MINUTES OF LADIES STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON: TUESDAY 3 DECEMBER 2019 AT: 1.15PM AT OCHIL HOUSE, STIRLING, FK7 7XE

Present Morag Wellman (President), Corrie Lawrence (Vice-President, Ayr)

Marion Malcolm (Aberdeen), Janice Sutherland (Ayr), Judith Dixon (Borders), Madeleine Sharp (Braehead), Nancy Gallacher (Dumfries), Carolyn Nicoll (Forfar), Clare McCormick (Greenacres), Sandra MacIver (Inverness), Liz Glennie (Kinross), Jennifer Kubrycht (Kirkcaldy), Jesmé Brown (Lanarkshire), Carolyn Tough (Murrayfield), Helen Pirnie (Perth), Michele Brodie (Stirling), Mary-Anne McWilliam (Stranraer), Karen Jack (Waterfront), Ruth Addinall (Minutes)

Action 1. Welcome President Morag welcomed everyone to the meeting, with some different faces this month.

2. Apologies received from Lillian Carnegie (Junior Vice-President), Kay Gibb (Treasurer, Aberdeen), Janine Wilson (Forfar), Irene Baillie (Kinross), Marion Murdoch (Lockerbie).

3. Minutes of previous meeting on 24th September 2019 The following corrections were made: 1) Marion Malcolm (Aberdeen) was present but not listed as such 2) Presidents Report, point 1 – “Part President” should be “Past President” These were then approved by Marion Malcolm (Aberdeen), seconded by Carolyn Tough (Murrayfield) and signed off by President Morag.

4. Matters Arising None.

5. President’s Report 20 September to 30 November 2019

This had been circulated prior to the meeting:

It has been a busy period for Scottish with many subjects for discussion.

On 24 September the LSC had their monthly meeting followed by our Bonspiel. It was a very

friendly and fun bonspiel, many thanks to those who came, LSC members and guests. It was won

by Marion Malcolm, Ruth Addinall, Rona Craig and Rachel Hotchkiss.

The Four Nations draw was done on Friday 27 September, and I wish the best of luck to those who are competing. Unfortunately, I shall be at the Scottish Junior Championships in Aberdeen, so Corrie will be standing in for me.

On the weekend of 10 - 13 October, I went to Perth to watch the European Playdown games. What a great competition which was won by Ross Paterson’s rink on the last stone of an extra end. Congratulations to them for bringing home the Bronze medal from Helsingborg.

The joint meeting of the ASC and LSC was held on 22 October in Perth. It was a lively meeting with a good discussion mostly on the proposed structure changes. It was followed by lunch and the playing of the Priestfield Cup. Again, thanks to those who played and a special thank you to those who filled in, some at very short notice. Unfortunately, the ASC retained the trophy, better luck next year.

30 September it was back to Ochil House to meet with Brenda McIntyre and Caroleen Clark, Captain and Vice-Captain of the 2011 USA tour. We selected the tourists for the 2021 tour and

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their names are now on Scottish Curling’s website. I am delighted to tell you that the Tour Captain is Shirley Jeans who was the last Forfar rep on the LSC, I am sure she will do a wonderful job along with the other office bearers. I wish them the best of luck and a wonderful tour.

4 November I attended the RCCC board meeting and a meeting on governance in the morning.

17 November I went to Aberdeen to the Under 14 Slam and saw some wonderful curling.

18 November I attended the “roadshow” in Perth. Again, there was a lively discussion around the subjects raised, i.e. structure review and selection policy.

I would like to thank those who have stood in for me at Slams in Inverness (Sandra) and Greenacres (Corrie) as I have been at Level 1 and 2 coaching courses in the NCA doing assessments for the course I am doing at the moment.

There has been a lot of other work going on in the background with the organisation of the incoming Canadian Tour, the Morton and the Henderson Bishop.

6. Treasurer’s Report Received after the meeting: There has be a wee flurry of activity during October & November and we paid

1) Active Stirling for the bonspiel ice £ 224.00 2) Kirkwoods for the P P Badges £1,109.82

We collected 1) Past Swedish Tour £ 307.61 2) L B bonspiel £ 170.00

The lunch at the bonspiel was paid cash on the day but we were still left with a small short fall of £58.80 which has been absorbed through our account.

I have received money from Kinross for the International Fund. Can I remind Centres that all donations to this fund are welcome and that if anyone requires a receipt please get in touch. (I will arrange for Elaine to email a form & reminder to you all in the new year)

Can I remind everyone that we still have tea towels and bags for sale. Funds as of 30th November 2019 £ 8,716.85

Past Presidents brooches had now been purchased and one was circulated for scrutiny. There had been a deficit from the Bonspiel and there was discussion about costs. The cost per person had been £17. Vice-President Corrie was of the opinion that it was a very small thank you to everyone for turning up every month and a small deficit was acceptable. Ruth Addinall said that contributing to Ladies Branch had been discussed at Murrayfield and there were thoughts about whether it was important to grow the funds in the current state of review, and what would happen to the existing funds if the new structure was accepted. Sandra MacIver (Inverness) asked if there was anything in the constitution that indicated what would happen to any funds if Ladies Branch ceased to exist. President Morag said that it had been discussed at Review Group meetings and she thought that any money would be ring-fenced to support ladies curling and Tours; it would not just disappear into general funds. However, President Morag said it was still all to be discussed but Sandra MacIver (Inverness) felt that it was important to minute that it should be ring-fenced.

7. Report on Ladies Branch Competitions

Henderson Bishop playdowns – these were underway and had been completed at some

Centres. President Morag thanked those Centre for the photographs which will all be shortly posted

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on the Facebook page – she asked that any “captions” for the photos named the people in order Pres from left to right. She also asked that the names of the winning rinks be sent to Kay Gibb (bkay@w- enterprises.co.uk) for the finals in Aberdeen.

Michelle Brodie (Stirling) explained that they were having Henderson Bishop playdown issues – Pres a problem where one of the skips entered at Stirling had yet to specify who her team consisted of and was failing to respond to all forms of communication about this. It was known that the in question had a conflict with an umpiring session but with a week to go no-one knew whether a team would be fielded or not. Discussion followed about the acceptability of entering teams without specifying any names, and although this was deemed to be okay it was felt that Scottish Curling should be informed of them at least 2 weeks before a competition was due to be played. President Morag agreed to ask about getting this added to the entry form. Michelle Brodie (Stirling) felt that it went against the rules not to actually specify all 4 names when the initial entry was made; quite a few entries are Club entries and so the makeup of the team would not be agreed upon until the start of the following season. President Morag also agreed to raise the issue with the Rules Competitions Committee but the important thing was also not to discourage entries. Jesmé Brown (Lanarkshire) said that there had been unrest at Hamilton because they had originally been told that they would get 2 finalists but then found out that it was only 1. President Morag said that as far as she was concerned they had never definitively had 2 entries and this was decided each year dependant on the number of entries at each Centre. As there were 17 Centres with playdowns, there were 3 finalist places missing: Murrayfield got 2 places with 10 entries, Aberdeen as the hosts and having 10 entries also got 2 places. Both Ayr and Lanarkshire had 8 entries apiece and a coin toss gave the final place to Ayr. Claire McCormick (Greenacres) said that she had been expecting to get an invitation to play in the Henderson Bishop but had not received one; President Morag said that invitations were not sent out, this was a Scottish Curling competition and entries had to be made via the website before the end of June. Centre reps were usually reminded at LSC meetings to encourage entries from their Centres. President Morag reminded everyone that the Ladies Branch Operating Manual was online at https://www.scottishcurling.org/about-us/structure/ladies-branch/operating-manual/ and it was usually updated every year. Karen Jack (Waterfront) asked when Henderson Bishop playdowns had to be completed and President Morag said that there was no strict rule, but the end of January meant that there was still time for all the information to be supplied to the Host Centre for their preparations. Morton Trophy President Morag asked everyone to discuss with this with their Centres for a more detailed discussion at the February meeting. Some Centres are struggling to get players, often to do with travelling and dropping down to 2 teams has been suggested again. She said that although historically the pre-AGM meeting was also known as the Morton meeting, she felt that it was important to sort out any serious issues prior to this. The results are being published on the Competitions web page. Jesmé Brown (Lanarkshire) said they were struggling and asked about the fact that people were only allowed to play in one game. President Morag said that this was purely a local decision but it was encouraged to include as many people as possible, particularly the newer players; it was not intended to be a higher-powered competition for super league teams. Marion Malcolm (Aberdeen) said the second paragraph of the Morton rules was “the object of the competition was to encourage female curlers to improve their game and participate in team events”. There was a feeling though that some Centres deliberately fielded strong teams.

8. Correspondence/Emails President Morag had sent a card to Eve Muirhead congratulating her and her team on winning a Silver medal at the European Women’s Championship. Mary Anne McWilliam (Stranraer) said that she had sent an email relating the result of discussions at Stranraer about the proposed Structural Review (i.e. they were happy with the status quo) but had not received an acknowledgment from Morag, Brian McArtney (SC President) or Graham

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Lindsay (Chair Board). President Morag apologised on their behalf. Having spoken to Graham Lindsay at the Stranraer Roadshow, Mary Anne was aware that the letter had been read out at the Joint Meeting in Perth but would have appreciated some response.

9. Ladies Branch Business Structure Update – the Review Group hadn’t met recently but the Roadshows had started. Different areas had had different responses: at the meeting in Stranraer (36 strong), with representatives also from Dumfries, the overall feeling was to leave things as they are, because they work (the ASC & LSC reps talk regularly, though this might be down to having a fantastic ASC rep). President Morag had attended the Perth meeting (about 50 attendees): Russell Keiller and David Hay were there to speak about the Selection process which helped give a good perspective on the problem. Vice-President Corrie said that however many people turned up at the Roadshows, it was such a small percentage of the membership, and the presentation should be made available to everyone (it was going to be published on the website after all presentations had been completed). Sandra MacIver (Inverness) complained that a 320 mile trip to a Roadshow was not acceptable but it was acknowledged that each ice rink could not be visited every time, although Greenacres had requested a visit that had not been scheduled and this was going ahead. Mary Anne McWilliam (Stranraer) said that one thing that came out of the Roadshows was that it was acknowledged that Ladies Branch works very well, and that they are wanting to build on this rather than destroy it. Stranraer had requested that when voting commences, that the status quo is one of the options. Votes can be made online and not only in person at the AGM in Forfar. There followed a discussion about email and voting. Canadian Tour – report from Vice-President Corrie: • Janice Sutherland is going to take on looking after the Ayr stop whilst I am organising the tour as a whole – Thank you Janice. • A big thank you to all of you who have been working behind the scenes to progress matters in their own centres. Some centres fairly far on with preparations. • Braehead – just when I thought the tour route was sorted, came the awful news from Braehead. However Madeleine, Clare and I are determined that Braehead ladies will play the Canadian ladies and the hope is that they can go to Greenacres or The Peak to play. I have written to ask Richard Harding, in the first instance, to ask if he can give us additional ice on Nov 18th to accommodate this. I have yet to receive his response…… I will keep you all posted. • Progress update 1. Closing Banquet I have met with Margaret Richardson 2015 tour Captain to look at possible venues for our Closing Banquet. Several hotels fell short of expectation. We both really like the new Hampton by Hilton at the Racecourse in Hamilton. Marquee in the grounds - ongoing discussions about costs involved. 2. Budget Cathy Hughes, tour organiser originally advised same budget as last tour – 10 years ago. I advised her that with many uncertainties we could give no guarantees at this stage. She originally advised applicants that budget would be $ 5,000 (Canadian) which equates to £3,200. Just before the applications went out she upped it to an estimated $6,000 which is a little better. Margaret will set the budget and keep us straight. 3. Route A couple of small changes. After the night in Kinross, tourists will leave Kinross on morning of Tuesday 10th, play Kirkcaldy ladies, then move to sightseeing in Edinburgh, before heading to Kelso at teatime the 10th. So, no overnight at Kirkcaldy. and no overnight now at Elgin. Tourists will leave Aberdeen on the morning of Monday 23rd Nov, play at Elgin after lunch before heading to Inverness for a two-night stay. 4. Tourists The application process in Canada generated over 50 applications and the final 24 have now been selected. (handout 1) You will receive profiles of each player nearer the time to allow you to allocate them to hostesses. NO SMOKERS NO DIETARY REQUIREMENTS

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5. Hospitality agenda One or two already have a clear plan for what they will do with their guests. Can I ask you please to fill in the following to confirm that you will be home hosting or using a hotel. (handout 2) If using a hotel please confirm your preferred choice of hotel? One or two already have negotiated good hotel deals for us locally. However, the Tour committee (Margaret Richardson and I) will BOOK Hotels, and not until we have funds from Canada to do so. My job will be to ensure we don’t get three centres all wanting to visit a distillery on three consecutive days – so get your ideas in quickly. Here are some of the suggestions from the Canadians: Woollen shopping, Tasting distilleries, Isle of Skye? Preston Ice bowl? Culloden, St Andrews Golf Course Museum and bridge Eve Muirhead, and Ross Patterson! Castles, Britannia ship and Tea House, Kelvingrove Falkirk Wheel, Kelpies, Mary King’s Close Cathedrals, Glencoe (SkyFall), House of Bruar Talk to the LSC rep before and after you on the Tour itinerary, find out what they are planning and let’s make sure our plans dovetail rather than clash. 6. Tour Booklet (handout 3) Early days ladies but this sheet offers you an example of the kind of information needed from your centre for the tour booklet. Can you please complete it in draft form for me as soon you have your plans in place, but by the February meeting at the very latest. Thank you. 7. Timescales The Tour may seem a long way off at this point, but you all know that everything will grind to a halt in March and won’t resume again till September. That will be too late, so in order that we can all enjoy the summer, we need all but the minor detail dealt with by April.

Thank you all once again, Corrie. President Morag then thanked Vice-President Corrie for the huge amount of work that she was putting in. USA Tour - The selection process had been completed and the names were on the website. Their first meeting is Sunday 8 December and the Tour Captain is Shirley Jeans from Forfar. President Morag said that we wished them all success. Sandra MacIver (Inverness) raised the issue of the length of Tours, as this had been discussed at previous meetings, but President Morag suggested that it be discussed at a subsequent meeting due to lack of time. Henderson Bishop 2020 - The draw was made for the sections in the final. There would be no adjustments if Centres having 2 teams are both in the same sections. Section 1: Lockerbie (*), Forfar, Lanarkshire, Aberdeen 2, Kinross Section 2: Greenacres, Kirkcaldy, Stranraer (*), Murrayfield1, Ayr 2 Section 3: Perth, Waterfront, Dumfries (*), Inverness, Stirling Section 4: Ayr 1{(*), Borders, Murrayfield 2, Braehead, Aberdeen 1 The (*)ed teams would get the 1st bye, Ayr being 181 Miles from Aberdeen whereas Borders was 175 miles. The information envelopes, with badges, were then handed out. Henderson Bishop Bids 2021 - President Morag read out parts of the bid submission from Forfar, being the only bid received. The Carnoustie Golf Hotel would be used as the competition hotel and a rate of £75 for a standard room between Monday & Thursday, and £85 over the weekend had been negotiated. Suggested dates had been either 22-25 February or 25-28 February 2021. Vice- President Corrie suggested that competitors at this year’s competition be asked their opinion about holding it over a weekend. President Morag suggested that we accept the bid but reserved making a decision about the date. Carolyn Nicoll (Forfar) said that they were considering putting on buses but realised a lot of people preferred sorting out their own transport. It was agreed to accept the bid. Vice-President Corrie asked everyone to consider holding the competition in years to come as it is our most prestigious competition. Mary Anne McWilliam (Stranraer) stated that Stranraer is always there as a backup but would prefer other Centres to consider it. Sandra MacIver (Inverness) inquired how much was involved in organizing it: President Morag had never been involved in organizing it but Vice-President Corrie said that it was the social aspect of it that was important and

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it would be best to talk to someone who has organized it; this would be the first time that Forfar had hosted it. Braehead - President Morag said that everyone must have heard the sad news of the closure of Braehead curling rink but the good news was that the Ladies Centre can continue for a further 3 years, though hopefully a new facility will be found before that. As a Centre they can enter the Morton or the Henderson Bishop but just need to specify at which Ice Rink they would be played. Madeleine Sharp (Braehead) felt that people would split between Greenacre and Hamilton: she said that they had had an overall feeling that Braehead was being run down but were shocked by the lack of notice given. They have held a couple of meetings, which were well-attended, and a working group has been setup to investigate financial support and suitable locations. They were hoping to have some idea of the way forward before actual closure. Madeleine expected that they might unfortunately lose up to 200 curlers (out of 700) who, because of their age, will call it a day. She felt that there was a lot of goodwill and enthusiasm moving forward. President Morag said that she was sure that anyone would do anything to help if they could, even if it was only writing letters. Madeleine said that Bruce Crawford (CEO) had attended both meetings and it made people feel better to know that Scottish Curling were behind them as well. Marion Malcolm (Aberdeen) wondered if it was worth contacting WCF about their pop-up ice rinks.

10. Scottish Curling Business Grand Match 2020 – the Indoor Grand Match will be held on Saturday 24 October 2020. Every ice rink has been contacted about ice. The first committee meeting will be held on Friday 6 December and the Ladies Branch representatives are President Morag and Irene Baillie (Kinross).

11. Dates of Interest Lanarkshire Open, Lanarkshire, Monday 27 January 2020 Sellar Trophy, Murrayfield, Tuesday/Wednesday 28/29 January 2020 Lyburn Trophy, Stranraer, Monday – Thursday 3-6 February 2020 Unders & Overs, Lanarkshire, Sunday 16 February 2020 Kinross Ladies Pairs, Kinross, Friday 6 March 2020 Stirling Ladies Open, Stirling, Tuesday 10 March 2020

Henderson Bishop, Aberdeen, Thursday – Sunday 27 February – 1 March 2020 Morton Final, Forfar, Tuesday 10 March 2020

Scottish Junior Womens’ Championship, Aberdeen 22-26 January 2020 Womens’ Masters Championship, Greenacres, 6-9 February 2020 Scottish Womens’ Championship, Perth, 8-15 February 2020 Scottish Seniors Womens’ Championship, Lanarkshire, 20-23 February 2020

World Junior Championship, Krasnoyarsk, Russia, 15-22 February 2020 World Womens’ Championship, Prince George, Canada, 14-22 March 2020 World Senior Womens’ Championship, Kelowna, Canada, 18-25 April 2020

12. Dates of next meetings Tuesday, 4th February, 1.15pm at Ochil House, Stirling Tuesday, 3rd March, 1.15pm at Ochil House, Stirling Tuesday 7th April, 1:15pm at Ochil House, Stirling

Joint Meetings: Tuesday/Wednesday 11/12th February, Dewars Ice Rink, Perth TBC Thursday 9th April 10:30 at Dunblane New Golf Course

President Morag would investigate changing the April LSC meeting to the afternoon of 9th April at Dunblane New Golf Course

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Tuesday 5th May 10am, pre-AGM + lunch, Kinross Ice Rink Curling Tuesday 5th May 2pm, AGM, Kinross Parish Church

Information about the pre-AGM and AGM meeting will be sent out.

13. AOCB Four Nations Helen Pirnie (Perth) requested that more information is made available on the website: this had also been discussed at a previous meeting. She also asked about transparency of the selection process. President Morag said that she thought part of the problem was that the application form wasn’t deep enough, and that people shouldn’t underplay their ability: there are always plenty of leads & seconds and a shortage of skips & thirds. Helen asked that anyone who had played in it several times should have lower priority and not automatically be chosen. However President Morag said that she had been at the draw and no-one was automatically selected: there was a huge shortage of skips. Morton Trophy Sandra MacIver (Inverness) felt that the Morton was a problem: about half of her membership thought it should stay at 3 teams, and the other half thought as they were struggling to get 3 teams to should be reduced to 2. Marion Malcolm (Aberdeen) said that they had also discussed the problems of the Morton but could not come up with any solutions. President Morag said that time would be put aside at the February meeting for an in-depth discussion. Sandra MacIver said that they had not been able to get a Morton secretary, so this year it is the task of Highland Ladies Curling Club to organize it, and she asked how other Centres managed. Liz Glennie (Kinross) and Carolyn Tough (Murrayfield) said that it was responsibility of their Vice-President. Carolyn Tough also explained that they had had to postpone a Morton game due to a clash with a funeral, which half of the selected players wished to attend: they were going to offer Borders alternative dates, but if a suitable date could not be agreed, she assumed that Murrayfield would have to concede the games, but would like this confirmed. President Morag did confirm this but hoped that every effort would be made to get the fixture played. Jesmé Brown (Lanarkshire) said that their Morton secretary always seemed to be waiting to get the games agreed and urged everyone to respond as quickly as possible. President Morag had a list of Morton secretaries and this should be made available to everyone. At most Centres it would seem to be the Ice Rinks that agree the dates between them. President Morag urged everyone to discuss it at their Centres and come up with some blue sky thinking.

Vote of Thanks The meeting closed at 15:20pm. President Morag wished everyone a very merry Christmas and good curling until we meet again.

Signature: …………………………………………….. Date: ………………………

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