Curling History

The Clydesdale Bank was for many years a great supporter of women's curling in Scotland. The bank first came aboard in October 1977, when the national competition was to find a team to represent Scotland at the European Championship. The European playdown the following year was called the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Ladies Curling Championship. In 1979 this competition was to lead to a world ladies championship, for the first time. The Clydesdale Bank's sponsorship of the national championship continued. For the 1987-88 season, a new trophy was commissioned. That's it above, from the February 1988 Scottish Curler, without photo credit.

For its time it was rather unusual. On the glass slab on the top of the trophy was etched an old photograph, more about which below. At the time of the presentation of the new trophy Ian McLellan was Public Relations Manager for the Clydesdale Bank, and his 'assistant' was Alan Sloan, who is still well known to curlers today as the chair of the Glynhill organising committee. The Clydesdale Bank sponsorship came to an end in 1992, after sixteen years.

Here are the first winners of the new trophy in 1988, from the February 1988 Scottish Curler, uncredited: (L-R) Sheena Drummie, Kimmie Brown, Margaret Scott and Christine Allison (skip), who beat Jane Gallagher and her team of Kathy Cameron, Billie-May Muirhead and Jennifer Blair, 6-3 in the final at Kirkcaldy.

The curling historian will want to know more of the old photograph etched onto the new trophy. It shows women on the ice at the Braid Estate Recreation Grounds, Edinburgh on a rink on the tennis courts. The Braid Tennis Club occupies the site today. The use of tennis courts for winter curling was not uncommon in the early years of the twentieth century.

The photo can be found in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1902-03. It was reproduced in the Scottish Curler magazine of September 1955, from which this image is scanned. Unfortunately, the photographer is not recorded in either the Annual nor the magazine. But it can be dated fairly accurately, most likely to the winter of 1901-02.

Here is what is recorded in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1902-03:

"BRAID ESTATE RECREATION GROUNDS. LADIES' CURLING CLUB.

THIS club, composed of three rinks, was formed in the winter of 1901-2, at a meeting held in the Tennis Club Pavilion, the use of which is kindly granted to the club during the curling season.

A president (Miss E W Hardy), vice-president, secretary, and executive committee were appointed. The club is under the patronage of Lady Gordon Cathcart, proprietrix of the Cluny estate.

The ice is made by means of spraying the ash tennis courts; and within six to eight hours a beautiful sheet of ice is obtained. At the close of each day's play the ice is renewed by spraying, which only occupies about fifteen minutes, and 'new leads' are ready for the morning. The rinks are arranged to run across the tennis courts, which, being over fifty yards in breadth, give full-length tees.

A new use is thus shown for tennis courts, which previously lay useless during the winter months. This is a suggestion which is worthy of being taken up by country clubs who have difficulty in finding good and safe ice. School play-grounds could be largely utilised for skating and sliding-places for the children. As the ice is from a quarter of an inch to any thickness, resting on the solid ground, there is no fear of a ducking!

Ice curtains are hung round the rinks, and do good service in keeping off the rays of the sun, which is often more powerful in winter than in summer now-a-days. The Braid Estate Recreation Grounds are beautifully situated near the Braid Hills, and at the foot of Blackford Hill, the scene which Sir Walter Scott spoke of as so dear to him in his boyhood. It is three minutes walk from train and car.

A gentleman's club has been in existence for two or three years, and some roaring games have been enjoyed. The use of the tennis pavilion is a great boon, for there is a capital gas stove where hot soup, coffee, etc, call be easily made. Several exciting games and matches were played by the ladies, and the club received challenges from the Hamilton and Broughty Ferry ladies' clubs. A thaw unfortunately prevented them being accepted, but the Braid Ladies hope to meet them both next season.

A pair of stones presented by Mrs Forrest, the vice-president, were played for by the club, and won by Miss E Dunn, who was also presented with a pair of silver-mounted handles by Edward Bayley, Esq."

I was excited when first reading the above, not only because it records the use of the tennis courts in some details, but it also seemed to record another pioneering women's curling club, joining the list of Hercules Ladies, Boghead Ladies, Balyarrow Ladies and Cambo Ladies as well as the 'ladies section' of the Broughty Ferry CC, not forgetting Henrietta Gilmour and her team, from Lundin and Montrave CC, see here, all active on the ice at the beginning of the twentieth century.

But all is not what it seems. The Braid Hills Ladies did not exist as a separate club for long, and perhaps never had an identity separate from the men.

You see, the Braid Estate Recreation Grounds Curling Club was not admitted to the Royal Club until the Annual Meeting of the Representative Members of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, held in the Royal Hotel, Edinburgh on July 30, 1903. The Braid Hills Estate club was proposed by Colin Moffat, of the Waverley CC, seconded by the Reverend John Kerr, and was one of eleven new clubs joining the national body that year.

But this was not a women's club. The club membership roster in the 1903-04 Annual shows there were twenty-seven male Regular and Occasional members, with an additional fifteen women, listed as 'Occasional' Lady Members. One has to ask why the original aspirations of the women to form their own club, as recounted two years earlier, had not been realised. What had happened to the secretary and executive committee mentioned in the 1902-03 Annual? If there had been a women's club, why had this not lasted on its own for more than a year or two? And had the women decided to join the men's club willingly? I don't know the answers.

Here are the names of the women on the club roster in 1903. The Miss Hardie could be the 'Miss E W Hardie' who was named President in 1901-02. The 'Mrs Forrest', the Vice-president who had presented stones to be played for by the club, could be the 'Miss Forrest' on the list. There are two members named 'Miss Dun' (sic), and one of these must be the Miss E Dunn who won the stones.

The Braid Estate CC prospered, simplifying its name to the Braid CC in 1905. It constructed another pond, with four rinks, not far away from the tennis club, at the east end of Cluny Drive, at the foot of Blackford Hill. The two locations can be found on the Scottish map on the Historical Curling Places website, here.

By the outbreak of the Great War, the Braid CC had twenty-seven male members and just four women. One of these, Miss Brander, was a very accomplished player, skipping her rink of Mrs Armour, Miss Mackintosh and Miss Taylor to the final of the first competition for Sir John Gilmour's Cup in January 1914, where eight women's teams took part in the event at the Edinburgh Ice Rink, Haymarket, that indoor rink having opened in 1911. The Gilmour Cup can be identified as the first open women's competition in Scotland, see here. The Cup was won by the Balerno rink skipped by Mrs Brodie. The runners-up were entered under the Braid CC name. Three of the team are three of the four names recorded in the Braid CC's membership roster in 1914 - Miss Brander, Miss Mackintosh and Miss Taylor. All had been club members since 1903. They may even have been in the 1901 photograph! The other member of the Brander rink was a Mrs Armour, who was one of seven 'Occasional Lady Members' listed in 1912.

I do not know the whereabouts of the original image of the lady curlers on the Braid Hills pond in 1901, nor what happened to the Clydesdale Bank trophy after 1992. If you know, do email me with the details. Images are as identified in the text.

I do like a good mystery, and there are many lurking in curling's history. For example, why did the Murray Trophy cease being played for as a competition for young curlers in 1935, just six years after it had been presented to encourage such play?

In looking for an answer to this question, I discovered something of which I was unaware. You see, I had always thought that the Glasgow Young Curlers Club, established in 1967 and formalised in 1969, had been the first of Scotland's 'young curlers' clubs'. Turns out I was wrong. There had been an earlier club for young curlers at Edinburgh's Haymarket Rink in the 1930s!

It is well known that Tom Murray (above), who played second stones in the GB team which won the gold medals at Chamonix in 1924, presented a trophy to encourage play by young curlers. I wrote about the 'Murray Trophy'here. That trophy was first played for in 1929, when fourteen teams took part.

Murray may also have been responsible for establishing Scotland's first 'young curlers' club' at Haymarket! In the report of the first playing of the Murray Trophy, in the Royal Club Annual for 1929-30, it is stated, "Sir Robert Lockhart, Chairman of the Ice Rink Club, in presenting the T B Murray Trophy to the Linlithgow Club, said they owed a very deep debt of gratitude to the donor. That was a pet scheme of Mr Murray's, and he had spent an enormous amount of time and trouble to foster the game among young players."

The reference to 'enormous time and trouble' does suggest that Murray's efforts may well have been in instructing young curlers at the Haymarket rink, and not just in purchasing a trophy for them to play for. Was it at his suggestion that some of those young curlers at Haymarket formed themselves into a curling club?

In the September 1958 Scottish Curler there is an article, by the editor Robin Welsh, describing Jock Waugh's ideas to resurrect the Murray Trophy again to be a national competition for young curlers, when it had last been used for such a purpose in 1935. Reflecting on the trophy's history, Robin states, "In addition, to launch the competition in style, Tom Murray and an elite group of experts marked every Friday night in their diaries, and, each week, came to the Rink (Edinburgh Ice Rink at Haymarket) to train young curlers."

The mystery of what happened to the competition is not helped by what that article then says, "The Murray Trophy, Edinburgh's biggest cup - a massive piece of silverware - was played for from 1929 to 1935. Then, for one and many another reason, it left the junior ranks and became one of the senior trophies at the Edinburgh Rink." What were the 'one and many another reason' that had led to the demise of the country's only competition for junior curlers? I hoped to find the answer.

I decided to look at the history of the Scottish Junior Curling Club, in parallel with what I already knew about the Murray Trophy's early years. There is no direct connection between the Murray Trophy and the Scottish Junior Curling Club, other than the involvement of Tom Murray.

The records show that the Scottish Junior Curling Club was admitted to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1929. At the Annual Meeting of the Representative Committee of the Royal Club in the Peebles Hydro on July 31, 1929, the names of twenty-five new clubs were read out. This list did not include the Scottish Junior Club, but it was not unusual for a new club to be admitted if duly proposed after the annual meeting, but before the Annual went to print. This is what happened with the Scottish Junior Club. This and six other clubs are separately listed in a section called 'Late New Clubs'.

Here is the membership roster at the beginning of the 1929-30 season, as recorded in the Annual for 1929-30.

The patron is T B Murray.

The winners of the first Murray trophy competition, held earlier in 1929, had been J Oliphant (skip), A Paris (3rd), J Morrison (2nd), and I McKnight (lead), from the Linlithgow Curling Club. None of these are listed above. But the runners-up were from Merchiston CC, skipped by A Allan, with W Roberts, W Ainslie and J Nisbet, having lost to Linlithgow 16-9 in the final. Note that Roberts, Ainslie and Nisbet are all listed as members of the Scottish Junior Curling Club in its inaugural season.

Here is evidence that the Scottish Junior Curling Club was formed sometime in 1928. This clipping from the Scotsman reports on the first annual meeting of the club in November 1929, and indicates that the Club had been formed 'last year', that is, in 1928.

So, the Scottish Junior CC was in existence before the first Murray Trophy competition took place.

It should be pointed out that the Murray Trophy was a competition run at, and by, the Edinburgh Ice Rink. It was not, at that time, a national competition organised by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. The Scottish Junior Curling Club curled out of the Edinburgh Ice Rink at Haymarket. The choice of name suggests that it did not want to be seen as just a club for Edinburgh young curlers.

In season 1929-30, the Murray Trophy was won by Biggar - Wm Brown (skip), Wilson Brown, J. Plenderleith, and A H Brown. Runners-up were Merchiston - R G Manson (skip), W Roberts, J Ainslie, and J Nisbet. John E Nisbet is listed as the Scottish Junior Club's Treasurer and Secretary, and other finalists are members of the Scottish Junior Club too.

This is the club's membership in the 1931-32 Annual. It certainly looks to be prospering, with twenty-nine members.

The previous season, the club had been awarded a Royal Club 'Local Medal' to encourage points play, although I cannot find who won this, or even if it was played for at all. Of course, the club already had a points medal, presented by Dr MacRobert and Mr D Reid back in 1929 at their first annual meeting. This was won by J Fordyce in 1931.

In the absence of old minute books, we do not have any record of the games played by members within the Scottish Junior Club.

However, the club also was matched to play for a District Medal against Temple in the 1932-33 season, but the result of this match is not recorded, if indeed it was ever played.

At the beginning of the 1932-33 season, the Scottish Junior Curling Club had nineteen members and a new Secretary and Treasurer.

This was J F Waugh, a name that would become well known in the years ahead. T B Murray was still the Patron. The President was R H Watherston. This last had been a member of the team that had been runners-up in the Murray Trophy the previous season. Linlithgow were the winners: A Paris (skip), A F Dickie, J Bennie, and I A MacKnight. Runners-up were the 'Co-optimists': R Dunlop (skip), R Watherston, J Ainslie, and J Forrest.

The Linlithgow juniors had been the first winners of the trophy back in 1929. Success spurs success, and local interest, and the Linlithgow Gazette newspaper reported that the 1930 contenders had played a match against veteran curlers on outside ice, on Linlithgow Loch, before their first games in the Edinburgh Rink in February, 1930. But they did not reach the final that year.

The newspaper even promoted the local young curlers in this article from March 20, 1931. As it turned out, they were beaten in the final by Biggar. However, in the following season, the trophy was won by a Linlithgow team (as mentioned earlier).

The Linlithgow Gazette reported on Friday, May 6, 1932, that the trophy 'of handsome design, has been on view in the window of H Shields and Sons'.

Three years on ...

This the last record of the playing of the Murray trophy as recorded in the Scotsman of Saturday, March 16, 1935, the final of that season's competition having been played on Friday, March 15.

Here's the last entry for the Scottish Junior Club in the Annual for 1935-36. That Annual also records that the D Reid and Dr MacRobert Points medal had been won by D Kyles, with 22 points. In second place was J F Waugh, 20 points. There is no indication that the club is in anything other than a healthy state.

Nor, at the beginning of the 1935-36 curling season, is there is anything to suggest that the Murray Trophy would not be competed for in that season. Over the years from 1929 to 1935, the trophy had been played for just six times, and won by young curlers from Linlithgow, Biggar, Biggar (again), Linlithgow (again), Corstorphine, Corstorphine (again), and Corstorphine (yet again). Had Corstorphine's domination of the competition over a three year period discouraged others? It is interesting that Waugh's team entered the competition under 'Corstorphine' and not 'Scottish Junior'. Two of the members of the winning Corstorphine team in 1935 (Waugh and Kyles) are listed as members of the Corstorphine CC in the Annual for 1935, whereas three (Waugh, Kyles and Fordyce) are members of the Scottish Junior Club. Was J Wylie a member of another club? I cannot find the answer.

The Annual of 1936-37 records that the Scottish Junior CC had ceased to be a member of the Royal Club. The same Annual also notes that the T B Murray trophy was not competed for in the previous season.

It is a mystery, and despite much searching, and much speculating, I cannot say with certainty why this might have happened. Perhaps entries for the Murray Trophy competition had just declined over the years. Fourteen teams had entered in 1929. I do not know how many took part in 1935. You can find an interesting statement in the report in the Scottish Curler of April 1959, when the Murray Trophy was played for again as a national junior competition, "The trophy was run with success in the Edinburgh Ice Rink until 1935, and many well-known pre-war curlers helped to foster an exciting new interest in young curling. It was particularly tragic, therefore, when the tournament suddenly languished and died, the trophy being handed over for senior competition in the Edinburgh Rink." Why had it 'suddenly languished and died'?

Speculating more positively, perhaps there was no longer a need to have an Edinburgh based club, just for 'junior' curlers, if other clubs were making more provision to encourage younger members at that time. I wonder.

It is even stranger to understand the demise of both club and trophy when you realise that the originator of the trophy, and the Patron of the Scottish Junior Club, T B Murray, became President-elect of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in July 1935, and then President in July 1936. The very Annual that records Murray's election to President is the same publication that records that the Scottish Junior Curling Club has ceased to be a member of the Royal Club! Surely Murray would have done all he could to maintain and preserve the Trophy that he had donated, and the Club of which he was patron?

Perhaps there is a clue here. With Tom Murray's energies and activities turned towards his position as curling's top man, perhaps he just wasn't able to continue to help with the junior curling. And without his input, junior curling in Edinburgh just fell away.

Tom Murray died in 1944.

I like a good mystery, but I suspect that there must be more to this than meets the eye.

One question that comes to mind is, "What was the age of a 'young curler' or a 'junior curler' back in the 1930s?" The first Treasurer/Secretary was John E Nisbet. Thanks to Scotland's People his birth certificate is easily found. John Edgar Nisbet was born on July 1, 1905. In 1929 he would have been 23 or 24. Sadly, we know too that the skip of the first rink to win the Murray Trophy in 1929 was John Oliphant, who died on June 4, 1929, not long after his team's curling success. He was just 23 years old.

There's no published age limitations for the early Murray Trophy matches as far as I can see, but when the trophy was resurrected in 1959, it was for curlers of 25 and under, and it seems likely that one's mid-twenties might well have been the upper limit for being a 'young curler' back in the 1930s.

Membership of the Scottish Junior Curling Club may have been more flexible. Scotland's People can help identify the R H Watherston who was President of the Scottish Junior CC from 1932 to 1935. He was Robert Henderson Watherston who was born on May 11, 1907. He would have been in his late twenties in the last year of his presidency of the club.

However, John Forbes Waugh was born on March 20, 1912. He would have been twenty years old when his name first appears as Treasurer and Secretary of the Scottish Junior CC at the beginning of the 1932-33 season, and would have been just about to celebrate his 23rd birthday when he skipped his team in the Murray Trophy final on March 15, 1935.

The last two winners of the Murray Trophy, in 1934 and 1935, had been teams skipped by Waugh, the Treasurer and Secretary of the Scottish Junior Club. He had played second on the winning team in 1933. He was already a trusted administrator and an accomplished curler.

Moving forward more than twenty years, it was J K (Jock) Waugh who was instrumental in having the Murray Trophy resurrected in 1959 as a trophy for junior curlers, this time a truly national competition for young curlers of 25 years of age and under, as it was administered by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Jock is more remembered today as the director of the first Scotch Cup competitions, the first steps in the evolution of the World Men's Curling Championship. His obituary in the 1966-67 Annual, shows how much he was a respected figure, as the following extract shows:

"The sudden death of Jock Waugh shocked the curling world. We use the word 'world' advisedly because Jock had played in almost every curling country and everywhere had left the stamp of his personality. While his name was a household word among the Scottish curling fraternity, he was known and loved far beyond the boundaries of Scotland. In addition, as a man of wide sympathies, with immense popular appeal, he was admired and respected in many circles outside curling. But curling was his main recreation. More than that, he was dedicated to the game, which he fervently believed to hold unique qualities of skill, fellowship and character. He himself, with his keenness, sportsmanship and good cheer, was the embodiment of all that is best in Curling ..... "

I like this photo of Jock Waugh (third from the right). It was taken after the Ernie Richardson team had won the series of Scotch Cup matches against the Willie Young team. The Scotch Whisky directors had 'enjoyed a friendly game with the Champions'! (L-R: Brodie Hepburn, Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Archie Scott, Garnet Richardson, Jock Waugh, Jim Draper and Wes Richardson.)

I mentioned earlier the article in the 1958 Scottish Curler magazine. As a footnote to this the magazine Editor Robin Welsh has added, "Schoolboy and youthful curling has never been given wild encouragement in Scotland." That was to change dramatically in the years that followed, Waugh getting the Murray Trophy going again being no small part in this!

The early years of the T B Murray Trophy, the existence of a forgotten Scottish Junior Curling Club from 1929-1935, and the efforts of Tom Murray and Jock Waugh to encourage junior curling in Scotland, should not be forgotten in curling's history, whatever remains to be discovered about the history of young curlers in that period between the wars and why the Murray Trophy competition, and the Scottish Junior Curling Club, both came to an end at the same time.

The Scottish Junior Curling Club membership images are from Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annuals in my collection. The top image of Tom Murray is from a scrapbook in his family's possession. The Scotsman clippings are © Johnston Press plc, via the British Newspaper Archive. The Linlithgow Gazette clipping is also © Johnston Press plc, via the British Newspaper Archive. The image of the Scotch Whisky directors with the Richardson team comes from the March 1959 issue of the Scottish Curler.

It is easy to ask a question, but often rather more difficult to find the answer. This I found out when, some time ago, I wondered, "When was the first photograph of curling taken?"

I knew there were some old photos of curling and curlers out there. But what was the earliest? I narrowed it down to two candidates. One, which showed curling on Smeaton Loch in East Lothian, had been printed in David Smith's book, Curling: an illustrated history, and the other of curling on Raith Lake, Kirkcaldy, was in The Curling Companion by W H Murray. Both these books were published in 1981, and the captions on both photographs suggested the original images had been taken circa 1860. I have been unable to find anything as yet to date these more precisely.

However, there is a third candidate - in fact two photos, different views but of the same occasion - on the ornamental pond(s) in the walled garden at Dunmore Park. Neither David Smith nor Bill Murray knew about these photos when they were writing their books. There is good evidence of exactly when they were taken, December 31, 1860! What is more, a passing reference in an old newspaper confirms that a photographer was present on the day.

Here is one of these photos, reproduced courtesy of Falkirk Archives. It shows curlers belonging to the Airth, Bruce Castle, and Dunmore curling club on the ornamental pond at Dunmore Park, near Airth. The curlers in the photo are using broom 'cowes' rather than brushes, and the stones all seem to be of the modern type, with centre goose-neck handles. The ice appears somewhat wet! Two sheets are in use.

The photo's history is that the original was lent to Falkirk Museums by a private individual in 1989, where it was photographed, and a copy then found its way to Robin Welsh, the Editor of the Scottish Curler magazine, who printed it in the September 1990 magazine, with the heading 'The earliest curling photograph'. Discovering this reference in the magazine led me to the Falkirk Archives, now in Callendar House, and to The Pineapple, the National Trust for Scotland's property here.

Here is the pond today - it still exists, more than 150 years later in the walled garden at Dunmore, near the famous 'Pineapple'. It's not a curling venue anymore, but a wildlife pond, and much changed, with trees all around. But the little island in the curling photograph is still there!

Here's the background to the players and the curling club involved in 1860.

The Airth and Bruce Castle Curling Club was founded in 1841, and admitted to the Royal Club in 1842. Airth is a village on the south bank of the River Forth (near the Kincardine Bridge), and the 'Bruce Castle' references the nearby ruins, see here. It was one of the first clubs to join the Grand Caledonian Curling Club. Its joint presidents were William Graham and Patrick Maxwell Stewart MP. The secretary was Robert Towers, who would remain in that post until 1856. Forty-four regular members are listed in the Grand Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1842-43. Of particular note is that Dowager Lady Shaw Stewart, of Carnock, is the Patroness, and the Earl of Dunmore is listed as the Patron.

Incidentally, the Grand Caledonian Curling Club received its Royal patronage in 1843, to become the Royal Grand Caledonian Curling Club for one year (1843-44), and then the Royal Caledonian Curling Club thereafter, the 'Grand' being dropped.

The inclusion of a Patron and/or Patroness in a club's membership return in old Annuals often, but not always, means that the club's pond was on the Patron's or Patroness's estate. For a club to be a member of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club it had to have a place where they could play. Each club had to have 'a sheet of Ice for its operations', as stated in the General Regulations!

In the Annual for 1844-45, the following can be found, "On the 17th January 1843, our much-respected Patroness, Dowager Lady Shaw Stewart, presented to the Airth and Bruce Castle Curling Club a very handsome Silver Medal, to be annually competed for by our Members; which competition took place on Carnock Pond, on the 24th February 1844, when 20 Members appeared, and showed a dexterity in 'Scotia's ain game'."

So the curling pond on the lands of Carnock estate was used by the Airth and Bruce Castle Curling Club, and likely explains why Lady Shaw Stewart was the Patroness. It is in the Historical Curling Places database, as Place No 0548. This may well have been the club's home ice in the 1840s.

The Earl of Dunmore, the Airth and Bruce Castle CC Patron when it was founded, was Alexander Edward Murray, the 6th Earl. He died in 1845, and for the next three years (1845-48) the club only had Lady Shaw Stewart as a Patroness. She died in 1849. In the Annual for 1849-40, the Countess of Dunmore became the new Patroness of the Airth and Bruce Castle club. It was her husband who had died in 1845. They had four children. The third of these was born on March 24, 1841 - a son, Charles Adolphus Murray who would become the 7th Earl of Dunmore. He is the key to understanding the reason behind the old photograph, as we will see.

In 1853, John A Stewart Nicolson, the new owner of Carnock, became the club's Patron. The Countess of Dunmore continued to be Patroness alongside John Nicolson, until 1862.

But in 1859, the Earl of Dunmore became the club's President, and is listed as an 'Occasional Member'. Charles Adolphus Murray, the 7th Earl of Dunmore, had grown up! He had been four years old when his father died, and in 1859 would have celebrated his 18th birthday.

By the following year, 1860, the 7th Earl had become a keen curler. The Annual for 1860-61 records:

"PRESENTATION OF SILVER CUP.

The Earl of Dunmore, on the occasion of his joining the Airth and Bruce Castle Club, having most handsomely given a Massive Silver Challenge Cup for Annual Competition in the Club; on February 1st the Club met in force, on the Ornamental Pond in Dunmore Gardens, for the First Competition.

No less than 32 Members were present, and 8 skips being chosen, the rinks and order of play were decided by ballot. After a keen contest of three hours, the following result was obtained:

J A Shaw Stewart's Rink 29, John Turnbull's Rink, 17
Archibald Malcolm's 25, Earl of Dunmore's 20
William Carmichael's 24, Robert Bowie's 19
Thomas Callendar's 23, William Russell's 13.

The Challenge Cup was then presented in due form to Mr Shaw Stewart, the skip of the victorious rink, and its goodly proportions were oft replenished with genial libations, and as speedily quaffed in honour of the Noble and Generous Donor, the fortunate Possessor, the Club, and the Ladies who honoured the Match with their presence, amongst whom were the Countess of Dunmore, Patroness of the Club, and the Ladies Murray.

In honour of the occasion, the Members of the Club determined that in future the name of the Club should be changed to Airth, Bruce Castle, and Dunmore."

The ABC curling club was to become the ABCD curling club!

The Annual records formally that the decision to change the name was approved at the Annual Meeting of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, held in the Waterloo Rooms, Edinburgh, on July 25, 1860, the Airth and Bruce Castle CC being allowed to change its name to the Airth, Bruce Castle and Dunmore CC.

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1861-62 records the following match held on December 31, 1860. This is the occasion that has been photographed.

"AIRTH, BRUCE CASTLE, AND DUNMORE CURLING CLUB. Presentation of a Gold Medal.

The Members of the above Club, met on the 31st December 1860, on the Ornamental Pond in Dunmore Gardens and competed for a magnificent Gold Challenge Medal, bearing on the one side the following inscription: 'Presented to the Airth Bruce Castle and Dunmore Curling Club, by the Earl and Countess of Southesk, 1860'.

And on the edge: 'To be played for annually, till won three times successively by the same person, to whom it will then belong'. The other side being left blank for the names of the winners.

Thirty-two members entered the competition, divided into four Rinks. The following were the skips:

No 1 R Bowie 31 D M'Laren 26
No 2 W Russell 27 A Malcolm 14
No 3 Earl of Dunmore 13 W Carmichael 32
No 4 J Turnbull 32 T Callander 21

There was thus a tie between Messrs Turnbull and Carmichael, and the Umpire having appointed three ends to be played, Mr Turnbull scored 6, and Mr Carmichael 2. The former was therefore declared the winner of the Medal.

During the competition, the Earl and Countess of Southesk visited the Pond, and after its conclusion, the President of the Club, the Right Hon the Earl of Dunmore entertained the members to dinner at Dunmore Park. The Earl, who occupied the chair, was supported on the right by the Rev C Hinxman, and on the left by the winner of the Medal. The Earl of Southesk, A Malcolm, Vice-President, and John Turnbull, secretary, officiated as croupiers. After the usual loyal and patriotic toasts, the healths of the Countess and Earl of Dunmore, the Earl and Countess of Southesk, and the Ladies Murray, were given with all the honours. The remainder of the evening was spent with the utmost hilarity."

It is interesting to note that it was 'shots scored' rather than 'shots up' that decided the winning rinks.

The match was recorded in the Alloa Advertiser.

Why had the Earl of Southesk presented a medal to be played for by the club? The answer most probably lies with the fact that he had married the Earl of Dunmore's oldest sister, the Lady Susan Catherine Mary Murray, on November 29, 1860.

The Hogmanay match was also reported in the Stirling Observer. On particular note is the following, "While the match was being played, the Right Hon the Earl of Dunmore, with his warm heart to curling, had an eminent artist present, who took both front and profile views of out knight of the broom; as also the spectators, in photography." This I believe is the first newspaper reference to the sport of curling being photographed, and confirms the origins of the Dunmore photographs to the cited dates! Just who the 'eminent artist' was is not stated.

Here is the second of the Dunmore photographs, again courtesy of the Falkirk Archives. At first sight it might look the same as the one above, but it is not. It is looking in a different direction. Again, the players are occupying two rinks.

In the earliest Ordnance Survey map, the ornamental ponds at Dunmore can be clearly seen.

Zooming in to the map, there appears to be two ponds close together. The photographer would have taken the photos from a position between the two ponds. The top photo is looking to the west (and is of the pond on the left) and the other is looking to the east (the pond on the right).

The ponds are just one today. But standing in the middle, where it it narrowest, this is the view of the east side of the pond today. It is definitely the same place.

Considering the two old photos together, with two games on each of the ponds, there should be thirty-two players on the ice, and that is indeed what the photographer has captured, plus some spectators. We know the names of the skips, and indeed it can be surmised that everyone on the ice will be listed in the membership of the Airth, Bruce Castle, and Dunmore curling club in the Annual for 1860-61. I think we can even pick out the Earl of Dunmore in one of the photographs.

This could well be Charles Murray, on the right with his broom over his shoulder. He's the youngest looking player on the ice, and is in the forefront of the photograph! Play would have stopped, perhaps only for the shortest of time, for the photographer to take his photographs without any movement.

Given that the Earl would have been just nineteen years old, this is the earliest known photo of a 'young curler'! There's a little more about his later life here.

As the original photos were not donated to Falkirk Museums back in 1989, only allowed to be copied, it is not possible to say exactly what the originals were like. Most probably the photographer used the wet plate collodian process, see here. For an idea of the sort of camera that might have been used, see here. I do not know if the originals have survived, or where they are now.

There may well be other older photographs of Scottish curling awaiting discovery. Do let me know of any other candidates. However, the two taken at Dunmore Park on December 31, 1860, are remarkable in that we know so much about why, where, and when they were taken, and the players depicted therein.

POSTSCRIPT
The Airth, Bruce Castle and Dunmore CC was to survive for many years. Willie Young, one of Scotland's greatest curlers - some would say 'The Greatest' - was a member. Willie skipped his team of third John Pearson, second Sandy Anderson, and lead Bobby Young, when they represented Scotland in the 1959 and 1962 Scotch Cup matches. They curled out of the Airth, Bruce Castle, and Dunmore Curling Club. The notice of the club's resignation from the Royal Club can be found in the Annual for 1998-99. I wonder what has happened to the club's trophies and medals, and if the Earl of Southesk's gold medal, for which the photographs at Dunmore record a match, has survived anywhere?

My thanks go to the helpful staff at the Falkirk Archives at Callendar House, especially Jean Jamieson. The two photographs are reproduced here courtesy of Falkirk Archives. The newspaper clippings are as noted, courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive, and the map clippings are from the National Library of Scotland's online maps website, here. The two photographs of the Dunmore pond today are my own. It was Lindsay Scotland who set me off on the trail of both these old photos after I had assumed there was just one. Thanks Lindsay!

It is good to see that the old 'British Open' trophy is being played for next weekend at the Peak, Stirling. The trophy's history is worthy of mention. It was first played for at the Falkirk Ice Rink in 1945. That rink had opened on Wednesday, November 30, 1938, the Earl of Stair doing the honours, as shown in the image above.

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1939-40 records, "Indoor Curling in Scotland has been gaining ground rapidly, last season closing with artificial ice available at Crossmyloof (Glasgow), Haymarket (Edinburgh), Perth, Dundee, Kirkcaldy, Falkirk and Ayr, whilst new rinks have been built during the close season at Paisley and Dunfermline. It is right to say that the development of ice hockey has been mainly responsible for the rapid increase of the artificial ice rinks in Scotland, but our game of curling stands a good second and provides a steady groundwork of support to the Ice Rinks."

The Falkirk rink had six sheets of ice for curling, but only on certain days of the week. In season 1939-40, the curling days were every Tuesday and Thursday, with three sessions each day: 10 am - 1, 2 - 5 pm, and 6.30 - 9.30 pm. But in the 1940-41 season, just two three-hour sessions on each of these days were advertised, from 4.15 - 7.15 pm, and 7.30 - 10.30 pm.

Of course, there was a war on. The Falkirk Herald of Saturday, August 24, 1940, had the following report:

"The bombers may threaten, but dancing continues merrily at the Falkirk Ice Rink every evening except Sunday. The patrons continue to be enamoured of the hot music purveyed by Joe Gibson and his London Band. Every Thursday evening there is a departure from syncopation, and patrons, young and old, engage in the traditional dances of Scotland. It’s a great night for all. Patrons are requested to take note of the big charity concert to be held at the Ice Rink on Sunday, 1st September. For further particulars, see our advertising columns."

Throughout the war, the Falkirk ice rink proved to be a popular entertainment venue, despite the blackout restrictions. Skaters, dancers and curlers all patronised the facility. There was even an ice hockey match between the Royal Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Navy in December, 1942.

In April 1943 the Falkirk Ice Rink Curling Club organised a competition in aid of the Scottish Branch of the British Red Cross Society.

The war was still ongoing when the Falkirk Herald ran this promotional article of interest to the country's curlers on Saturday, December 2, 1944:

"BRITISH OPEN CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP To be Held in Falkirk Ice Rink.
Arrangements have been made to hold the British Open Curling Championship at the Falkirk Ice Rink in the week commencing 5th February, 1945. It is anticipated that entries will be received from all over Great Britain. Most of the leading British players have already played over the Falkirk Ice and have congratulated the management on its quality. It is a fitting reward for all the work which has been done to obtain this standard, that the British championship is to be staged on the Falkirk Rink. Mr Festus Moffat, who is acting as secretary of the tournament, informs us that the championship trophy is open for competition to any four curlers. The winners, in addition to retaining the trophy for a year, are made the recipients of individual prizes, and the runners-up also receive individual prizes. During the championship week, a curlers’ dinner is to be held on the Tuesday, and an ice hockey match is being staged for the Wednesday, and on Thursday a dance, which will consist largely of old-fashioned dances, with Harold M'Ardle and William Hannah and his band, will help to make the championship week of greater interest."

The Falkirk Herald on February 3, 1945, had a photo of the trophy which was to be played for. The caption stated, "The photograph reproduced above is of the British Open Curling Championship Trophy to be competed for within the Falkirk Ice Rink next week. It is a 15-in diameter solid silver bowl of Queen Anne design, fluted pattern, on an ebony plinth. During the present week it has been exhibited, along with the other rink trophies, in the shop window of Mr W Callander, jeweller, 130 High Street, Falkirk, the whole making a most attractive display, in which a keen public interest has been evinced, the handsome championship trophy being generally admired. It is to be presented to the winning rink by the Right Hon. Thomas Johnston, PC, MP, at the final session next Saturday afternoon, when the ceremony is to be recorded for broadcasting."

The competition duly went ahead with seventy rinks taking part. There were three sessions each day, and each evening had 'special attractions' for the entertainment of visitors and the general public. The participants included a Canadian side. The Falkirk Herald on February 7, 1945, reported that the Canadian Sports Service had sent a rink, representing the Maple Leaf Club. "Many of the players from the Dominion had never been in Scotland before, and to them, at least, their visit to Falkirk was full of interest. None of the Canadians had met previously, but they soon teamed-up as a rink determined to make a bid for the honours of the tournament. The arrival of the Canadians was marked by an interesting incident. The visitors were rather crestfallen to find that the old-fashioned broom used in Canada seemed no longer to find favour in Scottish curling, brushes now being substituted for the handy broom. The disappointment of the Canadians did not last long, however, for their needs were attended to almost at once. Mr Alexander and Mr Waddell, Dollar, procured a supply of the necessary brooms, and the Canadians were thus enabled to play the game with their favoured equipment."

The Daily Record had the results of the final game.

The Falkirk Herald made much more of the event as an article in the edition of Wednesday, February 14, 1945, shows. Here it is in its entirety. The report gives an insight into what curling was like in 1945, how it was perceived generally, and also the significance of the British Open competition.

"The British Open Curling Championship, play in which was conducted at the Falkirk Ice Rink throughout the whole of last week, was undoubtedly one of the best organised and most successful competitive events of the kind ever held in Scotland. At the final tie, for instance, on Saturday afternoon, there were fully 1500 spectators, probably the largest crowd ever to have witnessed a single rink curling game in this country. It was evident at least, that the indoor curling game on artificial ice is increasing in popularity in Scotland, and the directors and management of Falkirk Ice Rink, by their enterprise and initiative in organising and carrying through so successfully the British Open Championship, have played an important part in creating public interest in this social but skillful recreation.

The final tie was between rink teams skipped by Mr J Wardlaw, Laurieston, Falkirk, and Mr William Scobie, Corstorphine. To reach the final both clubs had overcome some formidable opposition from all over Scotland, and even further afield. Play in the final was over 16 ends, and although the time occupied in the contest was three and a half hours, so keen was the interest manifested that the crowd waited until the end of play, and the presentation of the prizes by Mr Thomas Johnston, Secretary of State for Scotland.

PLAY DESCRIBED. Both teams gave a capital display, and the many good stones sent down brought out loud and prolonged applause. The personnel of the respective rinks were: Laurieston— George Strang (lead), A Baird (2), D Maxwell (3), and J Wardlaw (skip). Corstorphine—J A Aitken (lead), A Davies (2), G. M'Clung (3) and W. Scobie (skip).

There was a cautiousness on the part of both skips at the start. The first six ends were generally in favour of Wardlaw, the score at this stage being five shots to one in favour of the Laurieston skip. From a local point of view, this was indeed promising, but the seventh end saw a transformation that was startling when compared with the previous ends. By skillful play and exceedingly meritorious placing of their stones, Scobie’s rink gained half a dozen shots, to take the lead by 7-5. This seemed to be the crux of the whole game, for Scobie always endeavoured to build up a strong well-guarded end, and when in the tenth end his tactics brought a collection of five shots, his rink never looked back. After that it was a battle royal between the two skips, but superior generalship told.

Wardlaw at times was splendid, but could not, nor would not, knock out his opponent's guards. At the 12th end, Wardlaw pulled up with three shots, and from then on until practically the end, Scobie never appeared to be really anxious about the outcome, and the game ended in victory for Scobie by 17 shots to 13 for Wardlaw. Both teams are undoubtedly in the championship class, but on the day’s showing Scobie's rink had just that something extra that carried them through."

The newspaper recorded that the individual members of the winning rink had each received silver salvers, and the runners-up, brandy flasks. A speech by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Thomas Johnston, was reported in full. He had presented the prizes, and the Falkirk Herald noted that "He did not take a gloomy view of the future. He was one of those who believed that a nation which could face up to the perils of Dunkirk, a nation that could face up to Hitler's Wehrmacht with a Home Guard armed with sporting rifles and walking-sticks, was a nation that was not going to go down in discordance. If we maintained among ourselves a modicum of goodwill resembling the ice team rink spirit, we need have no fear of the future of our country."

The Scottish Curler magazine was first published in 1954, by which time the British Open at Falkirk was well established as a major curling competition.

This photograph was on the front cover of the March 1954 issue of the Scottish Curler. It is captioned, "A Full House ... and Willie Young and his rink look for a way in. In this grand head, the 6th end in the 'British' final, 14 stones are grouped round the tee and Willie Young has the last stone. Note the spectator pointing out the shot to play. It's always easy from the bank!"

Here we see the trophy, filled with whisky (as once was a common tradition) and passed around. John Miller is drinking from the cup, and looking on are John Pearson, Willie Young, John Robertson, George Lindsay, J Scott, J Gilchrist and Bob Young. The tenth British Open competition had been won by John Robertson's Glasgow rink who beat Willie Young's side 17-9 after fourteen ends.

In 1955 Jimmy Sellar was the winning skip, with his wife Rena as the lead on the team, the first woman to have her name on the trophy.

Falkirk Ice Rink rink closed as an ice sports venue in 1977, the British Open then being played at the old Stirling rink thereafter, before that rink also closed, and it moved to the Peak, Stirling.

I suspect this must have been one of the last times the trophy was competed for, in 2011. I reported on this here in the Skip Cottage Curling blog. The photo of the winners, above, was courtesy of Tony Flisch. L-R: Annie Laird, Lorna Vevers, Anna Sloan, Kelly Wood.

Here's to a great future ahead for the trophy, see here.

Other images are from the British Newspaper Archive, as indicated, or from Scottish Curler magazines.

Back in 2012, Andrew Wood, who knew of my interest both in curling and railways, contacted me with the information that volunteers at the Keith and Dufftown heritage railway had uncovered the remains of a 'curlers' platform' on the line, near to Loch Park. The volunteers had been clearing vegetation lineside and uncovered the remains. My interest was immediately aroused, as I had never considered such places before, where a temporary halt was made on a railway line near to a curling venue.

The importance of railway travel generally to curling in the nineteenth century cannot be overestimated. Travelling to meet the curlers of another club, for example to play for a district medal awarded by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, was only possible because of the railways. It was either that or travelling great distances by horse-drawn coach. Railway stations covered the country, and rail travel took curlers close to where they wished to play.

Often there was a station near to where the curlers wanted to play. But there were special places too. For example Carsebreck, where many Grand Matches were played, had its very own railway station, and Carsebreck was chosen to be the Royal Club's pond because of the closeness of a railway line, see here.

Here's the Royal Club station in 1929, with curlers awaiting transport home after a Grand Match. The up and down main lines are in the middle of the picture, and there are two loops alongside substantial platforms. Although only one is shown I am assuming that the photographer is on the other where different images seem to show that there was a small building. The building in the distance is the Royal Club's headquarters hut, with the loch behind.

But there were other bonspiels on outside ice which were also served by the railway. These may not have been as large as a Grand Match, but they often involved hundreds of curlers. There were the International Matches. The first at Talkin Tarn, near Brampton, saw many hundreds of curlers arrive at Brampton Station, and it transpired that the arrangements for the transport of stones from the station to the lakeside relied on carts being pulled by horses, about which we might know little had it not been for the demise of the station master's horse, which was reported in newspapers of the time (the story is in this article).

Other International Matches and the Waterloo Cup bonspiels in the early 1900s required the construction of a special platform alongside the Castle Loch in Lochmaben. I have walked part of the old railway line and have a good idea where this platform might have been, but no trace of it remains as far as I can see, and the railway that ran from Lockerbie to Lochmaben is long gone.

There was a curlers' platform on the Great Northern Railway line at the Loch of Aboyne, and the Aberdeen Free Press advertised a special train from Aberdeen to the loch on February 9, 1891, for a bonspiel the following day between curlers from the north and south of the River Don.

The following year, the same bonspiel was held at Pitfour, the Banffshire Journal and General Advertiser of Tuesday, January 26, 1892, recording, "A special train was run from Aberdeen, conveying the Deeside and north curlers, and arriving at a special platform erected by the Pitfour Club at Cartlehaugh, exactly opposite the lake." The local curlers had constructed at platform at Cartlehaugh in 1888, for a match that never took place owing to a thaw, but it is good to see that their efforts were rewarded some years later.

The RAILSCOT website suggests that there was a 'curler's platform' beside Loch Leven (see here). This makes great sense, as the railway runs close to the loch just south of Kinross. Initially I could find no evidence of this ever being used, nor could I find any evidence of exactly where it might have been.

Local clubs curled on the loch, and there is lots of evidence for this. Large bonspiels were held too, these relying on the railway to bring in competitors and their stones.

An inter-county bonspiel that matched up teams from Perthshire against those from Fife and Kinross was held on Loch Leven in 1912. The Dundee Courier of February 7, 1912, contains a report of the match, 82 teams representing each side. There was no mention of how the curlers travelled to the match. Apparently the ice conditions weren't the best. The report states, "No sooner had play started than snow began, and, the weather freshening, the ice became druggy, and those with dull, 'sooking' stones could not get near the parish. Something like a record was established Mr Thomas Buchanan, of Dunkeld No 2 (D) rink, defeating Mr John Wallace, Lundin Links, by 51 shots to 0. Mr Wallace and his men were hopelessly at sea among the slush, and none them could get their stones in the inner circles." That decisive victory no doubt contributed to Perthshire winning by 305 shots!

Early in 1929, the match had been played indoors at Edinburgh Ice Rink, Haymarket, over a number of days, there having been insufficient ice on Loch Leven to hold the bonspiel on natural ice. On November 30, 1929, the Scotsman newspaper reported that the draw for this inter-county match had again been made.

The bonspiel did go ahead in February 20, 1930. Here's a few words from the Dundee Evening Telegraph on the evening of the match. "Loch Leven was in her winter garb, and followers of the roaring game entered with vigour into the popular winter pastime. The trek to the loch began in the early forenoon, and the players arrived by bus, motor car, motor cycle, and special train. They came bedecked gaily-coloured berets, glengarries, balmorals and kilts, and as they trekked merrily over the ice to their respective rinks, greetings and good humoured banter were exchanged. Fully ninety rinks were engaged and the players numbered fully 800."

I was especially interested in the mention of how the curlers got to the match. No, not the mention of getting there by motor cycle, although just how a pair of curling stones could be accommodated on a bike deserves some thought, but the mention of 'special train'!

Recently, a very rare item of curling 'paper ephemera' came up for auction. I may have been the only bidder who really appreciated its significance, and as luck would have it, I won the auction.

The document is just three pages, and is a private communication issued from the Superintendent's Office of the London and North Eastern Railway (Southern Scottish Area). It provides the details of the railway's arrangements for the upcoming inter-county match two days ahead. One special would run from Elie in Fife, bringing that county's curlers to Loch Leven. One special would run from Dundee, and another from Perth, bringing curlers from the north. Additional capacity would be available on connecting lines. For example, a third class carriage and a 'brake compo' was to be attached at Stirling to a train from Glasgow.

A spare engine and guard was to be provided at Kinross Junction from 10.00 to work 'as required'.

And of course, the leaflet contained details of the trains returning from the loch.

The above shows the special from Fife, and return. Departure was from Elie, at 8.30 am. The left column shows the number of curlers expected at each station. The train's arrival point on the loch is shown as No 3 Level Crossing. The curling stones were to be carried on two 'trucks' attached to this train, and the document states that 'low-sided' or 'fish trucks' should be used for conveying the curling stones.

The arrival and departure point for the trains coming from the north were at a different place from that of the train from Fife. This was to facilitate handling of curling stones, particularly on departure from the loch. The care of curling stones was important. An assistant guard was to be provided on each special train 'to assist with the loading and unloading of the Curling Stones'!

There was no extra cost to each curler for transporting their pair of stones. The cost of the rail travel was discounted too, as "Curlers and Spectators will be conveyed to Loch Leven and back at a Single Journey Fare (plus fractional parts of a penny, minimum 2s, First Class, and 1s Third Class)" on the special trains. And if, like me, you happened to wonder if there were special tickets, the document states that "The Station-masters at the various stations will issue 'Pleasure Party' or 'Blank Card' return tickets to Loch Leven."

The LNER document was signed by C H Stemp, Superintendent. He was Major Charles Hubert Stemp CBE, who was to retire five years later after a railway career of more than 50 years. I suspect that all his experience was needed when, just after his instructions had been issued to his staff for dealing with everything involved in the rail transport of the bonspiel, nature played a wild card. The ice near the railway line was found not to be strong enough, and the rinks for the bonspiel were prepared in the vicinity of the Factor's Pier, further to the north.

The Dundee Courier reported on the day of the match, "The grand match between Perthshire and Fife and Kinross-shire is usually played at a point in the vicinity of the railway, but it is deemed advisable to transfer the venue because the ice at that point is none too secure. The change will cause much inconvenience, because at the original venue the curlers were able to remove their paraphernalia from the train immediately adjoining the loch. Today, however, arrangements have been made for motor lorries being placed at the disposal of the competitors, and they will be conveyed from Kinross Junction the Factors Pier in vehicles."

So, the travel hub for the special trains was now Kinross Junction Station (to the west of Kinross where the M90 exit for the town now is). One wonders how arrangements there worked out. Interesting too, that motorised transport was to play a part in the arrangements for this big bonspiel, already anticipating the decline of the railway in transporting curlers around the country.

As it turned out, the competition went ahead and was well reported. The Dundee Courier on Friday, February 21, even had a photo of play on the Loch, above, captioned, "CURLERS INVADE ANGLERS' HAUNT - Loch Leven, whereon in season anglers move 'with bated breath and whispering humbleness', was yesterday invaded by devotees of the roarin' game from Perthshire, Fife, and Kinross for the inter-county bonspiel, played for the first time since 1912. A view of some of the rinks during play."

This photo was in the Dundee Evening Telegraph and was captioned, "A general view on the ice on Loch Leven yesterday during the bonspiel between curlers Perthshire, Fifeshire and Kinross-shire, which Perthshire won by 72 shots. There were 88 rinks, over 700 curlers taking part."

Here is the match report, published in the Dundee Courier of February 21, 1930:

"BIG COUNTY WIN BONSPIEL
A GREAT BATTLE ON LOCH LEVEN
Fife and Kinross Beaten by 72 Shots

Yesterday Loch Leven was the Mecca of the followers of the roarin' game in Perthshire, Fifeshire, and Kinross-shire, when representatives the Big County engaged in friendly rivalry with their brother curlers of Fife and Kinross.

After a splendid three hours' curling, Perthshire emerged victors by 72 shots; their total being 1361, compared with their opponents' 1289.

The last meeting of the sides on Loch Leven was in 1912, when Perthshire were 305 shots up.

The conditions yesterday were ideal for the sport, and play was engaged in at 88 rinks, over 700 curlers taking part.

It was the opinion of many of the older curlers, who had taken part in the 1912 bonspiel, that the ice was the finest they had seen on the loch.

Those who have admired Loch Leven in her summer serenity, the rowing craft drifted to and fro on her gentry rippling surface while Waltonians deftly plied their rods, would have been just exultant in their praise if they had seen her in her winter splendour as she was robed yesterday.

In the early forenoon the contestants began to wend their way to the loch, and arrived by bus, motor car, motor cycle, and special train.

Braw lads from the Highlands of Perthshire contributed to the picturesque scene as they arrived arrayed in their glengarries and balmorals, their kilts, red-cuffed jackets, and tartan trousers. the curlers trekked over the ice to their various rinks greetings and good-humoured banter were exchanged.

It took some time before everyone had got to his place; but when the gun was fired announcing the commencement of play, a thunderous cheer rang out, and brooms were waved vigorously in the air.

While play was progress an animated scene was presented, but the great gathering seemed a mere handful in a shallow corner of the loch when one glanced over the great stretch of ice, which was so strong that skaters were permitted to skim over the deep waters and approach the historic castle on the island.

Babble of Sound

In moments of stress pipes were puffed furiously. Skips, Napoleons for the moment, directed play with commands as terse and to the point as those of a sergeant-major. "Soop it up" resounded keenly in the crisp air as the players flashed their brooms front of the sullen stone.

"Dra' a wee bit, Tam," would be the advice proffered by a skip, while, as the stone sped its way, he would further ejaculate, "Watch him, boys; canny though!"

Veterans played with the accuracy acquired through many winters, while young lads, and not few ladies, took part in their first eventful match. So play proceeded, and the strip wood which came down to the edge of the loch echoed to the babble sounds peculiar to curlers."

The news article then went on to record the results of all the games.

The Dundee Courier had this triptych of photos of competitors. From left, these are captioned, 'Mr Smith, Pitlochry, makes his way to his rink at the Loch Leven bonspiel. He is carrying his lunch bag with him'; 'Captain Angus Buchanan, the Sahara explorer, about to play a shot on Loch Leven yesterday'; 'The oldest curler. Mr A Jack, Dunkeld, (on left), the oldest curler playing in the Loch Leven bonspiel. He is 75 years of age. With him is Major Murray Stewart, hon secretary of the Perthshire Curling Association.'

So, the possible 'curlers' platform' at Loch Leven was not used in 1930. Was there ever such a construction? I'll continue to hunt for evidence!

Postscript

The Perthshire versus Fife and Kinross bonspiel took place on Loch Leven again in January 1933. The National Library of Scotland's Moving Image Archive has a short newsreel clip from this match, see here. It cannot be viewed remotely, but it is well worth the visit to the Kelvin Hall facility to watch the eighty-five seconds of footage. It's a rare treasure. The catalogue describes the item, "The Newsreel item from US newsreel re-issued with Dutch intertitles on curling at Loch Leven c1932. Copied from surviving nitrate pos in Netherlands Audiovisual Archive."

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club's Grand Match was held on Loch Leven in 1959, for the first, and only, time.

Thanks to Andrew Wood for stimulating my interest in 'curlers' platforms', and to Lynne Longmore, a curling historian from Lochmaben, for discussions on where the Castle Loch platform might have been. The photo of the Royal Club station comes from an old Scottish Curler magazine. Unfortunately there is no credit for the original photograph. Other photos were sourced from old newspapers as indicated, thanks to the British Newspaper Archive. The 1938 map clipping is from the National Library of Scotland's maps website, here. Thanks to the staff at the Kinross (Marshall) Museum for showing me their files and photos of curling on Loch Leven. I am grateful to the staff of Historic Environment Scotland at Loch Leven who pointed me in the direction of the 'Factor's Pier' and to where the 1930 bonspiel had been played. By following the Loch Leven Heritage Trail north from the boathouse area, I was able to find the spot where one of the newspaper photographs (above) had been taken, and took the photo, below. It was easy to imagine the winter scene with all the games in progress!

Loch Leven, April, 2018

Queen Victoria was just eighteen years old on her accession to the throne on June 20, 1837. She married Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. The young couple first visited Scotland in 1842, leaving behind their two children, Princess Victoria and Prince Albert Edward. They travelled by sea to Edinburgh, arriving at Granton on HMY The Royal George (here) on September 1. Their visit attracted huge attention, and was reported in great detail in newspapers of the time. A few days later the couple crossed the Forth and began a trip north via Kinross and Perth, with thousands lining the route. At Perth on September 6 they received the keys of the city from the Lord Provost. The correspondent of the Morning Post on September 9, 1842 writes, "Her Majesty was most enthusiastically received all through her progress in the fair city of Perth, and she appeared much gratified with the enthusiasm of her subjects. The crowd was incalculable; the streets were crammed with human beings, and all were eager to express their love and loyalty in their best fashion."

The Royal party spent the night of Tuesday, September 6 at Scone Palace. It was at Scone where the Earl of Mansfield is said to have demonstrated the sport of curling to the Royal couple, in the Long Gallery, and Royal patronage was duly sought and given. Nothing about this curling demonstration appears in newspapers, as far as I have been able to find. So what is the evidence?

Lord Mansfield had been elected President of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club at the 'Meeting of Representatives of Clubs' held within the Waterloo Hotel, on Tuesday, July 26, 1842. The Grand Club had been formed just a few years before, in 1838.

On August 31, 1842, a 'Special Meeting' of the Club was held in Edinburgh, to discuss the upcoming visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to Scotland. In the absence of the Lord Mansfield, William Gibson-Craig, Esq, younger of Riccarton, MP, the President-Elect of the Grand Club, was in the chair. The minutes of this meeting note that it was 'for the purpose of expressing to her most gracious Majesty the Queen, and his Royal Highness Prince Albert, their sincere congratulations on the auspicious event of their visit to Scotland'.

The minutes as printed in the Annual for 1842-43 state, "The opinion of the Meeting was in heartfelt and joyous accordance with the sentiments of loyalty and attachment entertained by all classes of her Majesty's subjects throughout this her ancient kingdom. The Meeting resolved, that it would be a distinguished favour if his Royal Highness Prince Albert would honour them by becoming Patron of the Club. They accordingly instructed the Secretary to transmit a copy of this Minute to the President, the Right Honourable the Earl of Mansfield, with a request that his Lordship would use his influence, during the Royal visit, to procure for them the honour which they were so desirous to obtain."

The Secretary, George Ritchie, was instructed to write a letter to Lord Mansfield.

Ritchie writes to Lord Mansfield, on the same day as the 'special meeting', with these words, "My Lord, I am instructed by a Meeting of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, held here this day, to transmit to your Lordship, as President, a Pair of Curling Stones, and a copy of the Curling Annual for 1842, which they have resolved to present to his Royal Highness Prince Albert, and to request that your Lordship will do them the very great favour to present them, in name of the Club, to his Royal Highness, during his visit to the Palace of Scone. The Meeting are desirous to testify to his Royal Highness the respect and attachment felt towards him by the Curlers of Scotland, and know of no more appropriate mode of expressing their esteem, than by thus enabling his Royal Highness to practise their ancient national game. The Meeting consider themselves peculiarly fortunate in having as their President a Nobleman whose rank and character will guarantee the respectability of the Association, while his zeal and enthusiasm as a Curler cannot fail to recommend it to the favourable notice of his Royal Highness."

The Earl of Mansfield was indeed a keen curler. He was President of the Scone and Perth Curling Club, which was one of the first to join the Grand Caledonian Curling Club in 1838.

It is interesting to speculate whether those attending the 'special meeting' knew that the Royal couple would be staying overnight at Scone, but they knew that Lord Mansfield would have access to them during their visit to Scotland. As the letter already mentions the stones that were to be presented to Prince Albert, it would seem that the decision to make such a presentation had been made well before the August 31 'special meeting'.

In a letter to the Secretary on September 19, Lord Mansfield replies officially that he had indeed presented the stones to Prince Albert, "I beg leave to inform you that, agreeably to the request of the Grand Caledonian Club, I had the honour of presenting to his Royal Highness the Prince Albert the Pair of Curling Stones which were confided to my care, and which his Royal Highness was graciously pleased to accept. I have it in command from his Royal Highness to express to the Club his Royal Highness' gratification at this mark of their respectful attention to him; and I have also to inform you that his Royal Highness has been so kind as to consent to become the Patron of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient humble Servant,
MANSFIELD."

This is the title page of the 1842-43 Annual, published in the autumn of 1842, which shows that the Grand Caledonian Curling Club now had a royal patron in Prince Albert.

The 1842-43 Annual also contains the following account of the presentation of the stones, and the demonstration of curling which followed. Just who wrote this is a matter of conjecture, but it is the information presented therein that has become the accepted account of what happened at Scone Palace.

"An Account of the interesting ceremony of the Presentation of the Curling Stones to PRINCE ALBERT.

ON Wednesday, the 7th September, the Earl of Mansfield, President of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, and as the Representative of the Society, in presence of the Queen, her Majesty's Ministers, and the guests assembled in the Palace of Scone, presented to his Royal Highness Prince Albert a splendid pair of Curling Stones, made of the finest Ailsa Craig granite, most beautifully finished and ornamented, the handles being formed of silver, and bearing an appropriate inscription. The Stones were most graciously accepted by the Prince, who expressed a determination to put them, at a fitting time, to a practical test, and gave directions for their immediate transmission to Windsor.

The noble Earl replied, that he hoped he might enjoy an early opportunity of initiating his Royal Highness into all the mysteries of the 'rink'. Her Majesty inquired particularly respecting the game of Curling, and, with a view to illustrate the explanations that were given to her Majesty by Lord Mansfield, the polished oaken floor of the room was summarily converted into 'a rink', and the Stones were sent 'roaring' along its smooth and even surface.

And we have reason to know that her Majesty herself 'tried her hand' at throwing the Stones, although they proved to be too heavy for her delicate arm. Both her Majesty and the Prince expressed surprise when informed as to the usual length of a 'rink', and appeared to imagine that it must require a very great degree of strength to propel the stones to such a distance.

The Noble Lord, also, at the request of the Club, solicited his Royal Highness to honour the Club by becoming its Patron, to which request the Prince, with ready condescension, consented. His Royal Highness is therefore now Patron of this great association of Curlers, who have done so much to revive and extend one of the most ancient and delightful games that belong to Scotland; and we may hope that by the influence and example of his Royal Highness the 'roaring game' will also speedily become a fashionable and popular pastime on the other side of the Tweed."

It is not my intention to belittle this account of what happened at Scone Palace, but, having tried to slide a curling stone over a polished wooden floor, my experiences tell me that this is in fact very difficult to do, and the stones do not travel far. So I suspect the description above contains some exaggeration.

Unfortunately, Queen Victoria's own journals (here) say nothing about the curling demonstration. She records dining at Scone in the evening of Tuesday, September 6, "The dinner lasted very long. Lord Mansfield sat next to me. The Drawingroom is a pretty room, and so is the Gallery, only, too narrow. I was very glad to get to bed." (Not surprising, it had been a long day.) The following morning she records, "Slept very well, and breakfasted at 9, after which we walked out, and saw the mound on which the ancient Scottish Kings were always crowned ..." The party left Scone at 11.00, bound for Taymouth Castle.

But there's not a word about the presentation of curling stones to Prince Albert, nor that she herself tried to throw a stone, and found it too heavy.

When did the presentation of the stones take place, and when was the demonstration? I had always assumed that this must have been on the evening of Tuesday, September 6, perhaps after the dinner. But the account of the presentation does not confirm this. It is dated Wednesday, September 7, and if this is correct, then the presentation of the stones, and the demonstration, must have taken place in the morning, perhaps after breakfast and before the Royal party left Scone Palace.

Here is one of the stones that were presented to Prince Albert.

The silver handles are engraved, "Presented to His Royal Highness Prince Albert. By the Grand Caledonian Curling Club on the occasion of His Royal Highness' First Visit to Scotland. Edinburgh, 1st. Septr. 1842."

The stones are now in the Royal Collection at Frogmore House and can be seen online here. They are single-soled stones, the style of stone in use at the time, before the general introduction of the goose-neck handle with a centred pin, and even later, reversible stones. It is interesting to learn that they are made from Ailsa Craig granite. Stones made of similar rock are recorded being sent to Canada as early as 1829, according to Memorabilia Curliana Mabenensia, which was published in 1830. And John Cairnie, in his Essay on Curling, and Artificial Pond Making, from 1833, includes an image of his yacht 'coming to her moorings with a few selected pieces of granite for curling sport, taken from the shore of Ailsa Craig'.

It does look as if the Prince's stones were of Common (Green) Ailsa, rather than of Blue Hone, but it is difficult to say much about them, given the photographs that are available. I wonder who made them? David Smith believed that the Prince's stones were indeed played with, see his 2011 article here.

So, the Grand Caledonian Curling Club now had a Royal Patron, but it had not yet added the 'Royal' to its name.

A special committee was appointed following the Annual Meeting in July, 1843, to prepare a petition to the Queen. A brief minute of this meeting appears in the Annual for 1843-44.

This reads, "At a Meeting of the Committee appointed by the last General Meeting of the Grand Club to prepare a Petition to the Queen, held on the 31st July, 1843, in 8, North St. David Street, Edinburgh; Present—William Gibson-Graig, Esq MP President, in the Chair; and Dr John Renton. Messrs Alexander Cassels, George Ferguson, and George Ritchie.

The Meeting unanimously agreed upon the Petition, a copy of which follows, and requested the Secretary to write Lord Mansfield that Mr Craig, the President, had that day transmitted the same to Sir George Clerk for presentation, in the event of his Lordship having left London."

Here is how the petition was worded:

"UNTO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

Most Gracious Sovereign,

We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the President, President-Elect, Vice-Presidents, Office-Bearers, and Members of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, beg leave with all humility to approach your Majesty, and to submit to your Majesty the following Petition, which humbly sheweth:

That the Grand Caledonian Curling Club was instituted for the purpose of promoting the ancient and peculiarly national Scottish Game of Curling, which in its character is at once innocent, healthful, and moral, and in which all ranks and orders of your Majesty's subjects keenly participate:

That the Grand Caledonian Curling Club is the General Association of the District Curling Clubs of Scotland, about one hundred and twenty of which, comprising above five thousand Members, are now affiliated with it:

That the Grand Caledonian Curling Club publishes an Annual of all its proceedings, a copy of which is herewith humbly submitted to your Majesty:

That recently the Grand Caledonian Curling Club received the distinguished honour of his Royal Highness Prince Albert becoming its Patron, and now it begs leave to approach your Majesty, and to solicit your Majesty's Royal sanction that the Grand Caledonian Curling Club may henceforth be allowed to assume the designation of The Royal Grand Caledonian Curling Club.

May it therefore please your most gracious Majesty to grant the humble request of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, and your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

Signed in name and by authority of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, this 31st day of July, 1843. WILLIAM GIBSON-CRAIG, President.
GEORGE RITCHIE, Secretary."

A few days later the President received this letter:

"WHITEHALL, August 12, 1843.

Sir—I am directed by Secretary Sir James Graham to inform you, that he has laid before the Queen the Petition of the 'Grand Caledonian Curling Club', praying that they may be permitted to assume the designation of 'The Royal Grand Caledonian Curling Club'.

And I am to acquaint you that her Majesty has been graciously pleased to grant the prayer of the Petition.—I have the honour to be, etc.
H. MANNERS SUTTON."

So, "Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to grant the prayer of the Petition!" Curling's governing body was to have a Royal patron and a Royal title!

Yet another special meeting of the Grand Club was convened, and the text of a response was agreed to, and the following letter was sent to Sir James Graham by the President.

"Sir—I have laid before a Special Meeting of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, held this day, your letter of 12th August, intimating that her Majesty had been graciously pleased to permit that it be henceforth designated 'The Royal Grand Caledonian Curling Club' and l am desired by the meeting to request you to convey to her Majesty their grateful sense of the distinguished honour conferred upon their association."

Curling's governing body was now the 'Royal Grand Caledonian Curling Club'. The 'Grand' was soon felt to be superfluous, and in following year, the Annual had this brief minute, "At the Annual General Meeting of the Representative Committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, held within the Royal Exchange Coffee-house, Edinburgh, 25th July, 1844, the Secretary read a letter from Mr Gibson-Craig regarding the proposed change in the designation of the Club, - and thereupon the motion by the Secretary, 'That the Designation of The Royal Grand Caledonian Curling Club shall, from and after 25th July 1844, be THE ROYAL CALEDONIAN CURLING CLUB,' was unanimously carried."

This from the Annual for 1844-45.

More on Royal connections to follow in a future article.

The images above are taken from the digitised Annuals as indicated. The photograph of one of the Prince’s stones is by courtesy of The Royal Collection, copyright 2003, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Prince Albert died in December 1861, just 42 years old. There's no doubt that his marriage to Queen Victoria was a loving one. I was thrilled to discover recently that Queen Victoria had given him a gift of an inkstand, in the form of a curling stone, in 1860, not long before his death. That's it above, reproduced from its page in the Royal Collection online here. It is an unusual item, perhaps unique and no doubt specially made. It's described as, "An inkwell of grey and pink granite, in the form of a curling stone with a silver handle and silver plate engraved with date; upper section swivels to reveal inkwell. Provenance: Given to the Prince Consort by Queen Victoria in 1860."

Other than the date of the gift, and the mention of Balmoral on the silver plate, there's nothing to indicate who made it, or the reason for the gift being made at the time. Apparently it's currently in Prince Consort's Dressing Room and Writing Room, in Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

Albert had been Patron of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club since 1842, see here. Queen Victoria's gift shows that the sport was not something that had been forgotten about, and with their connections to Balmoral, it seems to provide just another reminder of their fondness for all things Scottish.

The Annual Meeting of the Representative Committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, held within the Trades Hall, Glasgow, on Friday, July 25, 1862, was the first formal meeting of the Club since their Patron's death. James Ogilvy Dalgleish moved that "before proceeding to any business, the Meeting enter upon the Minutes, the Royal Club's most respectful and deep sympathy with Her Most Gracious Majesty, the Queen, on the very sad bereavement she has suffered by the death of His Royal Highness, the Prince Consort, and the deep sense of the great loss which the Royal Club has sustained by the death of its Royal Patron." This motion was unanimously and 'very cordially' agreed to.

It transpired that the Club's President, the Earl of Mansfield had already been working 'behind the scenes' to secure another Royal Patron. In July, 1862, Alex Cassels, Secretary of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, had written to Lord Mansfield requesting him to approach His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and "That by the sad event which befell the nation in the death of the illustrious Prince, the Royal Club lost its Patron, and it would now most humbly solicit His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to allow himself to be proposed as Patron of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Further, that by the Laws of the Royal Club, its only stated Annual General Meeting is held on the 25th of July and at the Meeting to be held on 25th inst., the vacancy in the Patronage will be recorded on the Minutes, in all due and respectful terms, and that if His Royal Highness graciously condescends to signify his willingness to become Patron of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, a motion to have His Royal Highness elected Patron will be made and adopted by the General Meeting."

In 1842 the Royal Club had less than 100 affiliated Clubs, but by 1861 it had nearly 400 in its membership.

A reply was received from Colonel Baddulph, "Osborne, July 21, 1862. My dear Lord, I am commanded to acquaint you, and to request you to signify to the Members of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, that HRH the Prince of Wales will with great pleasure accept the office of Patron, according to the desire of the Members, as expressed in your letter."

Needless to say, all this was warmly accepted by the representative members present on July 25.

A further motion was made, "that the Club present His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales with a pair of Curling Stones, and that it should be remitted to the Secretary, with full power to provide and get the same presented to His Royal Highness, the Patron, in such way and manner as the Secretary shall ascertain to be most appropriate."

In 2009, David Smith wrote about the stones that were presented to the new Patron, see here.

The Scotsman of February 7, 1863, had the following article:

"The Prince of Wales and the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. At the Annual Meeting of the Representative Committee of the R C Curling Club, held in Glasgow last July, it was announced that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had signified, through the Earl of Mansfield, his acceptance of the office of Patron of the Club, formerly held by his illustrious and lamented father the Prince-Consort. At the same meeting it was resolved to present His Royal Highness with a pair of curling stones, and it was remitted to the Secretary, Mr Cassels, to take steps accordingly. The stones will be forwarded in a few days, and are at present lying at the shop of Messrs Mackay, Cunningham, and Co, goldsmiths to the Queen, Princes’ Street. They are made of green serpentine, found near Crieff, Perthshire, and generally known to curlers by the name of Muthill stone. The handles, the wood of which is of oak from Linlithgow Palace, are richly mounted in silver. The plates which screw on to the stones are elaborately chased with thistles, forming shields in the centres which bear the following inscription, 'Presented by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club to HRH the Prince of Wales, Patron, 1863'. The handles are wreathed with thistles, engraved, and the mountings on each end of the wooden part have a wreath of oak-leaves and acorns executed in the same style. They have been beautifully designed and executed by Mackay, Cunningham, and Co."

This is the image of the Prince of Wales's stones which appeared in the Illustrated London News on April 18, 1863. Comparing them to the stones that were presented to his father, one can see that curling stone design had moved on apace in just twenty years. David Smith discussed what they might have cost here. David found them at Balmoral. I assume that is where they are still.

In January 1876, it was widely reported that Queen Victoria had ordered that curling should not be played on the estate at Balmoral. It is rather odd to read the following in newspapers under the byline of an anonymous 'correspondent', "Royal Prohibition. The Balmoral Curling Club which only played its maiden game last winter, has cased to exist, orders having been sent to all the members of the club on the Royal estates to discontinue the game. Her Majesty is understood to have said that she did not see much amusement in the game of curling, but that she was afraid it tended to encourage a love for the national liquor."

Of course, the press loved this and the gist of this article was reported in papers throughout the country, and you can find it in the pages of the Pall Mall Gazette (above), the Bury and Norwich Post, the Cambridge Independent, the Western Morning News, the Lancaster Gazette, the Berkshire Chronicle and many others.

Not all saw the story to be true. The Inverness Courier's Editor wrote, somewhat ironically, "The London papers are much exercised with a paragraph to the effect that her Majesty has forbidden curling at Balmoral, because the 'roaring game' is devoid of amusement, and conduces to drinking. Surely the story is a canard. If ever there was game that truly delighted people with excitement, and kindled the true glow of pleasure, it is certainly curling. As for the drinking part, I suppose the Balmoral folks, like Scotch folks generally, can get on with this even without the curling. I am inclined to think, indeed, that frozen up with nothing to do, the whisky has better chance in the farmhouse or bothy than on the rink."

"Surely the story is a canard!" In other words, the story might well be 'fake news', as we might say these days.

Some English papers also thought the story to be false. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph had doubts and we can find these in the edition of January 25, "Surely some enemy hath said this. The Queen cannot have ordered everybody on her Highland estates to cease from curling! It would be so ungracious, so churlish, so dour an act that one refuses to credit the rumour. Curling—the sport upon which Scotchmen are keenest! As well put down the beef and greens which are the traditional fare of curlers. What! Put down that honest, manly game - involving no gambling, no cheating, no sharp practices, no cruelty to animals - a healthy, invigorating, innocent amusement, which unites all classes, and has a zest for all. Why, the Presbyterian ministers enjoy the game almost a man, and see only good in it. You remember the story of the worthy and Rev Curler who, before dismissing his parishioners with the blessing, thus delivered himself from the pulpit, 'My brethren, there is no more harm in saying it than thinking it. If the frost holds, I'll be on the ice tomorrow morning at nine'. And then for the Queen to prohibit it to her tenants and servants because she did not see much amusement in the game and feared that it 'encouraged a love for malt liquor'! What hearty out-door game may not be subjected to the same dreadful impeachment? But no! The story is not credible."

What a wonderful supportive description of our sport of curling to appear in this English newspaper!

In February 1876, damage limitation was in place. Many newspapers reprinted the text of a letter sent by Lord Kinnaird to Sir John Ogilvy, "CURLING AT BALMORAL, Lord Kinnard has sent the following letter to Sir John Ogilvy, 'My dear Ogilvy,—You and all curlers will, I am sure, be glad to hear that the statement in the public papers regarding her Majesty's opinion of curling is entirely without foundation. I felt sure from the first that this was the case, but had not the authority till now to authenticate the statement,— Yours truly, KINNAIRD."

Lord Kinnaird was Lord Lieutenant of Perthshire from 1866 to 1878. Sir John Ogilvy had been a Scottish Liberal Party politician in Dundee. He was Patron of the Dundee Curling Club in 1876.

This simple rebuttal of the story was apparently sent directly to various newspapers, as the above shows.

There was no mention of the issue in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1876-77.

However, if one subscribes to the proverb 'no smoke without fire', perhaps there was something about the establishment of a local curling club that had upset the Queen, given that she mourned Albert's loss for many years, especially at Balmoral. I can find no record of curling at Balmoral until after Queen Victoria's death. It was in 1904 when the Balmoral Curling Club became affiliated to the Royal Club, having been instituted in the same year, with HM the King (Edward VII), as its Patron.

I have one more image which links Queen Victoria to our sport of curling. This again I have reproduced from the Royal Collection online, here. It is described as 'A gold chain with charms in the form of a croquet mallet, agate curling stone, arabic coin and medallion commemorating the recovery of the Prince of Wales." Its provenance is given as 'Chain always worn by Queen Victoria', and is dated c1872.

The Prince of Wales became very ill with an infectious disease in 1872, when he was 31. He fortunately survived, or the country would have lost its next King, and the Royal Caledonian Curling Club its Patron. But he did recover. I just think it is very touching that Queen Victoria wore a chain with a small reminder of the sport of curling from that date on!

'How the Royal Caledonian Curling Club got its name' is here. Even more Royal connections to come.

Images are as credited in the text. The British Newspaper Archive continues to be a wonderful research source.

I have written recently about how the Royal Caledonian Curling Club gained its Royal Patronage here, and about other Royal connections during Victorian times, here.

One of the most surprising locations where curling was played south of the border is Buckingham Palace. Yes, the Historical Curling Places website has tantalising evidence from 1895 that the Prince of Wales played curling on the pond at the palace, see here. This is certainly possible as the winter of 1895 was a severe one. It would be great to find out more.

When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Edward VII succeeded to the throne. As Prince of Wales he had been the Royal Caledonian Curling Club's Patron since 1861, so it was a straightforward matter that he continue to hold that office when he became King.

The Annual for 1901-02 noted that this was the first time 'that the Patron of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club has actually been found seated on the throne, and it has in these unique circumstances seemed appropriate to give a portrait of His Majesty as a frontispiece to the Annual'. That's the image, above.

When Edward died in 1910, George V became King, and he also became the Royal Caledonian Curling Club's Patron.

The Royal Club's Annual each year simply noted that the Patron was 'HM the King', and one has to read further at times of succession to clarify which monarch is being referred to. In 1936, for example, Edward VIII was confirmed as Patron, even though he abdicated before the year ended.

George VI became the Club's next Patron. He died in 1952, and that's when Queen Elizabeth became our Patron.

This is the preface from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1952-53. This Annual contains the following letter to Lord John Hope, Royal Club President, from the Keeper of the Privy Purse, Ulich Alexander.

"Dear Sir,
I am commanded by The Queen to inform you that Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to grant Her Patronage to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.
It will be in order for the words 'Patron—Her Majesty the Queen' to appear in future under the name of your Club on all correspondence.
Yours truly,
Ulich Alexander,
Keeper of the Privy Purse."

At the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Club each year, a short message from the Queen is usually read out, and all the members present stand for this.

In 1964, something rather unusual happened, in that HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, became President of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Above is part of a page from the Royal Club Annual for 1964-65. Her Majesty the Queen was Patron, and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh was President!

The Annual for 1963-64 records the background to it all in Major Cameron's speech at the AGM, "Now, we come to the election of the President-Elect. When Gilbert (McClung) and I were discussing this some time ago we felt that it would be your unanimous wish that we should ask His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, if he would consider becoming our President. I wrote him a personal letter and he replied that he would be very pleased to become President in the year following my presidency. The Duke of Edinburgh, as you all know, is a great sportsman himself. He takes great interest in anything to do with sport. He is, as you know, President of the National Playing Fields Association. He has taken a great deal of interest in the Olympic Games and the Empire Games, and I do not think there is any shadow of doubt that he will show the same enthusiasm for curling as he has shown in all the other forms of sport that he is interested in. I hope we may see him partaking in the Grand Match. I gather that he is an Honorary Member of a Curling Club in Canada. As yet, his name does not appear in the Annual, and I hope that any club who considers that they have the highest priority for his membership will rake him in and get his 4/-! For myself, I am extremely honoured that Prince Philip should follow me as President and I have great pleasure in nominating him as President-Elect. (Loud Applause.)"

Falkirk Ice Rink was the venue for the Annual Meeting of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club on July 22, 1964. The Duke of Edinburgh piloted his own helicopter to the meeting, and was met by Major Allan Cameron, the outgoing President.

Major Allan Cameron with Prince Philip.

Some 1600 curlers, and members of the press, awaited Prince Philip inside the Falkirk Ice Rink.

And if you look very closely, amongst those on the main floor are four teenagers wearing school blazers.

Yes, that's Bill Horton, David Horton, Robert Cowan and Martin Bryden in the middle of this pic. That season we had won the TB Murray Trophy, for young curlers of 25 years and under. Although the trophy had already been presented to us by Chuck Hay at Perth a couple of months earlier, we were invited to Falkirk to receive the trophy again from the hands of the Duke of Edinburgh.

Here's Bill Horton (skip) on the platform with Prince Philip. His brother David is behind, and Martin and I are awaiting our turn out of sight! (Actually, the large TB Murray Trophy is obscured too, by the Grand Match Trophy, but it is there!)

It was the proudest day of my life, at just sixteen years old!

The Duke of Edinburgh's year as President was a real public relations coup for the Royal Club. As far as I know he never took to the ice, although he did say in his speech, "I don't see why there shouldn't be non-playing Presidents - and I suppose I could always do something about the non-playing part!"

At the lunch after the meeting, attended by the Council, Past-Presidents, and overseas personalities, Major Allan Cameron 'presented the Duke of Edinburgh with a beautiful pair of Kay's red hone stones, suitably inscribed'. I wonder where these are now?

Queen Elizabeth has twice been associated with Aberdeen's curling rinks.

On October 18, 1983, this is HM Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Dr Norman Cooper, Chairman of the Board, at the official opening of the new Aberdeen rink, at Stoneywood Road, Dyce. She is about to speak to Anne Parker, North East Province President, with members of Grampian Ladies CC behind.

Her Majesty seems to be enjoying a joke with Norman Cooper and Philip Dawson, a Past-President of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

Jane Gray, a local young curler, presented Her Majesty with a glass curling stone.

Her Majesty in conversation with Royal Club Past-President Alan Johnston.

Springing forward twenty-two years to 2005, Her Majesty was again back in Aberdeen, on October 4, visiting the new Curl Aberdeen!

Here she is, again talking to Alan Johnston. She presented him with a certificate as an Honorary Member of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

Escorted by George Esson, Curl Aberdeen's first chairman, Her Majesty met Carolyn Morris and her team, then the World Senior Champions.

With rink manager Tom Brewster, Her Majesty received an explanation about pebbling from George! Graham Smith is doing the work.

Finally, here's another member of the Royal Family, at the Braehead Rink in 2005.

Angie Malone presents Anne, Princess Royal, with a posy of flowers when she visited the World Wheelchair Curling Championship at Braehead in January 2005. Kirsty Letton, the event chairman, is on the right.

Have I missed any other Royal connections?

The image of Edward VII is from the 1901-02 Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. The photo of Princess Anne, and of the Queen at Curl Aberdeen are © Bob Cowan. Those from the opening of the Aberdeen Rink in Dyce were taken by Studio Morgan of Aberdeen for Robin Welsh. Those of the Duke of Edinburgh at Falkirk are by various news photographers, for Robin Welsh, Editor of the Scottish Curler, now in my archive.

During the second world war, curling continued in Scotland, although naturally to a limited extent. The Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club continued to be published during the war years, but as a slimmed down publication, no longer including the memberships lists of all the affiliated clubs. In looking at these Annuals to try to understand how much the war affected the sport, I came across examples of the generosity of curlers, not just at home, but from overseas as well.

The Annual Meeting of the Representative Committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club was to have been held at Ayr, but, because of the war, it was (again) held within the North British Station Hotel in Edinburgh, on July 30, 1941. David Hutchison of Kinross, one of the Vice-Presidents, was in the chair in the absence of Sir Donald Cameron of Locheil, the President, who was unable to attend. Thirty-seven clubs were represented.

In his opening remarks, David Hutchison made a point of acknowledging a gift of blankets 'which the Canadian Branch sent to us to distribute as we wished among sufferers from the war'. Blankets? I had to find out more about this.

In the Annual for 1941-42 the Royal Club Secretary, Andrew Hamilton, is recorded as saying:

"Presentation of Blankets from Canadian Branch.

It is with great pleasure that I inform you of a most generous gift from our old friends, the members of the Canadian Branch of the Royal Club. During the winter a letter was received by the Secretary of the Royal Club from Mr H R Cockfield of Montreal, a Vice-President of the Royal Club and a member of the Special Committee appointed by the Canadian Branch to raise a fund with which to purchase equipment or materials which could be used to help to alleviate the distress of citizens suffering from the results of air raids. Mr Cockfield stated that his Branch desired that the President of the Royal Club should have the disposal of these gifts.

The President, Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel, KT, approved of Lord Kinnaird, President of the Scottish Branch of the Red Cross Society, being consulted as to the form the gift should take, and he suggested blankets. With that suggestion the President, President-Elect and the Vice-Presidents in this country agreed.

In the course of a few months 1700 blankets of the finest quality have been received from the Canadian Branch, the whole consignment having safely reached Scotland.

The blankets were on 29th April last formally presented to the Scottish Branch of the Red Cross Society by the Earl of Stair, KT, President-Elect of the Royal Club, and were acknowledged by Lord Kinnaird.

The Canadian Branch has been most gratefully thanked for this generous and patriotic gift, and the Council desire particularly to refer to the great services rendered by Lieut-Colonel Vivian Graham, a former Vice-President of the Royal Club, Chairman of the War Subscription Fund Committee, and by Mr Cockfield, to whom the Royal Club also tender their most grateful thanks."

These blankets had arrived not long after the Clydebank Blitz when in the nights of March 13-14 and 14-15, 1941, several industrial centres along the River Clyde were bombed by the Luftwaffe. In proportion to its population, Clydebank suffered the worst. According to an official count in 1942 (see here), the Clydebank raids killed 528 people and seriously injured 617, compared to totals of 1,200 people, and 1,100 in the whole of Clydeside. And of course many were left homeless. The Canadian blankets would certainly have been put to good use by the Scottish Branch of the Red Cross. Although the raids of March 1941 are the best remembered, other places in Scotland suffered too, all recorded in Les Taylor's recent book Luftwaffe over Scotland, see here.

The Annuals in 1942-43, 1943-44, and 1944-45, recorded that the Canadian Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club sent, in total, 6420 blankets, as well as 3000 flannelette sheets. Aside from the cost, there had been problems when wool had become scarce, and finding space on ships crossing the Atlantic was not always easy. The blankets that were sent were of top quality from Ayers Mills of Lachute, Quebec, see here, and from the Kenwood Mills of Arnprior, Ontario, see here.

Most of the blankets sent from Canada were not immediately put to use in Scotland. It is a reflection of the uncertainty of the war years that they were kept in store by the Scottish Branch of the Red Cross Society. At the end of the war, the Society's President, Lord Kinnaird, reported in the 1945-46 Annual, "May I just say how grateful we are to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for the blankets? We kept some in reserve to the end of the war in case of bombing accidents, and now some have gone up to Norway. 4000 of those you have given have been despatched to Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France to help these countries."

The Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for the season 1945-46 records the following, "During the year we have received many letters of appreciation from people in Great Britain, Holland and France, for the gifts of blankets they have received from us. Some of these letters are very touching and make us feel that what we have done has been a great comfort to the war sufferers."

I wonder if any of these blankets have survived. I suspect this is unlikely. Were they colourful? Or just functional?

It was not only blankets that came across from Canada. There were many donations of cash from individuals and clubs. I noticed something else. In 1943, the Royal Club Secretary Andrew Hamilton, after recording the gift of blankets and sheets, noted, "In addition, the Ladies' Curling Association of the Canadian Branch are busy packing half a ton of hard boiled, clear candies in 1/2 lb cellophane bags. These have been shipped to the Women's Voluntary Service for distribution among the children of Britain. The Royal Club acknowledge with high appreciation this kindly action."

Sweets were a special delicacy during the war years, and for several years thereafter. General rationing started on January 8, 1940, just a few months after war broke out. Sweet and chocolate rationing started on July 26, 1942, only finishing in February 1953. WW2 was over when I was born, but, as a wee boy in the 1950s, I can remember rationing, and receiving parcels from family in North America. Eating sweets was a rare occurrence, but very much enjoyed when the opportunity arose!

This was brought to mind when I came across something in the 1952-53 Annual. This is from the President's address, "At our last annual meeting a reference was made to a consignment of sweets provided by the Ladies' Curling Association, Canada, with the suggestion that they be distributed amongst the poorer children of Scotland. I am very happy to state that these sweets have now been distributed, and I have been informed by our Secretary here today that he has just received another cheque for the same purpose from the Canadian Ladies' Curling Association. (Hear, Hear and Applause.) The donations are much appreciated by the Royal Club."

Blankets and sweeties - curling connections with Canada that should not be forgotten! It's a small uplifting story of a time which we now remember for the horrors and atrocities of WW2.

"When was the 'Golden Age' of curling in Scotland?" I was asked this question earlier this year. It can be answered in a number of ways. It could be argued that the 'Golden Age' was in the 1830s and 1840s when curling was the most popular winter sport in the country, and the first to have a national governing body. Or perhaps it was the beginning of the twentieth century, when the sport was played widely on outside ice, and the first Scottish team travelled to Canada and the USA and experienced how the sport had established itself in North America.

My own curling career encompassed a huge growth in the indoor game. I was aware that, at one point, the number of rinks providing curling facilities in Scotland had grown to more than thirty, from the handful that were available in the early 1960s when I threw my first stones. I set out to document the growth of the indoor rink in the second half of the twentieth century, but I found that information was not recorded in any one place, and that details on some of the rinks is sketchy at best. The timeline below is very much a 'first draft'. If you can add any information, particularly on when rinks closed, please contact me.

1907

Crossmyloof, Glasgow. The Scottish Ice Rink at Crossmyloof opened on October 1, 1907. The rink survived through most of WW1, but closed in 1918, purchased by William Beardmore and Company Ltd, and used as a company store for the next ten years. The site was purchased by the Scottish Ice Rink Company (1929) Ltd, and the new rink opened for play in January 1929. Only some walls of the old rink were utilised in the new building. There was room for six sheets of ice (seven when the house size changed in 1938). An extension for curling (and for ice hockey practice) was added in 1938, and a four sheet annex added in 1961. Read here for more about the Crossmyloof rinks. Crossmyloof closed in February, 1986.

1912

Haymarket, Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Ice Rink, at Haymarket, was opened on February 3, 1912, by Lord Balfour of Burleigh. The ice surface was 'upwards of 16,900 square feet' so could accommodate six curling rinks, with end ice for skating even when the curling was on. From 1919 to 1929 Haymarket was the only indoor curling rink in Scotland. It closed in 1979.

Lochrin, Edinburgh. The Lochrin Ice Pond, Tollcross, Edinburgh, was also opened in 1912. As far as I am aware, there are no photographs of the rink, although it seems to have had four sheets. It did not reopen after WW1.

Aberdeen Glaciarium. The Aberdeen Winter Recreation Institute, with its 'Glaciarium' of 18,400 square feet, was opened on September 30, 1912, with space for eight curling rinks. It closed in 1917.

1936

Central Scotland Ice Rink, Perth. The rink was opened by the Duke of Atholl on October 1, 1936. The 1975 Air Canada Silver Broom World Curling Championship was held in this rink, as was the first Women's World Championship in 1979. The rink closed c1989.

1938

Kirkcaldy Ice Rink. The multi-sports ice arena opened on 1st October 1938. The rink hosted the European Curling Championships in 1982.

Dundee-Angus Ice Rink. The Dundee Ice Rink opened on September 30, 1938. An annex just for curling with six sheets, was added to this building in 1984, before it closed in the early 1990s. The last curling in the annex was in 1989.

Falkirk. The Falkirk Ice Rink was opened by the Earl of Stair on November 30, 1938. Falkirk Ice Rink was the venue for the Annual Meeting of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club on July 22, 1964, when HRH The Duke of Edinburgh became the Club's President, see here. The rink closed as an ice sports venue in 1977.

Dunfermline Ice Rink. The Dunfermline rink opened in the summer of 1939 and ceased operation circa 1954. There is video footage of skating and ice hockey on the rink here, but nothing of curling. Indeed, little seems to be known about curling there in the early years of the rink.

1939

Ayr, Beresford Terrace. The Ayr Ice Rink opened on March 13, 1939, and was used for skating, ice hockey and curling. It hosted the first USA touring team in 1952, see here for the story, or go directly to a video, here. It closed in 1972 and was demolished to make way for a supermarket.

Donald's Ice Rink, Aberdeen. Donald's opened as a skating rink in 1939, and was used for curling after the war until 1982. It closed in 1983.

1964

Border Ice Rink, Kelso. The four sheet rink, for curling and skating, opened on October 1, 1964. The first stone was thrown by Major Allan Cameron, past president of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

1966

Aviemore Ice Rink. The ice rink, in the Aviemore Centre, was opened in December 1966. Bill Robertson Aikman, the Royal Club President, threw the opening stone. The ice surface covered 20,000 square feet with seven lanes for curling. There was end-ice skating, even when the main sheet was being used for curling. There was seating for 500. The rink was the venue for the 1976 Uniroyal World Curling Championship, and was demolished in the late 1990s.

1967

South of Scotland Ice Rink, Lockerbie.The South of Scotland Ice Rink on Glasgow Road, Lockerbie, was opened on January 20, 1967. It has five sheets of curling ice and is also used for skating.

Lanarkshire Ice Rink, Hamilton. The six-sheet Hamilton rink opened on Friday, September 29, 1967. Bill Robertson Aikman threw the opening stone towards the broom held by Bob Dick. The stone was swept by Chuck Hay and Alex Torrance. The rink is also used for skating.

1968

Inverness Ice Rink. The rink at Bught Park opened for skating in July, 1968. In September the curlers took to the ice, Lord Bruce, the Earl of Elgin, throwing the opening stone. The rink accommodates five sheets for curling.

1970

Stranraer Ice Rink. The four sheet rink, part of the North West Castle Hotel complex, was officially opened in November 1970.

1973

Ayr, Limekiln Road. The new multipurpose Ayr rink for curling and skating replaced the old arena at Beresford Terrace. The six sheet rink opened in October 1973, and there is a small practice annex for skating.

1976

Magnum, Irvine. The multipurpose ice rink within the Magnum Leisure Centre in Irvine opened in September 18, 1976. The ice pad accommodated seven lanes of curling ice. Curling at the complex finished in 2011 when nearby Harvie's reopened after its refurbishment, and the whole leisure centre complex closed in 2016, and was demolished in 2017.

1977

Kinross. The four sheet curling rink at the Green Hotel, Kinross, opened at the beginning of the 1977-78 season. The rink was fully refurbished by the Kinross Curling Trust in 2014 and improvements continue.

1979

Gogar Park, Edinburgh. The Gogar Park Curling Club, with four sheets, opened on January 15, 1979. Gilbert McClung and Irene Cleland threw the first stones, with young curlers Susan McLean and David Aitken holding the brushes for them. They were both then involved in throwing the last stone at the closing ceremony on April 9, 2005.

Greenacres, Howwood. The four sheet Greenacres Ice Rink was opened in October 1979. A two sheet annex was added soon thereafter.

1980

Stirling. The Stirling Ice Rink, Williamfield. The rink, used for both curling and skating, opened on September 29, 1980, and closed in 2009.

Murrayfield Curling Rink. The first curling on the seven sheet rink, built alongside the Murrayfield Ice Arena, had been going on since September 8, 1980, before the official opening on October 4. Philip Dawson, Royal Club President, threw the first stone, with Marjorie Broatch, Ladies Branch President, holding the broom. A new floor has been laid this summer (2018).

1982

Atholl Curling Rink, Pitlochry. The four sheet rink in Pitlochry was constructed in the old Festival Theatre, which had moved to new premises in the town in 1981. A group of local enthusiasts purchased the vacant building on December 29, 1981 and the rink opened for play in October 1982. The rink closed in the summer of 2008.

1983

Abeerdeen Curling Rink, Dyce. Her Majesty the Queen officially opened the Aberdeen Curling Rink on October 18, 1983. Dr Norman Cooper, Chairman of the Board, threw the opening stone. Fellow director Roy Gray held the broom, and the stone was swept by the Barton Henderson team, winners of the European Championship in 1980.

1984

Forest Hills. Olympic gold medal athlete Sebastian Coe ran to the platform with a blazing torch which Scottish Tourist Board Chairman Alan Deveraux used to burn the ribbon to open the Barratt Forest Hills Trossachs Club, near Aberfoyle, on September 14, 1984. The complex included a four sheet curling rink. The last curling at Forest Hills was at the end of the 2005-2006 season.

Letham Grange. The four-sheet rink, partially built underground because of planning concerns, was officially opened in September 30, 1984 by Scottish rugby internationalist Jim Aitken. The rink was mothballed at the start of the 2004-05 season and has not re-opened.

Crystals Arena, Glenrothes. Included in the leisure complex at Glenrothes, opened on October 2, 1984, was an ice rink with six sheets of curling ice. The complex closed in 1993. When was the last curling played?

1985

Brora. The four sheet rink at the Royal Marine Hotel, Brora, was officially opened on October 12, 1985, with Bill Muirhead throwing the first stone. The rink closed at the end of the 2005-2006 season.

1986

Summit Centre, Glasgow. The rink was officially opened on February 13, 1986. The first stones were thrown by Glasgow's Lord Provost, Robert Gray, and Lord Marshall, Chairman of Municipal Mutual Insurance Ltd. There were six sheets of ice for curling on weekdays, and the ice pad was available for skating and ice hockey at the weekends. It had seating for 600 spectators. The Summit Centre hosted the Glayva World Women's Curling Championship in 1988, and the Royal Bank of Scotland World Junior Curling Championships in 1991. It closed in 1998.

Lochgoilhead. The Drimsynie House Ice Rink, Lochgoilhead, was a four sheet rink in the Drimsynie Estates Leisure Centre. It opened on December 27, 1986, when Douglas Currie, Convener of Argyll and Bute District Council, threw the first stone. The rink closed in 2011.

1987

Galleon Centre, Kilmarnock. The Galleon Centre on Titchfield Street, Kilmarnock, opened to the public on May 15, 1987. The complex houses a swimming pool and other sports facilities. The first curling at the rink was in September, 1987. There are five sheets of curling ice, when the rink is not in use for other ice sports.

Icelandia Ice Rink, Livingston. Opened in September 1987. I do not know exactly when this rink closed. (Anyone?)

1988

Harvies, Stevenston. The Auchenharvie Leisure Centre opened for curling (four sheets) and skating in 1988. The original ice surface was on two levels. The rink closed in August 2009 for a major refurbishment, opening again in July 2011, with the first curling in September of that year. The new ice pad can accommodate six rinks.

1989

Forfar. The Forfar Indoor Sports complex was opened in 1989. Curling is mostly on a dedicated four-sheet rink where the opening stone was played by Royal Club President Roy Sinclair on September 30, 1989. The complex contains an indoor bowling rink, and a skating rink, which can accommodate three curling sheets when required.

East Kilbride. The Olympia Ice Bowl, a multipurpose ice sheet for skating and curling, was in use by October 1989 although the official opening was not until February 1990, when Mr J Allan Denholm, Chairman of East Kilbride Development Corporation, presented two crystal curling stones to the rink for annual competition. Located in a large shopping mall, the ice rink, with five curling sheets, has been refurbished and it re-opened at the end of 2016 as part of a 'leisure hub'.

1990

Dewar's Rinks, Perth. The Dewar's Rinks complex, which incorporates eight curling rinks and eight indoor bowling rinks, was built on the site of the former Dewar's Scotch Whisky blending and bottling plant at Glover Street, Perth. Sir Norman Macfarlane, Chairman of United Distillers, threw the traditional first stone on October 9, 1990.

The Ice House, Cumbernauld. The Ice House at Cumbernauld became available for skating on October 1, 1990, then the official opening of the facility took place on October 15 when David Mitchell, Chairman of Cumbernauld Development Corporation, threw the first stone. The opening bonspiel was won by a Reform Curling Club team of Alistair Govan, Alison Cron, Jim Jamieson and Liz Jamieson. The rink did not have a long life, closing later in the 1990s. (When exactly, anyone?) (Note - this one missed the list when first posted)

1992

Lagoon Centre, Paisley. The Lagoon Leisure Centre was officially opened on June 19, 1992, by Princess Diana. The complex included a multi-purpose ice rink for skating and curling. Six sheets for curling were available on two days each week. The venue hosted the World Women's Curling Championship in 2005, but shortly thereafter the ice rink was found to have a significant floor heave, affecting the building's walls, and the rink closed for good, although the rest of the centre remains open.

Dumfries Ice Bowl. The Ice Bowl complex, when it opened in September, 1992, had an ice arena for skating, ice hockey and curling, as well as a six lane indoor bowling rink. In 2010, the bowling rink was converted into a dedicated curling rink, with six sheets. Both ice surfaces were in use when the World Seniors and World Mixed Doubles Championships were held in Dumfries in 2014.

1993

Moray Leisure Centre, Elgin. The centre, with a 1,125 square metre ice rink, providing five sheets of ice for curling, opened in July 1993.

1997

The Waterfront, Greenock. The Waterfront Leisure Complex opened in 1997, and includes four sheets of curling ice, the ice pad also used by skaters.

1999

Braehead. The curling rink at intu Braehead, attached to the shopping mall, has eight sheets, and was opened in September 1999, Hammy McMillan throwing the first stone. The World Seniors Championships were held in the rink in 2000, alongside the World Championships in the nearby arena. When the European Championships were staged in the arena in 2016, the curling rink hosted the B division.

2000

Dundee, Kingsway. The Dundee Ice Arena is a multi ice sports facility for curling, skating and ice hockey, with seating for 2,300. It can accommodate six sheets of ice for curling.

2005

Curl Aberdeen. The first stones were thrown in the six sheet curling rink on January 4, 2005 by two young members, Kirsty Lockhart and Stuart Henderson. On October 4, 2005, the rink was visited by Her Majesty the Queen. She unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion. The games in the B Division of the European Championships were held in the rink in 2009, and the World Junior Curling Championships were held there in 2018.

2009

The PEAK, Stirling. The PEAK is an indoor sports and leisure complex containing an ice rink, which can accommodate six sheets of curling. The complex was opened in 2009. The National Curling Academy, with four sheets of ice, opened on July 30, 2017, and is a separate facility attached to The Peak.

In addition to the above, the following rinks have hosted curling for a short period, or because of a special competition: Paisley (East Lane), the Lynx (Aberdeen), the Braehead Arena, the Murrayfield Ice Arena, and the Kelvin Hall (Glasgow), where a rink was constructed to host the 1985 Air Canada Silver Broom World Curling Championship.

So when was 'the Golden Age' where there were the most curling rinks in Scotland? That would be in season 1993-94, when 31 rinks were in operation: Aberdeen (Dyce), Atholl (Pitlochry), Aviemore, Ayr (Limekiln Road), Border (Kelso), Brora, Crystals Arena (Glenrothes), Dumfries Ice Bowl, East Kilbride, Forest Hills (Aberfoyle), Forfar Indoor Sports, Galleon Centre (Kilmarnock), Gogar Park (Edinburgh), Greenacres, Green Hotel (Kinross), Harvies (Stevenston), The Ice House (Cumbernauld), Icelandia (Livingston), Inverness, Kircaldy, Lagoon (Paisley), Lanarkshire (Hamilton), Letham Grange, Lochgoilhead, Magnum (Irvine), Murrayfield (Edinburgh), Dewars, (Perth), South of Scotland (Lockerbie), Stirling (Williamfield), Stranraer, and the Summit Centre (Glasgow).

Since then the following fifteen have closed: Aberdeen (Dyce), Atholl, Aviemore, Brora, Crystals Arena (Glenrothes), Forest Hills, Gogar Park, the Ice House (Cumbernauld), Icelandia (Livingston), Lagoon (Paisley), Letham Grange, Lochgoilhead, Magnum (Irvine), Stirling (Williamfield), and the Summit Centre. But in certain areas new rinks have appeared replacing the losses above, eg Braehead has replaced the Summit, The Peak has replaced Stirling (Williamfield), and Curl Aberdeen has replaced Aberdeen (Dyce) on the list above, and the Moray Leisure Centre (Elgin), Dundee Ice Arena, and the Waterfront (Greenock) have opened. So the number of rinks in Scotland offering curling facilities currently stands at 22 (or 23 if one considers the National Curling Academy as a separate facility from the main rink at The Peak). Find the list, with contact information, here.

It is of course incorrect to say that the change in numbers of curling facilities is the defining marker of any decline in the sport in the recent years. A calculation of number of sheets lost, and their usage per day and per week, would need to be carried out, and compared with what exists today. Comparing curling facilities is not a like for like calculation, as some rinks offer six or more sheets seven days a week, and some of those which have gone only offered curling on certain days of the week.

For more information on all of Scotland's indoor curling rinks, note that they are on the Historical Curling Places map, see here, with information (and photos) on the subsidiary pages.

Please let me know if you find anything on the timeline in error, and if you have any information that you would like to see added about any of the rinks. My email address is on the sidebar.

I encountered this curling pin badge recently, and, initially, I could not explain what it was about. When did Canadian and US ladies visit Scotland together? I set out to find out more, and only then realised the significance of it all.

The pin badge represents the first time that women curlers from North America had come to Scotland on a 'goodwill' tour. Scotland's men had first crossed the pond to Canada and the USA in 1902-03, and the Strathcona Cup had been contested on many occasions since. More recently the Herries Maxwell trophy had been donated for Scotland v USA men's matches in 1951. But it was not until 1955 that women from Scotland and North America were to meet on the ice. Who had taken the initiative for this, I wondered?

I find the first mention that women might also engage in goodwill tours in remarks made by William Paterson of the Canadian Branch of the Royal Club when he attended the RCCC AGM at Stirling on July 27, 1949. He had just been made a Vice-President of the RCCC. Paterson said, "Why don't you ladies arrange to have a team sent over with some of you ladies who want to have games with our ladies. I know some of our ladies have asked me about that possibility. I just put that as a suggestion and then perhaps something will come of it."

Nothing did come of this, for nearly three years.

I think it is important to realise that in the early 1950s, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club had no input from women. The Office Bearers, and the Council of Management, were all male. There was no Ladies' Branch. One of the members of the US Men's team which had been in Scotland early in 1952, a Mr Kochs, on his return to America wrote to the Royal Club suggesting that an invitation be sent to lady curlers of the United States of America to visit Scotland. The Council apparently thought this was worth following up, and they invited all the Scottish women's curling clubs to send a representative to a meeting on June 18 to discuss this. This meeting was very successful, apparently, and a committee, headed by Mrs Love, of Perth Ladies, was established to take things forward.

But when this was brought up at the July 1952 AGM, there was an 'oops' moment, when William Paterson stood up to say, "I want to talk up for the ladies in Canada." It was he who had suggested a match between Canadian and Scottish women three years previously! Much discussion then ensued, with the outcome being to refer the matter back to Council, as the previous Canadian invitation had been 'overlooked'!

Two more years were to pass, but at the Annual Meeting of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, at Ayr Ice Rink, on Wednesday, July 28, 1954, an invitation for North American lady curlers to come to Scotland was back under discussion. On the Agenda, Item XIII, was 'Proposed Invitation to Canadian and USA Ladies'. John Watson, the incoming President, had taken the chair by the time the item was reached. He spoke in this way, "We have extended a provisional invitation to two rinks from Canada and two rinks from the United States of lady curlers to visit this country in January 1955. The ladies in Scotland have been extremely helpful. They are all working hard to gather up funds to entertaintheir visitors. The Council had a meeting with representatives from the ladies' clubs and we rather left it to themselves to decide whether they would house them in their own homes or in hotels. Each Area will decide that for themselves. They are raising, I think, adequate funds, but the Royal Club or the Council of the Club have agreed that they will be behind the ladies if they need financial assistance, and it is not too great. (Laughter.)

The duration of this tour is to be approximately one month. We understand that the ladies don't wish to play more than one game per day, and they will accordingly have perhaps rather a less strenuous time than the men had.

We have decided that the opposition in all cases shall be confined to ladies. They will not play against men on any occasion. I make that quite clear. (Hear, Hear.) It would be too dangerous for the visitors.

Now, I am going to ask this meeting very wholeheartedly to confirm this invitation to our lady friends across the water. (Hear, Hear, and Applause.)"

The meeting confirmed the invitation. A question followed from Mrs Fairley Daly of Glasgow Ladies to clarify if the invitation had already been sent. The Chairman replied that an unofficial invitation had been sent and accepted. Now that the matter had been officially raised at the RCCC AGM, the official invitation would be sent.

I was interested to read the words, "We have decided that the opposition in all cases shall be confined to ladies. They will not play against men on any occasion. I make that quite clear. (Hear, Hear.) It would be too dangerous for the visitors." Patronising, or what? Or was John Watson just trying to be funny?

The Tour went ahead in January 1955. Detailed information is hard to find, but perhaps this article might stimulate further research.

This is a photo of the Canadian and United States ladies on their arrival in Scotland, at Prestwick Airport. They were met by James Hamilton, Secretary of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, and Mrs Murray, president, and Mrs Littlejohn, secretary, of Ayr Ladies Curling Club. Also in the photo are James McWhirter, Tom Smillie and Archie Gilmour. The photo was taken apparently by David Murray of the Gangrels Curling Club, and forwarded to the Scottish Curler.

Here are the four teams:

One of the Canadian teams, from Ontario. L-R: Mrs Andy Grant (skip), Mrs TG Davitt, Mrs MG Squires, and Mrs JB Walker. (Note the convention of the time in describing the women in terms of their husbands' names!)

This Canadian team was from Quebec. L-R: Miss E Gauthier (skip), Mrs H Clark, Mrs R Pollack, and Mrs HL Liffiton (who was Captain of the Canadian team).

The first USA rink. L-R: Mrs Ross Bennett (from Portage), Mrs George Erwin (Chicago), Mrs Frank Pollen (skip, from Chicago), and Miss Eleanor Garfield (from Boston).

The second of the US rinks. L-R: Mrs Horace Vaile (skip and captain of the US side, from Chicago), Mrs James A Clarke (from Yonkers, NY), Mrs Julien Leonard (Brookline), and Mrs Arthur Long (Chicago).

I do hope that curling friends in Canada and the USA may be able to say more about these pioneering women, for example, how they were selected to come to Scotland, and what has been handed down of their experiences here.

The illustrations in this article come from the February 1955 Scottish Curler magazine, in its first season of publication. This was the first time that an action picture of a woman curler had appeared on the magazine's cover! The caption says, "Everything is forgotten except the stone which curls its way to the target. Mrs Vaile, captain of the United States lady tourists in Scotland, lies flat on the ice to watch her stone. Often she waggles her right foot in agitation. This picture is an object lesson in concentration."

Robin Welsh, the Scottish Curler Editor, was extremely complimentary about the visitors in his Editorial. 'Lady Tourists Set the Heather on Fire. Canadian and United States Lassies ... a credit to their countries' was the header. He wrote, "A toast to the lassies ... of the Canadian and United States team. They have just left our shores, and, in retrospect, we can now survey the tour - the first ever made by a group of overseas lady curlers.

Everywhere they went these ladies captured the imagination; the colour and spirit of them infected us, curler and spectator alike, and their tour was a triumphant progress.

And how appreciative they were of anything done for them. Said Mrs Vaile, captain of the United States side: 'Never have we met such friendly and hospitable people. Nothing has been left undone for our pleasure. I think none of us will be content until we come back again.' Well, Mrs Vaile, will ye, and your sister tourists, no' come back again?

They were such a cheery happy lot - sixteen smiling gals. But I'll say this about their huge success in Scotland. They worked for it. Not only did they play almost continuously for a month (standing up to the strain magnificently), but they also had a month's round of official functions AND they found time to write kind letters to their many new friends AND they kept smiling.

The Castle in Edinburgh was floodlit in their honour; and the visitors lit their own lights of friendship throughout Scotland. A great performance all round. These ladies were a credit to their countries."

It is in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1955-56 that we find a further Scottish response, in the report of the Annual Meeting at Perth Ice Rink, on Wednesday, July 27, 1955. Mrs T Love of Perth Ladies addressed the meeting, "Mr. Chairman, my Lord, Sister and Brother Curlers, it has been said, to be seen one must stand up, to be heard one must speak up, but to be appreciated one must sit down. I shall be brief. As you all know, in January of this year eight ladies from Canada and eight from America arrived at Prestwick Airport, all ready for four weeks' curling mixed with fun and good sportsmanship. I think their hopes were realised. Speaking for the Scottish Ladies, and I think for many of the men too, our guests were most charming. They appreciated all that we did for them. They were good curlers and they were good sports, and I hope that we will always remember that. (Hear, Hear.)

As Scottish Convener I should like to take this opportunity of thanking the Royal Club for their kindness and help to us during the times of our meetings, especially Mr Hamilton, with whom I had many long telephone conversations, and long epistles and short ones from time to time. The members of my committee I thank very much for the hard work they put into all the arrangements they made and for the raising of the funds. This was done very successfully, and no area was one penny in debt. (Hear, Hear.) And the £200 which was offered from the Royal Club was not called upon, too. (Hear, Hear, and Applause.) In fact, in this area we have £60 invested against the next visit. (Hear, Hear, and Applause.)

This was a tour of goodwill, and an experiment which we hope will be repeated. The results of the games did not seem of importance so much as the games themselves, as you will realise when I tell you that some of the areas had no records of the games' scores. (Hear, Hear, and Applause.) Everyone was most helpful and was very willing to help in any function in which they were approached, such as civic receptions, and every-one was very helpful indeed. I would like to say, thank you very much, one and all. I can say truthfully that the tour was very successful. (Hear, Hear, and Applause.)"

This confirmed that a committee of Scotland's women curlers had taken charge of the arrangements of the incoming tour. More importantly, it had all been accomplished within budget.

The Scottish Committee were organised too, in having their own commemorative pin for the event.

Mrs Love states that the tour was an 'experiment'. Its success set in motion important consequences for women curlers in Scotland. Three years later saw the formation of the Ladies' Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. In 1958 there was an increasing number of lady curlers who were members of clubs affiliated to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. At the AGM of the RCCC in July 1958, Irene Cleland (Edinburgh Ladies Curling Club) asked the Royal Club 'if it would consider the formation of a Ladies’ Committee, so that the women could confer with each other over matters pertaining to women’s curling'. According to Marjorie Broatch who wrote The Ladies Branch Of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club: The First Twenty-five Years, Mrs Cleland reminded the Chairman, Brigadier Jack Gow, that prior to the visit of the Canadian and American Touring Team in 1955, a temporary Committee was formed. This Committee was responsible for the entertaining of that team and for raising the necessary sums of money. If a permanent Committee was to be formed, the women would then have the machinery to call meetings. This would enable the clubs to get in touch with each other without lessening their loyalty to the RCCC whose traditions meant so much to all women curlers."

And so the Ladies' Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club had its origins. In November 1958, the first Scottish Ladies' team toured Canada and the USA.

It was not to be until 1979, that the first World Women's Curling Championship took place. But that's another story.

The illustrations are as indicated in the text. My thanks to Lindsay Scotland for taking the photos of the two pins. Both these pins will be for sale at a fundraising event, organised by the Carrington Curling Club, at Murrayfield Curling Rink on November 18, details here. The proceeds will benefit the ongoing rink renovation project. Some of the other items which will be on sale, or auctioned:

Was there really a Commonwealth Winter Games? When I noticed the badge above on Google Images I went searching. There was indeed a series of such competitions, in 1958, 1962, 1966, and 1970, according to Wikipedia (see here), and this informative blog article, from where the image above originates.

The Commonwealth Winter Games were the brainchild of Thomas Dow Richardson (usually known as 'Tyke' Richardson), a keen figure skater, who represented GB in the 1924 Olympic Winter Games, and wrote several books about his sport. He was eventually to receive an OBE for services to skating.

The Games were never officially sanctioned. Karl Magee, Archivist at the University of Stirling Library (which holds the Commonwealth Games Scotland archive, see here) has been extremely helpful in providing information. Richardson's efforts certainly came to the attention of the Commonwealth Games organisers. Karl notes that the Minutes of the Meeting of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games Federation in General Assembly at Melbourne University, December 2, 1956, indicate that a 'Winter Games', had been discussed: "Lord Aberdare (Wales) stated that enthusiasts from many countries within the Commonwealth and Empire had approached him regarding the staging of a series of British Empire and Commonwealth Winter Games." After discussion, it seems that the issue was not progressed, "The matter, therefore, was left in abeyance unless the project was raised officially on a future occasion by one of the constituent members of the Federation."

After the first Winter Games had taken place in 1958, the minutes of a meeting of General Council, British Empire and Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, in Edinburgh, February 23, 1959, has the following, "Winter Games: The Secretary reported he had attended a meeting of the Federation Advisory Committee in London to discuss the proposal to hold Winter Games under the patronage of the Federation. The scheme outlined by Mr T D Richardson envisaged the Federation taking over the administration, but a separate committee from the Winter Sports bodies themselves would do all the organising. Competitors or their Associations would be expected to finance their own travel and subsistence, but National Games Councils would be asked to approve and sign their entries.

As all the Winter Games bodies did not appear enthusiastic about the scheme, it was agreed to circularise them all to ascertain:
Whether they were in favour of the concept of future Commonwealth Winter Games being held on the lines detailed, and
Whether, if they were in favour, they would be prepared to assist in the financing and organising of them, as the Federation would not be involved in either of these."

It would seem that there was little support for this scheme, as the Minutes of a meeting of the Advisory Committee of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games Federation, held in London, on March 28, 1961, had the following, "Commonwealth Winter Games. The Chairman reported that further unofficial ‘Commonwealth Winter Games’ would be staged in St Moritz in January 1962. These Games were not recognised by the Federation or by its affiliated BE and CG Associations. All attempts to find a firm basis of finance and administration for these Games had hitherto failed, but the door was not closed. It was hoped to have an ‘observer’ from the Federation during the period of the Games."

The lack of official support for the Commonwealth Winter Games did not deter Tyke Richardson from organising them again in 1962, 1966, and 1970. He died in 1971.

Tyke Richardson's biography can be found here, and, aside from figure skating, it seems he was a keen sportsman. Apparently he also curled. And that information may go some way to explaining why there was a curling competition as part of the 1966 Games!

There's a report entitled 'Curling in the Commonwealth Winter Games' in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1966-67. This sits alongside other 'Reports of International Competitions'.

The report is by RCCC Council Member Tom Stewart, and reads, "The Curling Competition forming part of the Commonwealth Winter Games was held at St Moritz, Switzerland, on 27th/28th January, and took place on the St Moritz Curling Club Ice. Eight rinks took part - three from Scotland, two from England, two from Canadian Servicemen in Europe, and one rink provided by the St Moritz Club. The Scottish Rinks were skipped by the Royal Club President, Bill Robertson Aikman, Bob Grierson, and veteran Bob Dick; the English Rinks by Dan Kerr and Bill Black; the Canadians by Wing Commander G Robertson and LAC Bangle, and the St Moritz rink by Henry Martineau.

About 11.00 pm on Thursday, 20th January, the President (who seemed somewhat surprised that it had actually happened) found his party all present and correct at London Airport. The party was richly enhanced by the inclusion of the four charming wives of Bob Grierson and his rink.

An uneventful flight was followed by a pleasant train journey through magnificent scenery and in brilliant sunshine and the party reached St Moritz about 11.30 am. We were greeted by Harry Martineau and Jimmy Niven of the St Moritz Club, and Bobby Zen Ruffinen was who to be our 'mine host' for the duration of our stay.

The party took part in competitions at the St Moritz Engiadina Club (18 rinks), the highlight being the St Moritz Curling Derby with an entry of 36 rinks from all over Switzerland and including two rinks from Sweden. Scotland No 1 (Bill Robertson Aikman) finished best of the visiting British rinks being 13th with 31 points - the winners notching a total of 40 points. But for losing his last two games by one shot, Bill might well have been in the first three. The weather wasn't too good and the ice conditions varied considerably.

On Thursday afternoon when the opening round of the (Commonwealth Winter) Games was played, conditions were not ideal and the three Scottish Rinks made their exit - a disappointing effort perhaps, but conditions were the same for everyone, and we seek no excuse.

Conditions were better next day and in the semifinals Dan Kerr fell to the Canadians and Harry Martineau to the London rink of Bill Black. The final was close and exciting and eventually the Canadian Air Force rink, skipped by Wing Commander George Robertson, proved too good for Bill Black.

Both rinks are to be congratulated in winning the Gold and Silver Medals respectively.

At the presentation Cocktail Party given by Harry Martineau, Bill Robertson Aikman presented an RCCC plaque to the St Moritz Club, and a Scottish Standard to each of the skips. Each competitor was presented with a Commonwealth Winter Games souvenir badge.

We cannot speak too highly of the hospitality received during our stay, and would like to record our thanks to the St Moritz Club, Harry Martineau, Jimmy Niven, Bobby Zen Ruffinen and many others who did so much to make our visit a success.

We were also very pleased and delighted when our old friend Collie Campbell flew in from Canada to spend a few days amongst us. Needless to say, 'Night Class' and 'Morning Class' were immediately resumed and thoroughly enjoyed. The indefatigable Collie does a 'whale of a job' for curling everywhere and it was a tonic to see him looking so well and carrying his ambassadorial work to Switzerland.

It was with regret that the party, by now a little 'battle weary', broke up on Saturday, 29th. Bert Sibbald and Ronald Grant went on to Kitzbuhel, Tom Stewart to Zermatt and the remainder back to London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen and Stranraer."

James Niven, Secretary of the host St Moritz Club, added the following, "None of the three Scottish Teams struck form, but this had something to do with the ill health from which many of them suffered. An excellent performance was put up by Henry Martineau's St Moritz CC Team who first beat the Canadians, skipped by LAC Bangle, and were wearing down Bill Black's Surrey Team in a ding-dong game and standing at four-all when, with one stone to play, St Moritz were lying six without a guard and Bill Black drew the winning shot, and went on to win.

In the final, the Surrey Team from the London Province played well at the start, but were eventually beaten by the consistency of the cheery Canadians who were very well skipped by George Robertson, RCAF."

And here is a photo of the winning team, from the 1966-67 Annual:

This is captioned, "The Canadian Air Force Rink from Metz, France, who won the Gold Medals in the Curling Competition in the Commonwealth Winter Games at St Moritz. Left to right: Mrs Martineau, who presented the medals, Joe Zedan, Ron Pound, Scotty Miller and Wing Commander George Robertson (skip). The runners-up, who won silver medals, were Bill Black, Davie Kennedy, Jock Marr and Jim Adams. (The photographer is not stated.)

Images are as stated in the text. Many thanks to Karl Magee for his help with this article.

I have been amassing photographs of curling for many years. Many date from before the days of digital cameras and smart phones, and have never been digitised, nor posted online. Most never will be. But I did decide over the summer that it would be interesting to share some of them, and so the 'Curling Image Project' has been born.

My plan is to post a photo each day on Twitter, and then gather these together every week or so here on the Curling History site. The first photo went out on September 1 on @CurlingHistory. Below are the first seven photos that have gone up.

Why do this? Well, on a selfish note, it keeps my old brain active! Important these days. And I do like a good wallow in nostalgia. It is also a project to remind the (young) curlers of today, and those new to curling, that the sport has an interesting history! I also hope that it might engage others who have an interest in curling's history. Not all the photos were taken by me, and I will try to make sure that the original photographer is credited in each case. In some cases there will be photos with no indication of who is in the picture, or where it was taken. That's when you may be able to help.

The project needed a name, and I decided to call it the 'Curling Image Project' - at least that sounded more grand than 'odd photos from Bob's collection'!

Thanks to Jayne Stirling, one time correspondent for the Scottish Curler magazine, and 2017 Scottish Mixed Doubles champion, who gave me the idea for a 'photo of the day' from her own Facebook account a whiles ago.

Comments are welcomed, but these are monitored, and may not appear immediately below. Or you can email me (address on the right) if you wish to add any information on an individual photograph.

CIP-1. The Jubilee Stone is swept down the ice during the opening ceremony of the 1975 Silver Broom World Curling Championship at the Central Scotland Ice Rink, Perth, Scotland. Note Bill Tetley's Canadian team in green nearest the camera. They did move before the cannon was fired! (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-2. Round robin play at the 1975 Silver Broom. How many players can you identify? You can check the WCF Historical Records for ALL the participants' names, here. (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-3. "Save me first!" Two participants in the 1979 Grand Match on the Lake of Menteith with the two on duty divers/frogmen, should the worst happen! Names, anyone? (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-4. This helicopter on the ice at the Lake of Menteith had brought the Royal Club President, Captain Jack Anderson, to the 1979 Grand Match. (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-5. The great Paul Gowsell team in action at the 1976 Uniroyal World Junior Curling Championship at Aviemore. Paul Gowsell (skip), Neil Houston (3rd), Glen Jackson (2nd), Kelly Stearne (lead) won gold. (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-6. The Scotland team in action at the 1976 Uniroyal World Junior Curling Championship at Aviemore. Ken Horton is in the head for his skip's (Bob Kelly's) stone. Keith Douglas and Willie Jamieson are the sweepers. (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-7. Ed Werenich, the skip of the winning Canadian side, holds the Silver Broom aloft at the closing ceremony of the 1983 Air Canada Silver Broom World Curling Championship in Regina. The Canadians (Werenich, Paul Savage, John Kawaja, and Neil Harrison) beat Keith Wendorf, Hans Dieter Kiesel, Sven Saile and Heiner Martin in the final. (From a 35mm transparency, taken, if I recall correctly, by a colleague on the press bench with my camera.)

Photo sources are as indicated. Slides (35mm transparencies) were popular from the 1960s to the mid-1990s. They were a cheap and easy way to make images which could be projected on a screen with a slide projector. The above seven slides are just a sample of several boxes of them I have kept. Scanning them all these years later gives results of varying quality, as you can see.

CIP-8. One of my favourite photographs! It dates from 1956 and shows action from the opening day of the new season at the Central Scotland Ice Rink, Perth. The women curlers may be from the Strathallan curling club. Names, anyone? There's no indication just who the gentleman on the adjacent sheet is! (21x16 cm black and white print, credited to Star Photos, Perth.)

CIP-9. The Billy Howat team of Robert Clark (3rd), Robert Shaw (2nd), and Alistair Henry (lead) won the Langs Supreme Scottish Curling Championship at the Kirkcaldy Ice Rink in 1985. L-R: Howat, Henry, Shaw and Clark). (24 x 19 cm black and white print, unknown photographer. Published in 'Curling', Vol 3 No 5, 1985)

CIP-10. Back in the days before I had found out just how difficult it was to take good action pix of curlers and curling myself, I knew this was the standard to which I should aspire! It was taken by the late Rod McLeod. It is of Canada's Connie Laliberte on her way to winning the Royal Bank Ladies World Curling Championship at Perth in 1984. Connie's team was Chris More (3rd), Corinne Peters (2nd), and Janet Arnott (lead). (From a 35mm transparency, Rod McLeod)

CIP-11. Has anyone a suggestion what the trophy might be, and who has won it? Who is making the presentation? (22x16.4 cm black and white print, credited to 'Falkirk Herald Studio', so perhaps a club that used to play at the Falkirk Rink?)
ADDED LATER. (Thanks to John Brown) Since posting this pic, I've since discovered it was published in the Scottish Curler magazine in March 1957. Sir John Muir is presenting the 'Queen's Trophy' to Falkirk's A C Carroll, with his team of J Dunn, D Adamson and G S Adamson.This trophy was the 'consolation event' for the British Open at Falkirk Ice Rink. Teams which lost in the first round of the main competition were eligible to play for the Queen's Trophy.

CIP-12. One of many 'when we were young' photos I have to show. The pic is of four 'Lanarkshire Ice Rink Juniors', (L-R) Jackie Steele, Margaret Craig, Isobel Torrance and Christine Allison (skip). The team finished ninth at the Wallisellen International Tournament in Switzerland on October 10-11, 1981. What interesting and successful curling lives these four women have had since then! (The 14.7x10.5 cm print is one of many by the later Erwin Sautter of Zumikon who was a great supporter of Scottish Curling, and the sport in general.)

CIP-13. "Medals must be worn!" I need help in identifying this one. It's a beautiful quaich, and there are lovely single soled stones on the table. But just look at the badges/medals on the curler second from left! No date. Names, anyone? (25x20 cm black and white print, credited to Mitchell and Averell Photographers of Dumbarton, so could it be of Dumbarton CC curlers?)
ADDED LATER: Liz and John Paul think the person on the right might be the late Jim Hutton. Confirmation, anyone?

CIP-14. Mrs Ada Wilson, described as the 'tartan-trewed skip', on the ice at the Central Scotland Ice Rink, Perth, in the 1950s. Don't know exactly when. Note the duster on the ice at the front of the house! (21x16 cm black and white print, credited to Star Photos, Perth)

Sources of all images are as stated. More about the Curling Image Project here.

It is said often that it was the Scots who took the sport of curling to North America, but very rarely do actual names come to light.

My attention was grabbed some time ago when, thanks to the British Newspaper Archive, I came across a short article in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard of Wednesday, April 29, 1857. This was titled 'THE CHANNEL-STONE IN NORTH AMERICA - EXTENSION OF CURLING'.

Here's the article in full. "A number of the miners who left the villages of Wanlockhead and Leadhills two or three years since, having located themselves the banks of the classic Susquehanna, at a place named Pittston, in the county of Luzerne, North America, have shouldered broom during the last winter, and formed themselves into a curling society. The club numbers eighteen, who mean to adopt the rules and regulations the Caledonian Curling Society; and that they may the more easily carry out their intentions, they elected the following office-bearers, namely, John Williamson, president, Mr William Reid, secretary, William Williamson, treasurer. The members committee are - Messrs James Moffat, James Watson, John M'Kenderick, John Williamson, junior, and William Slimmon.

Mr Williamson was thirty years cashier (of) the Wanlockhead club, and by his untiring exertions contributed greatly to promote its prosperity. The juniors of the Pittston club are all good and keen curlers, partly reared under the tuition of Williamson, and have taken early opportunity of shewing their attachment to Scotia's national and manly game by attempting to establish it in the land of their adoption.

The club have ordered a very handsome medal from Mr Muirhead, Glasgow, and have likewise sent to Watson, who was twenty-seven years president of the Wanlockhead club, a photographic representation of a band of curlers, fully equipped, and also a massive gold pen and pencil-case, with a suitable inscription, as a mark of their friendship, and a memorial of the many happy days spent on the 'crystal field' in their native glen, and the joyous meetings which occasionally took place among the merry and warm-hearted band after the contest.

The Pittston club played their first game on the 30th January last. The spiel excited much curiosity among the inhabitants of the district, and a considerable crowd assembled to witness their sport; and therefore they expect next season to double their numbers."

So, the names we have of some of the members of the Pittston Curling Club in 1857 are: John Williamson, William Reid, William Williamson, James Moffat, James Watson, John M'Kenderick, John Williamson junior, and William Slimmon.

I concentrated initially on JohnWilliamson, and his son of the same name. Williamson snr had been a member of the Wanlockhead curling club for many years, and the club's treasurer since 1821. The old minute books of the curling club, which survive in the Miners' Library at the Wanlockhead Lead Mining Museum, confirm that.

John Williamson and his son were still living in Wanlockhead at the 1851 census. In 1851 John snr, a widower, was 58 and his son was 21, and that of course tells us how old they were when the Pittston curling club began in 1857 - John was 64, and John junior 27. They are both listed as lead miners in the 1851 census. They had a house servant (Helen Porter, age 21) living with them in 1851. Ten years previously, there had been a wife, Jane (if I have deciphered the writing correctly) of the same age as her husband, given as 45, and two other children, James (15) and William (14), as well as John (11). Note there is a discrepancy in John snr's age in the records. He is 45 in 1841, and 58 in 1851. One can easily understand how this might have happened, but if one takes the earlier age as the correct one, it means that he was just 61, not 64, when the Pittston CC was formed. Still, I think it was extremely courageous for John snr to leave Wanlockhead in his late 50s (say) to start a new life in the USA.

There would have been two reasons for leaving Wanlockhead in the 1850s. One would have been economic. The viability of the lead mines in the area would have been a consideration. And with the loss of his wife one can understand the Williamsons taking the opportunity to emigrate to North America to start a new life. Note that one of the children is called William, and there is indeed a William Williamson mentioned as a member of the newly formed Pittston CC. It is possible that these are one and the same person. Perhaps William had moved out of the family home by the time of the 1851 census.

I would love to find out what happened to father and son after 1857. I've failed to confirm what happened to the rest of the family, either before or after they emigrated. Death records were not compulsory here before 1855. However, the Pittston Curling Club was still active in 1860. A letter to the Editor of the New York Times on January 9, 1860, records 'the result of that long-pending match between the Pittston (Penn) Curling Club and the New-York Caledonian Curling Club, of New-York. The game came off at Pittston, on Friday, Jan 6, with 12 players on each side'. John Williamson snr and John Williamson jnr were the skips of two of the Pittston teams. Overall, the New York club were the winners.

I have recently added a wonderful book to my curling library, 'A History of the Grand National Curling Club of America and its Member Clubs: 1867 - 2017', assembled by Gwen Krailo-Lyons, the GNCC President in 2007-2009 and 2016-2018. The Grand National Curling Club is the oldest national governing body for curling in North America. Pittston Curling Club was one of the eighteen curling clubs belonging to the GNCC in its first season, and so we can assume that the Pittston curlers had weathered the Civil War (1861-1865), and were among the founding member clubs when the GNCC was formed shortly after the war ended.

The book has individual entries for almost all of the curling clubs currently associated with the GNCC. The Anthracite Curling Club, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, traces the origins of curling in the area. Unfortunately, Dave Cawley and John Burns who submitted the entry for the Anthracite Curling Club, say, "Little is known about the Pittston Curling Club or what happened to it." However, they note that other curling clubs sprung up in the area and then they too disappeared, namely, The United Curling Club of Pittston (1891-1905), The Thistle Lackawanna Curling Club of Avoca (1892-1900), The Thistle Curling Club of Inkerman (1895-1897), and the Wilkes-Barre Curling Club (1895-1906).

After a break of many years, local enthusiasts founded the Scranton Curling Club in 2006, curling on ice at a skating rink in Pittston. The club moved to Wilkes-Barre when that town renovated their ice rink, and changed its name to the Anthracite Curling Club. The club rightly traces its legacy to the Wanlockhead curlers who emigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1850s.

It's all an interesting story, but I'm very much aware that it is incomplete. This is why I've not written about this before now. I have not found any record of how and exactly when the Williamsons travelled to Pittston. Or how they would have learned about coal mining opportunities there.

I've wondered if the medal ordered from Mr Muirhead, Glasgow, has survived. And what happened to the photo of the curlers, and the 'massive' gold pen and pencil-case, referred to in the newspaper article?

Did father and son have a successful life in Pittston?

I've also had limited success in trying to find the background of the other Scots mentioned in the newspaper article (William Reid, William Williamson, James Moffat, James Watson, John M'Kenderick, and William Slimmon). What did these six curlers do before they got to Pittston, and how did their lives pan out thereafter? There's a whole book to be written here. A huge amount of research would have to be done first, and I've probably left it too late to start. Perhaps local genealogists in the Wanlockhead/Leadhills area in Scotland, or in Pennsylvania, might well have information to hand. Can anyone in the USA trace their ancestry to Scottish miners who came over to work the coal mines of Pittston in the 1850s? If so, do get in touch.

There's one other reference to curling in Pittston that I've discovered recently in a local Scottish newspaper. In The Hamilton Advertiser of January 27, 1872, in a section called 'American Notes' the following appears. "Curling is becoming more common as Scotchmen are getting closer together. Mr Wiseman, watchmaker here, had an order last season for twelve pairs of curling stones and handles for the County of Lucerne, Pennsylvania. A society had been formed there called the Pittston Mutual Curling Club. President, Thomas Waddell; vice-president, Henry Smith; secretary, Walter Whinton; treasurer, William Wallace. The stones were sent off in the end November last." This may be a missing link in the evolution of the curling clubs in Pennsylvania, or it may refer to the original Pittston club having changed its name after a few years of membership of the Grand National, becoming, for whatever reason, the Pittston 'Mutual'. And here are yet more names to research!

Thanks to Gwen Krailo-Lyons. The British Newspaper Archive continues to be an immense reservoir of curling's history.

CIP-15. Does anyone have memories of drinking in The Silver Broom pub in Perth? (35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-16. Another 'When We Were Young' pic. This is a very young Mike Hay, for a series of coaching slides used in the 1980s, before the no-backswing delivery began to be taught. Mike was the British Olympic Association's chef de mission for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. (35mm transparency, photographer not known.)

CIP-17. Outside play in a photo dated January 7, 1891. This is one of a series of photos from January 1891, rescued from an old family album. It's amongst the oldest I have in my collection. The original (15x10.4 cm) is rather faded, and has been enhanced to produce the above. The provenance is unknown, but the location could be the pond in the grounds of Cambo House, Kingsbarns, Fife (see here). Can anyone confirm this?

CIP-18. Play on an outside 'Cairnie-style' artificial rink. Rescued from an old album with five others. Sadly no provenance, nor date, nor place. Ideas, anyone? The original is a 12x9 cm print, photographer unknown.

CIP-19. "It's a haggis!" Scotland's Willie Young tempts Canada's Wes Richardson with a recently shot haggis at the 1962 Scotch Cup. (From a 6x6 cm contact print, by Michael Burns Photography.)

CIP-20. The Swedish team (Rolf Arfwidsson, Knut Bartels, Per Ivar Rydgren, and Arne Stern) contemplates its next play at the 1962 Scotch Cup at the Haymarket Ice Rink, Edinburgh. Scotland's Willie Young is on the right. (From a 6x6 cm contact print, by Michael Burns Photography.) Note that you can watch some of the live action in the original promotional film here, and here.

CIP-21. Spectators watch USA's Fran Kleffman and Scotland's 3rd player John Pearson at the 1962 Scotch Cup at the Haymarket rink in Edinburgh. The USA team was Dick Brown (4th), Terry Kleffman (3rd), Fran Kleffman (skip and 2nd), and Nick Jerulle (lead). Scotland was Willie Young (skip), John Pearson (3rd), Sandy Anderson (2nd) and Bobby Young (lead). Note the lockers, back right. Were these used by local club curlers to store their own stones? Anyone confirm this? (From a 6x6 cm contact print, by Michael Burns Photography.)
ADDED LATER: Trevor Dodds has confirmed that the lockers were indeed used to store stones, and curling gear, right up until the rink closed in 1979.

The source of images are as indicated. For more Curling Image Project posts go here and here.

CIP-22. National coach Jane Sanderson at work in the 1980s. She was an inspiration to many of us, and, I feel, has never received the recognition she deserves for her contribution to the sport in Scotland over the years. (35mm transparency, photographer not known.)

CIP-23. Attending the Macdonald Brier Championship in London, Ontario, 1974, was one of the greatest curling experiences of my life. That's the BC team nearest the lens, with Bernie Sparkes (on the right) getting ready to sweep. The team was Jim Armstrong (skip), Bernie (3rd), Gerry Peckham (2nd) and Clark Winterton (lead). What dates this pic is Bernie's flares! (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-24. This is Larry McGrath, the skip of the Saskatchewan team which finished as runners-up at the 1974 Macdonald Brier. Note that he's sliding with a synthetic broom known as a Rink Rat. In 1974 the eleven competing teams just played a round robin, no semis or page playoffs. 1974 was significant too, in that it was the last year that you had to stop any part of your body going over the hog during delivery, see here. (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-25. Three St John brothers (Ron, Wayne and Rod) made up the rest of Larry McGrath's Saskatchewan team at the 1974 Brier in London. They were the loudest team on the ice when they got to work with their rink rats! The promotional film of the 1974 is online and available to watch thanks to Curling Canada, here. You can see the players in delivery trying to stop going over the hog! And can you spot me in the stands? (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-26. It's a bit blurry, but so are my memories of an amazing week. Here is Ron Anton (in the head) encouraging the Alberta front end on their skip Hec Gervais' stone. Warren Hansen was 2nd and Darrel Sutton lead, and the team won the event. (Hansen is on the right. From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

CIP-27. I enjoyed watching the Prince Edward Island team, and not just because their skip had a distinctive name on his back. Bob Dillon skipped John Fortier, Jerry Muzinka and Merrill Wiggington. They finished with a 3-7 win-loss record. (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan) (And if you need reminded about the other Bob Dillon's curling song, go here.)

CIP-28. Part of the curling history exhibition 'Scottish Curling Through The Ages' which ran in the Perth Museum, in conjunction with the 1975 Air Canada Silver Broom World Curling Championship. The large dividers were a measuring implement, NOT for scoring the rings, as some have postulated. These are now at the Fife Folk Museum in Ceres. (From a 35mm transparency, Bob Cowan)

Origin of the photos are as indicated. Previous Curling Image Project posts can be found in the archive, on the right.

Did you notice that the World Curling Federation, at its recent Annual General Assembly, voted to accept Nigeria as a provisional member? The country was described as 'the first African Member Association'. Nigeria became the sixty-first member of the World Curling family.

However, I think it is necessary to point out that, when the International Curling Federation (as the World Curling Federation used to be called) was just a youngster in the 1970s, curling was already firmly established in Africa, at Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.

First, the geography lesson. Cote d'Ivoire (the 'Ivory Coast' in English) is in green on this map of Africa. Abidjan is on the coast of the country. Cote d'Ivoire obtained independence from France in 1960, and for a good number of years thereafter enjoyed economic and political stability. You can read all about the country here.

The Hotel Ivoire was built in 1963. According to this article, it was the first President of Cote d'Ivoire, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who had the idea for an ice rink, for skating, in 1970.

Curling was played at the hotel ice rink from its early days. In 1973 the Abidjan curling club was accepted into the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

Abidjan curlers travelled abroad to compete. Here is a photo showing the rink which played in a bonspiel in Paris in May, 1973. (L-R) A Emery, Samuel Kouame, M Duchastel (Canadian Ambassador), Dominique Mascolo, Guy Chiasson (Air Canada), Sodogodo Tidiani, and JP Voutat.

The 'First Bonspiel in Africa' was held in the rink in Abidjan in the 1972-73 season. The January 1973 issue of the Scottish Curler magazine has the following report, "An International Curling Tournament was held for the first time on the new indoor rink of the 'Ivoire Inter-Continental Hotel', Abidjan, on the Ivory Coast. Two teams from St Moritz, one from Paris, and two from Abidjan (which included several Canadians) took part in this first tournament on African soil. There were a great number of spectators, who, as a result of good publicity, were astonishingly well versed.

The interest shown in curling is so considerable that through the success of this tournament, the foundation stone for curling has been laid in Abidjan. The chief initiators were Edwin Kilcher, a member of the Curling Club Engiadina, St Moritz, an exporter who has owned a plantation on the Ivory Coast for more than thirty-five years; D Pasquier, Director of Swissair, Abidjan; Mr and Mrs Moshe Meier, and Mr Carpentier, the General Manager of the Hotel Ivoire.

This very attractive sports event was perfected by the official appearance of members of the Ministry of Culture, the Minister for Tourism, and by representatives from television and radio. The following were present at the prizegiving: the Minister for Tourism and his wife, the Swiss Ambassador
and the big new Curling Family of Abidjan."

The event was won by this St Moritz team (L-R) Roby Kohler, Rita Kilcher, Bobby zen Ruffinen (skip), and Erwin Degiacomi.

Although the first international tournament only involved five teams (mostly ex-pats and visitors), the second bonspiel in November 1973 was well supported with sixteen teams involved. Edinburgh travel agent Robert Sibbald had tried to get a Scottish team to travel to Africa, but without success. We can learn a lot about the event from an article written by Robert O Young, and American curler living in Monrovia, Liberia, at the time, as he sent the following to Robin Welsh, the Editor of the Scottish Curler."I have never seen anything carried off so well and smoothly. There are only 26 members of the Abidjan Curling Club and they have been organised less than two years. It seems that when their large Ice Rink was installed, curling stones and brooms were also supplied. A banana planter, Ed Kilcher, a Swiss, got people interested and now they curl every Thursday evening and Saturday morning.

They have some excellent teams and have sent curlers to Canada and Europe. They will be at the big men's week-long tournament at Quebec next winter and will have some members at the 'Silver Broom' in Berne in March. Who ever goes to Quebec should look up the Abidjan team, especially Dominique Moscolo, a Canadian located here, who was Chairman of the Tournament.

Last year, they had their first bonspiel and had five entries, from Switzerland and Abidjan. This year there were 16 - ten rinks from Switzerland, one from France, four from Abidjan, and one from the USA (us). A Swiss jeweller gave the Piaget Trophy, the second prize was a large ivory tusk, and carved art was given to other prize winners. Over 60 people came from Switzerland on an 8-day excursion.

Abidjan is a beautiful city with a wonderful hotel with swimming pools. It was interesting to see curlers leaving the ice, eating bananas, and diving into a pool or lagoon.

We made many friends. I am full of enthusiasm but it is warranted. The Club is off to a good start. It seems strange to think that you are facing cold weather while we are having to stand a very hot sun!"

The winners were a team from Thun, Switzerland: Frannz Marti (skip), with Waldemar Kilcheer, Fritz Buttner and Hansrudolph Immer. Abidjan CC teams took second and fourth places in the competition.

By 1974 Curling Club Abidjan had 40 members according to the entry in the 1974-75 Annual. Unfortunately, the members are not named in this Annual, nor in any thereafter. It would be interesting to know how many of the members were ex-pats, and how many were Ivorians. The last entry for the Abidjan CC was in the 1984-85 Annual. Roger Pasquier was the club's secretary for the twelve years that the club was affiliated to the RCCC.

As well as travelling to the competitions mentioned in Robert Young's article (above), teams from Abidjan competed in the Johnnie Walker Highland Week of International Curling, at Aviemore, in 1974 and again in 1976. The Scotsman reported that, "Skip Jean Gobeil agreed that the steamy heat of equatorial Africa was a far cry from the snow and wind of the Highlands."

I have looked everywhere for a photo of curling at the Abidjan rink. The only one I've found so far is this from c1982. You can find the story behind it in this article.

The only Scot that I know of who curled in Abidjan was Bob Martin, from Edinburgh. There may be others! Hopefully this blog post will reach Bob and he might be able to tell us more of the Abidjan story.

ADDED LATER. John Brown has sent this image of an Abidjan CC pin badge! Thanks John.

So does that cover curling in Africa? It does not. The Annual for 1982-83 has a record of a curling club in Johannesburg, South Africa, above, and this club was included in the RCCC Annual every year thereafter, until the 1995-96 issue. So, there's more African research to be done!

And in case anyone thinks I've forgotten, there is of course the 'Sub-Zero Sweepers', a spoof African curling team sponsored by Nando's. Possibly the most unusual ad campaign ever! YouTube still has this introduction, and also the clip of the cheerleaders, here. Unforgettable.

The pic of the Abidjan team in Paris was taken by Roger de Backer and appeared in the September 1973 Scottish Curler. The photo of the winners of the first African Bonspiel is from the January 1973 Scottish Curler. The photo of a player on the Abidjan rink is from here.

CIP-29. Graeme Adam is in the hack with Bob Cowan and Robin Copland ready to sweep. Brian Alderman would have been holding the broom at the far end. No, don't ask about the trousers. Just be grateful the pic is in black and white. That's Liz Smith behind, on the right. Probably 1978. (7x5in black and white print, photographer unknown, but likely to have been Sandy Smith.)

CIP-30. In 1983, the community of Creelman, Saskatchewan, was the host of Scottish visitors and the team for the Air Canada Silver Broom in Regina. A lot of friendships were made over the week. This is the Creelman float for a parade, in association with the curling event. All ten competing countries were 'adopted' by local communities. (6x4in colour print, photographer unknown.)

CIP-31. Scottish Junior Champions in 2001. L-R: Graham Sloan (lead), Kenny Edwards (2nd), Callum Allison (3rd), David Edwards (skip), Kelly Wood (skip), Lorna Vevers (3rd), Jacqui Reid (2nd), Lyndsay Wood (lead). (7x5 in colour print, photographer unknown, probably Louis Flood, Perth)

CIP-32. This is a photo of the first Japanese team to compete in a World Curling Championship - at Vasteras in Sweden, in 1990. According to the WCF historical results (here) the team members were Midori Kudoh, Kaori Tatezaki, Etsuko Ito, Mayumi Abe, and Mayumi Seguchi. Can anyone confirm who is on the ice? (6x4in colour print, by Erwin Sautter).

CIP-33. The caption on the back of this photo just says 'Edinburgh University v Glasgow University'. I believe it was taken at the Aviemore Rink, but when? And who can you identify? Hint - David Smith (without his beard) and Hazel Smith are in the pic. (8.5x6.5in print, Strathspey Photography.)

CIP-34. Here is a pic of the winners of the World Junior Championships at Portage La Prairie in 1990. (Switzerland) L-R: Roland Müggler, Markus Widmer, Andreas Östreich, Stefan Traub (skip); (Scotland) L-R: Kirsty Addison (skip), Karen Addison, Joanna Pegg, and Laura Scott. Kirsty's team were the first winners from Scotland of the women's event, in the third time that there had been a world junior women's title on offer. But this was the last year that the World Juniors were sponsored by Uniroyal and Goodrich. (8x5in print, photographer not stated, but probably Michael Burns.)

CIP-35. We haven't had an eight-ender photo yet, so here's one which was scored at the Moray Leisure Centre Ice Rink, Elgin, in the 1998-99 season. It was the first ever eight-ender to be recorded at the Elgin Rink, which had opened in 1993. (L-R) Morag Cumming, Marlyn McKenzie, Douglas Howie (skip) and Helen Downie. It was scored in the last end of the Elgin Curling Club League. Down 4-12, Howie made a double takeout with his last stone, and lay for the eight, to tie the game! The story is recorded in the February 1999 Scottish Curler magazine. (10x7in print, Hester Photography, Forres.)

Photos are as credited where the photographer is known. Check the archive (on the right) for previous Curling Image Project posts.

CIP-36. Outdoor curling on Lindores Loch. Don't know the date, but likely 1960s. (5x3in print, photographer unknown)

CIP-37. Here's a photo which reminds me of one of the most interesting and unusual curling events I've ever attended. It's of round robin play in the World Junior Championships in 1994 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Scottish men's squad was Craig Wilson, Neil Murdoch, Ricky Burnett, Craig Strawhorn, and Euan Byers. The women were Gillian Howard, Kirsty Hynd, Alison Kinghorn, Sandra Hynd, and Fiona Brown. That's Craig and Ricky in the foreground. Gillian can be seen on the sheet behind. (6x4in colour print, Bob Cowan)

CIP-38. Robin Brechin watches nervously as Glasgow's Lord Provost, Robert Gray, prepares to throw the ceremonial 'opening stone' at the Summit Centre, Glasgow, on February 13, 1986. (8x6in print, by Dick Brothers of Clarkston)

CIP-39. The Attinger team from Switzerland, in action in 1984. But where? Kurt, Werner, Bernhard and Peter Attinger were Swiss Champions in 1984 and were runners-up to Eigil Ramsfjell's Norwegian team at the Silver Broom in Duluth. (6x4in print, by Erwin Sautter)

CIP-40. I think this is a wonderful photo. It shows the Ernie Richardson team in action, but where? Great to have all four of the Richardson team in the one shot. I suspected this must be a Brier Championship and think it is 1962 at Kitchener-Waterloo. Wes Richardson is on the far left, encouraging Arnie Richardson who is sweeping the stone in the house. Ernie (third left) has turned away to walk back to the other end. Sam Richardson is on the right. But who are the other two players in the picture, with the big 'As' on their jumpers? I am convinced they are two members of Hec Gervais' Alberta team - Ron Anton in the centre, and 2nd player, Ray Werner, second left. Can anyone confirm all this? Wally Ursuliak was the Alberta lead. The film of the 1962 Brier can be watched here. (8x6in print, Michael Burns Photography)

CIP-41. The crowning of the 'Queen of Curlers' (Miss Estelle Cote) at Quebec City in 1955. The occasion was the Quebec Winter Carnival, which had an international bonspiel at its centre. Here's part of an article in the February 1955 Scottish Curler. "The crowning of the Queen of Curlers took place at the Quebec Winter Club. Led by a Scottish piper, Mr J Innes, the procession entered in this order: two pages, the ladies in waiting, the Queen, Mr Weyman, Mr G MacWilliam (the Chamberlain) and Mr C Scribner (the Prime Minister). The escorts consisted of the presidents of five curling clubs. A TV camera, ten photographers and several hundred spectators watched page MacWilliam present the crown to Mr Weyman, know as Canada's Mr Curler, who crowned the Queen and gave her a sceptre in the shape of a curling broom. Page Chaput presented the Queen with a bouquet, then Mr A F Sissons, President of the Quebec International Bonspiel, pinned the international jewel on the Queen's dress. He also presented her with a pearl necklace and ear-rings - a gift from the curling fraternity." Estelle Cote was a curler, a member of the Ladies Section of the Club de Curling Jacques-Cartier of Quebec City. (8x10in print, photography by Canadian Pacific Railway)

CIP-42. I have lots of photos of this team, one of the most successful rinks of women curlers in Scotland. (Or THE most successful over the years!) Here is Judy Mackenzie, Anne McDougall, Kirsty Letton (skip) and Pat Orr, with Gayle Lyburn after winning the Low Road of the Lyburn Trophy competition at Stranraer. But what year? (10x8in print, by F H McCarlie, Stranraer)

Image credits are as indicated, where the photographer is known. Check the archive (on the right) for previous Curling Image Project posts.

The Braid Hills Ladies

The mystery of Scotland's first junior curling club

The search for the earliest curling photograph

The Falkirk Ice Rink and the British Open Competition

The trains to the loch

How the Royal Caledonian Curling Club got its name

More Royal Connections

Yet More Royal Connections

Blankets from Canada

Scotland's Indoor Curling Rinks: A Timeline

Canada and USA Women Curlers in Scotland in 1955

How Scotland Fared at the Commonwealth Winter Games

The Curling Image Project

The Curling Image Project (Week 2)

From Scotland to the USA

The Curling Image Project (Week 3)

The Curling Image Project (Week 4)

Curling in Africa

The Curling Image Project (Week 5)

The Curling Image Project (Week 6)