I wasn't able to get up to Curl Aberdeen this weekend where nineteen junior men's teams are playing off for eight places in the Scottish Junior Championship finals. I've been thinking about them, and following the results on the Royal Club's website here.I was doing some tidying up yesterday (a rare but necessary activity) and found the programme (above) from the days when bank and bankers were not the swear words they are today, and we had respect for our financial institutions. The Bank of Scotland supported junior curling for many years. Who was playing in 1992, and are any of these young curlers still competing today? Some certainly are! See for yourself.
February 5-9, 1992, Galleon Centre, Kilmarnock. The Finalists were:
(1) Laren Gillespie (Atholl)
Andrew Penker
Alan Scott
John Brown
(2) Alan Smith (Galleon Centre)
David Mundell
Brian Smith
Andrew Smith
(3) Graham Cormack (Inverness)
Peter de Boer
Gordon Hay
Steven Rankin
(4) Chris Hunter (Gogar Park)
Stevie Still
Paul Westwood
James Graham
(5) Duncan Bertram (Letham Grange)
Simon Hartley
Warwick Smith
Ross Hepburn
(6) John Muir (Hamilton)
Paul Bowie
Robbie Stevenson
James Baird
(7) Allan Lyburn
William Lyburn
Colin Beckett
Fraser Hare
(8) Iain Powell (Brora)
Stuart Currie
Brian ferguson
Neil Kemp
And here are the girls' teams:
(1) Kirsty Addison (Greenacres)
Karen Addison
Joanna Pegg
Louise Wilkie
(2) Moira McConnell (Greenacres)
Gillian Howard
Mhairi Shanks
Kirsten MacFarlane
(3) Moira Hastings (Lockerbie)
Jan Byers
Angela Rae
Fiona McEwan
(4) Julia Ewart (Forfar)
Kirsty Hynd
Mhairi Ferguson
Rhona Caldwell
(5) Gillian Barr (Gogar Park)
Claire Milne
Janice Watt
Nikki Mauchline
(6) Catriona Weir (Gogar Park)
Joceline Hildrey
Helen Wright
Jenny Fountain
(7) Lindsay Kilpatrick (Greenacres)
Holly Pearson
Lindsay Hunter
Alison Wallace
(8) Fiona Brown (Greenacres)
Suzie Law
Julie-Anne MacGregor
Fiona MacFarlane
So, how many of the top juniors seventeen years ago are still curling today, even at club level, and how many are lost from the game?
I cannot find how many teams entered the preliminary rounds, but I do know that qualifying playdowns were held in four rinks. For the record, the Scottish Junior Men's title was won by the Allan Lyburn team who finished sixth (with Laren Gillespie as 5th player) in the World Juniors in Oberstdorf. The Scottish Junior Women's title was won by Gillian Barr and her team, who then went on to capture the World Junior Championship title (with Karen Addison as 5th)!
Comments and memories welcome!
