The MacLeod Cup       2008-09 MacLeod Cup Winners {L to R] Maryel P (Lead), Ian P (3rd), Fiona E (2nd), Sandy D (Skip)       Club President Eileen A makes her speech at the MacLeod Cup dinner

The MacLeod Cup is played for annually between the two parishes in Bridge of Weir - Houston parish and Kilbarchan parish.  It is the oldest trophy in the club, and was presented to the club by Alexander McLeod of Burngill in 1892, when outdoor conditions were just right for the local derby between Norlanders (Houston parish) and Soulanders (Kilbarchan parish).   This season's bonspiel, 117 years after the original match, took place at Greenacres on Saturday, 31st January 2009.  The format for the bonspiel consists of 2 four-end games for each team against the opposite parish.  The teams are listed at the foot of the report.  In the 5:30 p.m. session, Paul R's team representing Houston parish took on Sheila D's representing Kilbarchan parish, which resulted in a hard fought 3 - 2 win for Paul.  Meanwhile on the adjacent sheet, David B's Houston team took on Sandy D's Kilbarchan team.  Sandy's team were firing on all cylinders, while David's team struggled to find form, eventually losing to Sandy by 0 - 8.  In the second and final session at 6:30 p.m., Sheila's team recovered from their defeat in the first round to beat David's team 3 - 1, while Paul's team managed a second win by beating Sandy's team 3 - 1.   So at the end of play, Kilbarchan was declared as the winning parish with a total score of 14 - 7 against Houston parish, thus avenging their defeat by Houston in Season 2006-07. The highest up skip in the victorious parish was Sandy D with a +6 shots difference, while Paul R was highest up skip for Houston with a +3 shots difference. After the matches, the teams adjourned to the bar, where the Greenacres staff served a meal well up to their usual excellent standard (your reporter particularly enjoyed the smoked haddock and ratatouille, and he unreservedly recommends it to the club should it appear on the menu again).  After the dinner, President Eileen A thanked the members and guests (Janetta Wotherspoon, ex-BoWCC member who played in the match, and ex-members Bill and Eleanor Webster and members Kenneth and Sheila Macleod, all of whom spectated from the comfort of the bar.  The fine trophy for the competition was originally presented to the club by Kenneth's grandfather after the very first match in 1892, so it was a pleasure to see that century-old link still represented at the bonspiel by the MacLeod family.

After the meal, Kenneth stood up and remarked on how much curling had changed since he was young.  In those days, stones were delivered from a crampit on the ice. The curler would stand on the crampit sideways on to the tee, and then swing the stone from right to left across the front of the body before releasing it onto the ice.  The sliding delivery from the hack did not emerge until after the second world war, when Canadian teams came to play in Scotland.  While Kenneth praised the skills of old-time curlers, he also admired the almost sniper-like precision now possible with the sliding delivery.  He finished by saying that some things haven't changed since those early days - teams still shake hands with their opponents and each other after the game, and that's the way it should be.  And who would disagree with that?  The teams were :-   HOUSTON PARISH | KILBARCHAN PARISH   Team 1 Team 2 | Team 3 Team 4   Paul R (Skip) David B | Sheila D (Skip) Sandy D (Skip)   Ron A George E | Bob B Ian P   Neil Mary F | Alaister F Fiona E   Janetta W Eileen A | Moira J Maryel F

[Click on any photo above to enlarge it - it may take up to 10 seconds to display.]   © Bridge of Weir Curling Club - 2009