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International Medals, Part 2

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I hope you enjoyed reading the first part of this blog about the medals won by England’s teams at International (World and European) Championships in which we discussed the first 9 sets of medals won between 1976 and 2006. When we left it the women had just won the Bronze medals in the European B Division at Basel in Switzerland, their second successive bronzes. 10 - 2007 European Championship, B Division, Fussen (Women) – Gold There were familiar faces in the team that travelled to Fussen in the South of Germany for the 2007 European Championships and at the end of it all the women’s team of Kirsty Balfour, Caroline Reed, Claire Grimwood, Sarah McVey and Joan Reed at last won the gold medals that they had, in various combinations, been close to winning in previous years. It was Kirsty’s first year of skipping at this level and she took over from Joan Reed who moved to alternate, with her daughter, Caroline coming into the team at third. This year there were 13 teams in the B D...
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International medals, Part 1

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The gold medals won by Rob Retchless and his team of Joe Sugden, Scott Gibson, Jonathan Havercroft, Felix Price and coach David Ramsay in Division B of the 2023 European Championship in Perth were the first medals of that colour to have been won by an England men’s team since we first started sending teams to International competitions in 1976. It matches the feats of our women’s team who won the gold medal in 2007 at the European B Division Championships, and our Junior Women who won the gold at the European Junior Challenge in 2015. In addition to those 3 golds, England’s teams have won 3 silver medals and 12 bronze medals over the years. So what are the stories behind these 18 successes. 1 - 1976 European Championship, Berlin (Women) – Bronze This, the second edition of the European Championships, was the first to which England sent teams. The men’s team skipped by Ron Thornton failed to win any of its 9 games but it was a different story for the women. Led by the redoubt...
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The Lycett Trophy

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Curling, as a sport in England, has a long and chequered history with many clubs across the country having outdoor ponds in the 19th and early 20th century where they played regularly. If you want to know more about the history of curling in your area then a very good website is available English Curling Places On that page you will find a map with pins marking all the places where we have, so far, discovered that curling has been played at one time or another. By clicking on a pin, you will get information, including maps and newspaper cuttings, which have been used as evidence in locating the various venues. Some are still in existence; others have long since been redeveloped. As well as ponds, the map shows the location of ice rinks where curling has been played in the past and one of those was the Prince's Skating Club which opened in 1896 in Knightsbridge, London, as a private skating venue. First records of curling there can be found in 1902, when it became home to the Lond...
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A new beginning

In this blog I hope to tell you all about the history of curling in England, ancient and modern. Curling in England has a longer history than many might think, especially as there is currently (in 2023) only 1 dedicated curling rink in the whole of England. This will not be a chronological history but will dip in and out of many and varied topics. Hopefully it will inform and entertain and will survive as a lasting record of the many facets of English curling over the years.
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