Scottish, European and world champion players. However, there was still room for ordinary club members giving them the chance to take on the big guns. One of Braehead’s newest curlers, Margarita Sweeney- Baird a member of The Virtual club and only in her second year of curling, was delighted to take part and along with David Horne, The CDO at Braehead, even managed a victory.   

Teams were split into three divisions as shown above and a round robin of games were played in each section with the winning team + The next best team progressing to the semi finals.  In the well know Braehead tradition all other teams were still involved in a middle or low road competition.  Top of the three groups were Logan Gray’s team : Graham Shedden’s team and Judith McCleary’s team with the next best team going to Ben Fowler’s team. One of the favorite’s Andrew Craigie and Anna Sloan, previous winners in 2010, lost out to English Internationalist Ben Fowler along with student Rebecca Steven, (already an accomplished curler in her own right) by the virtue of being on the same points and ends but scoring one less shot.

In the semi’s The Mcleary team got past the Gray team and Graham Shedden, along with Vicki Adams, replacement player for the second night run out winners against Ben and Rebecca by 7 shots to 4.  The final, played over six ends was very tense and went all the way to the very last Stone. In the final end, with the game at peels it was Graham and Vicki lying one shot and half hidden behind a long guard. Lee McCleary with last stone just caught the guard as he attempted a take out to win the game so the spoils and The Trophy went to Graham Shedden : Naomi Brown and reserve player Vicki Adams. Gary Macfarlane, Chairman of The Braehead Curling Development group, thanked everyone who helped make the competition a success but Special mention to Leslie Ingram-Brown for his continual sponsorship of the event. 

Report and photo by
David Horne 
CDO Braehead

Steven Harte from the Development Group has been hard at work putting together a list of clubs that play at Braehead. Not only is there a list of club names, but great details like when the club plays what sort of club it is, if there are any entry restrictions to joining the club and of course how to get in touch.

The Clubs at Braehead list will be invaluable to new curlers, especially those moving on from Virtual Club, to help choose what club (or clubs) to join more permanently. The list can also be very handy if your circumstances change and you're not able to curl at the same time as you used to, great for finding a club that suits when you're free. (Or even if you're just looking to curl more!!)

Have a browse through the clubs list, share your thoughts, if anythings incorrect or your club is missing there are links at the bottom of the list to help you out.

The new look curlbraehead is all about providing valuable and up to date information to Braehead Curlers.
However the BCDG can only do so much, we need you to fill in the blanks!
Any news you have, big or small, about a single player of the whole club, while at home or away, we want to hear about it, and so do the other readers of the website!
You can click here to send us your story and include pictures too, and we'll upload it all to the news page, here, on curlbraehead.co.uk!

The Braehead Open Mixed Doubles gives you an opportunity to experience the challenges and delights of the Mixed Doubles format, which gives really interesting and aggressive curling, with lots of stones in play.

Top Prize of £400

All the essential information can be found here, as well as how to enter.

Below is a highlight reel from this year's world mixed doubles championships!

There are still places available at the Braehead Curling Development Group's first seminar of the seasons. The main topic will be a presentation by vastly experienced international
Coach Alan Hannah. Giving great insight into the workings of a successful team and how each player contributes. Alan will go on to give direction on creating a Winning team dynamic!

Gary Macfarlane, Chair of the Development Group, will give an overview of the work the Group is planning over the next year and the challenges faced. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback on the work the BCDG does for Braehead Curlers.

The seminar will take place in the marketing suite at intu Braehead on Tuesday 29th of October at 7PM.

An overview of the evening’s content along with booking arrangements can be found here.

You can also book by phoning Liz Scott, Group Secretary, on
0141.357.6370
Leave your name, contact number and number of places required at the seminar.