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George Heriot’s FP Curling Club (Founded 2010) Honorary Secretary’s Report for Season 2011-12 Introduction Although our playing results fell well short of those achieved last season, the Club has made good progress in establishing itself in the Edinburgh curling community, increasing the number of fixtures played from five to more than thirty, with participation in the Half Century and Linlithgow Trophy leagues in addition to last season’s friendly matches against the other Edinburgh schools’ FP curling clubs, Boswall Curling Club and the School Curling Club. The Club also took part in the Edinburgh Curling Club Centenary celebrations, qualifying for the finals and although our rink did not win their match in the final, we were delighted that the winning rink included Bob Mouat’s sons, Colin and Bruce. FP League Next season will see the culmination of our initiative to establish an FP League. I represented the Club at a meeting of the four participating clubs where agreement was reached to play one another twice in the season in two-rink matches, culminating in a meal and presentation of prizes in the final round of matches at the end of the season. A fixture list has been drawn up together with League Rules and the Club is indebted to Debbie Kerr at Murrayfield for her co-operation in allocating ice for the FP League. The FP League will test our playing resources, but the two-rink format should also help establish a real team spirit within the Club. Membership Club membership has remained static at 17 with the withdrawal of Andrew Summers and the acquisition of Malcolm Wright. It has been a little disappointing that as yet, we have been unable to unearth any former School curlers in the 25-40 age groups, or any eligible lady curlers, and we will need to try to address these issues if the Club is to continue to prosper. Committee Meetings The Committee met formally twice during the year and discussed a number of other issues by email. My thanks go to all members of Committee for their contributions. Particular thanks go to our outgoing President, Drew Wightman, who has had the challenging task of acting as the first President of the Club and has exercised all aspects of that role impeccably and to Ian Brockie whose advice on the preparation of the Club accounts has been invaluable. Results The season started with wins in our first two fixtures and then, as the figures below show, our season went downhill sharply thereafter. Our rink in the Linlithgow Trophy league spent most of the season propping up the league and only an 8-5 win in the final match of the season enabled the Club to move off the bottom spot. Our Half Century league rink fared slightly better with a good run of results leading up to the Christmas break which promised more, but they sadly fell away over the second half of the season. All players had their moments but lacked the consistency necessary to succeed at this level. Perhaps if we had seen the magnificent trophies on offer for winning each league, we would have been inspired to play much better! Having lost our unbeaten record last season to Watsonians, it was pleasing to end the season with a comfortable 19-7 win over our traditional rivals which should auger well for next season’s FP League. Full details of our match results can be seen on the Club’s website. Played Won Lost Peeled Linlithgow Trophy 14 3 11 0 Half Century 11 3 7 1 Other Matches 6 3 3 0 All Matches 31 9 21 1
FPs V School Challenge Quaich At the School’s request, the annual challenge match was played over one rink and resulted in a 12-2 win for the School. The School now leads 2-1 in the series. Following the match, the FP Club provided afternoon tea for all players and spectators before President Drew Wightman presented the Quaich to the School skip, Bruce Mouat. It was a measure of the success of the day that the atmosphere after the match was relaxed and everyone chatted well into the evening. The annual match versus the School Curling Club is arguably the most important fixture of the year as it presents the Club with the opportunity to encourage those pupils leaving school to continue their curling activities as members of the Club. Early indications are that we have been successful in attracting members of this year’s winning rink, including our first lady curler. Club Website Thanks are due to Eric Begbie who acts as webmaster for the Club’s website and who has been meticulous in recording the outcome of match results. The site has attracted the attention of Herioters as far away as the USA and, in time, we could see the Club invited to tour overseas. Club Sweaters In an effort to give the Club identity within the curling community, Club sweaters have been purchased by a number of members. These are light blue woollen v-neck sweaters bearing the Heriot crest and members have the option of either purchasing a pin-on badge with their name on it, or having their name embroidered on the Club sweater. Further orders may be placed with the Hon. Secretary. Next Year’s Fixtures All members have been asked to indicate the extent of their playing commitment next season and, based on the information provided, those attending the Annual General Meeting will help the Committee to decide our fixture commitments for season 2012-13 and how best to organise our rinks. Finally, my thanks go to all members for their commitment to the Club and for their prompt responses to email communications on availability etc.
Douglas J Goddard Honorary Secretary 14 March 2012
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