Douglas Curling Club

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Annual Supper

Presentation of Prizes

28th March 2009

St Brides Centre, Douglas

Pictured above from left...

Rear

Douglas Curling Club members Alex Lamb and lan Fleming - reply to the toast to DCC, Earl of Home Cup winners G Coke (skip), R Mitchell, R Anderson and L Muldoon, and Douglas Curling Club vice president Andrew Provan

Front

Douglas Curling Club member Willie Mitchell - 'Curlers Song' & toast to 'The Guests', Royal Caledonian Curling Club & Lanark Curling Club's Richard Gray - toast to 'Douglas Curling Club', Douglas club president Rob Gentle, Lockhart Steele of Lesmahagow Curling Club & Royal Caledonian Curling Club - 'Scotland's Ain Game' and invited speaker David Fanshawe - reply to the toast to the guests

Artisites - Hugh Bannatyne, Tom Gold, John Jackson, Archie Gilbert, Colin Graham

Douglas Curling Club prize winners 2008/9

Richard Gray kindly agreed to present the trophies to the season's winners

Earl of Home Cup (Jinglin Geordie) – G Coke (Skip) R Mitchell, R Anderson, L Muldoon
Clarkson League – I Bairner (Skip), D Hair, B Carswell, E Owen-Smith
Douglasdale Trophy – R Scott (Skip), D Clarkson, K Chapman, E Deeney
Jack Lamb Pairs – R Scott (Skip), B Carswell
Covenanters Cup – J Trainer (Skip), K Chapman, B Carswell, C Graham
Lamington Bowl – I Fleming (Skip), K Chapman, J Loch, D Telfer
Bicentenary Bonspiel – G Coke (Skip), W Mitchell, E Owen-Smith, D Telfer

2009 Burns Supper

St Brides Centre, Douglas

douglas curling club 2009 burns supper - copyright of the carluke & lanark gazette picture by lindsay addison

Annual Supper
2008

St. Brides Centre, Douglas

2008 Burns Supper

St. Brides Centre, Douglas

burns supper 2008 - copyright of lindsay addison

Top table speakers and entertainers were -

Andrew Provan – Piper
High Bannatyne - Haggis Bearer
Jim Smith - Address to the Haggis
Derek Hair – Chairman
Alastair Mackie – Immortal Memory
Archie Gilbert – Recitations & Vote of Thanks
Sandy Addison – The Lassies
Barbara Mackie – Reply
Artistes – Ann Smith, John Jackson, Willie Mitchell and ‘The Black Douglas’ dance band

Annual Supper

Saturday 24th March 2007

Country Club, Douglas

Top table and "The Cup" (Jinglin' Geordie) winning rink skiped by George Hodge

Chairman / President - Derek Hair
"Scotland's Ain Game" - Alex F. Torrance - Hamilton & Thornhill Curling Club
"The Curlers Song" - Willie Mitchell jnr - Douglas Curling Club
"Douglas Curling Club" - Robert Flowerdew
Reply - Sandy Addison - Douglas Curling Club
"The Guests" - Mark Robertson - Douglas Curling Club

Reply - Sinclair Scott
"The Last Word" - Larry Muldoon - Douglas Curling Club

Artistes - John Jackson, Willie Mitchell, Lindsay Addison, Andrew Morrow & Archie Gilbert

2006 / 7 Winners - Alex Torrance kindly agreed to present the trophies to the season's winners

Earl of Home Cup - George Hodge (Skip) Davie Clarkson, Ted Gordon, John Jackson

Clarkson League - Kerr Finlay (Skip), Graham Cowan, Bobby Ramage, Tom Gold

Douglasdale Trophy - Bill McCormack (Skip), Archie Gilbert, Bert Carswell, John Loch

Pairs - Kerr Finlay (Skip) John Pate

Covenanters Cup - Robin Scott (Skip), John Mitchell, Stuart Finlay

Lamington Bowl - Robin Scott (Skip), Bill McCormack, Robert Taylor, Steve Grainger

Bicentenary - lan Fleming (Skip), Robert Taylor, Bert Carswell, Steve Grainger

Douglas Curlers win Hamilton nail-biter

The Douglas Curling Club rink of John Trainer, Robin Scott, Kerr Findlay and Graham Cowan (above) won a nail-biting Sport Clydesdale Curling Bonspeil title by a single shot in Hamilton on Thursday December 28.
Also pictured above is the Lanark Ladies Curling Club rink of Morag Sandilands, Jane Gilchrist, Jenny Lorimer and Margaret Neilson, who finished High Road runners-up after losing the final at Lanarkshire Ice Rink. Pictured below is the Upperward Ladies Curling Club quartet of Mary Armour, Ann Smith, Margaret Hyslop and Rita Herd, victorious in the Low Road competition. Runners-up in that category, Coulter Curling Club, are also pictured below. They were represented by Hugh Jackson, James Moffaf, Gavin Jackson and Agnes Jackson. Ten Clydesdale clubs participated in a competition using the Schenkel System with ends, shots and points deciding ranking. The prizes were presented by David Strachan, chairman of Sport Clydesdale, and thanks were extended to Lockhart Steele for administering the event and ice rink staff for their assistance.

Carluke & Lanark Gazette 11/1/07

ANNUAL SUPPER

The Country Club, Douglas

Saturady, 25th march 2006

Chairman / President - Kerr Finlay

"Scotland's Ain Game" - Alistair McCabe - Kennoway Curling Club

"The Curlers Song" - Willie Mitchell jnr

"Douglas Curling Club" & reply to the toast to the guests - Robert Anderson - Galston Haymouth Curling Club

Reply - Alistair Mackie - Douglas Curling Club

"The Guests" - Archie Gilbert - Douglas Curling Club

"The Last Word" - Sinclair Scott

Artistes - Hugh Bannatyne, Tom Gold, John Jackson, Eric Thomson, Andrew Morrow

WINNERS 2005/06

THE COVENANTER CUP
K FINLAY(SKIP), P GEMMELL, J,HARVIE & L MULDOON
R/u R SCOTT, G, COWAN, K CHAPMAN & J JACKSON

LAMINGTON BOWL
G COWAN, E DEENEY, A GILBERT & R SCOTT
R/u W GALLOWAY, K CHAPMAN, F SMITH & P GEMMELL.

JACK LAMB PAIRS
I FLEMING (SKIP) & A GILBERT
R/u G COKE (S) G COWAN

BICENTENERY TROPHY
K FINLAY (SKIP), A GILBERT, E DEENEY & J HAMILTON
R/u W PLENDERLEITH(SKIP), P GEMMELL, F SMITH & W MITCHELL (Sr)

THE ALEX CLARKSON TROPHY
R SCOTT (SKIP), P GEMMELL, J MITCHELL & M ROBERTSON
R/u J TRAINER (SKIP), D HAIR, A ADDISON & R ANDERSON

DOUGLASDALE TROPHY
I BAIRNER (SKIP), G COWAN, A GILBERT & S GRAINGER
R/u K SLUDDEN (S), R MITCHELL, R RAMAGE & S FINLAY

EARL OF HOME CUP
R SCOTT (SKIP), P GEMMELL, J MITCHELL & M ROBERTSON

R/u J TRAINER (SKIP), D HAIR, A ADDISON & R ANDERSON

Non Club Tournament Success

HALL OF KYPE TROPHY
J TRAINER (SKIP), K CHAPMAN, A ADDISON & R ANDERSON

PROVINCE CHAMPIONSHIP
H BANNATYNE (SKIP), D CLARKSON, A ADDISON & R GENTLE

2006

Burns Supper

Saturday 4th February
Country Club, Douglas

(Standing)
W Mitchell (Snr) - Selkirk Grace, W Mitchell (Jnr) - "There Was A Lad", H Bannatyne - Haggis Bearer, A Provan - Piper, J Mitchell - "Star O Rabbie Burns", J Jackson & A Smith - "Ae Fond Kiss", D Telfer - Vote of thanks.

(Seated)

A Gilbert - "Tam O Shanter", J Smith - Address to the Haggis, Dr S Addison MBE - Immortal Memory, K Finlay - Chairman (DCC President), J Clarkson - Toast Tae The Lassies, M Bannatyne - Reply.

Not in picture - L Addison - "My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose", and the Black Douglas Ceilidh Dance Band wha feenished the nichts ongauns.

DOUGLAS CURLING CLUB

Dr A ( Sandy ) Addison MBE

The Douglas Curling Club has now had a life of over two centuries, and there is enough evidence to show that curling was a well-recognised sport in Douglas at least fifty years before the formation of the club.
Parish games seem to have appealed strongly and by 1760; and probably much earlier, a rink of Douglas players was in the habit of matching their prowess on the ice against a Muirkirk team.
On the 25th of January 1792, “a number of ice players in the Parish of Douglas, agreed to form themselves into a Society. Every person becoming a member shall pay sixpence at his entry and three pence yearly.” It was also laid down that “each member was to be associated with one or other of the racks (rinks) and that in this he would have a settled place; if for any game he refuses to play in his allotted position, a fine of 6 pence was to be levied, and should he refuse to play in a parish game he would be fined one shilling unless he could furnish a reasonable excuse.”
Thus was the Club inaugurated on Robert Burns’s birthday, who was by this time approaching the end of his short life.
The early curlers of Douglas frequently played matches for the benefit of the poor. The entrance money to these games of 1795 was sufficient to supply upwards of 40 carts of coal for distribution among the more needy villagers. A hundred years later, charity games were still being played to provide the poor with tea, sugar and bread.
The Douglas Curling Club does not claim to be the oldest curling club in the world.

There are other clubs who can prove they were constituted before Douglas, but some of these have breaks for which there are no records and some make claims of antiquity that have doubtful substantiation.
It would appear that there are none who can equal Douglas by having a complete record of minutes without a break, from constitution to present day. While the desire to claim an ancient lineage is understandable and desirous, the R.C.C.C. has done the history of the game a disservice in acknowledging spurious claims to antiquity based on legend only.
In 1838, the club was invited to join with other clubs that were endeavouring to set up an association of clubs to be called the Grand National Curling Club, with a view to governing and standardising all curling. After much debate the Douglas men decided not to join, but ten years later 8/12/1848, they reversed their decision and agreed to apply for affiliation to the group. In the interval, this group of clubs had been successful in their aims; received the Royal Patronage and in 1843 had become the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.
Around 1850, a shortage of players forced the Club to adopt the “new” method of playing with four men per rink, playing two stones instead of eight men each playing one stone.
For the past 155 years, the Douglas Club has been proud to have the Patronage of the Lairds of Douglas. From the first Patron Lord Douglas to the present 15th Earl of Home, they have had a close affinity with the Club and over the years have granted land for an artificial pond, built a clubhouse, supplied labour to help clear ice and presented in 1858, the famous Earl of Home Cup.
Now the Club’s most treasured possession, the Earl of Home Cup is affectionately known as the “Jinglin’ Geordie” as winners hang an engraved medal upon it, so thus it jingles merrily when passed from hand to hand.

Towards the end of the 19th century, there was a continuing change in the winter weather from hard to mild, so there was not enough frost to make strong ice on the ponds. The Club decided to construct an artificial pond at Douglas, on ground granted by Lord Home. The surface was of tar macadam, which had superseded the clay used by John Cairnie at Largs. This new surface had been successfully pioneered by the Watsonian Club in Edinburgh. The artificial pond was completed in 1909 at a cost of £185 and illuminated with gas lamps. The “Tarmac”, as it was fondly named, was a great success and in constant use on frosty nights. To help defray the running costs, each player paid sixpence per night. During 1922, it was reconditioned at a cost of £38 but between 1939 – 1945 it was used as a parade ground by the military, who had a large encampment in the Castle Policies. On their departure it was deemed beyond repair. However in 1963 the club had it reconditioned at a cost of £400 and installed electric floodlighting. The “Tarmac” again proved very popular, but the opening of the Ice Rink at Hamilton was its death knell and now it has been landscaped into a public park.

Opening night of the Tarmac ice rink 1963

The Centenary Celebration Dinner was held in Douglas on the 25th January 1892, and there were present 49 ordinary members and 23 occasional members of the Club. Also attending were two invited players from each of the neighbouring curling clubs; Muirkirk, Crawfordjohn, Lanark and Glenbuck.
On the 25th January 1992, the Bicentenary Dinner was attended by two hundred curlers, which included the Douglas Curlers, representatives from all the neighbouring clubs, plus the current President and five past Presidents of the R.C.C.C. and the secretary of the R.C.C.C. The Bicentenary celebrations continued with an all day Bonspiel at Lanarkshire Ice Rink, Hamilton on 27th February 1992. The Douglas rinks skipped by Presidents and Past Presidents of the Club, were in combat with rinks drawn from throughout Scotland. The celebrations were drawn to a close on 24th October 1992 with a Curlers Court.
The Douglas Curling Club is now into its third century and is still strong and in good heart. There are now over three times the number of founder members, with many new names but some whose family names can be traced back through the centuries. The conditions and rules have made dramatic changes since the 18th century, but the Douglas curlers still each season with the same excitement, anticipation and enthusiasm as did their predecessors over 200 years ago.

Now read the booklet produced by the club for the

Bicentenary Year

200 Years of Douglas Curling Club

(words only)

( PDF document can be downloaded )

Carmacoup Quaich 2003 ( played on the first pond )

I Bairner & K Sludden ( skips )

CURLERS' SONG

Sing the rink, the rings, the patlid,
Hogscore, midline, banked snaw,
Stanes and hannels, cows and crampits,
Bonspiel famous sing them a'.

Lanarkshire Ice Rink, Hamilton
Tel - 01698 282448