The Curling Image Project (Week 17)

CIP-113. The members of the Holyrood Curling Club opened their new pond at Mayfield in 1881. But this photo probably dates from the early twentieth century. On the hack is John Murie, the club's 'poet laureate', who, in 1903, became also the club's 'ice master'. (10x8in print, photographer unknown. Another version of this photograph exists in an old photograph album belonging to the club.)

Here are a few verses of Murie's poem 'The Curler's Dream':

"One night as I lay asleep in my bed,
With never a care to bother my head,
The goddess of dreams took hold of my hand,
And carried me off to a wondrous land.

Oh, what a land; not a flower was there;
Everything cold, and bleak, and bare;
The little birds even had ceased to sing,
And sat on the trees with drooping wing.

Like a ball of fire was the sun on high,
Riding along through the frosty sky,
Trying his best, though trying in vain,
To bring back heat to this world again.

For 'twas winter there, and I saw in my dream
That frozen hard was each loch and stream:
All round me there 'twas snow and ice —
To a curler it seemed a paradise...."

(The full poem can be found in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1901-02.)

CIP-114. An elegant crampit delivery, without resort to a brush for balance, somewhere in Switzerland. (7x4.5in print, photographer not known.)

CIP-115. I know that this is a curling team, as they are standing in front of the Charles Martin Hardie painting of 'Curling at Carsebreck' which for many years hung in the bar of the Central Scotland Ice Rink, Perth. (It's now at Scone Palace.) L-R: William Drummond, A Morrison, J Strobing and H Morrison were runners-up in the Farmers Trophy competition at the Perth rink in November, 1954. They were from Newburgh, Fife, and received brushes and combs as their prizes! Can anyone supply first names? (8.25x6.25in print, Star Photos, Perth.)

CIP-116. Merry Christmas! Danny McMillan, the Stirling Ice Rink manager, is Santa in December 1992 at a Christmas Bonspiel for the local Ladies' Branch of the RCCC. The photo shows the winning rink. Back L-R: Alexa McGillvray, Liz Dailly. Front: Eileen Prentice, Margaret Jarvie. (4x6in print, photographer not known.)

CIP-117. L-R: Jean Caldwell, Hammy McMillan, Eddie Rodger (Sports Editor of the Glasgow Herald, which sponsored the competition), Andrew McQuistin (skip), and Joyce Kinnear, winners of the Scottish Mixed Championship in 1981. (9.5x6in print, official Glasgow Herald photograph.)

CIP-118. This kilted 'Bugs Bunny' mascot helped the Gordon Deakin rink win the Gilbeys/Scotlands Hotel sponsored competition at the Atholl Curling Rink, Pitlochry, in 1991. Front L-R: Gordon Deakin, Gerry Parker, Lilian Deakin and Maimie Scott. Back: Jean Meikle, sales representative for Gilbey's Wine and Spirit Merchants, and Erhard Penker of the Scotlands Hotel. (8x6in print, by Richard Allan, Photographer, Perth.)

CIP-119. The winners on the podium at the 1980 Cutty Sark Scottish Curling Championship at Dundee, with RCCC Chairman Tom Dickson at the microphone. L-R: Alastair Sinclair, Bill Henderson, Greig Henderson, Barton Henderson. The winners seem to be acknowledging the runners-up - Andrew McQuistin, Norman Brown, Hew Chalmers and Peter Wilson. At the end of the three-day round robin, seven of the eight competing teams were still in contention for the semifinals, and two tie-breaker sessions were played. In the semifinals, McQuistin's side (the tiebreak survivors) beat the Jimmy Waddell rink, and Henderson beat Bill Muirhead's team. The final was tied 4-4 at the halfway stage, when the ice became soft due to the television lights and the large crowd. Barton Henderson's side held on for the win, and went on to represent Scotland at the Silver Broom in Moncton, and at the European Championships at Copenhagen, winning gold there.
        I should mention the controversy in 1980. Had Andrew McQuistin and Norman Brown won, by the rules of the International Curling Federation at the time, they could not have gone on to play at the World Championship, as they had not had their eighteenth birthdays before June 30 prior to the beginning of the 1979-80 season. The RCCC had lobbied hard to change this rule, arguing that entry to the World Championship should be quality based regardless of age, and this view eventually prevailed. (8x6in print, by Ron Gazzard, Dundee.)

Thanks to Margaret Robertson for help in naming those in CIP-116. Photos are as credited where the photographer is known. Check the archive (on the right) for previous Curling Image Project posts.