Minute of THE AREA STANDING COMMITTEE meeting held on 30th January 2014 at Inverness Ice Rink, Inverness POSITION NAME President Alan Durno Present Vice President David Henderson Present Past President Bill Duncan Apologies Chief Executive Officer Bruce Crawford Present Board Chairman Willie Nicoll Present AREA NAME NAME Area 1 Peter Lupton Apologies Walter Walsh Apologies Area 2 Harry Dodds Apologies John Smith Present Area 3 Jim Jamieson Present Gordon Gilchrist Apologies Area 4 Clive Thomson Present Bobby Corbett Present Area 5 John Good Present Neil Calvert Present Area 6 Joe Barry Apologies Area 7 Alan Muirhead Present Bob Smith Present Area 8 Ian Parkinson Apologies Frank White Apologies Area 9 Albert Midler Apologies Brian McArtney Apologies Area 10 Peter Fraser Present Ali Asher Present ACTION 1. Welcome The President welcome everyone to the meeting and presented the Royal Club badge and tie to Bobby Corbett. 2. Apologies Apologies were received as detailed above. 3. President’s Update The President gave a verbal update which summarised his duties and activities since the last meeting. The full report is as follows: Since our last ASC Meeting on 12 November 2013:- Tuesday 12 November after meeting we had the Priestfield Bonspiel at Perth against the LSC. The ASC had a comfortable victory. Friday 15 November – Forfar Ice Rink for Curling Court run by Edzell and Catterthun Curling Clubs. Saturday 16/Sunday 17 November – Finals of Province Championships at Greenacres. A very close final between Perth and District (Kenny Kinnear) and Angus (Andy McGlynn) with the Angus team coming out on top. Friday 22/Sunday 24 November – Played in Edinburgh International Seniors Competition. A very sociable weekend with Keith Prentice winning the Mens and Christine Cannon winning the Ladies competition. Monday 25 November/Sunday 1 December – Flew to Stavanger for the 1 European Curling Finals. Scottish men – David Murdoch’s team won the Bronze medal and Scottish Ladies – Eve Muirhead’s team winning the Silver medal. Well done to both teams. Monday 2 December/Tuesday 10 December – Went to Winnipeg, Manitoba for the Roar of the Rings which is the Canadian curlers qualifier for the Olympics. A very high standard of play. Brad Jacobs qualified for the men and Jennifer Jones qualified for the women to represent Canada. Thursday 12 December – In the morning Penicuik Curling Club presented the Royal Club with a print of Jemima Wedderburn’s First Grand Match (1847) on the High Pond in Penicuik Estate, courtesy of the owner Sir Robert Clerk. Copies are available at www.grandmatchpainting.com Afternoon: our annual match ASC versus the Royal Company of Archers at Murrayfield. A very enjoyable day with the ASC narrowly winning. Sunday 15 December – I attended the finals of the Mixed Doubles at Perth. Many excellent games. The final was very close between Bruce Mouat and Gina Aitken against Lee and Judith McCleary. Bruce and Gina came out on top and will represent Scotland in Dumfries from 22 to 30 April 2014. Monday 16 December – Attended Board Meeting at South Gyle. Saturday 4/Sunday 5 January – I watched the Perth Masters. A total of 32 teams of which 16 were from overseas. Tremendous curling won by Logan Gray and his team. Sunday 5 January – Meeting at Perth. A Review of Scottish Curling Structures. Discussed the best way forward for communication in Scottish Curling. Tuesday 7 January – Umpiring meeting in Perth. Friday 10/Sunday12 January – Curler in Senior Qualifiers at Forfar. Monday 13 January/Tuesday 21 January – Las Vegas for Continental Cup – North America versus Rest of the World. Eve Muirhead team and David Murdoch team representing Rest of the World. 6 teams on each side. North America were victorious on this occasion. They now lead 6-4 in overall score. Saturday 18/Sunday 19 January – Four Nations was played at Hamilton (hosted by Ireland) with David Henderson and Fiona Hardie organising for Scotland. Scotland won v England – Tom Ballantyne Trophy (men), Connie Miller Trophy (ladies) Scotland won v Ireland – Marshall Millennium Trophy Scotland lost v Wales – Big Bertha Stone Tuesday 21/Sunday 26 January – Junior Finals in Aberdeen. Our top Junior teams put on a great show over the week. On Sunday we had two very good finals. In the Junior Ladies, Gina Aitken and her team were the winners against Katie Murray’s team. In the Junior Men, Kyle Smith and his team won against Stuart Taylor’s team. Gina and Kyle’s teams will represent Scotland in the World Junior Championships at Flims, Switzerland from 26 February to 5 March. 2 Friday 24 January – I attend the semi-finals of the Yara Farmers Competition in Perth. 76 teams took part and had a great week meeting up with old friends. Wednesday 5 February – Teams Muirhead and Murdoch fly out to Sochi to represent Great Britain in the Winter Olympics. For the Paralympic Games Aileen Neilson and her team head to Sochi from 7 to 16 March. On behalf of us all at the Royal Club I would like to wish them all every success in their respective tournaments. Alan Durno President RCCC 4. Minutes of the meeting held on 21st September 2013 The minute was approved as a correct record of the meeting with one correction, that: 2014 and 2015 will not be Olympic Qualification Points years at World Championships but the teams that play in the World Championships in 2014 and 2015 will be eligible to play in the Olympic Qualification Event in December 2017 if not already qualified with points. 5. Matters Arising None 6. Board Report Willie gave a verbal update based on the meeting of the directors on 16 December 2013 which included the following points of interest to all:- Performance Director: Dave Crosbee summarised recent progress and activities of the athletes in the Performance Programme and preparations for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics. New Clubs: Four new clubs were admitted into membership, these being Biggar High School Kirkcudbright Academy Lathallan School Disnae Virtual Club, Ayr. Working Group on Scottish Sport: the board discussed issues affecting Curling in relation to questions asked by the Scottish Governments review group. A non-political, factual submission was agreed and submitted in January 2014. Lees Painting: The painting has now been shipped to restorers in Edinburgh and work has begun on the restoration. Members asked on the cost and Bruce confirmed that it was within the agreed budget. Scottish Curling Trust: The RCCC Charitable trust has now changed its name to the Scottish Curling Trust. This will avoid confusion among funders and other parties. It has a new website at: www.scottishcurlingtrust.org . 7. Committee Reports Club & Member Development: Alan Muirhead Alan reported that the committee met in December and have added Development Officers and Development Group Reps to the existing 3 committee. New Skill Awards have been launched and distributed. Membership has continued to decline so a huge amount of work has focussed on TryCurling, with sessions across the country planned around the time of the Olympic and Paralympic games in Sochi. It was noted that TryCurling provided a great opportunity for clubs to pick up new members and it was hoped that volunteers from clubs would be offering to assist at the sessions, via their local ice rink. ASC reps were asked to All ASC ask people from clubs in their areas to volunteer at the rinks. reps No other reports were presented. David Henderson requested that ASC reps on the committees should provide a written report if they are not able to attend the meetings in person. ASC Reps on committees: The list of current ASC reps on committees was revisited and a few additions made. The current names will now all be listed accurately on the website, Bruce to update. David Henderson also noted the date on some of the committees was wrong, Bruce to update BC 9. A.O.C.B Swiss Tour, 8-22 November 2014 Ali Asher advised members that the dates and itinerary were just being finalised and Provinces will be contacted shortly. It was agreed that the note of meetings should be sent out earlier, ideally BC within a week. 10. Date of next meeting The next ASC meeting will be in Kirkcaldy not Perth on 11 March It will be at 1pm The Joint meeting with the Board, ASC and LSC, is scheduled for 29 April in Dumfries at 11am but will be confirmed nearer the time. [Post meeting: The draws for the Seniors and Mixed Doubles are now published, so times for 29 April are likely to be as noted below.] 08.00-10.30 Mixed Doubles’ game: Sco v Est 11.00-12.45 Joint meeting of the Board/ASC/LSC, venue TBC, in Dumfries 12.45-13.45 Lunch, venue TBC, in Dumfries 14.00-16.30 Senior Women’s game: Sco v Sui 4 .