Gavin Barr Sweeps the Opening Stone at the European Championships in Glasgow

Every so often, something happens in your life that will be a memory for ever.  I have a friend, for example, who acted as scorer for the World Championship final game in Glasgow in 1985.  "This is the nearest I will ever get to participating in the final of the World Championship," he said, "so I am going to make the most of it."  To this day, it is a cherished memory.

Gavin Barr had one such moment on the opening day of the European Championships in Glasgow when he was nominated as one of the two best junior sweepers in Scotland to sweep the ceremonial opening stone in front of a large audience of curling fans and all of the competing teams.  What a thrill for him!  The two sweepers guided and "encouraged" (i.e. kicked and pushed!) the stone towards the pot lid with lots of encouragement from all who were in the building.  A great team effort resulted in a successfully executed plan.  Would that it were that easy in a game!

I am indebted to Bob Kelly, chair of the event organising committee, Cameron MacAllister of the World Curling Federation and Richard Gray for facilitating permission to use the picture and to photographer Jeffrey Au for a fantastic picture of Gavin and Layla Al-saffar sweeping the ceremonial opening stone of the event.

To see a bigger image of the picture, just click on it.

 

The event continues in Glasgow until the weekend.  If you have some spare time, why not go through for a game?  The Scottish Ladies are on a 6-0 record.  The men are not out of it yet (3-4).  Braehead Arena is well signposted when you get close to it; just follow the M8 through Glasgow, engage your nose and follow it!