Another Coronation League Win for C&B

All through the season, the Coronation League is played on a Monday night.  I am delighted to report that the club has recorded another win in the competition and the team regulars are pictures below.  Many congratulations to them all!

 C&B Coronation League Winners 2015-2016

From left: Dave Munro, Andrew Cargill, Brian Fleming, Rowena Steven, Joe Barry and John Steven

Henderson Bishop

Currie and Balerno curlers are building a remarkable record in the Henderson Bishop competition, arguably second in importance only to the Scottish Ladies Championship.  They have regularly won the Murrayfield qualifying competition - indeed more often than not in recent years, C&B 1 has faced off against C&B 2 in the final of the Edinburgh playdown.  In the finals, both teams have regularly found themselves playing deep into the play-off rounds, whether playing for the Cherrystone trophy in the low road or for the Henderson Bishop  trophy itself.

This season, hopes ran high at the start of the competition; C&B 1, playing as Murrayfield 1 was defending the trophy.  Our two teams found themselves in the same section - the luck of the draw - and on this occasion, Kerry Barr skipped Murrayfield 2 to a big win over their club mates.  Murrrayfield 2 went on to win the section and Murrayfield 1 were runners-up and progressed to the low road, playing for the Cherrystone trophy.

Susan Kesley, Jenny Barr, Fran Stretton and Morna Aitken lost their semi-final game to Stirling and their competition was at an end.  Meanwhile, Kerry Barr, Annie Barr/ Katie Wood, Maggie Barry and Margaret Nicol were progressing through to the final by beating a strong Stranraer team.  Just to explain, Annie and Katie between them were filling the shoes of Betty "Cruiser" Gibb - as I write posting pictures from the Great Wall of China!  Their opponents in the final were Ayr, skipped by Olympic Gold Medalist, Margaret Agnew.  It was a tough game and eventually proved one game too far for the gallant Murrayfield 2 rink, but they can be very proud of their Silver Medals.

 

Runners-up Henderson Bishop Competition

from left: skip Kerry Barr, third Katie Wood, second Maggie Barry and lead Margaret Nicol

 

 Astonishingly, the club's record in the Henderson Bishop reads as follows: Runners up Cherrystone (low road) in 2013 and winners in 2014; winner of the Henderson Bishop in 2015 and runners-up in 2016.  What a performance by our lady members!

Tom Holmes Report

The club's last curling gathering was the Tom Holmes competition, followed by a traditional curlers' supper at Murrayfield.

Traditionally, once a skip has won the Tom Holmes, they can no longer skip a team; they can play, of course, but they have to play "down the rink".  This gives members who normally play in the front end during club competitions the chance to shine at skip, although it would be fair to say that they receive generous amounts of advice from their team mates!

This season, longtime member Simon Kesley, playing with perennial 2015-16 club competition winner, Niall Gunn, Andrew Galloway and Francis Kennedy, won the competition.

Winners of the Tom Holmes Trophy, 

From left: Francis Kennedy, Andrew Galloway, Niall Gunn and skip Simon Kesley

 

Following the competition, the club gathered for a traditional curlers' supper in the club room at the rink.  Club President Margaret Nicol presented Simon and his rink with the trophy and their prizes.  There was a great turnout, most of whom stayed behind for a club picture.

 



Lymphoy Trophy Results and Final League Table Round 7

Brian Fleming, Niall Gunn, Sheena Munro and Pauline Alexander Win the Lymphoy Trophy

A great final result for Brian and his team secured the Lymphoy Trophy on Friday night.  It has been a roller-coaster competition that saw them collect only one point from their first two games, but then fight back with an unbeaten run, the turning point perhaps being their win against close rivals, the John Stephen team.

Susan Kesley, Katie Wood, Morna Aitken and Graeme Maguire Secure the Glenbrook Quaich

Both Susan and Katie were away tonight and Morna stepped up to skip the team; they suffered another defeat but had done enough earlier in the competition to hold off Robin, Mike, Lois and Rowena's challenge, whose end of competition performances were reminiscent of a no-wheeled wagon!

Here's the game score grid.

Team	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8
	F	A	E	F	A	E	F	A	E	F	A	E	F	A	E	F	A	E	F	A	E	F	A	E
J Steven				9	3	5	6	5	4	7	3	5	3	7	2	8	3	5	5	13	3	5	6	3
A Galloway	3	9	2				8	7	4	8	2	6	7	3	5	10	11	3	7	15	2	6	5	3
S Watt	5	6	3	7	8	3				6	3	4	9	2	5	9	7	5	4	7	4	8	4	3
D Munro	3	7	2	2	8	1	3	6	3				3	15	2	10	2	5	4	9	2	3	8	2
R Copland	7	3	5	3	7	2	2	9	2	15	3	5				10	1	6	11	2	6	3	6	2
J Barr	3	8	2	11	10	5	7	9	2	2	10	1	1	10	1				1	10	1	3	7	2
B Fleming	13	5	4	15	7	6	7	4	3	9	4	5	2	11	2	10	1	6				7	7	3
S Kesley	6	5	5	5	6	4	4	8	3	8	3	5	6	3	5	7	3	5	7	7	4

It was a really close league right up until the end.  On the last day, any one of three teams could still have won the competition and one team, believe it or not, could have finished up anywhere from 1st to 6th!  6 teams were all within three points of each other and nobody came near running through the competition undefeated.  An excellent competition!

Here's the final league table.

Position	Team	Played	Ends	Shots u/(d)	Shots scored	Points
1	B Fleming	7	29	24	63	11
2	S Kesley	7	31	8	43	9
3	R Copland	7	28	20	51	8
4	S Watt	7	27	11	48	8
5	J Steven	7	27	3	43	8
6	A Galloway	7	25	-3	49	8
7	D Munro	7	17	-27	28	2
8	J Barr	7	14	-36	28	2