Want to be the Royal Club's Vice-president?

Back in February 22, Curling Today reported that no-one had put their name forward for nomination as the Royal Caledonian Curling Club's Vice-president, and we discussed what might happen at the AGM on June 14.

A solution to the crisis has now been proposed, but you have to be familiar with time paradoxes to really understand what has to happen. I'll try and explain, although I did have to seek clarification myself from CEO Colin Grahamslaw before getting to grips with it! The essence though is simple - introduce a Special Resolution at the AGM to allow late nominations for the post to be accepted.

The problem is that voting for the position is carried out by representative members at the AGM, and not by postal vote as are the Board Directorships. So, nominations must be received in advance of the AGM date. If nominations are received, an election can be held IF the Special Resolution is passed on June 14.

The full text of the Special Resolution is here, but if you haven't seen it yet, just read the first part: (a) Article 5.3 shall be amended by the insertion of an additional sentence at the end to say “For the Annual General Meeting held in 2008, nominations for election called for in terms of Article 5.7 shall be lodged with the Royal Club by 6th June 2008.”

So what the representative members will be voting for on June 14 is for something to have happened weeks before that. Dr Who fans will have no problem with this, I'm sure!

In fact one nomination, for Bill Marshall, has been received already. If you know someone else who would like to serve, then you have until June 6 to get your nomination to Cairnie House.

And if the above has put you in the mood to exercise your democratic rights, you can now vote for your choices for the Gala Awards on the RCCC website here!

Bill Marshall's photo is by Jan Howard

Margaret Withycombe and Anne Airey win Ice Diamonds Award at RCCC Gala Dinner

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club's Gala Curling Awards dinner was held May 18 at the Hilton Hotel, Edinburgh Airport.

Margaret Withycombe and Anne Airey, who headed the team which organised the successful world wheelchair qualifying competition at Braehead last year, were the inaugural winners of the Ice Diamonds Award, the volunteer award, which was sponsored by the Scottish Curler. The photo above, by Hugh Stewart, shows Scottish Curler depute editor Christine Stewart (centre) with Anne (left) and Margaret (right).

The Team of the Year, sponsored by Star Refrigeration, was Sarah Reid's World Junior Champions: Sarah Reid, Eve Muirhead, Barbara McFarlane, Sarah Macintyre and Alison Black (see photo below). Eve was also recognised as the Young Curler of the Year, that award sponsored by McMillan Hotels.

Elite Coach of the Year (sponsored by sportscotland) was Sheila Swan, and Coach of the Year (sponsored by Curling Supplies) was Judith McFarlane.

Iain Baxter of Murrayfield was Ice Rink Manager of the Year, that award sponsored by Christiansen Management. The two Ice Maker of the Year awards, sponsored by Kays of Scotland, went to Alan Grant of Braehead and Paul Martin of the Dewars Rinks, Perth.

Curling Journalist of the Year (sponsored by Ferguson Oliver) was Robin Wilson.

Congratulations to all.

Hugh Stewart's photo (below) shows (L-R) Alison Black, Sarah Macintyre, Sarah Reid, Eve Muirhead and Barbara McFarlane with the World Junior Championship trophy.