Curling History

On the evening of September 3, 1939, the SS Athenia was torpedoed by a German U-boat, the first UK ship to be sunk in such a way in WW2. The Donaldson line ship was bound for Montreal via Belfast and Liverpool, and when she encountered U-30 she was carrying 1,103 passengers, and 315 crew. One hundred and seventeen passengers and crew died as a result of U-30's action.

The Wikipedia entry about the SS Athenia is here. I was interested to read that 'Wartime German authorities denied that one of their vessels had sunk the ship'. 'Fake News' is not a recent phenomenon.

In the holds of the Athenia was a consignment of curling stones, bound for Canadian curling clubs. I had heard rumours of this, but I had not got around to researching the subject. However, a fellow curling historian was on the case, and last year David M Sgriccia, aka Angus McTavish, of the Detroit Curling Club, posted an article on his blog, see here.

I'll let David tell the story in his own words. I commend his article to you, and I know the hours he must have spent on research before he could write it. There's a lot in newspapers of the time about the loss of the Athenia, and even about the fact that it was carrying curling stones being sent to Canada by Andrew Kay and Co. But David, with help from Andrew Wyllie of Kays Curling, has unearthed the facts and figures, and we now know just how many curling stones lie at the bottom of the ocean, and to which clubs these had been sent.

I do want to quote just some words from his article, as it reflects how I feel about the story too. "It was a big loss for curlers to lose 278 curling stones, but we should never forget the 117 people who died that day from the sinking of the SS Athenia or the millions that died during the war years that followed."

The top image is courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive.

The curling history exhibition, 'Curling: made in Scotland', opened today (February 20, 2019) at Hampden Park, Glasgow. The Scottish Football Museum has an additional space for temporary exhibitions, and the curling exhibition will be held here until June 16.

The exhibition relies heavily on the David B Smith bequest to the Scottish Curling Trust. David died in 2015 and his huge collection of curling memorabilia has been in store in Stirling since then. David's brother, daughter and son, and their partners, were present for the opening. Also on display are treasures acquired by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club over the years, and also more recent acquisitions by the Scottish Curling Trust.

Do visit if you possibly can. Curling's history is very special. Scottish Curling's CEO, Bruce Crawford, challenged us all to pick our 'favourite' item on show. I knew what mine would be! It's this painting:

The exhibition has been almost a year in the planning. For me, one of the highlights has been the discovery of an oil painting which David had in his collection. That's it above. David's notes about this had been lost, and the Scottish Curling Trust's John Burnett, who has been heading up the team that's made the exhibition happen, asked if I knew anything about it. It shows a curler standing on the ice, with stones in the foreground, with a broom cowe under one arm. In his left hand he is carrying a pair of curling stone handles and bolts.

It turned out that, without initially realising the connection, I did know rather a lot about the painting, and especially the artist. David had got there before me of course, and he had described his purchase of the painting in an article in the Scottish Curler, back in April 1993, long before my association with the magazine.

David wrote that he had purchased the painting from a friend in Somerset, and that it had come from at auction in Stoke-on-Trent. He reflected on seeing the painting, "The picture was indeed dirty; and its frame was dirty and damaged, but oil paintings of curling and curlers are not so common that one can turn up one's nose. And so I bought it." David did not record how much he paid for it.

The painting is not signed, but after some research, David figured out the identity of the curler in the painting. He is Peter Thomson, an Airdrie baker, who was one of those taking part in the game depicted in the huge 'The Curlers at Rawyards' painting (see here), which dates from 1857, and that the artist was John Levack. 'The Curlers at Rawyards' hangs at the Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life at Coatbridge. David describes his painting as a 'spin off' from this big composite portrait, and that the artist had perhaps prepared for the large work by first sketching how each person would appear in his finished work. He wrote, "Sometimes the artist later worked up these sketches into individual portraits." There's no proof that this is the case, but it is a likely scenario to explain the origins of David's painting.

Here is a closeup of Peter Thomson from the large painting. Compare it with David's painting at the top of this article. There is absolutely no doubt that both depict the same person. That it is Peter Thomson relies on the accuracy of the little name plates that adorn the frame of the larger painting. If these are correctly positioned, and are accurate, then the curler depicted is indeed Peter Thomson.

David concluded his article by noting that he knew of one other individual portrait by John Levack, of Provost Rankin, and wrote, "Perhaps this article may bring others to light, and perhaps also some more information about the artist who immortalised those Airdrie curlers of 136 years ago." By coincidence, I was to be the one to provide more information!

Moving forward to 2016, I did not know about David's painting when I wrote about 'The Curlers at Rawyards', and its artist, in an article here. The story of John Levack is a sad one. He committed suicide, after, it should be said, having been jailed for beating up his wife. I wondered if she had survived, and what had happened to her. Some months after I published the article, I received an email from a descendant, and we began to correspond. Leslie Porter is Levack's great great granddaughter. Agnes, Levack's wife, did recover from her injuries, successfully supporting her family of five children as a seamstress for a theatrical company. Leslie is descended from the oldest of these, also called John, who may already have been the artist's son, by another woman, before he married Agnes. John's daughter Catherine emigrated to Canada with her husband in 1927. They were Leslie's grandparents. Leslie was emailing me from St Catherines, Ontario, Canada. The Internet can be a wonderful thing!

Leslie sent me this photo of John Levack, artist, from the family archive. It may well be the only recorded image of him. He died in 1874, aged 46. He had married Agnes Laughlan in 1867.

Concentrating though on the curling connection, Leslie has an auction catalogue which describes the sale of other John Levack paintings. This was undated, but I was able to find out that it referred to a sale by Muir and Dalziel, an auction house in Glasgow, on Wednesday, February 23, 1910. Intriguingly, one of the paintings in the sale was described as 'The New Monkland Curlers'. One can only speculate that there is another John Levack painting 'out there', and what it depicted. Could it have been a preliminary sketch or smaller version of the huge 1857 painting? I wonder if it still exists.

A postscript to this article is that I've also been contacted by a descendant of Gavin Black, the local landowner on whose land at Rawyards the curlers were depicted. But that's another story!

The painting of Peter Thomson hangs in the rear of Case 1 at the exhibition. Over the next couple of months I hope I will be able to highlight some of the other treasures on show. And if you attend in person you will be amazed by the variety and quality of the items that are in the exhibition.

Thanks to Leslie Porter for sharing her family history with me, and for sending me the photo of her great great grandfather. Also to helpful staff at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, and at the Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life. The large image is from the Art UK website. The others were taken by me. The painting of Peter Thomson which belonged to David Smith is now is in the care of the Scottish Curling Trust.

At first sight this looks like a normal Welsh Trefor curling stone, with a chrome handle, dating from the 1960s. But there's a discovery to be made when you turn it over.

Underneath there's no running band. Rather, the stone has been designed to travel on three ball bearings inserted into the rock. The stone belonged to David Smith, and I never found out from where it came. Recently though I've discovered how it might have been used ... in the sport of 'Roll Curling'.

Roll curling was first played in Europe in the 1960s. The game was marketed by a Dutch company, Ocriet Rollcurling Ltd. The parent company, Ocriet, manufactured a special concrete product (see here) at their factory at Eemnes.

Here is roll curling being played in the Swiss resort of Montana-Vermala, at an altitude of 1500 metres. Note the use of brushes (!), and the 'dolly' to the side of the rink on the right. The photo is a postcard that was mailed in 1967, so the action must be from before that date. The (French) caption states that the photo shows 'new summer curling games'.

Here is a roll curling rink at the Berghotel in Amersfoort, Netherlands, in 1962. This image is from the history of the Ocriet factory, in a Dutch publication, Historische Kring Eemnes, in March 2011.

The first roll curling rink to be constructed in Britain was at the Duke of Edinburgh public house, Ferndale Road, Clapham, London, in December 1963. There had been a tennis court on the site previously.

The Aberdeen Press and Journal described the opening game, "Its British beginnings in a garden in Brixton may seem modest, but municipal authorities at holiday resorts and owners of recreation centres are more than a little interested."

"Actually, there is little to describe about this new game which does not differ from the traditional one played on ice. The rink, marked with green house at one end and a red house at the other, a back score and hog score, is laid out in reconstituted stone as smooth as a shove-ha'penny table. The curling stones move and twist mounted on ball bearings."

Two teams, representing Scotland and Holland, contested at the opening of the rink.

This undated news/magazine photo is somewhat damaged but shows a game underway at the Brixton pub. Note the 'dolly', and that the skip has a broom in hand. It looks to be nighttime. The rink is somewhat shorter than in the normal sport of curling on ice.

The rink survived in the pub's garden for at least eighteen months, before falling foul of planning regulations.

I was excited to find that some video footage of play has survived. A short feature on the game was made by British Movietone, and can be watched below, or larger, here.

There was considerable interest nationally in this form of 'summer curling'.

On May 12, 1964, the Thanet Times mentioned that Blackpool Parks Department was considering introducing the game as an attraction in the town. As far as I'm aware this idea was not progressed.

And in August 1965, the Norwood News reported that roll curling had been demonstrated at the Crystal Palace, London, during a multi-sports event at the venue.

Roll curling as described here did not stay the course. Indeed, Ocriet Rollcurling Ltd had been wound up by 1975.

Curling stones which ran on ball bearings or similar were not a new idea. David Smith, in his book 'Curling: an illustrated history', presents a patent from 1902 for a curling stone substitute which ran on ballbearings. There is also a patent for stones which ran on castors from 1887.

'Iceless' stones are now (2019) made by the Tiano company in China, see here.

New Age Kurling and FloorCurl are popular present day derivatives.

Two mysteries remain, and my research continues. Were the stones used in roll curling manufactured by Kays in Mauchline? Or were they made of Ocriet material?

I have heard tell that roll curling (or something very like it) was played on the promenade at Largs in the 1960s. The search is on to find out more!

The stone pictured at the top of this article is now in the care of the Scottish Curling Trust, and in store at Stirling. Other photos in this article are as described or from my own collection. The British Newspaper Archive was once again a major research source.

I have written before about the women who took up the sport of curling at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. You can find my articles on 'The Women in the Painting: Scottish Curling Pioneers'here; 'Henrietta Gilmour: Pioneer Woman Curler'here; and 'When the Scottish Men Faced the Canadian Women in 1903'here. I have been seeking evidence for the earliest 'mixed' curling games, with women playing alongside the men. The results of that search has led to two articles, 'The Women on Rothie Pond'here, and 'The Women Curlers of Buxton'here.

But there's one place where women took to the ice that I haven't yet discussed. Women curlers were curling at the winter resorts in Switzerland in the first decade of the twentieth century. I would suggest that here, rather than in Scotland, is where 'mixed curling', or 'open curling', first became generally accepted. What is the evidence for such a statement? The photo above clearly shows women playing the sport at St Moritz, alongside the men. But when? The image is an undated postcard. It's an interesting photo, but never having been sent through the mail, it is impossible to date it accurately. I set out to find images of women curling in Switzerland which could be accurately dated.

This is the earliest that I have found. It is from an article, by E H Lawson Williams, published in the Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes, Vol 17, July to December 1903. The author recounts his experiences of a first visit to St Moritz. The photo is captioned 'Ladies Curling at St Moritz', but there is no mention of the photographer. Williams says, "In my previous article I somewhat discountenanced the idea of ladies playing the 'roarin' game'. I must now make an exception of those who visit the Engadine. Aided by perfect ice and lighter stones no great strength of back is necessary. The ladies' branch of the club at St Moritz is a recent creation; but the game has caught on, and promises at an early date to rival the counter attractions of the skating-rink."

Lawson-Williams must have visited St Moritz in the winter of 1902-03. This image, from the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, is from a couple of years later, and appeared on December 10, 1904. It was simply captioned 'On the Ladies' curling rink'. This suggests that the women may have been playing separately from the men at that time, on their own rink.

This photo is from a page of a family album with other images from 'St Moritz, 1904'. Written below the photo is the name 'Heather'. I only have the one page of the album, and unfortunately do not have Heather's surname. I can see men in the photo, so perhaps this is early evidence of mixed curling at St Moritz.

This image is another postcard showing women curling, in a mixed game, at St Moritz. As seen, it is dated December 7, 1905, on the front, and postmarks on the reverse confirm that it was in the mail on December 8 and 9, 1905, having been sent from St Moritz to Biel.

This image, in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News in January 30, 1909, is captioned 'The Engadine Winter Season - Ladies Curling at St Moritz'. Is there one man on the ice?

Here is an image which clearly depicts a curling game, with women playing alongside the men, again at St Moritz. This was published in a French magazine Le Sport Universel Illustre, February 13, 1910. It is captioned 'Une partie de curling a Saint-Moritz'. The photographer is not stated.

Although images of women curling at St Moritz seem to be the most common, women were also on the ice at other Swiss resorts. This photo, by Mrs Mottram Hewett, Culverlea, Winchester, is captioned 'Curling at Davos, January, 1904'. This was already mounted on card when I purchased it, and there is no indication of where it was published.

The first decade of the twentieth century saw many Swiss resorts opening in the winter months, and offering activities, among which was curling. The photos above, which can be dated, show that women were playing the sport not just on their own, but in the same teams as men.

Who were these women, and where were they from? They were not Swiss, but visitors.

Some of the resorts formed curling clubs which became affiliated to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in Scotland. The St Moritz CC and the Davos CC were the first to do this back in 1894. An article in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1903-04 (reprinted from the Alpine Post and Engadine Express), by William J Orthwein, about Curling in the Engadine, said, "In its home the sport has acquired the loving title of Scotland's ain game o' curlin', and while Scotsmen are generally found to be at least the introducers of the game in most of the other countries where the game is being played, we now find members of many other nations taking it up. Here in St Moritz this is probably the case to a more marked degree than anywhere, owing to the cosmopolitan nature of the place. Our club has numbered among its members Scots, English, Irish, Americans, Germans, Austrians, Russians, Italians, Swedes, Hollanders, and Belgians." In 1903 there were several curling rinks in and around St Moritz. As well as the rink at the Kulm Hotel, there was a rink at the Hotel Schweizerhof, while the Palace and Belvedere had also established ponds of their own.

Although visitors to Switzerland came from all over the world, the British were undoubtedly at the forefront of the 'winter holiday' movement. It is not too much of a stretch to suggested that if a husband and wife, or a family, holidayed in Switzerland, all would take to the ice if the opportunity was to be had.

The most enthusiastic of these visiting curlers, including the women, would have joined the local curling club. Some idea of who the first women curlers were can be found in the Annuals of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. The membership roster of the St Moritz CC, presumably at September 15, 1903, and published in the RCCC Annual of 1903-04, listed thirteen lady members.

Umney being an unusual name, it is possible to identify who the first named of the St Moritz 'Lady Members' actually was. Mrs Ethel Umney was the wife of Percy Umney. He is listed among the 75 male 'regular members' of the Club. Percy was a solicitor, a partner in the private practice of Wood, Umney and Chambers located in Richmond. He also worked as a solicitor for his father Charles’ company, the wholesale druggists, Wright, Layman and Umney, who made Wright’s Original Coal Tar Soap. So the Umneys were English.

Mrs Bird's husband is not listed amongst the club's members. Note that of the thirteen names, eleven are listed as 'Miss'. It would be great to find out more about these women, although, without any first names, this is difficult. Having the resources to be able to holiday in Switzerland in the early twentieth century does suggest that curling in these resorts was for the well-off! The sport of curling is traditionally proud of its egalitarianism, but those who played while on holiday in the Swiss Alps were from the 'upper-class' end of society at the time.

The Grindelwald Curling Club listed a Mrs Sidney Galpin as the lone woman member of the club from 1902 through to 1906. Her husband was a regular member of the club. He is described in the Scotsman of December 14, 1904, as one of the best known curlers in Switzerland. In 1907, Mrs Galpin was joined by other women as 'regular members', namely, Mrs Marsh, Mrs Keighley, Mrs Gaye, Mrs Grant, Mrs J E Collister, Mrs Scott and Miss Williams. I've not come across any images of the women at play at Grindelwald.

Unlike the men, the women who curled in the Swiss resorts in the early years of the twentieth century did not have major competitions in which to compete. The men had the Jackson Cup, instituted in 1898, and the Swiss International Bonspiel began in 1905.

There is an interesting reference to a women's competition at Villars in January 1908. The Villars Sports Club ran 'Golden Competitions' in a number of sports, with prizes on offer in both 'ladies' and gentlemen's events'. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph in January 28, 1908, reported that the men's curling points competition attracted a large number of entries and was won by G W Lunn, but, "The ladies' curling competition created a good deal of amusement, all being novices at the 'roaring game'. Miss Bicknell scored five points out of a possible 24, being one point better that Miss Wharton." Her prize was a golden curling stone!

The St Moritz CC, with the largest complement of women members, had a number of competitions in which the women played. Erwin Sautter in his book Curling Vademecum records that during the 1909-10 season Major Lindsell and Mr Garlick supplied prizes for team competitions for 'ladies skipped by men'. Miss Bridson offered a prize for ladies' play. Erwin also notes that a committee was formed from the women members, and comprised Mrs Hewitt, Mrs Francis, Miss Constable, and Miss Bridson, who was the honorary secretary and treasurer. A ladies' points competition for a prize given by Miss Constable was held at the end of January 1910, and won by Mrs Bott.

Miss Bridson was an accomplished curler. In February 1908, the Globe reported that she had skipped her rink of Miss Dunn (3rd), Miss Caton Thompson (2nd) and Miss Linau (lead) to win 'Mr Cutlack's prizes for ladies' at a curling competition in St Moritz.

The 'Lady Muriel Watkins Challenge Cup for Ladies' Ice Curling' was first played at Murren on January 30, 1911, in beautiful weather and on splendid ice. It was a points competition. The Scotsman reported on February 1, 1911, "The result was a tie between Miss Brooke and Miss M Bell. Miss Brooke won on the tie being played off."

This wonderful image of mixed curling is on a postcard that was sent from Fleurier on December 15, 1908. The postcard has no indication of where the action is taking place. Erwin Sautter sent the same image to me some years ago, and on the back is captioned 'Mixed curling at Lenzerheide (Switzerland) about 1910'. The place may be correct but Erwin's date is a year or two out, as the postmark on the postcard shows. But what a beautiful setting for the sport of curling!

In The Book of Winter Sports, published by Edward Arnold, London, in 1908, Bertram Smith has a section on curling. Four pages are devoted to 'Curling in Switzerland'. Smith writes, "St Moritz generally leads the way in all winter sports, and curling is no exception to the rule. Grindelwald is also a great curling centre, with a club membership of over a hundred. In both of these clubs, and also at Davos, there are a large number of lady players, who have no difficulty at all on the keen Swiss ice in holding their own, though the game is rather beyond their strength in Scotland." Really?

J Gordon Grant's The Complete Curler was published by Adam and Charles Black, London, in 1914, and subtitled 'Being the history and practice of the game of curling'. Chapter 5 of the book is titled 'Curling in Switzerland'. He lists the following places where curling was played at that time: Adelboden, Andermatt, Arosa, Campfer, Celerina, Chateau d'Oex, Diablerets, Davos, Engelberg, Grindelwald, Kandersteg, Klosters, Lenzerheide, Leukerbad, Montana, Morgins-les-Bains, Murren, Samaden, Beatenberg, Saint-Cergue, St Moritz, Villars-sur-Ollon, and Wengen. But in the chapter's twelve pages, the author makes no reference to women playing the sport.

This image is a favourite, showing as it does women competing with the men in two rinks at Villars. The postcard was mailed on November 21, 1913, and the action probably dates from the previous winter.

Last word here goes to 'A.H.' who penned an article 'Curling: The Roaring Game' which appeared in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News on January 1, 1916, after a spell of cold weather at the end of 1915. He writes, "It is pleasant and interesting to observe that curling is increasing in popularity among ladies and they prove very dexterous in handling the stones and broom. Many of them acquired a taste for the game in the Alpine winter resorts, and gradually began to practise it at home." I would like to believe this last statement, but I really have not uncovered any evidence to substantiate it. Did they really bring their enthusiasm for curling back to England in the first decade of the twentieth century? If so, where did they play?

The Great War, 1914-18, was to change the world. Curling returned to the winter holiday resorts of Switzerland in the inter-war years, but that's another story. So too is the formation of the Swiss Curling Association in 1942, and the remarkable growth of indoor clubs throughout that country from the 1960s.

The sources of the images are as indicated in the text. All except those found via the British Newspaper Archive are in my own collection.

Glasgow's Kelvin Hall has been undergoing renovation in recent years. Part of the building now houses some of Glasgow Museums' extensive collections; the University of Glasgow's Hunterian Museum has space in the building; the Glasgow Club provides many different sporting activities; and the National Library of Scotland has its digital resources with viewing facilities, and I have visited often. All the above occupies just a small part of the building. Read about its history here.

Last month, like many, I wanted to see Trix. I headed for the Kelvin Hall to see the 66-million-year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Glasgow being the only UK stop on a European Tour. The experience was both fascinating and enjoyable. The exhibition was staged in the large part of the Kelvin Hall still under renovation, and not usually accessible to the public.

It took me back ..... to 1985, when the Air Canada Silver Broom World Curling Championship was staged in that very space. The Kelvin Hall was not an ice arena, and an ice pad was built specifically for the event, the first time that had ever been done for an international curling competition. This is not uncommon now of course, but 1985 showed just what could be accomplished even if a town or city did not have a dedicated ice arena.

This post is based on my memories of the time leading up to the championship.

It took an innovative mind to even have the idea of staging the World Curling Championship in the building. The owner of that mind was Richard Harding. He had competed in the Silver Broom in 1977, and was, in 1982, editor of his own curling magazine. Many years ago I wrote, "It wasn't a new idea to use a conference or exhibition centre as a venue for a Silver Broom. Edinburgh curlers had discussed that before, but the suggestion had been dismissed as too costly, and impractical. What Harding did - and to those who know him it is typical of him - was to keep after what he thought was a good idea, and not be put off by the pessimists. Richard Harding was the spark that kindled the enthusiasm for the Glasgow Silver Broom."

Richard approached Bob Dalgleish, of the Glasgow Sports Promotion Council, and the plan to bring the World Curling Championship back to Scotland was set in motion. The Championship had last been in Scotland in 1975, at the Central Scotland Ice Rink in Perth. It had grown since then, and involved ten nations. It was a men only competition, the women having gained their own world championship in 1979. In 1980 the Silver Broom had been held in Moncton, New Brunswick, and in 1981, in London, Ontario. In 1982, the event had taken place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Richard involved Robin Brechin, a successful Glasgow businessman, and several other curling friends to form a 'bid committee', and a proposal to hold the 1985 Silver Broom in Glasgow was duly submitted. This was rather more than a formality, as several other venues wanted to host the Championship, and Glasgow had to prove it was best placed to do so.

This is the cover of the May/June 1983 issue of Curling, which pictures the members of the 'site selection committee' for the 1985 Silver Broom. L-R: Chick Windsor (whose company organised the organised North American travel packages), Clif Thompson (International Curling Federation President), Pierre Jerome (Air Canada), Sam McColm (Royal Caledonian Curling Club President), Don Lewis (Icemaker) and Doug Maxwell (Executive Director, Silver Broom). They are standing in front of a Glasgow Corporation bus which had been specially decorated for the occasion. The group were welcomed at Glasgow Airport from a British Midland flight from London, on which the captain had identified them and welcomed them to Scotland as they flew over the border. In their bus, they then visited Glasgow hotels, the City Chambers, and the Kelvin Hall, where the annual circus and carnival was being set up. It is recorded that Air Canada's Pierre Jerome fed the elephants, and that became part of Silver Broom folklore.

The effort and planning that had gone into Glasgow's Silver Broom bid was examined in detail. Don Lewis, who would be in charge of making the ice for the event, was convinced that a temporary ice rink was a realistic proposal.

Glasgow was awarded the Air Canada Silver Broom in April 1983, at the opening of the Championship in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Twenty committees were established and this photo shows the chairs and the executive in 1984, on their way to experience the Silver Broom in Duluth, and observe at first hand all that was involved in hosting the event. The jackets were made of the Glasgow tartan.

On March 18, 1985, the venue became available for the construction of the rink, and in just eight days and nights the ice pad was built, and seating installed. Here is a photo of the ice pad build underway.

Glasgow became the centre of the curling world during March 25 - 31, 1985. This is a photo of the opening ceremony in the Kelvin Hall.

This video of part of the opening ceremony has been rescued from a VHS tape, from a Scottish Television broadcast of the event. To view in Youtube link here. It shows the entry of the teams, each accompanied by young curlers from around the country, carrying the national flags. It's not the greatest quality, but can you identify any of the flag bearers? I can see Peter Smith, from Perth, and George McConnell, from Greenacres. Can anyone identify others? And one can see that the stands were packed with spectators.

ADDED LATER. Thanks to John Brown who has commented, "The flag bearer for the England team, dressed up as a Pearly King, was Alastair Burns who later skipped the England team in the World Championships in 1992, 1995 and 1996."

The cover of the event programme. More about the 1985 Silver Broom itself in future posts.

Thanks to Kirsty Letton for the photo of the committee chairmen, in their tartan uniforms. The photo of the rink under construction is courtesy of Star Refrigeration. Other images are my own or from my archive.

If you have any doubts about the effect that winning Olympic Gold Medals has on the perception of the sport by the general public, you could ask Rhona Martin or any of her GB team which won back in 2002. Or you could watch Making Curling Great Again - An American Curling Story, a short documentary which is just out, following the success of John Shuster's US team in Pyeongchang last year.

The film, on YouTube here, is directed by Jesse Wachter, and is a fascinating 28 minutes to enjoy. CurlingZone's Gerry Geurts is the Executive Producer. Presented by Dynasty Curling Ltd, and Annex Media, the film covers the history of curling in America, and then the story of the Shuster team.

Perhaps I'm biased, having experienced the warm and welcoming nature of club curling in America many years ago, and even having played in Hibbing where John Shuster caught the curling bug. This is a feel-good video about the sport, and the positive effect the gold medals have had in promoting the growth and awareness of curling in the USA. It's not triumphalist, as might have been expected. I loved it.

The film includes a collage of videos of the sport being played in the past. There's some wonderful old film footage (screenshot above of an 'oops' moment), and photographs. The interviews with the team members are revealing too, as are the comments about how the sport fits in in these divisive times in the USA. Even the Simpsons get a mention, and the closing credits are to the classic Cheetos 'Teach me how to curl' commercial.

Do watch it!

Some time ago when browsing in the British Newspaper Archive, I came across a snippet of news that the Forfar Curling Club had agreed to gift a pair of curling stones to troops stationed in the British Zone of Occupied Germany in the immediate aftermath of the second World War. What struck me was the date, just five months after the German surrender in May. The 'appeal for stones' had apparently been made to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, whose secretary, Andrew Hamilton, had contacted the member clubs, of which Forfar was one. I was intrigued, and set out to see what else I could uncover. I've been only partially successful. Here's what I've found so far, and hopefully others can add to the story.

A month or so after the Forfar clipping was published, the appeal for curling stones was widened, as Hamilton sent letters to various newspapers around the country.

Here is Hamilton's letter which was printed in the Dundee Courier of November 8, 1945.

When WW2 was over, different areas of Germany were occupied by Britain, the USA, France and Russia, and of course Berlin was also 'divided up' amongst the Allied nations. The British Zone of Occupation was the north west of the country, as in the simplified map above, from here.

Canadian forces had played a huge part in WW2 alongside British and other Commonwealth soldiers, and it is of no surprise that they were to represent a significant part of the occupying army after the end of the war.

As a result of the appeal, 70 pairs of curling stones were sent to the 51st Division and 60 pairs to the Canadians in Germany. A Major Purves, who was Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, and whose principle duties in Germany were supply matters, travelled to Scotland in January 1946 to take possession of the stones destined for use by the 51st Division.

On March 11, 1946, Brigadier J R Sinclair, later to become Earl of Caithness, sent a letter to the Royal Club secretary noting that, "The stones have now arrived in Germany and are being distributed to units. I wish to offer my personal thanks and to express the sincere gratitude of all ranks of the 51st Highland Division for your most generous gift. I would be deeply obliged if you would pass this on to the individual members who so kindly made this donation possible."

I have been unable to find out just how and where these stones, sent to the Scottish troops, were used. Any help with this will be appreciated.

We know a bit more about the stones that were sent to the Canadians! They erected a six-sheet curling rink, and this was in operation by January 1946.

I was excited to find this photo in Canadian archives (here). It is accompanied by the caption, 'Opening of a curling rink, Oldenburg, Germany, 1946', and has to be the rink in question. It was constructed in a hanger at the Oldenburg airport in Germany and an artificial ice plant was improvised by men of the Royal Canadian Engineers and the Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in the Canadian Occupation Force. Might it be possible to identify those in the photograph?

More about the Oldenburg curling rink can be found in Colin Campbell's report to the Meeting of the Dominion Curling Association in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on March 6, 1946. It is clear from this that it was Campbell himself who had set in motion ideas for curling by the Canadian forces stationed in occupied Germany. Campbell was a mining engineer, and a local politician in Ontario. When war broke out he joined the Royal Canadian Engineers. His wartime accomplishments are considerable and can be read here. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General, and was awarded an OBE and DSO. He was serving in Italy at the end of the war. Curlers will know 'Collie' Campbell as the President of the International Curling Federation, later to become the World Curling Federation, from 1969 until his death in 1978. His name is remembered in the 'Collie Campbell Award'.

With his many ties to Scotland, Campbell had been appointed as 'Overseas Representative' of the Dominion Curling Association in 1943. His duties were mainly concerned with arranging curling for Canadians on leave in Scotland, and also representing the Dominion Association at the Annual Meetings of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

Campbell's report (as found in the 1946-47 Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club) states, "After V-E Day it became known that Canadians would form part of the Occupation Force in Germany, and as they would be occupying the same area at all times I considered many members of the Force would wish to curl. Subsequent interviews and discussions were held with Major-General Vokes, Commander of the Canadian Occupation Forces, and several of his staff officers, Lt-Col Poulter, Senior Auxiliary Services Officer, CMHQ, London, and Mr Andrew Hamilton, Royal Caledonian Curling Club." And from these meetings, and due to the efforts of Campbell's successor, Lt-Col R F Jobson, MBE, the Oldenburg rink was constructed.

I was interested to learn that corn brooms could not be procured in Europe, so these were purchased by Canadian Auxiliary Services in Montreal and 'rushed by fast steamer to Germany for the opening of the season'!

Some 400 members of the Canadian Occupation Force, most of whom were 'other ranks', took part in competitions at the Oldenburg rink.

One competition in that first season had first and second prizes as a trip to Scotland! The three day trip saw the eight players visit Falkirk and Kirkcaldy ice rinks, and they were entertained to dinner by Dr G J R Carruthers, a member of Edinburgh Medical Curling Club, and RCCC Council Member.

For those Canadians, unable to travel home while serving in Germany, the prize trip was much appreciated. The sense of that can be seen in a letter sent by Major C E Nye to Andrew Hamilton. He says, "I'm certain that the hospitality, kindness, generosity, and friendliness has never been outdone by any group anywhere or at any time. Something just a bit out of this world. It will be many a year before this journey dims out in our memories, and even then we have souvenirs with which to refresh. May I take this opportunity of thanking everyone who made our lives so enjoyable during those few days."

Lieutenant Jobson wrote to Andrew Hamilton thanking him 'for the very kind and generous treatment which was given to the curlers of this formation when they visited Scotland. It is a visit that they will long remember'.

The Canadians presented Andrew Hamilton a plaque as a memento of the trip. Lieutenant Jobson explains this as follows. "Reference the plaque that we presented to you - the tiles in this plaque were procured from a Dr Meulenbelt who is presently living in Apeldoorn, Holland. He had previously lived in Middelburg on the Walcheren Island and had been a collector of old and ancient tiles. He only had eight left intact after the Island had come through the war and these eight I have managed to secure from him. They are professed to be between 250 and 300 years old and are supposed to depict curling (Pele-Mele) as it was played in Holland at that time. The other four similar tiles we have sent to the Dominion Curling Association in Canada. Dr Meulenbelt gave me to understand that tiles of this nature are becoming very, very rare and are only to be found in museums and any collections of very wealthy people, and it was due to his misfortunes in this war that we were able to purchase them."

The tiles may represent an early form of croquet, rather than curling, but from Lieutenant Jobson's description they would seem to be rare things.

I wonder if they have survived? For many years they were listed in the inventory of items belonging to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Such an inventory last appeared in the Annual of 1985-86.

One final comment. The discussion of allied soldiers playing curling in their camp in Occupied Germany is not intended to trivialise the situation in that country in the years following the ending of the war. Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery was appointed Military Governor on May 22, 1945. In his memoirs he described the situation in the British zone in May, 1945, as follows. "We had in our area nearly one and a half million German prisoners of war. There were a further one million German wounded, without medical supplies. In addition there were about one million civilian refugees. Transportation and communication services had ceased to function. Agriculture and industry were largely at a standstill."

Indeed, the inability to adequately feed the population of over 20 million, in just the British Zone, was a major concern for a number of years.

Whereas there is much WW2 information on the internet, there is much less about the occupation. For anyone interested in finding more, I would recommend Keith Lowe's book Savage Continent: Europe in the aftermath of WW2, published by Viking in 2012, and for an insight into the British Zone, Winning the Peace: The British in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948 by Christopher Knowles, Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.

The origin of the illustrations are as indicated, and from the British Newspaper Archive. Much of the information in the article has been gleaned from letters and reports in the Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, 1946-47.

You will find this wonderful painting, an oil on canvas entitled 'A Young Skip', at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. The painting is a large one, 204 cm x 109 cm excluding the frame. It's more than six feet tall if you prefer the old measurements. A young man is shown on the curling rink, standing on the ice with a 'broom cowe' above his head, signalling for a guard. He is wearing a Murray tartan kilt. It was painted by Charles Martin Hardie in 1907, and was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1908. Its inclusion among the 539 paintings in that exhibition is described by the Dundee Courier critic, "A Young Skip, a portrait of a boy with curling broom raised over his head and curling implements at his feet, is exhibited by C Martin Hardie and is rich in colour and happy in effect."

The boy's name is John Darg Laing, who was born on December 29, 1897, so he was nine years old in 1907 when his portrait was painted. He was the only son of John Thomas Laing of Crossrig, Berwickshire, who is noted on the birth record as a 'landed proprietor'.

John Darg Laing was educated at Loretto School, from 1907-1916. He went from Loretto to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, but injured his knee there and was invalided out. He then received a commission in the Royal Flying Corps, in July 1917, aged 19. He was killed three months later, on October 24, shot down by Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp, just two months before his 20th birthday. Second lieutenant John Darg Laing, of the 19th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, is buried in Linselles Communal Cemetery, see here, and his name is listed on the war memorial at Lasswade.

John Darg's father, who presumably commissioned the painting of his son, was a keen curler. In the early years of the twentieth century, the family resided at Hollycot, Lasswade, a substantial property with three sitting rooms and five bedrooms, plus two more for the servants. There were six acres of land, and in 1906, John's father constructed a three lane tarmac curling rink in the grounds.

This newspaper clipping indicates that the rink was ready for the winter of 1906-07. The first game thereon was on December 12, 1906. It is likely that young John would have been on the ice at Hollycot, before he went off to school.

The rink at Hollycot was much used by the Lasswade Curling Club. One can find the results of games played there in the local paper, such as that above, from 1909. John (senior) was very much to the fore on his own rink. Later that year he skipped a Lasswade team at the Grand Match at Carsebreck, on November 24, 1909. He was Vice-president of the Lasswade CC at the time. But on December 13, 1909, he died suddenly at his home at Hollycot. He was 39 years old.

Mary Peterson Anderson Laing outlived her husband and her son, dying at Eskbank in 1955.

Why might the portrait been painted? It may well have been that the family wanted a portrait of their son before he went off to boarding school. Or it may have been a way of 'celebrating' the construction of the curling rink.

What can we say about the artist? Twenty-nine of Charles Martin Hardie's paintings are listed on the ArtUK website here, although his output was much greater. Curlers will know of him from his painting 'Curling at Carsebreck'. David Smith wrote about it here, and I have discussed the two women in the painting here. There are two versions of the Carsebreck painting. One is owned by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club and is currently displayed at Scone Palace. The other smaller version, now thought to be a preliminary study, is with the National Galleries of Scotland, which also cares for several of Hardie's sketches of those notables which were to be included in the big composite painting. The Carsebreck paintings date from 1899.

Charles Martin Hardie had an 'interesting' life. He was born in 1858 in East Linton, see biography here. He married Mary Lewis, an American, on April 23, 1889, in St Giles Cathedral. Charles was 31, Mary still in her teens. In 1891 they were living in Edinburgh, with a seven month old son, who later died. They then had a daughter, Constance.

In February 1895, Charles was elected member of the Royal Scottish Academy, but in that same year his marriage fell apart. Mary had an affair with Curtis Pounds, an opera singer, and Charles sued for divorce at the Court of Session, before Lord Moncrieff. The salacious details of the 'Edinburgh Society Scandal' (as one paper had as its headline) are recorded in various publications, see for example the Dundee Advertiser, Saturday, December 14, 1895.

The divorce was awarded, and Charles got custody of the daughter, Constance.

Charles remarried on November 22, 1899, to Margaret Somerville Smart (known as Mysie), who was the daughter of a Scottish artist, John Smart, who had died earlier that year. The couple, bought Garth Hill, in North Queensferry, and lived there with Constance until Charles died in 1916.

Looking at the dates of the Charles Martin Hardie paintings that I have been able to track down, it would seem that the artist's output slowed in the early years of the twentieth century.

'A Young Skip' was not painted until 1907, when Charles was 49. Such is the unique composition and sensitivity of the painting that surely the artist must have been a curler himself. Just look at the broom that young John is holding. Such a sweeping implement would not have been in regular use at the time of the painting, but Charles must have been aware of the history of the sport, and decided that John Darg would look better holding a traditional 'broom cowe' than a hair brush! And showing young John clearly indicating a guard shot to be played, also implies an understanding of the game.

Indeed, Charles Martin Hardie WAS a curler. It is recorded that he competed in the Grand Match of January 31, 1899, around the time he was commissioned to paint the Carsebreck painting for the Royal Club. Thanks to Lindsay Scotland, we now know that he was able to enjoy the sport after his move to Garth Hill, playing with the local St Margaret's (Inverkeithing) Curling Club for several years, before becoming Vice-president in 1903, and President in 1907. Thereafter he reverts to being an ordinary member of the renamed Inverkeithing CC, and the final time he appears on the club's roster, as an 'occasional member', is in the Royal Caledonian Curlung Club Annual for 1912-13.

The stones that Charles has included in his composition are of interest too. That in the foreground, for which John Darg is asking for a guard, is an Ailsa Craig 'Blue Hone'. The two dark coloured stones are likely to be Burnock Waters. The pink coloured stone is the most interesting. It has an inscribed silver handle, and is a presentation stone, perhaps a 'Red Ailsa' or a 'Carsphairn Red'.

'A Young Skip' was painted in the year that Charles Martin Hardie became President of his curling club. It is of interest too that this painting is the artist's last recorded work that I have been able to find. I wonder if Charles had met John Laing (senior) on the ice at some point?

Did Charles travel to Hollycot to do preliminary sketches of young John, before completing the painting elsewhere, for example, in his studio? He could not have asked young John to pose for long holding the broom above his head!

What happened to the painting after John Laing (senior) died? Mary Laing outlived her husband and son for many years. It is tempting to assume that having the portrait of her son was a small comfort.

The painting came up at an auction of Paintings of Scottish and Sporting Interest at Sotheby's in Glasgow in November 1976, where it was bought by a well known curling family, who have since lent it to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Do visit! You will find it in the 'Heroes and Heroines' room on the top floor of the gallery.

Thanks go to Imogen Gibbon (above), Deputy Director and Chief Curator Portraiture, National Galleries of Scotland, who also supplied the top picture, from which the two detailed images are cropped. I am also particularly grateful to Lindsay and Sue Scotland for their help and support. The image of the painting on the wall with Imogen is by Sue Scotland.

Curling in the USA has expanded rapidly in recent years, thanks to the Olympics, and the realisation that multi-sport ice arenas can host curling clubs. Idaho, a state in the north-west of the country, got its first curling club, the Boise Curling Club, in 2006. This five-sheet club uses ice at Idaho Ice World. It has some seventy members, who hope to have their own dedicated ice in the future.

In January 2020, the club will host its eighth outdoor bonspiel at the small community of Stanley, Idaho, some 140 miles north east of Boise. In summer, Stanley is the gateway to the Sawtooth Mountains, and a centre for all sorts of summer pursuits. It is a spectacular part of the world, especially if you like mountains. There are other outdoor bonspiels in North America, but the Sawtooth Outdoor Bonspiel has now been 'immortalised' in a full length documentary film.

'Curling in Stanley' by Kelly Curtis and John P Marsh for Liberty Films, documents the 7th Annual Sawtooth Outdoor Bonspiel which was held in January 2019 in Stanley, Idaho. There were 16 teams, 64 competitors from eight states. It was produced by Rob Smith and Jared Belsher for the Boise Curling Club and the Sawtooth Outdoor Bonspiel.

The film had its premier on YouTube on November 29, 2019. Be warned though, this is not a watch for those with limited attention spans, or those of the Twitter generation. It requires commitment - seventy-nine minutes of commitment. So, pour yourself a coffee, or something stronger, put your feet up and get comfortable before you begin to watch it, and enjoy it, here.

Those who have curled outside in Scotland may well be taken aback by the sight of a Zamboni preparing the rink! And the individual sheets were cut with an Ice King, and pebbled! As you can see above, the rink was lit for curling at night, and in the early morning. At 7am, with the temperature at just 6 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 15 degrees Celsius), these US curlers are hardy souls!

The film does not attempt to show how individual games were won and lost. Rather, it attempts to highlight the fun and camaraderie of the occasion, and for anyone who has experience of American curlers, their passion, their friendliness (and their eccentricities) will find that these are well captured. I rather liked the names of some of the teams taking part, for example,

'The Wasted Stones'
'The Bambi Killers'
'Slide and the Family Stone'
'Stanley Lawn Chairs''Brush with Greatness'
and, my favourite,
'Bob Rocks'.

The actual quality of the film is 'interesting'. I was somewhat put off by the use of various filters at different times. It reminded me of when I first encountered Photoshop 'effects' on my own computer. It made the film seem somewhat surreal. Perhaps that was the intention!

Is there a main character? Well, Daniel 'The Villain' Richard, who plays lead for the Wasted Stones, seems set to have a future career in front of the camera, if not on the curling rink. Way to go, Dan!

"The fog is turning the ice into velcro," has to be the best line from the film.

But kudos for the soundtrack, and the occasional appearance, such as Jeff Crosby and the Refugees. above.

So does this reviewer recommend 'Curling in Stanley'? Absolutely, although it will have a niche following. Look out for the rather random appearances of various dogs throughout the film.

I trust the 2020 SOB will be as successful as that in 2019.

There have been other curling documentaries, for example, 'Gone Curling' (see here), 'An American Curling Story' (here), and the film by which all other curling documentaries should be measured, the Grand Match at the Lake of Menteith in 1979, see here.

The images are screenshots from watching on my laptop.

It's Christmas Eve today. I wonder what everyone is doing? Looking back to December 24, 1935, many of Scotland's curlers were on the ice at Carsebreck for a Grand Match!

This was the 35th Grand Match to be held, and the 25th to be held on the Royal Club's own pond at Carsebreck.

The winter of 1935-36 was severe. December 1935 was the coldest month since 1927. The month began with mild weather. After heavy rains in mid-December, roads in many districts became ice-bound on the 16th. From then until the 24th - the date of the Grand Match - frosty conditions continued.

On December 18 it was reported that the ice on the pond was three inches thick in most places and about two inches in other parts. On December 19 a disappointing telegram was received by Andrew Hamilton, the Secretary of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, stating that the thickness of the ice varied from one inch to two inches.

The Scotsman on December 20 had this image with the caption, 'GRAND MATCH HOPES - Mr William Angus of Carsebreck Farm measuring the ice on Carsebreck Loch yesterday before reporting conditions to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in connection with the possibility of a bonspiel'.

It was reported on the night of December 20 that there was a good sheet of ice on the pond.

On Saturday, December 21, Andrew Hamilton sent postcards to clubs with the information, "If the frost continues, the Grand Match will be played at Carsebreck on Tuesday, December 24, commencing at 11.30 am."

On Sunday, December 22, the safety minimum (of the time) of five-inch thickness was attained, and by Monday, December 23, Carsebreck was all set for the national bonspiel, and the marking and laying supervised by David King, who had prepared the rinks for all the bonspiels which had taken place during the previous thirty years. The photo above, from the Dundee Courier, shows some of the forty LMS railway employees who helped prepare the rinks and score the circles on the ice.

The December 23rd edition of the Dundee Evening Telegraph ran a column with the heading "Carsebreck Bonspiel To-Morrow. Christmas Eve will be grand occasion for curlers all over Scotland." And this stated, "The great Carsebreck Bonspiel is definitely fixed for to-morrow."

The article noted that the surface of the ice was fairly rough, but reported the view of 'a veteran curler' that 'a curler wants ice, and it doesn't matter so much whether it is fine or rough', with the qualification that 'they generally liked fine'."

Some 2600 curlers headed for Carsebreck early on Christmas eve. Reportedly, only half of them travelled by train, although the LMS Railway Company had again made special cheap travel arrangements for curlers and spectators. By 1935, others were able to reach the pond by motor car or bus.

The Aberdeen Press and Journal of December 26 had this photo, captioned 'The Trek to the Loch'. There was a short walk from the railway sidings (Carsebreck Halt) to the loch itself. It was a much longer walk in from the roadside if travelling by car.

The official reports of the match, as recorded in the RCCC Annual for 1936-37, are informative.

The North beat the South by 5102 shots to 4266, a majority of 836. Just how many curlers were on the ice is uncertain. According to the Table of Grand Match Results published in the Annual in 1936, and thereafter, there were 322 teams on each side, making the 1935 Grand Match the biggest ever in terms of participation. However, only the scores of 309 matches are recorded in the eleven pages of results published in the Annual for 1936-37. Perhaps not all scorecards were handed in at close of play! Or it could be that the Table of Grand Match Results lists the rinks which had entered for the bonspiel, and some, for whatever reason, had failed to turn up on the day.

The Challenge Trophy, awarded to the club on the winning side having the highest average majority of shots per rink, went to the Monzievaird and Strowan Club.

Four gold badges were awarded to the rink in the winning club having the greatest majority of shots, and went to Major Graham-Stirling’s side. They overpowered their Duntocher opposition 46-2, a winning margin of 44 shots. The other Monzievaird and Strowan team, skipped by Robert Stewart, also beat Duntocher opposition, 24-11.

Here are the two Monzievaird and Strowan teams. The woman on the front row is Mrs Boothby who played lead for Major Graham-Stirling. One of the gold medals has survived. David wrote about this back in 2013 here. The image above was from his own collection then, and must now reside with the Scottish Curling Trust.

Winners of the Second Trophy, awarded to the club on either side (other than that which gained the Challenge Trophy and badges) having the greatest net majority of shots, was the Drummond Castle Club.

The Craigielands Club won the medal awarded to the Club on the losing side having the highest average majority of shots.

The Strathcona Medal was won by the St Martin's Club, which had the highest majority of shots in the President and President-Elect Match. This match is for surplus rinks or clubs unsuccessful in ballot for places in the main Grand Match. In 1935, this match involved 32 teams, sixteen on each side.

The scores in all the games of both the main Grand Match and the President v President-Elect Match can be found in the Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for 1937-37, listed over twelve pages.

The Royal Club account of the day noted some of the players who took part in the match. Sir Colin MacRae, President of the Club (above, from the Annual) had skipped a Clan MacRae rink. Also on the ice were the Earl of Stair, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, and Sir John Stirling-Maxwell.

A spectator at the bonspiel was Ernest Brown, MP for Leith and Minister of Labour. It was his first visit to Carsebreck.

Among the players was John Brown, of the Dundas Club, South Queensferry, who had taken part in the Grand Match on six occasions. He was seventy-nine years old, but still active enough 'to play a whole-hearted game'.

The Annual report noted that 'not a few women curlers' had taken part in the match. 'One rink consisted of four sisters - the Misses Carnegie, from Colinsburgh, Fife, skipped by Miss Pat'. They were well-known players, and their play was 'on a standard equal to that of many skilled men'. It is to be noted that these women are not in fact listed as members of the Colinsburgh Curling Club in the Annual, but can be found in the ranks of the Hercules Ladies CC. It was under the latter club that they competed at Carsebreck where, for the record, they lost to Charles Bruges and his team from Craigielands CC, 27-3.

Also mentioned was Mrs A M Cook, Elie. She was the skip of the other Hercules Ladies CC team, which also lost to a Craigielands side, skipped by Gilbert Scott, 29-6.

The Aberdeen Press and Journal had this photo of Miss Lois Muirhead 'in curling kit at the famous Scottish bonspiel on Christmas Eve'.

Who was she? There is a Lois Muirhead listed in the Annual as a member of Glasgow Ladies CC, but if this is her photo, it is unclear for whom she was playing, as Glasgow Ladies were not represented as such in the 1935 Grand Match. I suspect it may have been for the Bridge of Weir CC. She was also a member of the Kandersteg Curling Club, so she was a keen curler indeed. Another Glasgow Ladies member, Mrs Jane S Glen, is also mentioned in the Annual report.

And, as mentioned above, Mrs Boothby was a member of the Monzievaird and Strowan CC, the champions on the day.

An amusing account of the match can be found in the Dundee Courier, by a 'Special Correspondent'. I've reproduced this in full here. Enjoy!

"A Gale-Swept Carsebreck - But Nobody Cared. Bearded Men Forgot They Were Old. 2800 Curlers in a Glorious Christmas Party."

"Carsebreck was a glorious Christmas party. I could not have asked for better. The setting was one from fairyland. White fields and hills; silvery trees; white roof-tops ... in the midst of these a glistening floor of ice. Every second person one met on the ice looked like Santa Claus in fancy dress. Jolly old men with beards of all sorts and sizes pranced gaily about flourishing broomsticks.

I enjoyed every minute of our big Christmas party, and I didn't notice I was cold until I got back to town. But let me tell you more about the old men. Hundreds of them came gambolling down to the ice full of boyish fun and pranks. Thinking it might be interesting to discover the oldest among them, I set out on my voyage of discovery. I started somewhere about 75 years, and moved on - 77, 78, 80. 82, 83 . . . until I came to a rubicund old gentleman who was sitting on his heels, bawling jocular remarks to a companion whose nose was a matter of three inches away from his own.

"Are you the oldest man on the ice?" I inquired. The jovial one sprang to his feet, pulled off his jacket, and dashed the icicles from his beard. "What meanest thou?" he cried (these were his very words). "I'm only 104. Begone!"

The outstanding quality of our Christmas party was its complete cosmopolitanism. Peers played with miners; all were perfectly at ease. A Cabinet Minister - Mr Ernest Brown - could be seen trying a slide. He had come to see what Carsebreck was like, and its rejuvenating influence had infected him.

I found Lady Marjory Dalrymple taking snapshots of her brother, the Earl of Stair. "There no need to go out of Britain for winter sports while places like this exist," she said.

I saw John Bannerman, one of the greatest figures of post-war rugby, responding as vigorously to the call of "Soop! Soop!" as he used to do to the call of "Feet! Feet!" Another rugby internationalist, Alf Wilson, of Dunfermline, was cheering his local rinks on enthusiastically.

(And here is rugby internationalist John Bannerman, as captured by an Aberdeen Press and Journal photographer.)

I stopped to watch Sir Colin MacRae pause his game, and, shaking a finger waggishly at a comrade whose shot had stopped short, declare, "When you are only halfway up, you are neither up nor down."

I saw a minister from the far and Puritan north point his broomstick skywards and scream (literally scream) "Don't touch it! Don't touch it!" All this to a continuous chorus of "Soop! soop!" which tempted me to the improvised luncheon where I clamoured "Soup! soup!" and felt very clever and jolly.

In the afternoon a gale swept across the loch, carrying off tam o' shanters and setting beards streaming in the wind. But nobody minded.

Something like 2800 curlers engaged in the Grand Match of the Caledonian Curling Society.

The men from the south were attempting to turn the tables on those from the north who won at the last Christmas party six years ago. Oh, yes, the old fellows remembered there was a match on. One had only to get in the way of a curling stone (as I did) to realise that. Then one would have thought the heavens were falling. Beards exercise restraint on language.

Everybody one met knew for a fact that the North or the South was winning. The reason was meticulously explained. The North had keen curling stones which went better on the rough ice. The South had dour curling stones which went better on the smooth ice.

The bewildering thing was the ambiguity which seemed to exist about the state of the ice. When I came away all I knew was that whichever side won I knew what the reason would be.

There is this fashion note to be added. The sartorial daring of these curlers knew no limits. From the Dunblane tailor, who appeared on the ice in a bowler hat, the weird and wonderful tammies one encountered at every rink, the headgear of the curlers of Carsebreck overwhelmed anything Paris could have produced.

Our Christmas party vanished like a splendid dream. A gamekeeper fired two shots from a nearby hill, and the throngs on the ice thawed into the waiting trains. The last glimpse I caught of Carsebreck as my train steamed into the dusk was of solitary curler drawing his train of curling stones across the empty expanse of ice. That was a merry Christmas."

And a Merry Christmas to everyone in 2019 too! If you have some time to spare over the next few days, do watch the seven minutes of (silent) film of the 1935 Grand Match which can be found in the Moving Image Archive of the National Library of Scotland, online here. (There's a surreal moment in the middle of the video when a women on skates passes the end of one rink!) Here's a link to an article about a Grand Match that almost came off, and here's the story of how the Carsebreck pond came about, and its association with the railway. More on the 1935 Grand Match is here.

The image above is a detail from the Scotsman photo that was published in the 1936-37 Annual. The images in the article were sourced as indicated in the text. The British Newspaper Archive was an invaluable reference as always. The results and report are from the Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for 1936-37.

Pitfour House and estate lies in the north east of Scotland. Here, courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive is a record of curling, and skating, on Hogmanay 1886, from the Aberdeen Press and Journal, January 3, 1887. I just love the idea of curlers playing in the dark, just with the light from lamps set on the ice!

"PITFOUR - CURLING and SKATING"

"Friday (Hogmanay) was fixed for a curling tournament and skating carnival on the Lake of Pitfour by torchlight but the complete success of the proceedings was somewhat marred by an unexpected fresh which set in. The number of curlers and skaters which arrived was not as large as it might have been. The ice was somewhat soft, and with falls of rain soon became wet, and thus very disagreeable.

Only a few, what may described as lanes, were available for skaters, the rest of the lake having a coating of snow, these lanes having been swept through the instruction of Colonel Ferguson.

All the rinks which had been prepared for curlers were not utilised. When it became dark numerous lamps containing inflammable material steeped in naptha were placed at different points on the lake, and these had a most brilliant effect, and enabled the votaries of the 'roaring game' to continue their sport till far into the night. It was intended that the New Year should be 'curled in', and this was done.

Before twelve o'clock a procession of those who had been engaged skating and curling walked towards Pitfour House, in order thank Colonel Ferguson for his uniform kindness in permitting the privilege of access to the lake, and for the lively interest he took in both sports. Mr Francis Ferguson stated that Colonel Ferguson, his father, had retired to rest, but on his behalf expressed his pleasure at seeing them.

On three cheers being called for Mr Ainslie, factor, Mr Ainslie said he hoped they would have another such event next year.

On the stroke of twelve o'clock great cheering and hand shaking was engaged in, and the company sang 'Auld Lang Syne'.

A special train left Mintlaw at one o'clock, conveying the visitors to Peterhead and intermediate stations."

This last piece of information just shows how the railway was indispensable to curlers and skaters in Victorian times.

Here is detail from the OS One Inch map of 1876, courtesy of the National Library of Scotland's map website, showing the relationship of The Lake to Pitfour House and the nearby station. The venue was the site of many curling matches and bonspiels in the 1880s, see here. Local curlers even constructed a temporary railway platform nearer the lake for a bonspiel in 1892. For more on such 'temporary platforms'see here.

Happy New Year!

Ken Watson (above) was a native of Manitoba, Canada. He was a schoolteacher in Winnipeg for twenty years. His team won the Canadian Brier Championship three times, in 1936, 1942 and 1949. He should be remembered as one of curling's 'greatest'!

But this article is not about his curling career, but rather what he turned to when he retired from the game, especially the books that he wrote.

His first book about the sport was published by Copp Clark in 1950. There are two versions, a hardback and a paperback. The book sold over 150,000 copies and covered strategy, sweeping techniques and the psychology of team play, among other subjects.

Here's one of my copies of his first book. This hardback above retains its dust jacket, but it is a bit tattered, and has obviously 'had a life', before I purchased it. It is special for me because it has the author's signature inside.

I never met Ken Watson, but he certainly influenced my curling career. Soon after I took to the ice in the early 1960s, I became aware that it had been Watson who had 'invented' the sliding delivery, which my school friends and I were trying to master at the Scottish Ice Rink, Crossmyloof, Glasgow. As my horizons in the sport grew, I learned that Watson had been involved in helping organise the first competitive international matches between Scotland and Canada, for the Scotch Cup. And the Scottish Curler magazine regularly published articles about our sport authored by 'Mr Curler', as Watson was often called.

There are five main chapters in Ken Watson on Curling: 1. The Fundamentals of Delivery; 2. The Sliding Delivery; 3. More Ways to Better Curling; 4. Strategy in Skipping; 5. The Psychology of Team Play.

Although the sport has moved on in many ways since 1950, the book remains a fascinating read.

Curling to Win is the first of three paperbacks written by Watson in the years that followed. This 221 page book was printed and published by Stovel-Advocate Press, Winnipeg, in 1955. The book is a compilation of articles about the sport, mostly written for The Toronto Telegram. The paper's sports editor, R W Hewitson, says, "For two winters now The Toronto Telegram has carried Ken Watson's articles on curling. They have proved so popular The Telegram will carry a further series. Many of the curling fraternity have asked for these articles in book form. This long felt want has now been met. The articles in The Telegram, and those in the book, cover all phases of the game. The articles and the book are a must in any curling family."

There are seventy-eight articles in the book. Most are instructional, even to giving advice on dealing with 'crooked ice'! Although he enjoyed curling on perfect ice, Watson opined that "... it would tend to develop carefree delivery, less attentive sweeping for position, and lack-lustre skipping. Even curling brains can be lulled by the repetitive monotony of every rock following a preconceived pattern blueprinted by precise ice that harbours no secrets and therefore offers no challenge, either to a nimble mind or a smooth, unerring delivery."

Yes, Ken Watson could certainly be provocative. He enjoyed the challenge of reading ice that was 'twisted'. He concludes his article with, "Next time you play on crooked ice, accept the challenge that it offers and don't blame the icemaker. Thank him for making a better curler out of you." I doubt that many of today's competitive curlers would subscribe to this view!

I liked 'Love Thy Lead', and the chapter on 'Let the Kids Curl' is of interest as, when it was written, there were few, if any, school children curling in Scotland. There is an 'exclusive' section 'For Skips Only', sealed with a red sticker, which is 'dedicated to the skip and his unenviable role as the captain of his team'.

There are a number of photos, embedded in the text.

Curling with Ken Watson was published in 1958 by Harlequin Books, Winnipeg. This continued the format as a compilation of articles Watson had written for newspapers, these being syndicated across Canada. Don H Pilling, the Managing Editor of the Lethbridge Herald, writes, "Ken Watson's articles have proved to be one of the most popular features we have ever carried. He is a curling expert who writes with authority and knowledge."

New is this compilation were articles with advice for women curlers: 'For Ladies Only', 'Swing Milady - Swing!', 'Watch the Left Foot - Girls!', and 'More Hints for the Ladies'. His coverage of how to handle crooked ice is continued in a fascinating article entitled 'Hollows and Humps'. There is even a historical article about the 'Red Jackets', who were Toronto Curling Club teams from the 1860s and 70s.

Aside from his general articles, Curling with Ken Watson included articles that the author had written as a correspondent covering the Canadian Championship for the Macdonald Brier trophy at Moncton, New Brunswick, in 1956, the event in 1957 at Kingston, and at Victoria in 1958. These provided the excuse to include glossy photographs, such as those below, courtesy of Macdonald Tobacco Inc.

Although somewhat dark, the images do give a sense of the action. This one is captioned 'A tense moment during the Ontario-Manitoba playoff game of the Macdonald Brier in Moncton in 1956. Bill Walsh makes a superb draw to cut out two Ontario stones'. (The promotional film of the 1956 Brier has been digitised, see here, and the playoff game is covered in some detail.)

This image is from the 1958 Brier, and is captioned, 'A splendid action shot of the agile adolescents who captured the fancy of the fans at the Victoria Arena during the 1958 Brier.' This is the Terry Braunstein team representing Manitoba. The skip was nineteen years old, and the team the youngest to compete in the Canadian Championship. (See them in action in the 1958 promotional film here.)

An early entry to the marketing world, Ken Watson allowed his name to be associated with a brand of curling shoes, available into the 1970s. Mens' and women's curling boots were made. This image appeared on the inside front cover of Curling with Ken Watson.

Curling Today with Ken Watson was also published by Harlequin in 1961, and runs to 224 pages. By this time, his curling articles were syndicated in more than fifty Canadian newspapers. This book in a compilation of many of these articles. I found his insights about curling in Scotland in 'A Skip's Dilemma in Bonnie Scotland', and 'Dusters and Dollies', particularly amusing. The author also experienced curling on outside ice for the first time at Lasswade. The book contains articles and comment about the Canadian Curlers Tour to Scotland in 1960, of which he was a member. It contains fascinating insight into the 1959 Brier at Quebec, the 1960 Brier at Fort William, and the 1961 Brier at Calgary. These were the first years that the Canadian Champions went on to compete against Scotland in the Scotch Cup.

Watson does not pull any punches in his comments about the one-sided nature of these first games in Scotland in 1959, and what the Scots would have to do to match the Canadians in the future.

There are a good number of photographs in the book, courtesy of Macdonald Tobacco Inc, and the Scotch Whisky Association. Here is Ken Watson, on the left, arriving with the Ernie Richardson team at Prestwick Airport for the first Scotch Cup matches in March 1959.

And here are the Canadians with their Scottish opposition prior to the first matches at Ayr. L-R: Wes Richardson, Willie Young, Garnet Richardson, Bobbie Young, Arnold Richardson, Jimmy Scott, Ernie Richardson and John Pearson.

It should be remembered that the first Scotland v Canada matches for the Scotch Cup in 1959 were not organised by the governing bodies. Indeed, the Dominion Curling Association and the Royal Caledonian Curling Club only endorsed them later, after the first set of matches, although one sided, had been such a success. Ken Watson had been one of those who had made these games happen. He would have been forgiven had he praised his own involvement in Curling Today. Modestly, he does not.

Robin Welsh, the Editor of the Scottish Curler magazine, first reprinted a Watson article in his January 1955 issue, as the magazine entered its second year. He notes that the article had been sent to Scotland by Joe Alderson of Winnipeg, and had come into the editor's hands via Arthur Frame. The article was called 'Love thy Lead'. (This is one of the articles that was later included in Curling to Win.)

Robin must have contacted Watson and made some sort of an agreement to publish further articles. In November 1955, Vol 2, No 3, of the Scottish Curler contained an article, written by Ken Watson, about high school curling in Canada. That's the first paragraph above. The article must have resonated with the curling establishment here in Scotland, as efforts were soon being made to encourage schoolboys on to the ice at the Crossmyloof rink in Glasgow, and the Haymarket rink in Edinburgh.

Robin Welsh added this editorial comment. It reveals that Watson hoped to come to Scotland. And in the years that followed he did so. It is not well recorded that Watson toured Scotland prior to the first Scotch Cup matches, visiting various ice rinks, and helping smooth out the many obstacles that faced those organising the international clashes. He worked particularly with the sponsor, the Scotch Whisky Association, and with Jock Waugh.

As previously mentioned, he was a member of the Canadian Tour Team in 1960.

If you wish to see Ken Watson in action, spend a few minutes with this YouTube video, entitled 'A Canadian Cameo', produced in 1952. At the beginning of the video, Watson demonstrates the inturn and outturn, and later on there are some shots from a game.

Ken Watson was a tireless promoter of our sport. He was the first recipient of the World Curling Federation's Elmer Freytag award in 1978. He died, age 81, in Winnipeg, in 1986. He should not be forgotten.

Photos are sourced as indicated, although the photographer(s) are not stated, other than for that at the top of the post, from Ken Watson On Curling, which is credited to Don Dunbar. Hopefully the content of the three paperbacks will be digitised. They contain an important record of the history of curling in the 1950s. Yes, many of the syndicated articles can be found in newpaper archives, but the books bring so many of these together.

The resort of Villars-sur-Ollon (commonly just called Villars) lies in the south west of Switzerland. It first became known as a winter holiday resort in 1905, and became popular with British tourists in the years before WW1. It was well established as a curling centre when the Villars Curling Club was first listed in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1910-11. The resort held an international bonspiel in 1910, and this was won by a rink from the Manchester Caledonian Club.

When I wrote about 'open curling' in Switzerland, with women playing alongside the men (see here), I included this image, showing mixed play on two rinks at Villars. The postcard was mailed on November 21, 1913, and the action probably dates from the previous winter.

World War 1 intervened, and winter holidays in Switzerland put on hold.

After the war, 'normal service' was becoming established in the 1920s, the article above in the Pall Mall Gazette, from November 12, 1920, extolling the 'Lure of Swiss Winter Resorts'.

Villars certainly wished to be among the resorts that would again appeal to wealthy British tourists. This advert began to appear in a variety of publications.

Newspaper adverts, and advertorials, are one thing, but it is difficult to imagine exactly what a holiday to an alpine resort might have been like back then. The fortunate acquisition of an album of photographs has given me some insight. The album is simply entitled Villars-sur-Ollon, 1920-21. It contains 115 photographs, of family scenes, and of skating, skiing, and a good number of curling. Unfortunately few of them are captioned. There is no indication of whose album it was.

There are a couple of wide views. This one shows a woman curler in the hack on the nearer rink, and is identified as Miss Gordon Paterson.

Here's another. There's a woman on the ice, far left, seemingly playing with the men.

The male curler in the rear of this shot does look to be involved in the game! Note too the two women on the right. They are on skates.

This is a 'Miss Lubev'. That's the Villars Palace hotel in the background.

This is a group shot of the curlers at Villars. Some can be identified, and the names compared with the membership of the Villars Curling Club in 1920.

This is the Villars CC's membership list from the 1920-21 Annual. A number of women, including Miss Gordon Paterson (mentioned above), are included amongst the club's regular members.

If you look closely again at the group photo, you can see that one of the women is holding a trophy.

There is a series of photos from a match which seems to involve two women's teams. It appears to have some significance, given the skaters lined up to watch.

Ice being given, with opposition skip and third behind.

More discussion.

Sweepers in action.

Involved in the play.

This seems to be the presentation at the end of the game, with the winners on the left, and the runners-up on the right.

The competition is identified only as the 'Ladies Cup'. I do not believe that this has been discussed before. The winning rink: (L-R) Miss E Anderson, Miss M N Osborne (skip) with the trophy, Miss Gordon Paterson and Miss Walter. All four appear on the Villars membership lists from 1920-21, or from 1921-22. Further research is needed to find out more about these four pioneering women curlers. So far I've only found a little about the skip.

This is Miss M N Osborne about to play from the crampit, with a skater, a 'Mrs Bower', watching behind. When a second curling club was established at Villars in 1921 (the Villars Chalateer CC), Miss M N Osborne is listed as the Secretary and Treasurer, with her address as Thorton Hall, by Glasgow. Thorton Hall was the home of Andrew Henderson Bishop, who was the President of Villars CC in 1920, and a representative member of the Chalateer CC.

When A Noel Mobbs and F McDermott wrote their book Curling in Switzerland, published by Arrowsmith in 1929, they listed 37 resorts in that country which had facilities for curling. One of these was Villars, which had two clubs. The Villars Curling Club had an average of 33 members, including ten ladies. The Villars Chalateer Club had an average of 13 members, including two ladies. The authors also write, "At any resort where there is curling a lady will usually find little difficulty in getting some instruction in the game, even though the remainder of the players are all men. Some ladies, however, may prefer to go to a resort where they will be fairly certain to find other members of their sex on the rink. Centres which are likely to fulfil this requirement are St Moritz, Davos, Murren, Grindelwald, VILLARS, Celerina, Maloja, and Wengen.

Much remains to be uncovered about those who holidayed, and curled, at Swiss resorts in the early twentieth century.

The advert for the Villars-sur-Ollon resort is from the November 15, 1924, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive. The other images are from the author's archive, or as indicated.

The early years of the twentieth century saw the Royal Caledonian Curling Club's Grand Match take place at Carsebreck on February 9, 1900, February 11, 1902, and January 16, 1903. Following these great bonspiels, Scotland's curlers waited in vain for the next one. The winters of 1903-04, 1904-05, and 1905-06 all passed without a Grand Match being held.

Behind the scenes though, the Carsebreck venue was improved. The Caledonian Railway Company constructed a platform some 260 yards long, with suitable exits to the field below on the route to the pond. By 1906, a new bridge had been constructed over the River Allan, convenient for the platform exits, and the old bridge repaired. Three small bridges over the ditch adjoining the pond had been renewed. The course of the burn flowing into the pond had been diverted, and the east bank heightened. The other banks of the pond had been repaired and strengthened.

A Secretary's office had been built, accommodating the Club's property, formerly kept in a shed of the Railway Company. All the above made significant inroads into the Club's funds, but showed a continuing commitment to the holding of Scotland's great outdoor bonspiel.

Elsewhere, Scotland's first indoor ice rink was under construction, as this advert from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1906-07 shows.

It was yet to open when the Representatives of Scotland's curling clubs met in the summer of 1907. The entry for the next Grand Match, should there be a cold spell, included 411 rinks from the North, and 352 rinks from the South, the dividing line being the Forth and Clyde Canal.

A C Riddall of Glasgow Northern CC moved that, "In the event of the Grand Match not taking place by 1st March of any year, the Committee of Management and Secretary be authorised to have it played in the Scottish Ice Rink, Glasgow, if arrangements can be made for doing so."

Riddall noted that, if arrangements could be made to play the match at the ice rink, 'it would give a great zest to the old game'. He proposed that there be four sessions of three hours each day, which would accommodate 24 games.

Riddall's motion was seconded by Mr Thomson, Holyrood.

The Rev Dr Fergusson (Airthrey Castle) proposed an amendment, saying that said he thought Mr Riddall was a year too soon with this motion, "This rink, which they were all delighted to hear was nearing completion, and which they all approved of certainly, was not ready yet, and they knew not the manner of the management, how the rink would be conducted, and the charges that would be made, or those details which were necessary for a business company like this to go into."

That brought a spirited defence of the Crossmyloof rink by John Jackson of Glasgow Lilybank, who was the Scottish Ice Rink company secretary. He stated, "It is not a new thing; it is built upon exactly the same principle as Princes Rink (in London), and all of you who have played there know that the ice is admirable. The refrigerating machinery is made by one of the very first makers in the world, and there is no doubt whatever that the ice will he available from the 1st of October, and as my friend will see, we do not propose to ask the Grand Match to come there until after the month of March, very possibly April or May. The rink will be thoroughly well tested before then."

There was further discussion before Riddall's motion was passed by a large majority. The stage was set then for a Grand Match to be held indoors.

The 'Scottish Ice Rink' as it was called, opened as planned on October 1, 1907. The curling and skating venue was an immediate success.

This is the only image that I am aware of which shows the exterior of the first 'Scottish Ice Rink'. More on the history of the rink can be found here.

The winter of 1907-08 was not severe, and there was no opportunity for an outside Grand Match. So it was that the first indoor Grand Match was held at Crossmyloof during April 1908!

The Scottish Ice Rink had just six lanes for curling. Despite initial thoughts to hold four sessions per day, the indoor Grand Match went ahead with just three sessions each day. Eighteen games could be played daily. The competition ran from Monday, April 6, and was concluded on the evening of Tuesday, April 28.

The outcome was a substantial win for the South, by 400 shots, 3728 to 3328. A new draw had been made for the indoor Grand Match. I'm not sure how many matches were planned. It could have been 250, certainly less that would have taken place at Carsebreck, for which, as noted above, there had been an entry of 411 rinks from the North, and 352 rinks from the South.

The Annual for 1908-09 lists the results of just 219 games. In addition, thirty matches were held in a President's v President-elect's competition.

The Grand Match trophy was won by the Blantyre CC. They had entered three teams, two of which had good wins over their opposition by 26 and 24 shots, whereas the third team had lost by three shots. That gave the club the highest average shots-up. The gold badges to the rink of the winning club which had the greatest majority of shots went to that skipped by M. Campbell. The trophy to the club having the greatest net majority of shots (other than the club which has won the main trophy) went to the Biggar CC.

The individual game results were published in a large table in the RCCC Annual for 1908-09. That's the first 20 results above. As far as I can see, none of the few women's clubs that were members of the Royal Club at the time competed at Crossmyloof. It is possible that individual women played in a club team, but I have not found any mention of this.

The newspapers of the time took less interest in the drawn-out competition that would have been the case had there been a Grand Match on outside ice, held in a single day. However, some results were reported, and these can be found in those newspapers digitised in the British Newspaper Archive. Unlike the Annual table, the newspaper results show when the games were played.

Particularly attentive was the Dundee Courier. Here is part of the report that appeared on Wednesday, April 8:

It is of interest that in the afternoon of the second day's play, all six rinks from the Biggar Curling Club took part.

Two rinks had travelled from Weem (near Aberfeldy) to represent the North. It would be interesting to know exactly how they travelled to Glasgow. Presumably this was by train, but did they stay over, and where? Indeed, I am curious to know what arrangements were made by all the teams which had to travel a long way. And what did it cost each club? If such information exists, it may be recorded in old minute books.

Not all went according to plan. Note that on the morning session on April 7, only one game took place. The Scotsman of Wednesday, April 8, had the explanation, reporting that "Two rinks from Partick and three from Johnstone failed to appear in the morning, and thus one rink from Bonhill, two rinks from Vale of Leven, and two from Upper Cowal, who were drawn against them, had a fruitless journey." That must have been a disappointment, to say the least, for those curlers who had made the effort to travel to Crossmyloof.

According to the published Royal Club rules, the travel expenses of those who DID appear should have been covered by the clubs which failed to show. The rule stated, "If any Rink, entered to play at the Grand Match, fail to appear at the Match, they shall be liable for the reasonable travelling expenses of the Rink against which they were balloted to play, unless the Rink failing to appear shall give the Representative Committee a satisfactory excuse for their absence."

Several sessions were lost when a fault developed with the freezing plant. Although efforts were made to reschedule the lost games, some clubs were unable to return to Crossmyloof.

I have been unable to find any images of play at Crossmyloof during this first indoor Grand Match.

Indoor Grand Matches were played again in 1909 and 1911, both at Crossmyloof; in 1913 at the new Edinburgh Ice Rink, Haymarket; and in 1914, jointly at Crossmyloof and Haymarket. The Grand Match came off outside at Carsebreck on November 24, 1909, and February 2, 1912.

In 2000, the concept of an indoor Grand Match was resurrected, with play on most of Scotland's rinks, all in one day, January 8. But that's another story.

The image (an artist's impression) of play at the opening of the Scottish Ice Rink is from the Royal Club Annual for 1907-08, as is the photograph of the outside of the building.

Cargen House, near Dumfries, was built in 1870 for Patrick Dudgeon, an eminent mineralogist. His Wikipedia entry is here. He had an interesting life, spending some sixteen years as a merchant in China, before returning to Scotland in 1850, and buying the Cargen estate in 1853. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1860. He was a trustee and director of the Crichton Royal Hospital for thirty years, and the Deputy Lietenant of Kirkcudbright from 1867.

He was also a curler, and was President of the Troqueer Curling Club.

In the winter of 1878-79, he had passed his sixty-first birthday and was living at Cargen with his wife Cecilia Jane and their family.

We can conclude that Patrick Dudgeon was a keen curler. Aside from his activities with the Troqueer club, he had a small pond on his estate, and recently evidence has come to light showing that this had been curled upon. This evidence, in the form of a report in the Annandale Observer and Advertiser, was uncovered by Lindsay Scotland when trawling that paper in the British Newspaper Archive for new places to add to those on the Historical Curling Places database.

The article describes a ladies' curling match, with the sides skipped by men, Dudgeon himself and a Mr Gillison, a neighbour. Unfortunately, the women players are not named. What is interesting is the statement that 'In certain parts of Scotland curling amongst the ladies is not uncommon'! The fact that light weight stones had been made, and were being used by the women at this time came as a surprise to me.

I wondered if there was more to be found about these women who played on the Cargen pond. And there was. First of all, in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard of February 5, 1879, there is a list of donations to the recently opened soup kitchen. Two hundred rolls had been donated by Mr Gillison (mentioned above) as 'being result of Ladies curling match at Cargen'. Wagering on curling games was very common in the past. There are extensive reports of matches for 'coals for the poor', or for bags of grain. I believe it was the loser of the game that had to pay for the charitable donation. We can conclude that the result of the ladies match at Cargen was of significance, and that Mr Gillison's side were the losers!

The Dumfries and Galloway Standard of February 5, 1879, also had an article about a ladies' match. The report differs in a number of ways from that above. It may have been an embellished report of the same game, or perhaps of a match played on a different day. The Dumfries and Galloway Standard article has the women skipping the two sides which saw the domestic servants at Cargen (the 'insiders') compete against women from elsewhere on the estate (the 'outsiders'). The skip of the 'outsiders', who unfortunately remains unnamed, fell when delivering her stone towards the end of the game.

She broke her arm, but with the injured limb in a sling, she continued to play and her team ran out the winners! The full report is below.

Women's curling began to take hold in Scotland in the mid to late 1890s, see here, with the formation of several all-woman clubs. But according to the first of these Dumfriesshire newpaper reports, women's curling was 'not uncommon' at least fifteen years earlier, although the second says that is was 'not usual' to find women curling. The search continues to find more evidence of women on the ice in Victorian times, although I have not forgotten that the earliest mention of curling in the digitised newspapers of the British Newspaper Archive (believe it or not) is from 1740, and is of a ladies' match on the Water of Scaur, see here.

Here is the full report that appeared in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard of February 5, 1879.

"A Resolute Lady Curler.
The worthy proprietor of Cargen is known to be an enthusiastic curler, and his enthusiasm, which has infected so many, has not suffered the inmates of his own household to escape, for Mr Dudgeon, jr, is only less ardent on the ice, and, the female domestics of Cargen, inspired by the example of their masters, lately challenged an equal number of the fair sex to a bonspiel. The challenge was accepted, and a meeting took place; the contending rinks being skipped by ladies prompted and directed by gentlemen. It is not usual to find a rink of lady curlers at play. The phenomenon however is not unprecedented. Ladies on skates - at least in Scotland - were never seen, and probably never heard of, till only a few years ago; and it would rather have astonished our snuff-taking and toddy-drinking great grandmothers to have seen how fast it was possible for a young lady to be (on skates) without losing her modesty. But though our grandmothers never tried the skates, they have been known on rare occasions and in obscure localities to turn out with their husbauds and sweethearts to have a pitch in the roaring game. It is long since we heard of anything of the sort having occurred is this neighbourhood however; and in these days when lissom maidens love to skim the ice on skates, our matrons might do worse than exercise themselves by quietly indulging in the more solid and stationary sport of curling.
The result of the match between the Cargen domestics, whom we shall call the insiders, and the ladies residing on the estate - the wives and daughters of farmers and others - whom we shall call the outsiders, was such as to warrant the highest expectations to be formed of female curling: ladies not infrequently become champion croquet players; they might attain similar distinction on the ice as curlers.
On the occasion of which we are speaking the game was in the fullest sense well contested; the ladies threw their stones and laid their cowes like men, doing the work of sweeping as ladies only can do it. Towards the end of the game, however, an unfortunate accident occurred. The lady who skipped the outside rink, in delivering her stone, slipped, fell, and - broke an arm. An accident like this would have sent some fair ones into swoons and many of the sterner sex to bed; not so our heroine, however. It only served to bring out more fully her resolution and enthusiasm. Her rink was likely to win; it would not fail by any failure of hers. So she got her arm in a sling and, going at it single-handed, had the satisfaction of coming off victorious. The lady we understand afterwards procured surgical assistance; but the limb was so swollen that it could not be set and spliced for a day or two."

The 1881 Census detail, from Scotland's People, shows that the Cargen household had eight female domestic servants. Two had been in service ten years before. Frances Austin had continued in her role as a nurse. And Jane (or June) Russell had progressed from being a housemaid to the position of lady's maid in 1881. Elsewhere on the estate, there are many possibilites of women who could have curled. It is frustrating not to know their names, especially the skip who broke her arm.

In the winter of 1878-79, Cargen was not the only place to host a women's game. The Baljarg estate near Closeburn, also in Dumfries and Galloway, hosted a married vs single ladies match, two rinks aside, with all four teams skipped by men. The same Baljarg pond had seen a women's game back in 1861, as reported in the Southern Reporter of February 7 of that year. It does seem that the women of Dumfriesshire were keen to take to the ice back in the day. So much more to discover!

My thanks go to Lindsay Scotland for pointing out the 1879 clipping in the Annandale Observer. The image of Cargen House is from an old postcard. The house was demolished in the 1980s. The British Newspaper Archive is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in curling history.

I once asked if anyone collected curling event programmes. No-one admitted to so doing. Such programmes are not my own focus, when it comes to collecting curling memorabilia. But in these Covid-19 lockdown months, I've finally got around to sorting out a box of old programmes that I've accumulated over the years. Printed programmes may be on their way out, in favour of web based material. But here are some thoughts on a few paper programmes in my 'collection'. Just domestic events, in this case.

Here's an early programme, the second junior men's invitation at Greenacres. The event was sponsored by the Scottish Milk Marketing Board, 'Scottish Pride' being one of their brands. And of course 'coit' is an older word sometimes used to mean a curling stone. This was a simple programme, including the draw (a double knockout, with consolation event), but without the names of the competitors.

Can you identify the curling silhouette on the front? It is of course Mike Hay, whose team had won the Scottish Junior Championship the previous season. Although his side had competed at Greenacres in 1982, they did not finish on top, that honour going to Martin Turner (skip), Andrew Hemming, Douglas Wood and Andrew Beveridge.

It is no surprise that I've kept this programme. Among the eight teams in the competition was that skipped by Graeme Adam with Ken Horton, Andrew McQuistin, and me, curling out of the Magnum rink in Irvine. We won the title and went on to play in the Silver Broom in Regina. This was the era when curling and Scotch went hand in hand.

By 1991, the sponsor had changed, and the Scottish Championship was now the Bell's Islander Scottish Curling Championship. Bell's Islander (promoted as 'The Curler's Dram') was, in 1991, 'recently created'. The competition, involving ten teams, was held in the newly opened Dewar's Rinks, in Perth. I'm not sure who designed the programme cover, but the illustration, depicting the game outside, reflects a sport quite different from that taking place inside the Perth venue. But this was no doubt intentional, the notes on the inside cover saying 'It is particularly apt that Scotland's oldest sport should be linked with Scotland's oldest drink'!

Over the years, there's been a variety of designs for the Scottish Championship programmes. For some years, a couple of pages were devoted to lists of past champions.

But in 2015, the full list of past champions was cut off at 1985, with the statement, "A comprehensive list of all Scottish Men's Champions from 1962 is available at www.royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org." A similar statement was attached to the cropped list of Scottish Women's Champions. Missing from the printed lists were the men's champions from 1962 to 1984, and the women's champions from 1977 to 1984.

Those who had been champions prior to 1985 had been despatched into oblivion! Someone had decided that we were no longer important enough to be included in the 2015 programme. No, we were not dead, yet! We were very much alive, and previously had enjoyed finding our names, and those of our peers, on the lists of past winners. Now we had been cast aside, considered irrelevant just because of space constraints in a programme. The distress it caused should be a lesson to programme designers. Include ALL, or none, of past winners.

(I blame the fact that this still makes me angry on the effects of the current lockdown!)

Much more consistent in design over the years, keeping the same font and style, have been the programmes for the Glynhill Ladies International. I have all of these except 2011. Anyone? What was I doing that year that I didn't get to Braehead? And now that the Braehead curling rink has closed for good, perhaps these programmes have a new significance.

The Henderson Bishop Trophy programmes vary a lot from year to year, as the venue changes, as does the local organising committee.

I've picked out this one Henderson Bishop programme. The competition finals were held at the Inverness rink, in February 2012. It's a bit nostalgic for me to remember this competition, as it was the last major event that I photographed, before 'retirement'.

I remain puzzled by the cartoon character on the front cover of the Inverness Henderson Bishop programme. Someone will know the significance of this. Does he/she have a name?

I will wind up this foray into old programmes with this unusual one, which has Jackie Lockhart and Rhona Martin, World and Olympic Champion skips in 2002, with white moustaches! The Scottish Schools Championship 2004 was sponsored by the Milk Development Council. There was a national campaign which had a number of celebrities with white moustaches.

Atomic Kitten featured on the back page of the programme - just a little different from the product adverts that usually appear thereon.

Here are the names of the competitors at Stirling in 2004. One always has to treat such a list with caution, as, on the day of the event, lineups may have changed, for any number of reasons since the programme was printed. But it would be an interesting exercise, to ask a question about retention in the sport, and find out just how many of the young curlers participating in the National Schools Championship in 2004 are still involved curling today. Most will be in their thirties now.

Who won the Schools back in 2004? That was Kerry Barr with her Currie Community High School team of David Copland, Steven Kennedy and Annie Barr. Kerry was the first female skip to win the National Schools title.

International programmes? That's another story, for another day.

This is the cover of the programme for the Air Canada Silver Broom World Men's Curling Championship, March 18-22, 1969, at the Central Scotland Ice Rink, Perth. Air Canada had taken up the sponsorship the previous year, and the first Silver Broom had been held at Pointe Claire, Quebec, in March, 1968. Previously the competition had been sponsored by the Scotch Whisky Association from 1959 to 1967. The International Curling Federation (later to become the World Curling Federation) had been formed, and the Silver Broom became the 'official' World Curling Championship. The event at Perth was the second Silver Broom.

A new trophy had to be created, and this is it. The broom in the centre was a two-thirds replica in silver of a Canadian style curling broom. Interestingly, the silver plaques on the left had the names of all nine winning teams of the Scotch Cup. The top plaque on the right had the winners of the first Silver Broom competition in 1968.

Eight countries would contest for the world title. The pages of the programme with team details looked very colourful, with the national flags. The competing countries are listed in the order they joined the world championship. Here are the first four teams.

I've scanned the team photographs. Scotland. From left: Alec Young (lead), Derek Scott (second), Bill Muirhead (skip), George Haggart (third). The notes alongside the photo say, "This rink, although new to world championship curling, has been a a strong contender for several years to represent Scotland. Skip Muirhead, a potato merchant, lives at Scone and is secretary of St Martin's Curling Club. Canadians have seen him play as a member of the Chuck Hay rink in CBC TV colour series on curling which has been running since January and will conclude with the coverage of the final of the Silver Broom. George Haggart, from Crieff, also a potato merchant, and a former skip of this rink, has also played with Hay in the Tournament of Champions. Derek Scott, second, is a haulage contractor. He comes from Errol where he is also well-known as a footballer with a blazing shot. Alec Young, the lead, farms at Newton of Lathrisk at Freuchie in Fife."

The Muirhead team had won the Bertola-sponsored Scottish Championship finals, February 28 - March 2. This involved ten teams in a round robin, three games each day.

The Canadian team. (L-R) Ron Northcott (skip), Dave Gerlach (third), Bernie Sparkes (second), Fred Storey (lead). The programme notes read, "They won the Scotch Cup, forerunner of the present world event, in 1966 at Vancouver and won the Air Canada Silver Broom at Pointe Claire, Quebec, last March. The fame of this rink is justly earned. Northcott has skipped it into an unprecedented record of six times in seven years as Alberta's representatives in the 'Brier' - Canada's National Championships - inning that event three times. Northcott, 33, an oil equipment salesman, is married with two children. Lead Fred Story, 38, is an accounting supervisor in business life, and second Bernie Sparkes, 29, youngest member of the rink, is a salesman. Bernie is also married with two children. Third, Dave Gerlach, is new to the Northcott rink."

To be clear, Northcott's two previous successes had been with two different third players, George Fink in 1966, and Jimmie Shields in 1968.

Watch the promotional film of the 1969 MacDonald Brier in Oshawa, Ontario, here. (A feast for lovers of corn broom sweeping!)

The USA team (L-R) Gene Oveson (lead), Franklin Bradshaw (second), Bill Strum (third), Bud Somerville (skip). The notes say, "No one who was present will ever forget the scenes of enthusiasm in Perth Ice Rink in 1965 when Bud Somerville and his rink broke the Canadian stranglehold of the competition to win the World Championship for the United States. Bill Strum was third player in that rink which beat Terry Brauntein and his Canadian champions in a memorable final in which Bud Somerville gave a brilliant individual performance. The same US rink played in the world event at Point Claire last year. This year, Bud introduced a new lead and second player and the rink won the US national title at Grand Forks."

Team Sweden. From left: Christer Wessel (skip and lead), Kjell Oscarius (fourth), Bengt Oscarius (third), Boa Carlman (second). "This young rink represents Sweden for the first time. They have played together for four years and their major success before winning the Swedish title was winning the 1968-69 Solstad Cup. They are members of the Djursholms Curling Club of Stockholm. Skip Wessel (25) and Kjell Oscarius were the male part of the 1968 mixed champions. Wessel is a student and lists rugby as his favourite sport. Kjell Oscarius is also 25, single and a student. Bengt Oscarius is married with a duaghter and in business as a salesman with the 3M Company. Boa Carlman is the third member of the rink who is 25, and a student, and these three have curled together for six years. Bengt is the 'newcomer' having played with the rink for four years."

The second page with the other four teams.

Switzerland (L-R) Kurt Schneider (lead), Jean-Pierre Muhlemann (second), Mario Bettosini (third), Heinz Beutler (skip). "The Swiss Rink this year, from Bern Zahringer, are new to world competition and the rink has been together for only two years. Skip Heinz Beutler started curling in 1962 and also lists football and swimming as favourite sports. He is married and has two children. Third player, Mario Bettosini, started curling in 1964 to add to his other sporting activities in tennis, skiing, swimming and handball. He is married and in the insurance business. Jean-Pierre Muhlemann, second, is married with three children. He also has been curling for five years as well as skiing, swimming and playing tennis. Lead, Kurt Schneider, took up curling in 1967. His other sports interests are in boxing and football (he is a member of the managing committee of the Young Boys, Bern). He is married with a daughter.

Norway (L-R) Erik Gyllenhammar (skip), Sverre T Michelsen (third), Nils Anton Riise-Hanssen (second), Kai Dyvik (lead). "The Norwegian curling champions from the Bygdoy Curling Club of Oslo have curled together since 1960. All are business executives, married, and in addition to curling pursue other sports. Skip Gyllenhammar, who won the Individual Curling Championship in 1966, also enjoys skiing and sailing. He was a member of the first ever Norwegian Curling Team to tour Scotland in November 1965. Sverre Michelsen adds tennis to ski jumping and sailing as his other sports activities. Kai Dyvik is another skiing fan while Nils Anton Riise-Hanssen lists riding as his other favourite sport."

France (L-R) Pierre Boan (skip), Andre Mabboux (third), Yves Vallet (second), Richard Duvillard (lead). "Pierre Boan, skip of the French Champions from Mont D'Arbois, is a veteran of World Curling Championship play. He was a member of the 1967 rink skipped by Jean-Albert Sulpice at Perth and skip of the 1968 French team for the Silver Broom at Point Claire, Quebec. He was also National Champion in 1965 and 1966. France did not enter world play until 1966. Third Andre Mabboux only started curling in 1967 and second and lead players Yves Vallet and Richard Duvillard only started curling last year! The success of this rink may be due in part to the fact that all members are active in several other sports including skiing, ice hockey, water skiing and bowling and they brought all-round sporting skill with them when they took up curling. Richard Duvillard is a cousin of Henri Duvillard, French ski champion, and Adrien Duvillard, world champion professional skier."

Germany (L-R) Rolf Klug (second), Heinz Kellner (lead), Werner Fischer-Weppler (skip), Herbert Kellner (third). "Werner Fischer-Weppler, skip of the German champions, was recently elected President of the German Curling Association. This is the second year his rink has represented Germany in world competition. The third and lead, Herbert and Heinz Kellner are father and son who also share tennis as a family sport. Dr Rolf Klug, second, is now playing in his third world championship. He was a member of the German rink that played in Perth in 1967 in the final Scotch Cup event. Dr Klug is also an ardent tennis player and well-known administrator. The rink comes from the Eisclub Bad Toelz."

The format of the competition in 1969 was a round robin, with the second and third placed rinks contesting a semifinal game, for the right to meet the first placed team in the final. After the round robin, the teams' win-loss records were as follows:

Canada 6-1

USA 5-2

Scotland 5-2

Sweden 4-3
Switzerland 3-4
Germany 2-5
France 2-5
Norway 1-6

Canada's loss was to the USA in Round 5, 10-12. Every nation won at least one game. It is interesting to look at individual game scores on the archived results on the World Curling Federation (here). Scores, such as Canada's defeat of Norway by 28-2, suggest that some games were very one-sided, and that all twelve ends were played out. Unfortunately the full linescores for any game at the event have not survived, and only final scores are shown in the archived records.

In the semifinal, USA beat Scotland 7-5, and in the final Canada beat the USA 9-6.

The report in the April 1969 Scottish Curler notes that Somerville's side came back from 0-6 down after three ends to be just 6-7 behind after ten. They blanked the eleventh, but Northcott counted two in the last end, without the need to play his final stone. The magazine reports that the ice 'became duller' in the twelth, the US stones falling short.

There's one other inconsistency in the WCF's archived results. These show the lineup in the Swedish team as Kjell Oscarius as skip, but the programme notes (and indeed the Scottish Curler magazine) name Oscarius as the fourth player. Christer Wessel was skip and he played lead stones.

Tom Stewart was Chairman of the Organising Committee. Just who put the programme together is not stated, although it was printed by Mackenzie and Storrie, Coburg Street, Edinburgh.

Here's the winning team with Yves Pratte, Chairman of Air Canada, with (L-R) Fred Storey, Bernie Sparkes, Dave Gerlach and Ron Northcott. Photo is by Michael Burns, and appeared on the front cover of the April 1969 Scottish Curler.

Here's another photo from the presentation, on the ice at the Perth rink. This was taken by Erwin Sautter. Ron Northcott is holding the Silver Broom itself (minus its stand). Bernie Sparkes and Dave Gerlach are holding the winners banner - presumably their names would be embroidered on to this later. All four are holding boxes, containing individual awards. And the Earl of Elgin, the President of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, is about to present each with another momento of the occasion.

A couple of final points. The Silver Broom trophy shown above was awarded from 1968-78. A newer trophy was awarded from 1979-85, see here. Air Canada, over the years of its curling sponsorship, produced promotional films of the various championships. I wondered if they had begun to do this by 1969. It appears so. The Moving Image Archive of the National Library of Scotland in Glasgow's Kelvin Hall may hold a copy (see here), although only a clip is available, and this only accessible at the Kelvin Hall. I wonder if it has been digitised elsewhere?

The final was apparently televised too, and transmitted live by CBC, according to this local newpaper report. I wonder if the broadcast was archived, and has survived?

Photo origins are as indicated.

I have this old postcard in my collection. It has not been sent through the post, but was in the past stuck in someone's album. In pencil, written on the back is 'Wanlockhead Curling Club from Miss Flo Mitchell, Thornhill'. I recognised two of the trophies, and thought I would try to identify those in the photograph.

Scanning the photograph, and cleaning it up, the Wanlockhead curlers can be seen clearly. The trophy in the centre is the Grand Match Challenge Trophy, and one on the left is the Waterlow Cup, and that on the right is the Fraser Cup (a Wanlock Curling Club trophy). Note too the curling stones and broom hidden in the grass.

The information I needed was easy to find, as the photograph had been reproduced in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1912-13. The curlers' names, according to the Annual, are:

Back row: Robert Jamieson, J Hoatson, William McMillan, T Gilchrist

Middle: William Laidlaw, Hugh Nicol, W Jamieson, William Stevenson (Secretary), William Mitchell, R Nicol

Front: Alex Brown, John Wilson, John Kerr (Vice President), J Edmond (President), W Kerr

Here is the membership of the Wanlock Curling Club as at September 16, 1912. All the names accompanying the photograph are members of the club, except 'J Hoatson'. The Wanlockhead Curling Society is amongst the oldest curling clubs in the country, with minutes dating back to 1777. The club did not join the Royal Caledonian Curling Club until 1905, and then with a slightly different name, the 'Wanlock Curling Club'. This was after the railway reached the village - in 1902 - which made it easier for curlers to travel to national competitions, such as the Grand Match.

The Wanlock curlers had been successful at the Grand Match at Carsebreck, on February 2, 1912. The club had won the Challenge Trophy, being the Club on the winning side having the highest average majority. They had entered two rinks, and been drawn against two rinks from the St Fillans CC. The Wanlock team skipped by John Kerr beat Duncan McIntyre's side 25-6, and that skipped by J Y Wilson beat Donald Sharp 26-5, average majority 20.

Four Badges were also awarded to the Wanlock Club Rink (J Y Wilson, skip), which had the highest majority of shots (23).

The Wanlock rinks' success helped the South to victory over the North, by 3477 shots to 3038.

The report in the Annual for 1912-13 says, "In the opinion of those who have had long experience of curling there has never been a finer match on Carsebreck. The sheet of ice was magnificent, smooth, black, and thick, and held splendidly throughout the day. A bracing north-east wind prevailed, and overhead the sky was a vast expanse of blue with never a cloud to fleck it, and although the sun shone brilliantly the ice remained keen."

Just four days after the Grand Match, on Tuesday, February 6, the Wanlock curlers were in action again, this time on the Castle Loch, Lochmaben, winning the Waterlow Cup, a competition just for the curling clubs of Dumfriesshire. It had been five years since the previous competition, and 114 rinks (456 players), representing thirty clubs, took part.

A report in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle recorded, "Play commenced at 11 o'clock, and concluded at 3 pm, the result of the contest being announced by Provost Halliday, Lochmaben."

Wanlock were the winners of the Cup, with the highest average shots per rink. Sanquhar was second, and Hoddam, third.

"Miss Yorstoun, East Tinwald, presented the trophy to the most successful rink of the Wanlockhead Club, the members of which were J Wilson (skip), W Wilson, James Gass and A Brown, who gained 42 shots over an Annan rink, skipped by T Gray."

Three of these Wanlockhead curlers are listed in the Annual, and in the photograph, but the third player 'W Wilson' is not.

Tuesday, February 6, 1912, was a busy day for curling. The Scotland v England match was held on Craigielands Loch on that date.

The other trophy in the photograph is identified in the Annual as the Fraser Cup. This was for club competition. Had it not been for the current lockdown, I might well have been heading for the Museum of Lead Mining in Wanlockhead to see if the minutes of the Wanlock Club contain information about that club competition. Above is a photo of the Miners' Library at the museum, where the curling minutes are kept. The museum is currently closed, of course. But do plan to visit in the future.

An interesting challenge I now face is to find out what the role of the curlers named in the photograph was in the life and work of Wanlockhead. And of course I have to search for the mysterious 'J Hoatson' who appears in the photograph, and the 'W Wilson' in the newspaper report, neither of whom seem to have been accredited club members!

One name is already familiar to me, that of John Redmond, the Club's President, about whom I've written, see here, in connection with the school curling club!

On the evening of Friday, March 15, 1912, an 'enthusiastic social meeting' was held in Wanlockhead to 'round off the winter's play and successes in a social meeting and dance'. The company numbered about one hundred and thirty. After the presentation of prizes, Mrs Edmonds, the President's wife, sang 'Wanlock's Curlers':

We sent oor team off tae the curlin',
To Carsebreck to join in the play;
The South - their side - won, they enjoyed the fun.
And we 're happy tae meet them to-day.

Chorus.
Then a cheer for oor staunch Wanlock curlers,
And lang may they join in the play,
Lose or win, all the same, may they aye 'play the game',
And 'oppose' men who act the same way.

A' conditions were set fair for curlin'.
Baith rinks strove for victory like men.
At the finish they stood 40 shots to the good,
So the trophy comes hame tae oor glen.

Chorus.

Wi' a right hearty welcome we greet you,
We've some right tae be prood o' your game,
Let the men o' the North bring their 'Saint's arm' forth,
Strength and skill we can match wi' that same.

Chorus.

Oor auld mither at Wanlock's nae chicken,
For her sons a lang century ago
Took the hill weel arrayed, wi' their stane in their plaid,
To help friend or quaten a foe.

Chorus.

To the memory o' Wanlock's past curlers,
To the present ones - equal in fame,
And, true to the breed, may their sons who succeed
Strive as nobly to 'lead' in 'the game'.

Chorus.

The photo of the miners' library was taken by me. The membership list of the Wanlock CC comes from the Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for 1912-13.

Not all curling stones originate on Ailsa Craig. This was particularly true at the end of the nineteenth century when you could buy curling stones of a variety of types, as David Smith wrote in a blog article, see here. Back then, if you wanted to curl, you had to purchase a pair of stones for your own use on outside ice. There was a variety of stone types to chose from, such as Burnock Water, Crawfordjohn, Carsphairn, Crieff Serpentine, Tinkernhill and of course three types of Ailsas (Red Hone, Blue Hone, and Common). Where exactly had the different types of stone come from, and who had made the raw material into curling stones?

Just before lockdown, I attended an auction viewing, at McTear's Auctioneers in Glasgow, where the contents of Partick Curling Club's house in Victoria Park were to go on sale (above). It was fascinating to look at the many stones, and to try to identify them. A few days later I followed the auction online, and I believe the sale went off successfully. It was sad in a way that such a sale had to take place, but hopefully all the lots went to good new homes with collectors and curling enthusiasts. One such is Graeme Adam, my old skip, who has an unrivalled collection of stones of different types.

Back in March, Graeme involved Lindsay Scotland, mastermind of the Historical Curling Places site, to begin thinking of a map with which might show where the various curling stone types originated, and also where these materials were turned into curling stones.

This map has now gone online. Above is a screenshot of just part of the map. The full map shows 'places' as far north as Inverness, and as far south as Trefor in Wales, and is here.

The map currently has fourteen ‘makers’ and nine ‘quarries’. It works in the same fashion as the existing maps on the Historical Curling Places site. Zoom in, click on a place, and click through for more detailed information.

I was happy to assist with the project in a small way. Harold Forrester, expert 'pondhunter', has also helped. I had already written about the source of 'Crawfordjohn' curling stones, here, and 'Carsphairns', here.

As the project developed, it soon became clear that research would lead us into the very disparate areas of geography, geology, industrial archaeology, and social history. I'll mention here just three examples of new information which has come to light.

The first concerns the origins of Kays in Mauchline, the company that still makes curling stones today. The original company of T and A Kay was begun by two brothers, Thomas Kay and Andrew Kay, around 1876. Andrew, the younger brother, married CatherineKirk at Ochiltree in 1877, and, according to the census in 1881, the couple were living at the Haugh, with three daughters (age 3, 2 and 8 months). In that year Andrew was described as a curling stone manufacturer with thirty employees.

Andrew Kay died on June 23, 1887, at just 32 years old.

In his book 'Curling: an illustrated history', David Smith suggests that Andrew Kay's widow 'evicted' her brother-in-law. I've never been happy with this. The opposite may have been true, and she had to fight to keep her share of the business.

There was legal action, and the business of T and A Kay went to auction, the details of which can be found in the Ayr Advertiser in 1888. Thomas Kay won the auction, and thus took the business name. He did not get the premises at Haugh because these were rented from Sir Claud Alexander. Catherine was able to keep hold of these. She then developed a successful company under a new name, Andrew Kay and Company. Thomas Kay also continued to make curling stones and moved into Mauchline. The two companies were rivals for some years thereafter.

Catherine Kay had more than her fair share of grief in her life. At the beginning of 1887, she and Andrew now had four children, and she was pregnant again. At 11.55 pm on June 18 and at 30 minutes past midnight on June 19, 1887, she gave birth to twins, Andrew and Thomas - no doubt named after her husband and his brother.

Four days later, on June 23, 1887, her husband Andrew died, age just 32. Then on July 20 and 22 both the twins died. It must have been a heartbreaking time for Catherine. But she was a strong enough woman to fight for her livelihood, and become the owner of a successful business. There's much much more to be written about her life, but that will be for another time. I'm still looking for a photograph of this remarkable woman who deserves to be better known. Look at the linked page on the map to read of the history of the Andrew Kay Company through the twentieth century.

One mention in an old newspaper shows that Catherine Kay obtained the rights to a quarry on the Sorn estate. After a bit of research, I found this to be a quarry on Tin Corn Hill (which is still operational today). At some point, when communication was mostly verbal, the name of the stone was garbled as 'Tinkernhill' and it is by this name that stones from this quarry became known to curlers of the time.

The Scottish Curling Stone Company began life in the 1960s in Polmadie in Glasgow. I was excited to find the image above showing the inside of the factory. This was the front cover of the North American Curling News of November, 1966. The Polmadie area has long since been redeveloped, and I do not know exactly where these premises were. I'm wondering if they were in part of the old locomotive works? The company was to move to Inverness later in the decade. The image is a rare one indeed, and captures a moment in time in the sport's history. The stone being used was from Ailsa Craig, to which the company had the rights at the time.

Finally, the name 'Keanie' turns up often in any study of curling stone makers. The new map has four 'Keanie' entries. I had been intrigued a couple of years ago, when visiting the National Library of Scotland at the Kelvin Hall, to find a relatively recent photograph of a Keanie Company based in Bellshill, Glasgow. When looking for information on this company, I came across a similar image and an article in The Sphere newspaper from October 1954. It shows curling stones being packed into barrels to be shipped to Canada. What sort of stone were these made from? The image caption reads, 'Curling stones earn dollars for Britain', so it is clear that most of the stones were to be exported to North America.

The penny dropped when looking at the website of the Canada Curling Stone Company, in Ontario. The company today makes new stones using Welsh Trefor, and refurbishes old stones. On their page titled 'granite types'see here, there is a description of 'Keanie' stone, below.

I recognised this material immediately as I had visited the quarries at Furnace on Loch Fyne a year ago. From this article I knew that Furnace had supplied curling stone blanks, as well as granite setts for roads, in the 1950s. It was clear that 'Keanie' stone was from Furnace, and so the curling stones exported in 1954 by the Keanie Company in Bellshill were made from stone from the side of Loch Fyne. I have a wonderful image in my mind of the stone blanks being transported from the quarry by puffer! Since then the quarry at Furnace has been opened up again and is part of the Breedon Group, see here. But the days of that quarry supplying curling stone material are long past.

The curling stone and curling stone makers project is very much a work in progress. To quote David Smith from 2008, "I personally couldn’t recognise a Blantyre, whether black or silver grey, and although I know where Muthill and Earnock are, I have no idea what a stone bearing the name of these places looks like. As for Giells, is this a place or a person?" Yes, there's still much more to be discovered.

Lindsay Scotland says, "We would welcome any more information that is out there, whether that would be new places, and corrections to, or expansion of, what we currently have documented."

Thanks, as always, to the British Newspaper Archive. The image of 'Keanie' stone is from the Canada Curling Stone website. The other images are from my own archive, or are as indicated.

Carlo Pellegrini (1866-1937) provided the artwork for many postcards. Above is a favourite from my own postcard collection. It shows a game in progress on outside ice, in a snow covered landscape. It was published by Vouga and Cie, Geneva, as D10 of a series. It is postally unused and is not dated.

Some months ago I decided that Pellegrini's postcards might make an interesting and colourful post on the Curling History Blog. I set out to find more about the artist, and immediately became fascinated with what I discovered.

Firstly, he should not be confused with his father, also Carlo Pellegrini, the well known caricaturist known as 'Ape'. Carlo Pellegrini of postcard fame was born on October 26, 1866, in Albese con Cassano, in the Province of Como, Italy. He studied at the Brera Academy in Milan, and around 1900 moved to Switzerland. He painted in oils and tempura and was inspired by the winter landscapes and activities of the Engadine. He provided the artwork for many postcards and posters. He died in Geneva in 1937 at the age of 70.

Did you know that there used to be art competitions at the Olympic Games? In 1912, the first of these was held in Stockholm as part of the Fifth Olympiade. In the paintings section of the art competition the Olympic Gold Medal was awarded to Carlo Pellegrini for his submission of 'Three connected friezes representing Winter Sports'.

On learning this, I immediately wondered if one of the 'friezes' showed a curling scene? Would that not be an exciting discovery! I searched the digital world for the artwork, initially with no success.

Information was available about the Olympic competition, and the Official Report was my first stop.

This can be downloaded from here.

Here's the record of Pellegrini's win as noted in the Official Report. Note that his name is misspelled, and his first initial is incorrect, although, as I discovered later, 'G' is his middle initial.

The Official Report has the information that the Stockholm Games included competitions in Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music, and Literature. The Jury only considered subjects not previously published, exhibited or performed, and having some direct connection with sport. And that the winner of each of the five competitions would be awarded the 'Gold Olympic Medal'. The exhibits selected were, as far as possible, to be published, exhibited or performed during the Olympic Games of 1912. Competitors had to notify their intention of entering for one or more of these competitions before January 15, 1912, and the exhibits themselves had to be in the hands of the jury before March 1, 1912. There were no limitations as to size or form for manuscripts, plans, drawings or canvasses, but sculptors were required to send in clay models, not exceeding eighty centimetres in height, length or width.

Pelligrini's work was deemed to be the only submission worthy of a medal in the paintings category, and silver and bronze medals were not awarded. It is not stated how many entries there were in the paintings category.

All the medallists' work was exhibited to the public in special premises at 10 Karlavagen, Stockholm.

It was at this point that I came across an article entitled 'Postcard and Poster Artist Carlo Pellegrini, Jr (1866-1937)' by Henry Gessler, which can be found here. This mentions the 'disappearance' of the Olympic paintings. Tantalisingly, the author says, "Recently a large litho (Vouga Series 211 #2), of one of them, has come to light."

It is due to the work of Richard Stanton that I've learned more about the Olympic Art Competitions, and Pellegrini's three friezes of winter sports.

'The Forgotten Olympic Art Competitions', by Richard Stanton, was published in 2000 by Trafford, BC, Canada. It is the result of painstaking research, and is a remarkable work, containing just about everything you need to know about the Olympic Art Competitions in the twentieth century. It runs to 412 pages. Just how these competitions came to be included in the Olympics is a fascinating read. It had been a vision of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who was responsible for re-establishing the modern Olympic Games in 1896, to include the fine arts alongside sports. He faced many obstacles, but it was at Stockholm that he realised his dream. Stanton charts the journey. Stockholm was a 'first step', and was only a partial success, the inclusion of a Concours d'Art failing to to receive the support of Swedish art associations.

After his book was published Richard Stanton maintained an interest in Carlo Pellegrini and the 'lost friezes'. He made contact with Henry Gessler, and in 2016 wrote an article for the Journal of Olympic History titled, 'Lost Artwork from the 1912 Olympic Art Competition Emerges'. That's a screenshot of part of the first page above, and shows an image of Carlo Pellegrini. Read the whole article here. Stanton writes that two of the three friezes can now be identified. He reproduces one of them in the article. It is a skiing scene. I recognised this immediately.

On January 28, 2009, three chomolithographs went on sale at Christie's in London. All three had been published by Vouga and Cie, Geneva, the company already mentioned as associated with Pellegrini's postcards.

This is the auction house description of one of the lots: 'WINTER BEGINS', chromolithograph, published by Vouga and Cie., Genève (Série 220, No.1), not backed. 9½ x 41in. (24 x 104cm.)

This lot sold for £1375. And it is this image that Stanton reproduces in his 2016 article with the evidence that it is a reproduction of one the Olympic paintings!

Stanton does not reproduce, nor describe, the second of the missing friezes that has come to light. But he does indicate that a reproduction was also sold by Christie's in the same 2009 sale as the chromolithograph described above. Two other Pellegrini lots were in that sale, and one IS a curling scene! Here it is:

The auction house described this lot: 'CURLING - CHESS ON ICE', chromolithograph, published by Vouga, Genève (Série 220, No.2), not backed. 9½ x 41in. (24 x 104cm.) This sold for £1062.

In my opinion this is an accurate portrayal of a curling match on outside ice in Switzerland in the first decade of the twentieth century. Curling was popular in that country at that time, many resort hotels having their own curling rinks. To study 'Curling - Chess on Ice' in more detail I have divided the scene into three, but have not removed the yellow cast that is on the image on Christie's website from the 2009 sale.

The left side of the artwork shows two players, both with brooms, four seated spectators, and one other standing figure, perhaps the umpire. There are six stones in view, and an apparently discarded corn broom.

The middle of the scene shows two sweepers both using corn brooms. The curler on the left may be the player who has delivered the stone and followed it up, although it could be a member of the opposing team watching to see the result of the play.

The right side of the scene shows the skip directing the play, the opposition skip and a member of the opposition team. A tee-marker (sometimes referred to as a 'dolly') marks the centre of circles scraped on the ice. The artist's signature is at the bottom right of the piece.

Overall, the condition of the artwork, with its mottled appearance, reflects its age and perhaps how well it had been stored. I wonder if the purchaser has had it restored? And who did buy it in 2009? Has it changed hands since? Does anyone reading this article recognise this artwork?

Unfortunately, I do NOT have confirmation that this is the image that appeared in one of the original Olympic paintings. I feel that it is likely to be so. Both the curling scene, and 'Winter Begins', are reproductions from the same Vouga and Cie Series 220, and are the same size, long and narrow. That's not to say that the original paintings would have been the same size as the reproductions.

The other Pellegrini in the Christie's sale in 2009 is shown below, again with the auction house description.

Christie's description: 'ICE DANCE', chromolithograph, published by Vouga and Cie, Genève (Série 225, No.1), not backed. 9 x 23½in. (23 x 60cm.)

This sold for £1750. Note the size difference to that of the other lithographs.

Have the original Olympic paintings survived? Surely they would be known of if they had. Henry Gessler notes that Pellegrini's main publisher had been Vouga and Cie, of Geneva, 'until they had a disastrous fire, in which most of his originals were destroyed, probably including the Stockholm Gold Medal trio'. How sad, if that is indeed the case.

Stanton also writes that the diploma, which was awarded alongside Pellegrini's gold medal, is in the Olympic museum in Lausanne.

My own postcard collection contains more examples of Pellegrini's curling artwork.

This original postcard was published by Vouga and Cie. It is postally unused. Not dated. No 43 in a series. A stylish delivery from a crampet, with a corn broom alongside.

Another original, No 45 in the same series, showing sweepers in action. Postally used. The cancel is not clear, but could be 1911. This would fit in with the age of the stamp which was in use in the years 1909 to 1914. Sent from St Moritz to Hamburg.

This is a Photoglob reproduction, No 3319 of 'Edition Photoglob SA, 8045 Zurich'. This has the following printed (in French) on the reverse. It is a letter from Baron de Coubertin to the artist. "Dear Mr Pellegrini. The King gave me on Monday at the distribution of the prizes the gold medal which is intended as laureat of the painting competition. I'll bring it back to you on my return if you like. Very friendly congratulations and sincerely yours. Pierre de Coubertin, International Olympic Committee V Stockholm 1912, Saltijobaden (Sweden) 7/20/12." (Thanks to Google for the translation.)

I have two other Pellegrini images in my postcard collection. His images were used on promotional postcards for the Palazzo del Ghiaccio, an ice centre in Milan.

The reverse of the card. The rink opened in December 1923, see here, which suggests that Pellegrini was still working around this time.

Here's another card from the same series which shows curling - a backswing during a crampet delivery. There's no evidence that curling was ever played in the Milan rink. Others in the same series of cards show different sports.

The search for more information on Pellegrini's three friezes showing winter sports goes on. I think we are close to being able to conclude that the sport of curling featured on one of them. I look forward to being able to say definitively that a painting of the sport of curling won an Olympic gold medal at Stockholm in 1912, twelve years before the sport itself featured in the first 'Winter Olympics' at Chamonix in 1924, see here. Updates will be posted here when more information comes to light.

Other than the images from the 2009 Christie's sale, which are from that company's website, all are from my own postcard collection, or as indicated. As noted above, the work of Richard Stanton has contributed greatly to my knowledge of Olympic Art Competitions. These were abolished after the London Games in 1948.

The curling stones at the bottom of the ocean

Peter Thomson, Baker, and the 'Curling: made in Scotland' Exhibition

Roll Curling

The women curlers who first took to the ice in Switzerland

The 1985 Air Canada Silver Broom in the Kelvin Hall

An American Curling Story

Stones to Germany 1945

A Young Skip

Curling in Stanley

Christmas Eve 1935

Curling into the New Year, 1887

Ken Watson's Curling Books

Ladies' Cup, Villars, 1920-21

The First Indoor Grand Match

The woman who broke her arm and carried on curling in 1879

Collecting programmes

The Silver Broom 1969

A Successful Season for Wanlockhead curlers

Curling stones and curling stone makers

Did Carlo Pellegrini win an Olympic Gold in 1912 for a painting of a curling scene?