On Wednesday 28th February, 74 Rotarians met up from 9am at Dewars Centre, Perth to participate in the 2024 edition of the Annual Rotary Charity Bonspiel, and to tuck in to their coffee and bacon or suasage filled rolls. The Charity event was first played in 2010 after the 2008 Rotary Tour returned from Canada, having played in a Rotary Charity Day in St. Catherines, Ontario, and the event has taken place every year since apart from the years of the Covid pandemic.
The day is all about meeting old friends, making new acqaintances, and having fun and fellowship, whilst also enjoying a little competative curling, and few refreshments.
All 18 teams from across Scotland played four 3-end games, with a number of teams all being members of the same Rotary Club also playing for the Rotary Jewel, whilst others had joined forces ie Monifeith and Dundee, Cupar and Perth Kinnoull, whilst Crieff, Auchterarder and Perth were playing under the Perthshire banner, plus there were a couple of teams entered from the 2022 Rotary Tour to Canada. From the North there were three teams from Inverness comprising Rotarians from the Inverness, Culloden, and Loch Ness Clubs, who travelled down by train - how they got home we may never find out, and from the South, we had two teams from Ayr, and a team representing the Matt Murdoch Foundation based in Lockerbie. With Oban representing the West Coast, along with Bothwell & Uddingston, the two teams from the Braids Rotary Club, and teams from Rotary Clubs in Edinburgh, Forfar, Burntisland & Kinghorn made up the field - A great spread of teams from both Rotary Districts in Scotland.
After their first two games, the curlers were served an excellent lunch, and then took to the ice again for the final two games of the day, by which time 5 or 6 teams were unbeaten and knew that they were in with a chance of coming out victorious, and taking home the spoils.
At the end of the day and after an excellent 2 course meal served by Langs Catering, the winners were announced with the 2022 Tour Team No.1 (including Graham Thom) pippimg the Pertshire Team (including Shelagh Fulton and Sandy Pearson) by less than 2 points, whilst Forfar Rotary Club were successful in winning the Rotary Jewel.
Over and above the curling and eating, there was a very successful raffle which raised £760, and after all of bills were paid from the entry fees, and the monies totalled up, the Bonspiel had raised £1,070 for the two nominated charities - The Matt Murdoch Foundation benefited to the tune of £800, with £270 going to the Rotary Club of Perth's Seema's Project in conjunction with the Free to Live Trust.
The auction of a tee shirt gifted by George Delgaty of Perth Kinnoull, and signed by Olympic, World, European, and Scottish Curling Champions was auctioned for the Matt Murdoch Foundation and raised a further £60.
A great day was had by all, even those who didn't quite reach the heights of winning a prize in the curling, but probably went home with a bottle of wine from the raffle.
Our thanks go to Live Active Leisure and Langs Catering for their generous sponsorship of the event, and to all of the Rotarians who provided the wonderful prizes for the raffle.
Roll on February/March 2025 for the next edition of the Annual Rotary Charity Bonspiel.
