East Kilbride and Haremyres vs Hamilton Thornyhill CC

The Presidential Report
EKHCC vs Hamilton &Thornyhill - 7 October 2011

The writing was perhaps on the wall after less than a minute
when the practice slide from one of our four skips saw him gliding
almost half way up the sheet………backwards and on his backside.
Ironically this is the second game this season where a game has started with this particular skip on his backside,
although the other time it was resting on a sun lounger in Spain when he should have been on the ice.

First up was George Strang's rink, which before the game had been strengthened by the absence of both George and Helen Drummond.
The Match Secretary then tried to restore the balance by replacing them with Tommy Campbell and Alan Roe.
George Brown at lead and Jackie Craig at third made up the team.
The opposition was skipped by Donald Burns.
Tommy insisted that consistency would be the key to who would succeed in his match,
and so it proved as Tommy consistently failed to score for the first five ends.
For George Brown being in a rink which doesn't score in the first few ends was becoming normal
after suffering a similar fate in his recent Punchbowl game.
In both of these games George was involved in a fight back.
In the Hamilton Thornyhill game it was too little too late, and it finished a 9 - 6 defeat.
In the Punchbowl a careless guard was key to George being on the losing side
(I say careless, but the President was in Abu Dhabi and thought there had been an earthquake,
but it now turns out it was the aftershock from Archie Craig's long guard hitting the barrier).

Stuart Raeburn replaced Eric Richardson in the second game,
and was supported by Willie King, Linda Smith and Bill Fraser
(initially the support was in the form of helping him up of his backside!).
Robert Tait and his team were the opposition.
A handful of shots against in the first end was to set the scene,
and thereafter Robert controlled the game. An 11 - 3 defeat was the final score.

Brian King had only three players, himself, Willie Craig and Janet Leiper.
Where was Isobel Hannen, answers on a postcard, most likely from Switzerland.
The opposition was Alan Hall.
A tough game ensued, although one in which Alan was always in front.
It was however close at the end, with only one shot being the difference. A close thing, but an 8 - 7 loss.

The final game saw Willie Cannon, Agnes Strang, Lillias King and Bill Struthers up against Arthur Devine.
This game was tight throughout, with never more than a shot or two in it.
The game swung on the 6th and 7th ends. In the 6th and lying 2,
Willie opted to play an "Archie Craig guard weight" raise takeout to score at least 6 rather than tap up for a 3.
The 6 looked a sure thing………at least until Willie slid out of the hack,
after which it looked a lot less likely.
In the end the strike weight shot was close……close to knocking Brian King down on the next sheet (the ice was swingy!).
Two up going down the seventh and with a shot well guarded,
Arthur Devine played an angled raise takeout on a very wide short stone….a shot to nothing,
but one he made perfectly to score four.
The perils of guarding a one with three lying against.
The eighth end was a scrappy affair, and a one was all that could be got, so another 8 - 7 defeat.

So a whitewash in games, and 36 to 23 in shots.
Hamilton & Thornyhill were well worth their victory and deservedly retained the Ross Tankard.Maybe next year!

East Kilbride and Haremyres vs Avondale Heather CC

Alan,
A brief report on the Avondale Heather match below.

EKHCC vs Avondale Heather – PART 1

A large crowd had gathered in the bar for this one, well at least Alan Drummie, Tom Neilson and Ian Leggate.
The Heather had some new faces which was good to see, and some not so new ones,
but we will come to Jack Blackwood later (later being the operative word).

First out of the traps was Margaret Richardson with Willie Cannon, Alison Paton and John King up against Hugh Neilson.
This was a rematch of last year’s game, when Hugh was off form.
This year it was similar, except Margaret was off form!
She kept saying keep the 4 foot clear, which we did but it appeared the 4 foot was in the wrong place based on some of the draws!
The EKHCC rink was up against it for a while, but a couple of better ends helped the shots balance,
with the end result being a 6-4 defeat.
Hugh was delighted, failing to remember it is only half time!!

Second up was Past President George Strang, who appeared past it in more ways than one.
He had Marion Craig, David Lawson and Helen Drummond, and was faced by Tom Allan.
Tom was forced to play with three for a while, until Jack Blackwood turned up later
(when I say late, he was nearer to being early for the second game!).
Nothing appeared to be working for George, and a 9-3 defeat was the result.

Next up was Eric vs G Hamilton. Eric had Andrew Craig, Alison Leiper and Agnes Strang.
This half of the Richardson household appeared to be on his game, and ran out with a 8-4 win.

Jim Strang, with Jim Craig, Willie King and Jim Boyd was up against Jim Allan on sheet D.
A few shots went each way, but neither team could push ahead.
In the final end Jim pulled off a raised double take out to peel. A great shot by all accounts.

Stuart Raeburn, Tommy Campbell, William Boyd and David Raeburn were up against Don Frame.
Don managed to get his head in front, but eventually Stuart pegged him back, and another peel was achieved.

Finally Brian King (deputising for Willie Baird who was talking tactics with Mickey Mouse),
Willie Dykes, Willie Craig and John Strang played against Stuart Anderson.
Brian stepped up to Willie Baird’s mark and did a fine job, even leading Stuart for a while.
Alas, it was to end in another peel, which still is a good enough result
to put Willie Baird’s position in doubt for the second round.

So apart from the left side of the ice rink, it was a close affair.
Nevertheless, after a 36 to 32 overall score in favour of the Heather there is only 4 shots in it,
which as the Heather know only too well, might just not be enough come January!
Having only won one game out of 12 last year, the 2 won on this occasion is essentially a victory for them already!

Up in the bar the players were given sight of a fantastic new box to hold the Neilson Trophy.
The box was made by Alan Drummie and sports some fantastic artwork.
Such is the quality of the craftmanship it is like a prize in itself for the winning side.
Once again, many thanks to Alan for all his work on this .
Regards
Willie Cannon

EKHCC vc the "Once Mighty" Avondale Heather and Tom Allan Curling Club
Trailing by 4 shots and with EKHCC normally better in the second leg it was all to play for……….
could anything stand in the way of 4 in a row,
would Don Frame or Jim Strang crack a smile,
would Eric tell of his prowess with the women,
would Jim Allan confuse his age with how many shots the Heather once won by,
and would Stuart Raeburn and Tommy Campbell go together like turkey and stuffing
or play like stuffed turkeys?
The answers to these and other unfathomable questions lie below.

Up first, and taking things seriously judging by the facial expressions
were Jim Strang, Jim Craig, Willie King and Jim Boyd vs Don Frame.
According to Sandy Hamilton everyone played rubbish apart from him,
but clearly some were worse than others as Jim Strang was left with nothing to smile about.
A try better next time 3 shot defeat was the end result.

Second up was Hugh Neilson vs Eric Richardson, Andrew Craig, Alison Leiper and Agnes Strang.
The two skips are almost identical, similar age, similar height, similar weight, both going grey,
Hugh is a good curler, Eric is a curler. As I said, almost identical.
In the end you couldn't put the top off Mhairi Baird's brush between them - although Mhairi tried a few times
as her broom self-destructed on the adjacent sheet - a peel was the result.
After the game Eric did tell of his prowess with the women
as he excitedly told the story of how he charmed the trousers off a woman!!
Initially we thought this was a story of him dating Margaret,
but apparently it was Isobel Hannen's trousers the previous day……
when he forgot his curling trousers and Isobel wasn't playing so lent hers to Eric.
We all breathed a sigh of relief as that story could have gone in another direction!

On sheet C was President Jim Allan vs President Willie Cannon, Mhairi Baird, Alison Paton and John King.
Jim was excited at the mere thought of the Heather still being in contention after the first leg,
and in an attempt to better his chances he took over Tom Allan's winning rink from the previous tie.
But he hadn't accounted for Jack Blackwood turning up on time!!
A great game was played out, close, but the result was never in doubt(!)
as President Willie's rink triumphed by 7 to 5.

On sheet D was Willie Baird, Brian King, Willie Dykes and Willie Craig vs Alan Hall.
Willie was sporting his new shoes,
and being faster of the hack he caused Willie Dykes to pull a muscle trying to catch up with one of his take outs.
The pain was worth it though as they edged ahead and ran out 11-5 winners.

So to recap the story so far…….
down 4 at the start became down 7 after sheet A,
still 7 down after sheet B,
back to 5 down after sheet C,
and 1 up overall after sheet D.
Let's skip over Sheet E for a moment and onto Sheet F
where George Strang, Marion Craig, Helen Drummond and Tom Neilson
were playing George Hamilton's rink.
Clearly an EKHCC rink where one of the players isn't as fit as they used to be,
their creaking bones means they have had to adapt their delivery,
and it is hard for them to keep up with the sweeping - however
for all that it is still good to see Helen Drummond on the ice!!!!!!!!
With last stone George Strang could see a four being scored one end,
but managed to tap up the opposition for a one instead.
With play like that he was relieved to finish with a peel.

So, after 11 games, East Kilbride and Haremyres ran out winners by 1 shot
over the Once Mighty Avondale Heather.
A great result, four in a row, a close result but a win is a win…………
ah but what about Turkey and Stuffing I hear you say……
well to cut a short story even shorter they were stuffed by Tom Allan and his rink
(the full rink being Stuart Raeburn, Tommy Campbell, William Boyd and John Strang).
An 11 to 2 defeat, and by all accounts a hard fought 2 (singles) it was.

So in the words of Ally McCoist(May 2012),
it just wasn't meant to be four in a row this time around.
The big question is how can we prevail next time …..
well the answer appears to lie below in the summary of scores over 2 legs;
" EKHCC 65, the Once Mighty 58 (over 10 games)
" EKHCC 5, Tom Allan 20 (the other 2 games)
" TOTAL = EKHCC 70,
the Once Mighty Avondale Heather and Tom Allan Curling Club 78
So a win for the better than before Avondale Heather by 8 shots,
and a chance for Jim Allan to recall some story about winning by 48 shots,
a fable passed down from generation to generation!!
Tom Allan was delighted to receive the trophy,
and even more pleased when "tight Tam" pleaded poverty
and Linda had to pay for all the Allan's ice fees and tea.
Well done the Heather, as always it was great competition.
Enjoy your moment, we'll be back in October refreshed and unstuffed.

East Kilbride and Haremyres vs Stewarton Heather CC

Stewarton Heather

The match secretary opted out of this one;
it seems that sweeping at the Dunn Medal and a Rink Championship Final [they lost to the Heather]
was all to much, so he sent the past President instead after seeing his performance at the Mearns game.
Tommy was promoted to skip in the first game against David Reid
he went on to lose a 1 and then a 4.
With Marion Macdonald, Brian King and the Dunn Medal winner Mhairi Baird in the team we all thought why is Tommy no leading,
but with a lot of head shaking and a hell of a lot of talking he got a 3.
After that the game changed with Tommy drawing every stone into the house the way he likes it.
He began to get on top and in the last end had 1 on the button with about 14 stones around it.
David with his last stone had to move 5 to move the shot,
this had to be done without the Hack which had came free with all the hot air from Tommy
but he managed it and got a 1 so they ended in a peel, 8 each.

Next Jim Strang played Davie Mundell,
this is who Jim has played the last couple of years but has never managed to beat.
It didn't look good at the start as Jim was under a lot of pressure,
his lead Bill Struthers was struggling with the very keen ice
but Jim pulled off a few great shots to keep them in it.
In the middle of the game Stewarton had a bad end
which finished with Davie drawing up to a shot in the middle,
it was a hell of a weight and slipped through the back, this gave Jim a 4.
After that it was a case of Davie Lawson and Dykes hitting for home, they finished 8 shots to 4 winners.

Lastly it was our President against one of the oldest players in Stewarton, Tommy Wilson,
who had forgotten to get a sub so they were playing with 3.
Wullie thought this would be easy as he had Wullie and Jackie Craig plus me, all having local knowledge.
With a good start we kept our noses in front, Tommy having a few good draws to keep them in it.
Then it was our very own Mr Cannon who had to make a draw, all I can say is that I had to jump to miss it.
Even with that we still managed to get to the finish in front winning 7 shots to 5.

After all that it was down the street to Shannon's Pub..... [ you'll no see Archie Craig in here }....
for a bite to eat and a drink, there were sausage rolls but it was 1 each,
much to Wullie Craig's disgust .
Jim won the new cup that we formerly played against Blantyre for, and I believe Alan Drummie is going to jazz it up._{Ah!! my favourite Music...Ed}
EKHCC winning 22 v 16 a great night well done.

Report by George our Past President

Thanks George you're certainly not past giving a good report._Ed


THE WALKER QUAICH......seen below a handsome trophy, a replica of the "Ardagh Chalice"._{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardagh_Hoard}
Presented by William Walker of Blantyre Club and first played for in season 1947/48.
With the demise of Blantyre Curling Club this Quaich has now been passed to our club.
Having played the former Blantyre Club over many years in an annual sociable and friendly
curling match for this Quaich, it's only fitting that we are to give it a new lease of life.
The annual match between our club and Stewarton Heather will make a good home for it,
I'm sure William Walker would have approved._Ed

East Kilbride and Haremyres vs Mearns Coronation CC

Wullie Craig the Mearns version of Sir Alex Ferguson or should I say Jock Stein,
played a stroke of genius after seeing Dougie Ratcliffe getting a gubbing by Wullie Dykes in a Mearns game.
He pretended to send him away to Elgin on some wild goose chase.
This let him bring in our own Past President as a sub to strengthen up the rink
Seeing how Wullie Cannon puts himself in good rinks "Jock", slotted himself in to Bairds team.

So Wullie Baird played Wullie Dykes and George played the tanned Stuart Raeburn.
After the first end the Mearns were up 5 shots, this didn't last,
EKH fought back and in the middle of the game Wullie D got a 4 to put himself in front,
this was matched by George who also got a 4 which put him well up.
Stuart then pulled a couple back, his biggest job was trying to keep the Boyds minds on the game.
Wullie had pictures of his now famous 10 foot Maze on his phone,
its true you could hardly see the driver in the chopper.
I hope he sends a photo for the web site then we can all get back to the curling.
The last end turned into a mess for George and only a brilliant last stone saved him from embarrassment winning 8 shots to 4.
Baird seeing this tried to shut the door on Dykes who lay 1 but Dykes played a great last stone tapping up to win 9 shots to 5.
It was a peel overall, and all that was left was for " Jock Stein" to hoover up the sausage rolls!

EK&H against GALSTON HAYMOUTH

Report by Willie Baird Vice President
First up W Baird with Jim Craig, Jackie Craig & Linda Smith against Jim Boswell.
Having been reminded at the start this was a rematch of last year,
with the final draw deciding the destiny of the tappit Hen in favour of EK & H.
However despite the first 5 ends being very close, W Baird moved ahead with some excellent play
and good shot selection from 3rd Jim Craig finishing with 7 shots in the last 3 ends to finish winners 10 - 1.

Next Jim Strang with D Lawson, Carole Marsh & Alan Drummie.
Jim continuing his good run in interclubs with 7 shots to 5 winning after a tough account with Callum McCaskie.

Ex President George up next with a strengthened team - or so we thought,
with president Willie standing in at 3rd, Jim Boyd 2nd & Tom Neilson playing lead stones and standing in the head.
A 7 shot to 5 defeat here with George claiming his 3rd wasn't up to the same high standard of Alistair Boswell playing 3rd to namesake Andrew,
one especially good shot removing 3 of Georges stones.
However Tom let the cat out the bag the next night revealing the real reason was
that Mary forgot to give George his porridge causing him to be short with 2 or 3 important draws!

Finally it was Stuart Raeburn who stole the show with a score of 13 shots to 2.
This is the 2nd year in a row he has won the Tappit Hen,
helped by big Willie King, Alison Leiper and Father David playing lead stones and standing in the head.

Galston & Haymouth being slightly depleted with a handful of their players away playing in the super league at Ayr.
The final score was an excellent 35 shots to 15 for EK & H. Well done to everyone involved.

EK&H against Biggar CC

East Kilbride and Haremyres vs Lynn and Clarkston CC

East Kilbride and Haremyres vs Lesmahagow CC

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