Hi ladies and welcome to our new curling season.
We were given 2 invitations to the Ice Rink's Opening Bonspiel on Saturday 16th Sept. and Merle and I represented the club on the day. It was a fantastic day to begin this special year celebrating 50 years of curling at Hamilton and we met up with many current and past members of the club. The number of Lesmahagow Club members present just showed how much the club has contributed to the success of Lanarkshire Ice Rink over the years and there were lots of pictures of events over the years which I hope have been left up on the notice boards for you all to see.
With the restriction on numbers, I'm just sorry that everyone couldn't be involved as I know that there were many of you who have supported club and ice rink competitions for many years who did not have the opportunity to attend. I hope you have had your names in early enough to secure places at the Anniversary Dinner in the Radstone on 25th November. It is booked out now and sounds like it'll be another enjoyable event.
The Ladies Ice Rink Bonspiel is on Thursday 21st Sept. If you put your name down for this, you should have been contacted so you know when to turn up and which rink you'll be playing in. They are usually short of players on the day due to late call offs, so if you haven't been contacted and would like to play, just contact the Ice Rink Ladies' Committee by phoning the ice rink.
I have a wedding to attend that day but Merle, our secretary, and Alison Taylor, our vice president will be there. If you haven't got your syllabus yet, Merle has any remaining ones and is going to distribute them at this bonspiel. Seek her out so that she doesn't have too much running about to do trying to find you all. We're trying to cut down on postage costs by distributing them when we first see you. Meryl has been phoning to ensure that people know when their first game is.
Some of you will be playing your first club game on Tuesday19th in the Crosthwaite Quaich. Jane Hay, a knew lady member is playing in Alison McRae's rink so I'm sure Alison will make Jane feel welcomed into the club that night.
Our first Ladies' Section event is the Christine Mitchell Bonspiel on Thursday 28th Sept.
This is the list of lady members who have said they'll play. I'm adding names here because some of you are already asking if you put your name down for this competition when the list went round in March.
Members who said they'd play:
Vera Anderson, Jean Armstrong, Jane Dearie, Janet Drife, Eileen Fleming, Rebecca Gardner,Isobel Haddow, Gillian Haggart, Ann Howie, Nora Jackson, Betty Lambie, Margaret Levack, Anne Marsh, Jessie Marshall, Shirley Mathieson, Rona McAlister, Diana McDonald, Isabel McDonald, Elizabeth Miller, Jane Morton, Helen Padkin,Anne Ramsay, Vera Shearer, Johan Steele, Alison Taylor, Merle Tough, Elma Walker, Mhairi Thomson.
Members who said they'd reserve:
Elizabeth Coke, Sandra Gardiner, Jessie Marshall,Anne Miller, Margo Steele, Liz Struthers,Joanne Burt, Margaret Dunn and Rosemary Lake
I'll be checking in with Merle again soon regarding this list as she may already have had call offs and have pulled in reserves.
We'll be joined by rinks from East Kilbride & Hairmyers CC, Dippool CC, Strathaven Ladies CC, Lesmahagow CC, Douglas CC and Upperward Ladies CC.
The first Lamb Trophy game is on Thursday 5th October. Since we have no Match Secretary this year, we now have a mobile phone number for you to contact if you cannot play and require a sub.
This phone will be with different members of my committee over the year. I have it for the first few games. The number is in the syllabus and is 07516 940138. If you do not get an answer when you phone, you can leave a voice message or you can text your message. Please remember to leave your name as well as the date you cannot play and we'll try our best to keep the competitions running. NONE OF US SIGNED UP AS MATCH SECRETARY so we'd really appreciate as much notice as possible if you know you won't be able to play and we'd love you to offer to sub on the days which are your ''day off '', if at all possible. The subs list is looking very healthy but we've already had 2 members who have had to pull out of this competition entirely which leaves us with 2 rinks already sitting with 3 players. We are trying to find permanent members for these rinks before the league starts.
Hope you're all looking forward to getting back on the ice,
Rona
