2013-14 League Table Report

Last week it was a case of "It's nearly all over". Well, it's certainly all over now and it is congratulations to Alex Thomson and his rink of Carol Simpson, Anne Carruthers and Allan Chapman. After a close tussle with President Jim Nelson over the last few weeks culminating very appropriately this week in the game between their two rinks in what was a winner takes all situation Alex prevailed. Indeed for all bar one of the 11 weeks of the League Alex has been either solely or jointly in top spot so his eventual victory is well merited. Jim retained his hold on 2nd place and David Gray also confirmed his position as 3rd. Geoff Barber pipped Charlie Steele for 4th on shots difference. The significance of Ronnie Wilson's win last week was confirmed because although his rink suffered another loss, so too did Ed Baines with the result that Ed finishes perhaps surprisingly at the foot of the table.

The game of the closing night was obviously that between Alex and Jim. The early lead established by Alex was wiped out by end 4 but immediately Alex struck back with a crucial gain of 4 shots in the 5th end and after picking up singles in the remaining two ends he ran out the victor by 9-4. Whilst congratulations were obviously the order of the evening for Alex and his rink much credit should also be given to Jim and his rink (Jan Barber, Jim Younger and John Beaton) for ensuring that the league title would only be decided on the closing night. In the other games David ensured 3rd place with a peel at 6-6 against Bella. Geoff overcame the short-handed rink of Graham with a winning margin of 12-2 (including penalty shots). Peter and Alistair had an interesting game. Alistair opened strongly; Peter having pulled back to level playing the last end then proceeded to score 5 shots at that end to gain a 9-4 victory! That victory also ensured that Peter maintained bragging rights in the Kennedy household! The night had two other games of potential importance. Who would finish bottom and thus face the prospect of skip demotion? As it turned out both Ronnie and Ed lost so Ed retained the dubious hold on to bottom spot. Ed lost two large ends early on in his game with John and that virtually settled his fate, the final score being a 12-4 defeat. Ronnie and Charlie fought out a close encounter until a blunder in the penultimate end gave Charlie the opportunity he needed to gain a foothold in the match running out a 7-3 winner. Ed's travails however were a source of relief to Ronnie!

So that is it. Another season over and hopefully everyone has enjoyed their curling. It was good to welcome some new members this year to both the Reserves list and also, in Alex Eccles and Jane Cherry, direct into rinks. I hope that you have found us to be a friendly and sociable club with, at times, a decent level of curling. More new members will always be very welcome and even as reserves you are still likely to get quite a few curling opportunities during the season so please let the Secretary know if you know of anyone who might be interested in joining.

Meantime we look forward to the Prizegiving Dinner and Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 12 March at the Abbotsford Hotel to which I hope most will be able to attend and all that remains for me now is to wish everyone a good (and healthy) summer.