A Prize Letter
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
In the run up to Christmas Day, 1893, the Aberdeen Peoples's Journal offered a prize of one guinea for the best letter about curling! That's the invitation above, courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive, from the December 23 paper. The winning entry was published on January 13, 1894. The writer was William Wilson, and he no doubt enjoyed his winnings, equivalent today of around £140. You have to decide if these are real reminiscences. The Club would appear to be fictional, and the names made-up. Is the whole essay a fiction of William Wilson's imagination? Could even that name be a nom de p ..read more
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Remembering 1979
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
Wednesday, February 7, 1979, was a memorable day. I'm in this photo, somewhere near the top centre! The pic is credited to Ron Burgess of the Scottish Daily Express, and was used for the Scottish Curler Christmas Card later that year. This is from that card. The image shows the Grand Match in progress on the Lake of Menteith, taken from a small plane.   Before digital cameras and smart phones, not everyone had a camera with them. I had a small Olympus camera, and must have asked someone to take this for me. It shows members of Carmunnock and Rutherglen CC on the ice. Back L-R, Michael Bu ..read more
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The Cult of 'Men With Brooms'
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
  I'm sure that in lockdown many curling enthusiasts have watched (again) 'Men With Brooms'. I'm a fan of the movie. That's a promotional poster above. It's an enjoyable rom-com, based around the sport of curling in a small Canadian town. It came out in 2002, and was directed by Paul Gross, who also stars in it. Its IMDB entry is here.   This is the DVD that I have of the film. According to its Wikipedia entry (here), "The film now has a cult following on DVD. Many relish the gentle Canadian comedy with its wry look at its country." As well as Gross, the cast also includes Connor Pr ..read more
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Local Medals
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
In 1839, a year after its formation, the Grand Caledonian Curling Club (as it was then called) made the decision to award medals to encourage the sport of curling amongst its member clubs. There were District Medals, see here, and Local Medals. The latter were for individual play, in Points competitions. The rules for the Local Medals were first published in the Annual for 1839-40. These rules, and the various shots to be played, were essentially those that had been used by the Currie CC, see here. Sixteen Local Medals were allocated in the first year, but the Annual for 1840-41 only included ..read more
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The Points Game
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
Although curling is seen these days as a team sport, there is a variation of the game which tests an individual curler's skill. Such Points competitions date from the earliest years when curling clubs were formed. For example, it is known that the Duddingston Curling Society had a competition in which individual members had to play three different shots - drawing, striking, and inwicking. A gold medal was awarded to the winner for the first time in 1809. Many long established curling clubs played variations of Points. One such was the Currie Curling Club, which had devised a more comprehensive ..read more
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Curling in adverts
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
Curling owes much to its major sponsors. Other businesses help in other ways, by advertising in curling magazines, on websites, and in event programmes. Adverts in old programmes become more interesting as the years go by. During lockdown I found myself avidly scouring old curling event programmes and magazines for items of interest. Adverts I found could be classified into three types. There are those of businesses related to the sport, and these usually have a curling 'theme'. Other adverts were for companies whose page in the programme just used a generic non-curling image taken from stock ..read more
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Did Carlo Pellegrini win an Olympic Gold in 1912 for a painting of a curling scene?
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
Carlo Pellegrini (1866-1937) provided the artwork for many postcards. Above is a favourite from my own postcard collection. It shows a game in progress on outside ice, in a snow covered landscape. It was published by Vouga and Cie, Geneva, as D10 of a series. It is postally unused and is not dated. Some months ago I decided that Pellegrini's postcards might make an interesting and colourful post on the Curling History Blog. I set out to find more about the artist, and immediately became fascinated with what I discovered. Firstly, he should not be confused with his father, also Carlo Pellegr ..read more
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Curling stones and curling stone makers
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
Not all curling stones originate on Ailsa Craig. This was particularly true at the end of the nineteenth century when you could buy curling stones of a variety of types, as David Smith wrote in a blog article, see here. Back then, if you wanted to curl, you had to purchase a pair of stones for your own use on outside ice. There was a variety of stone types to chose from, such as Burnock Water, Crawfordjohn, Carsphairn, Crieff Serpentine, Tinkernhill and of course three types of Ailsas (Red Hone, Blue Hone, and Common). Where exactly had the different types of stone come from, and who had made ..read more
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A Successful Season for Wanlockhead curlers
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
I have this old postcard in my collection. It has not been sent through the post, but was in the past stuck in someone's album. In pencil, written on the back is 'Wanlockhead Curling Club from Miss Flo Mitchell, Thornhill'. I recognised two of the trophies, and thought I would try to identify those in the photograph.   Scanning the photograph, and cleaning it up, the Wanlockhead curlers can be seen clearly. The trophy in the centre is the Grand Match Challenge Trophy, and one on the left is the Waterlow Cup, and that on the right is the Fraser Cup (a Wanlock Curling Club trophy). Note t ..read more
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The Silver Broom 1969
Curling History
by Bob Cowan
3y ago
This is the cover of the programme for the Air Canada Silver Broom World Men's Curling Championship, March 18-22, 1969, at the Central Scotland Ice Rink, Perth. Air Canada had taken up the sponsorship the previous year, and the first Silver Broom had been held at Pointe Claire, Quebec, in March, 1968. Previously the competition had been sponsored by the Scotch Whisky Association from 1959 to 1967. The International Curling Federation (later to become the World Curling Federation) had been formed, and the Silver Broom became the 'official' World Curling Championship. The event at Perth was the ..read more
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