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Summer 2020 YOUR CONTENTS
04 AGM Round Up
Statement from RCCC 05 Board of Directors 2020/2021
06 Bulletin Board
08 Development Team - Summer Update 13
Glasgow Ice Centre 15 Update
17 Competition Corner
Cover photo: ©WCF/Céline Stucki A WORD FROM OUR CEO Dear Members,
I hope you are all well and enjoying the summer season as much as you can.
Firstly, I would like to thank all of our members who attended and participated in the first ever virtual AGM of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Over 400 members 'zoomed' in to hear the latest updates and it was refreshing and interesting to answer questions and hear a few familiar voices as our members voiced the questions of our community. You can read a round up of the main discussion points and outcomes of the AGM on page 4, as well as a statement released after the initial meeting with our newly elected directors of the Board, Keith Prentice and Janine Wilson. Along with new RCCC President Andrew Kerr and Vice-President Susan Kesley, the board are progressing with the areas of change deemed necessary to more effectively communicate with and involve our membership in the governance of our sport.
We are continually assessing the situation surrounding the global pandemic and the implications that the current restrictions may have on curling when it comes time for a new season. We have a dedicated page on our website for these kinds of updates, and this is where you can find our Return To Curling Guidelines, which we are reviewing at every step of the Scottish Government's phased route map out of lockdown.
In this issue, we also have a large scale update from our development team, to keep you, our members, in the loop as to what your membership is helping us to progress over the quieter months. I'm sure you'll enjoy this update and I hope that if you have any questions about any of the projects, you contact the relevant member of the team by tapping their name at the beginning of each section on pages 8-13.
Rounding out this YourCurler, we have included information about our updated competition refund policy for season 2020/2021. We understand that just because curling is allowed to go ahead, that does not necessarily mean that you will feel comfortable or able to return to the ice for competitions on set dates. You can read all about this on page 15.
As ever, I hope to see you all on the ice as soon as we can get back out there, and I wish you all the best for the rest of the summer.
Best Wishes, Bruce Bruce Crawford Chief Executive Officer
2020 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SATURDAY 27 JUNE
The 182nd Annual General Meeting of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, was held online using Zoom’s video webinar platform on Saturday 27 June 2020 at 2pm.
Brian McArtney reported on his year as President and Bruce Crawford (CEO) summarised the Annual Report. Graham Lindsay (Chair) steered the members through the business elements of the meeting and the results of the online and postal voting. The proposed changes to the Rules of the Game, and Annual Accounts were approved, and it was agreed that the subscriptions for the 2021-2022 season would remain the same at £20 for ordinary and honorary playing members, and £7 for Juniors (under 21).
Special Resolution 7, submitted by New Abbey Curling Club, was not passed by the voting members. As a result of this vote, a selection process will be used to determine which team will represent Scotland for the coming season. The Board accepts and respects the decision of our members.
Chairman Graham Lindsay said, “I recognise that we need to change. We must do all that we can to properly engage with our members; we will improve our communication; we need to consult with our members as never before, and we need to keep you all informed, so that you are fully aware of the consequences of our actions. We will engage, we will communicate, we will consult. The Board will serve the members of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club to the best of our abilities and in the best interests of curling in Scotland.”
Andrew Kerr (Troon Portland) was appointed as President and Susan Kesley (Currie and Balerno) became the first woman to be appointed as Vice President of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. David Hardie and Hugh Templeton stepped down as directors, while Keith Prentice (Ayton Castle) and Janine Wilson (Letham Grange) were elected as directors and will now begin their terms on the Board.
Lochaber Curling Club was awarded a 150 year club medal, having been admitted in 1870, and Troon Portland Curling Club was awarded a 100 year club medal.
The following members were virtually awarded with 50 year medals to celebrate 50 years continuous membership: David Steel (Biggar), Patrick Edington (Boswall), Craig Hutcheson (Broomhall), Douglas Walls (Crawford Priory), Ian Whiteford (Crawford Priory), Tom Neilson (Dippool), Alison Allison (East Kilbride & Haremyres), Oonah Grigor (Elgin), Inglis McAulay (Falkirk), Jeanette Johnston (Falkirk Ladies), Margaret Ramsay (Glasserton), Anne Brook (Kennoway), Charles Gibb (Kilmahoe), John Duncan (Lesmahagow), John Veitch (Lesmahagow), Jean Veitch (Lesmahagow Ladies), Norma Lammie (Leswalt), James Wyllie (Midcalder), Jim Cowper (Penicuik), Jane Paton (Penninghame), Jack Kennedy (Sorn), Kate Dykes (West Linton).
The winners of the Scottish Curling Awards were acknowledged with James Craik, Robert Forrest, Pete Loudon and Team Mouat voted this year’s Young Curler, Grassroots Coach, Ice Diamond and Team of the Year respectively.
The Board would like to extend thanks to the staff at Scottish Curling for their help to allow the 182nd Annual General Meeting to go ahead in its new format, and to all of the membership for a fantastic season.
The 183rd Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 26 June 2021. The venue is yet to be confirmed, but it is hoped it will be held at Greenacres Curling Rink.
Statement from RCCC Board of Directors 2020/21
The new board met on Thursday 2 July and have committed to forming a working group that will include staff, directors, athletes, members and stakeholder organisations to inform the board’s future selection policy decisions. A new group has also been immediately created to simultaneously consider the ways in which we can most effectively consult with as many of you as possible.
By the start of the new season, we will present a comprehensive plan for consultation on all our key issues, including selection and the modernisation of our organisational structure.
The board will keep the members informed as we make progress in the coming period. Bulletin Board
Our competitions refund policy has changed for season 2020/21, allowing We're Here you to feel more at Scottish Curling HQ staff are ease about getting a currently working remotely - refund if you need to you can find our contact cancel! details here Read all about it here
VACANCY: Academy Manager We're looking for someone who can identify and develop our next generation of world class curlers, providing quality opportunities to aspiring athletes. More info and apply here.
Development Team Summer Update Head of Development - Nick Rennie
Now that our new development team structure is in place we have been busy over this prolonged summer period, progressing the plans for the development of curling. We wanted to use this opportunity to give you a flavour of what we are working on.
In the January and April editions of YourCurler we have provided updates on our plans for developing curling. These have centered on having a closer relationship with each ice rink curling community across Scotland, driven by three development managers.
We highlighted plans to build on the strengths of our sport and help us to encourage people from the age of 8 to 80 to play our great game. Some of these strengths are the commitment to junior curling across the country, the great progress in developing coaches and officials, providing opportunities for those with disabilities, developing the performance pathway and organising curling competitions, camps and events.
In addition to all of the above, we've identified the following seven areas to focus on more intensively:
1. Converting participation to membership from introductory programmes such as Curling’s Cool, Try Curling etc 2. Targeted Secondary School work 3. Retention of School Leavers 4. Targeted recruitment campaign for 50+ 5. A more convenient version of Curling 6. Capitalise on high profile curling events 7. Review Scottish Curling Membership & Benefits
As you know last season was cut short by the global pandemic and we have been working closely with ice rinks and sportscotland and Scottish Government to develop our Return to Curling Guidelines. The latest guidelines can be accessed here.
The following updates from each member of the development team provide an overview on the work we've been doing, and will continue to progress with until the season reopens. If you have any questions or would like to get involved please contact myself or the relevant member of the development team.
workforce development manager - fiona harfield During this summer period I have been developing new resources to support courses and the new workshops that are being written. The changes to how we have all had to communicate recently have allowed me to fast track plans for online CPD courses and workshop along with an online coaches forum to hopefully go live in December. Planning is underway to virtually deliver the Coaching and Development Conference and Umpire Refresher Day in September. Mentoring workshops will start later in July for Umpires. Video links are going live for coaches to observe and discuss throughout the summer months and planning is continuing for the first Scottish Coaching Conference in 2021 at Stirling University. Finally the Skill Awards steering group are continuing to meet to review and update the awards. Disability Curling Development Officer – Helen Kallow
During the out-of-season time work has been continuing on encouraging more disabled people into curling. This involves organising resources for coaches to make them easier to access, developing ways to support clubs and rinks to encourage participants to become members and making links with groups interested in curling. Plans are also underway for another Wheelchair Curling coaching day with British Curling Paralympic Coach Sheila Swan to be held in September, details will follow once finalised. The Annual Curlability Bonspeil will be back in February. Dates are already identified for BSL/Deaf- friendly curling sessions and will be announced once confirmed. I look forward to supporting coaches, clubs and rinks to be as accessible and inclusive as possible and am always happy to have enquires about training, resources and information. There are likely to be many disabled people who have struggled to be active as they would have liked over this period and curling provides a great way to have fun, get active and make friends. Competitions Manager – Jayne Stirling As with many of the roles in the Development Team, off-season is planning time for me as Competition Manager. Preparing entry forms, managing the competition bidding process for future seasons, and other administrative tasks feature in my diary, along with some time to develop the current competition offerings. Being new to the job, I’ve also been taking some time to get to know the groups and committees I’ll be working with, listening to their thoughts on current processes, and looking to channel energy into making measurable process improvements. As part of the wider Development Team, I’m also enjoying working with my colleagues on some project areas that I’m really passionate about, including schools and student curling.
Having joined Scottish Curling in March, COVID-19 has played a significant part in my work so far. Working with my colleagues to develop the Return to Curling guidance, and putting an alternative entry fee refund structure in place for the upcoming season have been some of the projects that I’ve contributed to in the past few weeks.
Albeit not the start to the Competition Manager role I had expected, I’ve relished the chance to have a positive impact on our sport’s response to COVID-19, and look forward to the resumption of competitions when it’s safe to do so. Scott Andrews - Development Manager, South & West Since coming into my new role I have been making contact with the rinks I will be working closely with and leading the development of the following projects in conjunction with colleagues.
Under 18 Curling There are many opportunities for our younger curlers and many ways to have children try our sport. With so many great programmes already in place with Curling’s Cool and Skill Awards, we are trying to create a more seamless pathway for younger children to participate in our sport. By introducing younger children to floor curling, they would be able to gather some skills before taking to the ice. Curling’s Cool is usually targeted for Primary 6 & 7, whereas we would reach out to Primary 4 & 5 classes with a floor curling programme. It's hoped that by strengthening these younger programmes, we will create more opportunities for secondary schools to get involved as well. This summer, we are assessing how the structure would work and creating the programme content along with consideration as to how we can encourage young people from introductory programmes to join a junior club.
Adapted Curling Living a busy life? Scottish Curling are looking at ways to adapt our traditional four person, 8 end game to a fun fast game with some new rules which would last 1 hour. This format is to allow people who want to curl but cannot commit to a two-hour game. In the coming months we will be looking for clubs and curlers to help us test the new game with a product launch in the New Year.
Summer Camp will return, bigger and better in August 2021. All campers who were booked to attend the 2020 camp will have the opportunity to reserve their spot first. The camp will run from 1-5 August 2021. Iain Stewart - Development Manager, National Projects, North & East The projects and programmes I have been leading on in conjunction with strengthening relationships with the rinks I will support are as follows.
Students & School Leavers Moving On Project – This edition of the ever popular YourCurler sees the official launch of Scottish Curling Development Team’s new ‘Moving On’ project. It is aimed at linking up young people who may be moving locality, be that for study or work, with the curling community in their new location. This is hoped to help address drop out from Curling that can occur as young curlers move to new parts of the country where they may be less familiar with the curling landscape and may quickly find themselves busy with a new job or with college/university studies.
Young curlers nearing the end of their school education we hope can be encouraged to take a few minutes to fill out this form to ease their transition to a new rink, club and/or student club if they are moving away from their home base for the next step in their life journey. Where there is a student club we will link up the young person, if there isn’t one we can work with the young person to start one in partnership with institution staff, and if they are moving for work rather than study, we can help with the introduction to the new local rink. We will also be posting about ‘Moving On’ in social media posts over the next few weeks, with a follow up around the 4 August SQA Exam results day via direct communications to Scottish Curling members around the school leaver age group.
Scottish Curling have signed a new three year Partnership Agreement with Scottish Student Sport, the national body for student sport and physical activity, to reconfirm both bodies commitment to developing the game in the university and college community. There is also a seven point priority list the student committee has to focus its work, and Scottish Curling Development team are invested in supporting these goals from more and better coaches to more competitions to meet all levels of ability.
We have also been working with the Scottish Student Curling Committee to offer assistance with the Scottish Student Sport League which is played throughout the year at Dewars Centre in Perth. This year we will be hosting the line scores and league tables on the Scottish Curling website for the first time so members can follow the action and you can see how your Alma Mater fares in the student battles this season.
We are reaching out to recent graduates and former student curlers to try and assist with the transition from student sport to finding a club. In addition we are considering ways in which we could implement student memberships in the future and how these can help the present student community and hopefully lead to a strong curling alumni network.
Junior Club Development Conference 2020 Monday 10 August 10am - 12pm, & Wednesday 12 August 6pm - 8 pm After a successful first Junior Club Development Conference we are running a 2nd annual conference via online video conference call in light of the COVID-19 uncertainty and to ease travel costs and time pressure on attendees.
Future Leaders third intake is now open. We are looking for new Future Leaders aged 16 to 24 to join up and work with those who joined last year, to continue to be the voice of the younger curler. The Future Leaders have worked up a manifesto of their ideas from their discussions over the last year or so and recently they presented this to the Member Development Committee and the group is keen to get new ideas and energy to improve and implement many of their recommendations. This programme is kindly supported by British Curling Supplies. Brendan Todd, one of our original Future Leaders said, “I've had the opportunity to travel through volunteering at major championships from Stirling to Estonia. I have made great friendships and the staff at Scottish Curling have been very supportive and to them I am forever grateful.”
Rachel Dakers, another member of the first cohort, gained a lot from volunteering with competitions and events: “I’ve gained a lot more experience in decision making, leadership and understanding the event process. I would encourage any young curler to apply for the programme as it is a great opportunity for self-development.” Scottish Curling Adult Camp 2020
The Scottish Curling Adult Curling Camp provides an avenue for all Curlers over 21, of all levels and abilities, looking to improve skills, to receive the latest and most relevant coaching advice and principles at the start of the season.
This early season popular weekend offers you the opportunity to enhance your own game, meet new people in a fun, sociable and relaxed environment, while improving your game for the coming season.
You will experience workshops in topics such as strategy, tactics, sweeping, delivery and balance; along with a chance to analyse, review and develop your performance led by experts in the sport.
Adult Camp will run from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October 2020, North West Castle Hotel, Stranraer. Sign up here.
Maggie Wilson - Development Manager, Central
Since joining Scottish Curling I have been making contact with the rinks I will be supporting, working on the Return to Curling Guidance and developing the following projects.
Try Curling We are reviewing the try curling experience to try and improve conversion from this taster programme to becoming a member of a club. We are looking at the user experience on the try curling website and the experience members of the public have when they visit an ice rink to try curling. If you have any suggestions for improvements to the Try Curling programme or good practices from your ice rink you’d like to share I’d love to hear from you.
Membership Benefits, findings and next steps from survey In May we sent out a membership survey and had over 700 responses. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond.
The results were very insightful with a range of views but the general consensus was that benefits should be related to curling, be that benefits a member can use personally or through the continued reinvestment of membership fees in to development. Areas members hoped for us to focus on were additional and maintained discounts that assist with the cost of curling. As many members travel to other ice rinks to compete in bonspiels, it was rightly pointed out that the only hotel discount is for Perth and would only apply to a small number of trips our members take. Off the back of the survey we are looking at establishing a wider range of hotel discounts to try and offer a discounted hotel near as many ice rinks as possible. If you are a member who runs a hotel or knows one that would be willing to offer a discount to curlers coming to your local area please get in touch with me.
We are also looking to refresh discounts for curling equipment and particularly look at a way for entry level equipment packages to help ease the cost of starting curling.
Through the summer we are taking the opportunity to not just review the benefits of membership but also the categories we offer. We are in the early stages of this review and have had some good discussions with the membership development committee regarding groups whose membership experience we could enhance with new membership types such as students and new curlers.
Lindsey Booth - Welfare & Child Protection
With potential changes to Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme in the next year due to the Scottish Government reviewing legislation I have been busy looking at the impact of these changes for curling. The following areas are likely to change when the bill completes its passage through Parliament:
• PVG Scheme membership will become mandatory - It will become an offence to do such a role without first joining the PVG Scheme. This will result in a tightening up of practice, as no volunteer or coach can start in role without having a PVG in place first. • Introducing a new digital access - via online application. Digital certificates with one "certificate" produced which the applicant can then share with different agencies. • PVG Scheme membership length - Ending lifetime membership and replacing it with a time limited membership of 5 years.
I have delivered more Child Protection courses than ever in the summer and it’s great to see people using this lockdown period to develop their awareness and understanding by attending virtual courses.
Academy Manager – Position vacant & currently under recruitment
Applications to Scottish Curling’s Academy Programme are now open until 8am Monday 13 July. The Scottish Curling Academy Programme represents the first step in the curling Performance Pathway. The Academy has the following two programmes:
• The National Academy, with a weekly commitment in the National Curling Academy (NCA), in The Peak, Stirling • The Regional/Local Academy based in local ice rinks with players and their coaches invited to attend the NCA for a maximum of four sessions or camps per year
For further information including how to apply please click on the following link: https://www.scottishcurling.org/performance/academy/
Think you'd be perfect for the role of Academy Manager? Contact Head of Development Nick Rennie for an informal chat, or apply here.
Feasibility study underway as charitable status confirmed for Glasgow Ice Centre The campaign for a new multi ice sport facility in Glasgow is now well underway, as a group of volunteers have worked tirelessly to get the project through its initial stages. Glasgow Ice Centre, now a registered Scottish charity number SC050260, have received enough donations and pledges of support to be able to proceed with a formal feasibility study. The study will assess the viability of several options, and will take approximately 12 weeks, with the findings expected in October 2020.
The team, headed up by Alan Hannah, Margarita Sweeney Baird (BEM). Lauren Gray and Liz Burton King (pictured L-R below) have amassed a wealth of support with messages from top curlers and skaters including Dancing on Ice star Mark Hanretty, as well as a few well-kent faces as ambassadors to help them promote the project to all ice sport communities, and those who are yet to take to the ice!
You can donate by tapping the image below!
Ambassadors Ross Paterson and Eve Muirhead get behind the project, as well as Scottish Curling staff!
Ambassadors include Eve Muirhead and Aileen Neilson, as well as Glasgow local, Ross Paterson, who are all taking to social media and helping to gather press coverage for the project and to encourage donations. The latest social media campaign is to post a photo of yourself with the caption “Glasgow needs a new ice centre because…” and adding your own personal reason, and some of our Scottish Curling staff couldn’t wait to get involved! (Pictured above). This is followed up by a donation to the charity's GoFundMe page with every donation, no matter how small, going towards the Fighting Fund for a new home for ice sports in Glasgow.
Currently the GIC team are looking for some keen volunteers to help with some very specific financial aspects of the process. Firstly, someone with high level Public Private Partnership (PPP) finance who can help us assess the numbers and secondly, anyone with book-keeping experience who can help us manage donations and gift aid declarations in the short term. If either of these roles sound like something you could help with, please contact by email to [email protected] and pop whichever role you fancy in the subject box!
We will bring you further updates on the Scottish Curling website here, and in future editions of YourCurler, but in the meantime, follow Glasgow Ice Centre on their facebook, twitter and instagram for regular updates.
Not into social media? Sign up to the Glasgow Ice Centre mailing list, where you’ll be the first to know all of the latest news and updates on how you can get involved with the project. Sign up to the mailing list here.
Competition ENTRY & Refund Policy 2020/21 We are keen to resume curling when government guidance indicates it is safe to do so, but recognise that this may differ for each member, dependent on their individual circumstances. With a significant degree of uncertainty over what life in coming months will look like, there is an understandable reluctance to enter and commit to competitions – particularly with the non-refundable entry fee policy.
In recognition of this, Scottish Curling will operate an alternative policy on competition entry and the associated fees for season 2020-21. This policy will apply to entries already received, as well as all entries moving forward.
Key Points: • Where possible, Closing Dates have been delayed, giving members more time to assess government guidance and their level of confidence to return to curling. • Full refunds of Entry Fees are available up to and including the Closing Date. • Introduction of ‘Cut Off Dates’, which give members the opportunity to withdraw from the competition after the closing date and receive a 50% refund of entry fees, until approximately four weeks before the competition start date. • In line with cancellations at the end of Season 2019-20, a full refund of Entry Fees will be available if the competition is cancelled by Scottish Curling.
More info can be found on our website here.
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