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 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.

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, 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.

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 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 Curling 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.

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 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.

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 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!

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 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.

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: 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.

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 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.