Reserve Availability at 31 August

This is the first "Reserve Availability" chart for the first-half competitions.  Please could I ask that the reserves just give the list a quick check and, if there are any mistakes or dates that you need to mark yourself down as either already playing or not available, just let Jenny Barr or Robin Copland know.

Once the season gets into full swing, this will be updated most weeks.

Reserve Availability List

P - Already Playing                          N - Not able to play

Blank = worth a try

Reserve Members

28-Sep

05-Oct

12-Oct

19-Oct

19-Oct

26-Oct

02-Nov

09-Nov

23-Nov

25-Nov

07-Dec

14-Dec

18.00

20.10

20.10

18.00

20.10

18.00

20.10

20.10

18.00

14.15

18.00

18.00

Annie Fleming

Fran Stretton

David Aitken

Karina Aitken Jnr (Glasgow)

Gavin Barr (Glasgow)

N

Laura Barr

Kirsty Barr Jnr

N

N

N

N

N

N

N

Catriona Still

Jane Barr   Jnr

N

N

N

N

Emma Barr   Jnr

N

N

N

N

N

N

David McCluskey

John Penny

Isobel Hannen

Barbara Wood

Jill Gillard

N

N

Douglas Burns (Inverness)

Jennifer Marshall

Gina Aitken

Andrew Cargill

Mark Munro

Louise Edwards

Graeme Maguire

N

N

N

Dave McHale

Teams and Draw September to December

Hard to believe that the curling season is almost upon us!

I am looking forward to trying out the ice at Murrayfield now that the first part of the rink's refurbishment is complete.  The new floor will make a huge difference to the ice team and the ice should be more consistent throughout the day.

Anyhow, here are the teams for the Kettle Trophy/ Harlaw Cup competition.

Rinks for Kettle Competition 2018
	1	Niall Gunn		2	Kerry Clark
		Robin Copland			Raymond Preston
		Anne Anderson			Maggie Barry
		Sheena Munro			Stuart Ronald
	3	John Steven		4	Susan Kesley
		Karen Munro			Bob Barr
		Megan Priestley			Norman Nicol
		Margaret Nicol			Susan MacFarlane
	5	Katie Wood		6	Jenny Barr
		Brian Fleming			Andrew Galloway
		Lois Copland			Betty Gibb
		Pauline Alexander			Richie Anderson
	7	Dave Munro		8	Mike Wood
		Joe Barry			Shona Watt
		Rowena Steven			Morna Aitken
		Richard Alexander			Donald Kennedy

Some good looking teams there; time will tell how the league progresses through to December. 

Here is the draw for the first half.  Note the Points Competition on Friday 19th October at 18.00 and note also the Club Doubles Competition (replacing the Pairs competition this year) on Sunday 25th November.

One other thing: note the new draw times!  The 18.00 (6.00pm) time replaces the old 5.30pm start time and the 20.10 (8.10pm) replaces the old 7.30pm time.

	Kettle Competition Draw and First-half Ice Allocation
	Month	Day	Date	Time	Kettle Draw / Event
	September	Fri	28-Sep	18.00	1 v 2	3 v 4	5 v 6	7 v 8
	October	Fri	05-Oct	20.10	1 v 3	2 v 4
		Fri	12-Oct	20.10	5 v 7	6 v 8
		Fri	19-Oct	18.00	Points Competition
		Fri	19-Oct	20.10	1 v 4	2 v 3	5 v 8	6 v 7
		Fri	26-Oct	18.00	1 v 5	2 v 6
	November	Fri	02-Nov	20.10	1 v 6	2 v 5	3 v 7	4 v 8
		Fri	09-Nov	20.10	3 v 8	4 v 7
		Fri	16-Nov	No ice	Edinburgh International Seniors
		Fri	23-Nov	18.00	1 v 7	2 v 8	3 v 5	4 v 6
		Sun	25-Nov	14.15	Club Doubles Competition
		Fri	30-Nov	No ice
	December	Fri	07-Dec	18.00	1 v 8	2 v 7
		Fri	14-Dec	18.00	3 v 6	4 v 5
		Fri	21-Dec	No ice

Four of the draws see all the teams out on duty, so if you need to find a sub for any of the dates, you might want to get things organised as quickly as you can.

Reserves please get your availability to me as soon as possible and I will start the weekly reserve availability post as soon as I have meaningful returns.

Here's to a great season!

Team Scotland Scotland finally Lose out in the Quarter-Finals

So, the dream ended, but what a dream debut at the World Senior Championship for Susan Kesley, Fran Stretton, Vicky Gumley and Morna Aitken.  They were coached by Mr Morna Aitken and the four C & B club members who were part of this great performance are pictured here.

From left: Morna Aitken, coach David Aitken, Fran Stretton and Susan Kesley

The ladies lost out in a tight quarter-final game against the three-times World Champion and twice-Olympic Gold Medallist skip, Anette Norberg.  If you're going to lose to someone, well - she'll do!

Read the team's blog at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2104987883069193/.  Some great pictures and stories posted there, so enjoy having a retrospective look at their journey since winning the Scottish Senior Ladies.

International Junior Club Curling Bonspiel

Last season, Gogar Park Young Curlers hosted the International Junior Club Curling Bonspiel at Murrayfield.  In fact a GPYC team, skipped by Adam Keron, with Holly Davis and C & B club members Kirsty Barr and Emma Barr won the overall competition (writes Andrew Barr).

This year, the competition was held in Pinerolo on the three-sheet rink that sits next to the Turin Olympic curling venue where David Murdoch's team GB came so agonisingly close in their semi-final match against Finland.  The big rink was also the venue for the World Junior Championships in which a previous generation of junior C & B members competed - Kerry Barr playing in the ladies competition and Graeme Copland eventually winning the Bronze medal in the men's championship.  Graeme went on the next year to win a Silver medal against the USA in the World University Games final at the same venue - the winning skip that year?  John Shuster, recent Gold medal winner at the Winter Olympic Games!  Small world, the curling world!

Anyhow, enough history!  The same team tried very hard to defend their title and just came up short, finishing second - even though they beat the winners in their final game.  As Andrew finished his report, "Don't even ask - some complicated Schenkel format".

Reminds me of the Paris Viry Cup in 1978.  Same thing happened to us.  Dodgy measure by an umpire on that occasion.  Clearly our stone was nearer the middle by about three inches, but the  umpire kicked it away and grandly said that the other team had won.  I'm not bitter or anything.  Not me.  Still rankles though.  I found the umpire in a bar later.  He was a steward.  A bar steward.

Team Scotland Reach the Play-offs!

So far so good for Susan, Fran, Vicky and Morna!  With one game to go (against England - the auld enemy), their 5-1 record has them through to the quarter-final play-offs.  Very well done and many congratulations to the team.

Resplendent in their Scotland kits before the start of the competition
From left: Susan Kesley, Fran Stretton, Vicky Gumley and Morna Aitken

Their only loss was in their game versus Switzerland where, according to all the reports I have read, they could have played a lot better - but still only lost by the odd shot.  The problem going forward is that it just takes a bad end - even a bad stone, or a pick-up or a fluke, and all your good work can be undone.  They have all done us proud though and here's to a few more wins and maybe a medal!

Good luck to them.

A great study of Susan on the ice.

Team Scotland in World Senior Ladies Championship

Astonishing to report that three C & B curlers are still curling!  Susan Kesley, Fran Stretton, and Morna Aitken are playing in Team Scotland along with Vicky Gumley.  They are out in Oestersund in Sweden and - so far, so good!  They head the table in their session after three games - all of which they have won.

Their latest triumph was against Italy.  Susan had to make her last hit to win the game.

Good luck ladies.  Here's a picture of the Scotland v Italy competitors.

 

Vicky, Morna, Susan and Fran
with their Italian Opponents

Follow the story on the Team Kesley FaceBook page at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2104987883069193/