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The curling stones at the bottom of the ocean
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...
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Peter Thomson, Baker, and the 'Curling: made in Scotland' Exhibition
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,...
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Roll Curling
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...
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The women curlers who first took to the ice in Switzerland
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:...
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The 1985 Air Canada Silver Broom in the Kelvin Hall
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...
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An American Curling Story
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...
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Stones to Germany 1945
 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...
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A Young Skip
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...
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Curling in Stanley
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,...
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Christmas Eve 1935
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...
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Curling into the New Year, 1887
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,...
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Ken Watson's Curling Books
 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...
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Ladies' Cup, Villars, 1920-21
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...
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The First Indoor Grand Match
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...
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The woman who broke her arm and carried on curling in 1879
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,...
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Collecting programmes
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...
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The Silver Broom 1969
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...
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A Successful Season for Wanlockhead curlers
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...
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Curling stones and curling stone makers
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...
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Did Carlo Pellegrini win an Olympic Gold in 1912 for a painting of a curling...
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...
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