2019-20 League Table Report

Well, that's it for another week - and indeed for this season! Can it really be 5 months since we took to the ice for the start of another season? The final night was also to be the deciding one and although Carol held the advantage any slip up by her rink and Charlie was ready to pounce. In Carol's absence Bella stepped in to skip and a keen eye was being kept by both her and Charlie on the respective ice sheets throughout the evening. There was never much separating Bella and Ronnie but Charlie was building a useful lead against Alan. Eventually, and perhaps appropriately, it came down to the final end in Bella's game. One shot up with a peel being sufficient it was a case of not giving up that advantage and so it turned out. Ronnie took the last end but only with the 1 shot so ending the game at 4-4. Meanwhile Charlie's heroic efforts at the expense of Alan came to nought. Despite a convincing win he fell just short with the result that Carol retained the league title with her all lady rink of Bella Kennedy, Sheila Campbell and Dorothy Dawson. Congratulations to them all.

As already mentioned the game between Carol's rink and that of Ronnie was a closely fought affair with never more than a shot separating them from start to finish. Honours shared on the night and on his return to skipping duties a satisfactory end to Ronnie's league campaign with a 4th place finish. In his game against Alan Charlie was always in control. There was some good play from both rinks, especially from Charlie's lead player, June Richmond, but all too often there was nothing Alan could do to claw back Charlie's lead and well protected stones. In the end there were conflicted feelings - Charlie had played well and done everything he could to try to pip Carol and at the same time Alan was relieved that Carol's rink settled their own destiny. After finishing in second place last year this season has not been one of Alex's best but at least he finished on a high by inflicting a seemingly comfortable defeat on Neil by 11-4. The final score however does not give perhaps a complete picture. Alex trailed by 2-4 after 4 ends. The following 3 ends however were won with 3 shots in each, those 9 shots putting a different gloss on the score. At times this season has been a traumatic one for Willie but smiles returned last week with a first victory. Could it be repeated this week against Ed? Well, nearly! After losing the first 3 ends, but only 3 shots adrift, Willie took the next 2 ends to sneak ahead. Unfortunately the last 2 ends belonged to Ed with singles in each thus securing the narrowest of victories by 5-4 and with Ronnie only managing a peel in his game this win ensured Ed held on to 3rd place. For Willie, close but not quite. Next season will surely bring better fortune. The final game saw Jim and David in opposition. Theirs too has been a mixed season. David has endured some disappointing nights but the last 3 rounds of games have all produced satisfying wins for Jim including this encounter. From the outset Jim took the lead and after 5 ends held a 6-3 advantage. Singles were traded at the next 2 ends but the 2 shots gained by David in the final end were not quite enough and Jim prevailed by 7-6.

So that is it. Another season over and hopefully everyone has enjoyed their curling. It was good to welcome several new members, Hugh Kennedy, Ken Ireland, Alan Mitchell, Douglas Thow and Gordon Todd and they have all been able to enjoy considerable ice time. Unfortunately both at the start of the season and then during it we lost some members due to injury or other health issues but hopefully next season we shall be able to welcome back those members who had to miss all or part of this year. Whilst we were absolutely delighted to welcome the above new members this season more new members will always be very welcome and as those on the reserves list know you are still likely to get quite a few curling opportunities during the season so please bring forward the names of anyone who might be interested in joining. We shall almost certainly repeat this year's experiment of a practice/bring-a-friend night on our first Wednesday at the end of September.

Meantime we look forward to the Pairs competition next Wednesday in which 16 members are participating and then the Prizegiving Dinner and Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 18 March at the Abbotsford Hotel to which I hope most will be able to attend. All that remains for me now is to wish everyone a good (and healthy) summer.