The Balyarrow Trophy     Skips David B (top left) and Paul R (top right) at the start of their matches against St. Andrews and Haddington.     (L to R) Janice H and Ian P keep an eye on Ron A's shot for Sandy D's team against Strathendrick     (L to R) Ron A and Sandy D contemplate the situation in their match against Strathendrick     (L to R) Ian Turnbull (past-president RCCC), Jim White (President St. Andrews CC), and David B (President BOWCC) at the prize giving

In 1996, Bridge of Weir Curling Club celebrated its 150th anniversary of R.C.C.C. membership.  The club got together with four other clubs also celebrating their 150th membership anniversary that year - Haddington, St. Andrews, Strathendrick, and Falkland - to compete in a bonspiel for the Balyarrow (pronounced "Bal-yarrow") Trophy.  The trophy is named after Balyarrow Curling Club, which was formed in 1840, but ceased to exist in the 1940's.  Round about 1996, former R.C.C.C. president Ian Turnbull discovered that the Balyarrow club minute books and medals were still in existence.  Ian and his wife Anne decided to keep the Balyarrow name alive by donating a new a trophy bearing the old club's name to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 5 clubs.  The trophy (pictured top left) is appropriately 5-sided, and has original Balyarrow medals pinned to each side. The first match was played at Perth ice rink on 2nd November 1996, with Haddington emerging as the winners.  The competition was so enjoyable that it was decided to repeat it every 3 years. So in 1999 the Haddington club organised the competition in Perth, this time with Falkland triumphing.  A slight wobble in the timing led to Falkland organising the third running of the competition in 2003, rather than 2002, resulting in a victory for Bridge of Weir.  Bridge of Weir organised the 2005 competition, which was held on Saturday 10th December 2005 at Dewar's Ice rink, Perth.  Each club entered 4 teams for the competition, thus ensuring that every club played every other club.  The 4 Bridge of Weir teams who played are listed at the foot of this report.  People started gathering at the ice rink from about 12:30 p.m. onwards, taking advantage of the window seats in the bar high above the ice sheet.  The bar affords an excellent view of all 8 sheets, and once again, everyone noted that the ice looked extremely keen compared with Greenacres. In the 1:30 p.m. session, Paul R's team found themselves up against a strong St. Andrews team.  Paul found it particularly difficult to adjust to the keen ice, and time and again, he struggled to make his shots. This resulted in a 4 - 11 defeat for the Bridge of Weir Team.  Meanwhile, David B's team put up a much stronger performance against P. Rennie's Haddington team, but eventually lost by the narrowest of margins - 5 - 6.

Perth Ice Rink, Saturday 10/12/05     George E watches as Maryel P and Fiona E sweep skip David B's stone in the match against Haddington     [L to R] Eileen & Neil A sweep skip Sheila D's stone as Bob B checks the line in the match against Falkland...     ... but disaster strikes! The stone was over-swept on the very keen ice       BOWCC President David B (Left) with three of the winning St. Andrews team (I McAlister, Jim Clark, John Clark, and D McQueen

In the 4:30 session, Sheila D's team took on a Falkland team, and were leading 9 - 8 going into the last end.  A 3 for Strathendrick in that last end resulted in a 9 - 11 defeat for the Bridge of Weir team.  Meanwhile, Sheila's husband Sandy was up against a team from Strathendrick.  A close match ensued for 6 ends, with Sandy's team leading 9 - 7 going into the seventh end.  A 2 at the seventh end, and a stolen 3 at the eighth, produced Bridge of Weir's solitary victory of the day, by 14 - 7. It was clear that with a final tally of played 4, won 1, lost 3, Bridge of Weir were not going to retain the trophy they had won 2 years previously.  With some players and guests having to leave early, the prize giving was held before the dinner, where Bridge of Weir president David B announced that St. Andrews were the overall winners, having won 3 and lost only 1 match.  David presented the prizes of photo frames engraved with the competition name and date to the highest up St. Andrews team, consisting of D. McQueen (Skip), John Clark (3rd), Jim Clark (2nd), and I. McAlister (Lead).  Photographs of the winning team, printed on the spot, were then inserted into the frames. David also presented the Balyarrow Trophy to St. Andrews club president, Jim White.  An attractive set of wooden spoons, specially decorated by Bridge of Weir's Maryel P for the occasion, were presented to the least successful team of Margaret Brown (Lead), Jim Walker (2nd), Kate Walker (3rd), and Steve Holden (Skip).  An excellent dinner was then served by Perth Ice rink staff to the assembled curlers and guests.  After the dinner, Ian Turnbull, guest of honour spoke about the history of the Balyarrow club, and the history of equality the game has engendered. Amen to that... It was noted that in on the four occasions that this competition had been held, a different club had won it each time.  Clearly, it's Strathendrick's turn in 2008! The evening then drew to a close, with St. Andrews set the task of hosting the next competition for the trophy next time.

The Bridge of Weir teams were :-

	Team 1	Team 2	Team 3	Team 4
	Paul R (Skip)	David B (Skip)	Sandy D (Skip)	Sheila D (Skip)
	Alaister F	George E	Ron A	Bob B
	Ian P	Fiona E	Janice H	Neil A
	Mary F	Maryel P	Sheila T	Eileen A

   The draws for the curling sessions were :-

	LANE	1:30 p.m. SESSION				4:00 p.m. SESSION
	A	St. Andrews 1	vs.	Bridge of Weir 1		Haddington 3	vs.	Strathendrick 3
	B	Falkland 1	vs.	Strathendrick 1		Falkland 3	vs.	St. Andrews 3
	C	Bridge of Weir 2	vs.	Haddington 1		Strathendrick 4	vs.	Bridge of Weir 3
	D	Strathendrick 2	vs.	St. Andrews 2		St. Andrews 4	vs.	Haddington 4
	E	Haddington 2	vs.	Falkland 2		Bridge of Weir 4	vs.	Falkland 4

Click on any of the photos above to enlarge it - it may take up to 10 seconds to display.]   © Bridge of Weir Curling Club - 2005