Curling

Rotary Club of Perth - Curling

Club Curling 2012 Update - We were always going to have a busy season and it is certainly turning out that way, 20 members of the club have participated in all levels of Curling from complete beginners to those more experienced players.

The last two Seasons our club representatives, Russell McCabe, Alay Milne, Hamish Milne and Mike Hope won the Rams Head, which is the Scottish Rotary Championship; this allows us to participate in the International Curling Federation of Rotarians Championships in Potomac, USA on 1st -6th April 2012. Unfortunately Russell is unable to go this year but Alay, Hamish and Mike are going along with Bill Duncan and Alistair Ritchie to represent Perth in this prestigious event. We head off to Washington DC on 29th March and plan to spend a couple of days sightseeing and preparing for the 6 day international curling event.

Our rink of Alay Milne, Hamish Milne, Bill Duncan and Mike Hope has performed well in the Rams Head this year and defeated Stirling 5 - 3, Inverkeithing 10 - 2 and Perth Kinnoull 8 - 3 at the second stage in Kinross. The final games will be held in Perth on 12th and 13th March when we will curl against the other 3 regional qualifiers.

In the Local Rotary League we have 2 pools of players this year and Perth 2 have been ably assisted by Lars from Glenrothes. Perth 1 has played 4 and won 3 games, Perth 2 have played 3 but yet to win a game! It can all change rapidly though in this friendly league where we all enjoy the Fellowship of Rotary.

The Edinburgh Trophy which is a challenge between the 3 Perth Rotary Clubs will be held on Monday 26th March @ 6pm followed by high tea. I will be looking for 8 members to represent the club that night and a board will circulate shortly.

Our Fun Club League where our more experienced curlers encourage some of our newer curlers is now in its 2nd year. 6 members have tried curling for the first time, which is great for the sport. Julie Robertson has gone on to join a club and buy curling shoes! John Fok, Fiona Ross and in particular Alistair Duffy also show great promise and we hope they stick with curling. Two games have been played so far this year; rink B, skipped by Joe Cairns has 3 points, having played both their games. Rink A skipped by Ian MacLean have 1 point, with a game still to play and Rink C skipped by Ian McMillan has yet to score but as they still have a game to play they could cause upset to one of the other rinks. As the ends were not marked on the last scorecard!!!! - The competition will need to be decided on shot difference (and in the event of a tie shots scored). The scores so far are Joe v. Ian MacLean 8 - 8. Joe v. Ian McMillan 9 - 5. Good luck to Rinks A and C in the final game on 8th March.

Perth Kinnoull club are also encouraging their members to take up curling and they have challenged us to a couple of friendly games on 11th February and 25th March - good luck to our rinks on those dates.

The Rotary Jewel Competition will be held this year on Tuesday 13th March, at Perth. This is a Bonspiel against other Scottish Rotary Clubs and a board will circulate shortly for those interested in playing in this.

3rd February, 2011 - Perth Rotary Club have again qualified for the finals of the Rams Head Trophy which will take place in Perth on the 21st and 22nd February. We will play Penicuik, East Kilbride and a representative from Northern Scotland. Alay & Hamish Milne, Russell McCabe and Mike Hope will be representing the club and doing their best to defend the Rams Head trophy that they won last year. The Club qualified having defeated Cupar and Stirling Clubs and a draw against Perth Kinnoull. The final standings were Perth - 5 points, Perth Kinnoull - 3 points and Stirling and Cupar each on 2 points.

4th November, 2010 - The Rotary Charity

Curling Bonspiel had an early start with bacon or sausage rolls and coffee at 8am with the first draws taking to the ice at 8.30am for two - four end games. The second session began at 10.45am and after another two - four end games, the curlers adjourned to the Gannochy Suite at Dewars Rinks in Perth for a light lunch of Chowder or Chilli. Then the first session teams were back on the ice at 1.30pm for another two games of 3 ends, with the second session following on at 3.35pm.

Once the dust had settled and scores were tallied up, it was again into the Gannochy Suite, where after an initial glass of sherry provided by Stuart Cameron and George Delgaty from Perth St. Johns and Perth Kinnoull Rotary Clubs respectively, in memory of the late Dr.John Fyfe, a curler and member of the Rotary Club of Perth St. Johns, everyone sat down to a two course dinner.

However prior to the meal, the results were announced with the winners being a rink made up of two curlers from both the East Kilbride and Lanark Rotary Clubs. Whilst both of the Perth rinks finished in the top half the competition, Perth 2 team of Alastair Ritchie, Sandy Pearson, Joe Cairns, Ian McMillan and David Robb ending up in second place out of 24 entries including 5 rinks made up from the incoming Canada to Scotland Rotary Curling Tour 2010 participants.

Throughout the day, raffle tickets had been sold to augment the Polio Plus contribution of £5 per player included in the entry fee. The raffle was drawn only after the Canadian tourist's Sergeant at Arms had extracted fines of £5 from each of the 21 Canadians along with the Scots 2008 captain, Bill Duncan who has been instrumental in organising this event for the second year of competition. Every curler who participated in the Charity Bonspiel brought along a small prize which resulted in every participant taking home a prize.

A great day was had by all involved with fun and fellowship top of the agenda, many friendships were made and challenges thrown out for ongoing competition, and are also very pleased to advise that the event raised £1,354 for Polio Plus.

Bill Duncan proposed a vote of thanks.

15th November, 2009 - Perth Rotary Club qualified for the 2nd stage of the 2010 Ramshead Curling Competition. The rink of Russell McCabe, Alay Milne, Hamish Milne and Mike Hope defeated Perth St Johns and Oban Rotary Clubs to qualify along with Inverkeithing, Perth Kinnoull and Allander to play off for one of the final 4 places in the competition.

2nd November, 2009 - Perth Rotary lost in their match to Rotary Club of Stirling.

In the Ram's Head, Stirling have qualified from our area and they go forward to the final 4 teams to play off for the Ram's Head in March.

We won our game against Inverkeithing - Report to follow.

Drawn game against Perth Kinnoull - Report to follow.

Awating reports for games against: Glenrothes and Crieff.

Pictured whilst playing against Stirling; Charles Evans, Vicky Unite, Alistair Ritchie and Skip Bill Duncan.

25th January - In the game against Kinross Alay Milne, Iain Maclean, Willie Coupar and super sub Margaret Cairns (Joe's wife who stepped in at the last minute to sub for an injured Joe) comfortably defeated a team skipped by Jim Paterson.

22nd January - Unfortunately we have been knocked out of the Rams Head but as we have qualified as hosts, we are only giving other clubs the chance to compete!!!

9th January - We did win a league game against Perth St. Johns - Alay Milne, Alistair Ritchie, Mike Hope and Vicky Unite defeated a team skipped by Stuart Cameron.

9th October - The team of Bill Duncan, Alistair Richie, Charles Evans, Vicky Unite lost narrowly to Stirling.

29th September - The season kicked off in fine fashion. The team of skip Hamish Milne, Sandy Pearson, Bill Duncan and Mike Hope were able to secure a victory over Alloa. Alloa started off well taking an initial lead, however, Perth fought back and were able to take the game with a score of 10 against 6 for Alloa.

Skips are advised to phone their rink before the game.

If you are unable to play it is your responsibility to get your own substitute and to inform your skip.

Thursday 6th November 2008 - The Edinburgh Trophy (Full details to follow)

World Curling Championship 2008 - Rotary Club of Perth Curlers set off earlier this year to the 19th Rotary World Curling Championships in Brantford, Ontario, Canada which are played on a bi-annual basis in either Scotland or Canada/USA alternatively. The 2010 Championship will return to Perth after a 28 year absence.

The 5 man team of Alistair Ritchie, Bill Duncan, Alay Milne, Hamish Milne and Russell McCabe played a minimum of 9 games in the round robin stages of the competition against 3 rinks each from Canada (Niagara Falls/Bethesda, Stratford & Barrie) and USA (Clarksville, Florida/Bethesda and Madison), a rink from Berwick-on-Tweed, England, and two other Scottish rinks both representing the Rotary Club of Forfar. The competition started on Sunday 30th March at the Brantford Golf & Country Club (which will host the Nokia Ontario Provincial Championships in 2009), and ran through the round robin matches until Thursday 3rd April, with the top 4 rinks then qualifying for the semi finals and final which were played on Friday 4th April.

A Friendship Bonspiel for those clubs who didn't qualify for the Championships this year attracted 10 teams with 7 rinks from Canada and 3 from Scotland with a joint rink representing both Perth Kinnoull and Perth St. Johns Rotary Clubs ready to take up that challenge.

Perthshire Rotary Curling League: Season 2007/2008

In the penultimate game of the 2007/08 Perthshire Rotary Curling League, the Rotary Club of Perth rink of Hamish Milne, Bill Duncan, Russell McCabe and Alay Milne scored a big three at the last end of their game against this year's Rams Head finalists Perth Kinnoull, to edge them them out by one shot. This moved the team up the league towards the middle with 6 points, and should mean that we won't be the recipient of the Wooden Spoon.

The final League fixture of the season, saw Sandy Pearson with Ian Macmillan, George Thomson and Robin King snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, leading 9-3 with two ends to go, they managed to lose two three counts to peel with Dunblane. This left Perth with 7points in the final league placings, but well behind this year's winners Crieff who retained the league title, whilst Pitlochry had their worst season for many a year picking up the Wooden Spoon for the first time since 1971.

The runners up from this year and last years play off to become the 3rd team to represent Scotland at this year's Rotary World Curling Championship to be held in Brantford, Ontario in late March. As Perth have been runners up both years to Forfar they automatically take this place and a team from our club will play in the Rotary World Curling Championship Finals, joining the two Forfar rinks for a trip to Canada.

The Rotary Club of Perth are Hosts of the Rotary World Curling Championships in 2010, see World Curling.

Rotary Club of Perth - Curling

Ram's Head Trophy Winners - 1987 Ram's Head Trophy Winners - 2003

Hamish Milne, Fergus Young, Robin King and Peter Hamilton Back: Steve Hall and Hamish Milne.

Front: Russell Keiller and Bill Duncan

Rotary Club of Perth

District 1010 - Scotland