ANOTHER high-octane Irish Weekend at Stranraer Ice Rink has reached its conclusion with a new winner for 2024.
The top team this year are Fiona Spain with her rink of Fraser Ewan, Wendy Hutton and Andrew Sommerville.
The runners-up in the high road were Peter Wilson, Louise Kerr, Richard Stevenson and Jessica Maxwell.
In the low road, the winners were Frazer Hare, Eva Hare, Sean Clemmie and Holly Clemie.
The runners- up were Bill Gray, Nina Clancy, Walter Scott and Kerrin Forsyth.
The consolation prize of the much coveted Tayto crisps went to Tommy Campbell, Geraldine Murphy, Keir Thomson and Cath Brown (Keir is missing from the photo below).
Over £300 was raised at the raffle at the drinks reception for ICA funds. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets and donated prizes.
IT is less than a week since Ireland’s last international competition, but men’s skip John Wilson is back in action with his partner Alison Fyfe as Ireland take on the world in Dumfries to try and qualify for the 2024 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships. The team are once again supported by their coach, Eoin McCrossan.
The Dumfries Ice Bowl plays host once again to 26 teams from around the world who will battle it out for 4 spots to the worlds, hosted next year in Ostersund, Sweden. Ireland are in Group A alongside Germany, India, Kyrgyzstan, Lativa, Chinese Taipei and Ukraine. The round robin phase begins tomorrow evening and runs until Tuesday ahead of playoffs beginning on Wednesday. The top 2 teams in each group will proceed to a double knockout competition. If you can make it to two wins, before you succumb to two losses then you will book your ticket to the World Championships in Sweden.
Qualification this year is particularly important as it is the first step on the journey to the 2026 Winter Olympics. Alison Fyfe, then playing with her dad Neil, earned Ireland an Olympic point in the build up to the 2018 Winter Games, something she remembers fondly: “I remember beating Hungary, who were the current world champions at the time, it probably is still my curling highlight. The great thing about mixed double is it has given smaller countries a chance to dream of the Olympics. There’s a long way for us to go, but you never know when lightning can strike!”. For her partner John Wilson, it is the perfect chance to move on from his experience at the Europeans, “Although we stayed in B-Division in Perth, the week was below our expectations. I’m really excited to be back on the ice so soon especially playing Mixed Doubles. It’s such a fast, fun and exciting format – and I get to sweep!”
THERE was a real ding-dong battle last Sunday for the Fyfe Trophy, presented to the ICA by the Fyfe family, in memory of John and Isobel Fyfe. It is also the annual ICA Open Championships.
After four games of four ends, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, the winners were the team of Kyle Paradis, Craig Whyte, Steve Callan and Carolyn Hibberd.
The silver medals went to Neil Fyfe, Ross Barr, Frances Whyte and Geraldine Murphy.
The bronze medal went to Eoin McCrossan, Alison Fyfe, John Burns and John Dunlop.
Also skipping teams to the bottom, in descending order, were John Wilson, David Whyte and Bill Gray.
Thanks to our guests who made up the numbers to get six rinks out and thanks to Greenacres for hosting the Irish.
CLARE has represented Ireland internationally over 50 times, so she gets an updated set of questions to answer, as we know so much about her already!
Name? – Clare McCormick aka Forbes Age? – Ancient Occupation? – Retired In-turn or out-turn? Yes Best ever curling memory? – Bronze medal If you had had to switch careers, what job would you have done? -Gardener
Best / worst subjects at school? – Art Who’d be your four ideal dinner guests? – Earliest curling related memory? – Favourite curling destination and why? – Chambéry. Cheeses and chocolate ( and being an honorary Barr) How do you relax away from work (and curling)? – The person you most admire, alive or dead, and why? – What did you have for breakfast this morning? -Sausages
It’s back folks! Profile time. Let’s all find out a bit more about the Irish team at the world mixed in Aberdeen. Starting with skip Brian…
Name: Brian Mathews Age: 39 Occupation: Accountant Status: Married Children: 1 Years curling: 27 (?) Home club: Leinster Favourite sport to watch: Soccer Favourite sport to play: Curling Who would I like to meet: Favourite TV show: Simpsons Favourite holiday destination: Hawaii Favourite Irish curler: Johnjo Kenny (thanks for being our coach!) Most prized possession: My daughter, Aoibhín Marooned on a desert island with: A boat Me in five words: Proud father, husband, musician, curler
Team Ireland are ready to go for the first WCF event of the season as Curl Aberdeen plays host once again to the 2023 World Mixed Curling Championships. Ireland are represented by Brian Mathews, Clare McCormick, Jason Medhurst and Stephanie McDonald after their victory in March at the Irish Mixed Championship in Dumfries.
Below: Brian, Stephanie, Jason and Clare
History will be made as it marks the first time that the ICA is represented by a team with 3 members based on the island of Ireland. In addition to this, it will be Brian and Jason’s international debuts.
We asked Brian a few questions ahead of the worlds:
ICA: “How did you get involved with the ICA?”
Brian: “When my wife and I first decided we would move to Ireland around 2018, I looked into whether curling existed there, and found the ICA. Separately and coincidentally, I met Jason at a summer league game in Oakville, Ontario in 2019, and when I mentioned my impending move he mentioned he was also going to be in Ireland. I made the move in early 2020, and after some painful COVID delays, I was finally welcomed with open arms to my first ICA event in Edinburgh in 2021.”
ICA: “How did you form this team?”
Brian: “Stephanie first approached Jason and Brian to put a team together, but the group struggled finding a fourth player. Fortunately, at the Four Nations event in Aberdeen, while we were sitting around a table at the dinner banquet and discussing our lack of progress, John Wilson spoke up and said “Clare doesn’t have a team, she’ll play with you, right Clare?” It was a perfect match, and who could have guessed that fate would have us back in Aberdeen only eight months later representing Ireland at the Worlds!”
ICA: “What chance have you all had to prepare for the world championships?”
Brian: “Well, we’ve had months to watch ourselves back on YouTube from Dumfries (and the view count continues to rise). We had a great weekend session in Greenaces with Johnjo, and Clare was lucky enough to get in a few games during the week, plus an extra practice session. Enough to shake off the rust and get excited to curl again.”
ICA: “Finally, what are your hopes for this week and what team are you most looking forward to playing?”
Brian: “Our main focus is to enjoy the experience. It’s such a great opportunity to get to take part in a Worlds, so we’ll do our best to enjoy everything both on and off the ice. I think Brian, Jason, and Stephanie are hoping we can make the playoffs and get a chance to play against Canada!”
34 teams head to Aberdeen for an initial round robin phase in four groups from Saturday to Thursday before playoffs begin on Friday for the top 12 teams. Ireland are in group A along with Israel, Belgium, Netherlands, Japan, England, hosts Scotland, Wales and Sweden. They begin their campaign early on Saturday morning against Israel at 8am before the rest of the group – and the home nations – await!
Streaming for the event is available directly from the WCF website here:
THE first ICA game of the new season took place at Greenacres Ice Rink today with four rinks on the ice.
Neil Fyfe’s team were the winners after a victory over Arran Cameron’s team and in the other game David Whyte’s rink got the better of Alison Fyfe’s foursome.
Great to get back on the ice and wonderful to see friends old and new there.
Pictured are winners Maria O’Neill, Charlotte Tierney, Neil Fyfe and John Dunlop
THE Irish Curling Association is immensely proud tonight of our secretary and good friend Bill Gray, who becomes a Member of the British Empire in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Bill has been recognised with the Honour for his sterling work as Chairman of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, for services to Agriculture, to Charity and to the community in Scotland.
Bill said tonight: “To say that I am incredibly honoured and humbled to have received this award is a massive understatement.
“It is as much for the incredible people that I have worked with through my agricultural career as it is for me and I will be forever grateful for their support.”
Bill (above) during his term as Chairman of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland.
Bill’s citation reads:
William (Bill) Gerald Gray MBE, 63 years old, Midlothian
Chairman, Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. For services to Agriculture, to Charity and to the community in Scotland
● In 2019, he was appointed Chairman of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, following 4 terms as a volunteer Director, 14 years as a director and 3 as chair.
● Joining RHASS he has brought a board of 59 trustees and 16,000 memberships.
● Due to Covid-19 the Highland Centre Ltd was closed meaning that £1.5M of the charity’s income was lost. Under his efforts, an unprecedented fundraising campaign was developed raising over £600,000 in record time.
● He was then recognised by independent consultants as leading one of the fastest and most successful membership campaigns ever.
● The society has seen huge financial losses during the pandemic, however he single-handedly brought in revenue to the site from a public company which raised over £700,000 income over two years.
● He did this while he was a full-time employee of a farming business of 660 hectares and many estate diversifications while also supporting all activities of DEFRA.
● He was a project director of the new membership pavilion at the Royal Highland Centre which received a very positive response when used at this year’s Royal Highland Show.
● In 2021 he met with the government and stakeholders and worked very hard with his team to help take RHS online. In under 80 days, the Society delivered 7 days of 12 hours of action from behind closed doors, reaching over 100 countries which put RHSS back on the map.
● He was later recognised as Arable Farmer of the Year in Scotland in 2021.
● He plays an instrumental part in the development of new farming talents. He partnered with a neighbouring farm to become one of the Scottish Government Monitor Farm projects, where he worked alongside a young farm manager to help develop a highly successful project regularly attracting between 60-100 farmers to share best practice.
● It went onto being Farmers Weekly Farm Manager of the year.
● In June 2022, the RHS returned where he delivered one of the most important shows in history.
● He is also a supporter of the Royal Highland Education Trust, a charity that opens rural Scotland to thousands of schoolchildren.
● He has delivered significant improvements to the farming estate, diversifying business, adopting renewable technologies, developing new income streams, and driving innovation.
● He is Director and Former Chair of the Lothian Machinery ring coop, which works to save farmers money through pooling of resources and combined buying power.
● He was instrumental in establishing routes to economies of scale and commercial buying power.
● He was the Past Chair of Dalkeith Show, a show in Midlothian which promotes food and farming to the local community, he also served his local community as a community councillor.
WELL DONE BILL AND HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS FROM ALL ICA MEMBERS!