At morning class at 7.48 Dougie advised that the bus will leave the hotel at 9am to take us to Bally Haly, a curling and golf club on the outskirts of St. Johns. In the afternoon it is planned to take a tour at 2pm of St. Johns, before going for a meal at Bill and Liz Jenkins house. The Sherrif issued some fines and awarded the Tammie to Harry Brodie, although Angus nearly got it after being heard to say “lemon squeezy Japanese to the oriental flight attendant. Dalmore were announced as the team of the day and John Dowell accepted receipt of Doddie our tour mascot.
The bus was a bit late as the driver slept in and when we arrived at Bally Haly we were met by Tony Stirling. After changing we were “piped” onto the ice by two musicians, one playing a squeeze box and the other playing a fiddle.We were each given the opportunity to deliver one stone up the ice and back down which we all appreciated. We struggled with the ice conditions and all rinks suffered pickups often at crucial times. We played four ends and then went off for a drink. Unusually the rinks were re-pebbled which again caused more problems for us. In the end we won two and lost two games with an overall result of minus 10 shots. We then changed and enjoyed a drink before sitting down to an excellent lunch of cod and chips. The thickness and size of the portions were extremely large. As we were just starting our dessert when the bus arrived to take us for our tour, it was decided to abandon the tour and complete our meal and socialising. We then entertained our hosts with our six man sketch, tour song and “I have a dream”. Bally Haly replied with “Danny Boy” sung by a gentleman who had sung it live at the 1998 Brier. John Henderson gave a very good vote of thanks and we set off back to the hotel for a short breather before going in taxis to Bill and Liz Jenkins house for a meal. Bill and Liz previously hosted the 2013 east tour.
The taxis duly arrived for the short journey where we were right royally entertained by Bill and Liz aided by Toby McDonald and others. Much of the food was prepared by Bill including a seafood chowder. We were served Bill’s second attempt as he wasn’t happy with the first. Bill even cleared the dishes when we had eaten it, but on his way to the dishwasher he tripped on the leg of Don Frame’s chair sending Bill and dishes crashing to the floor! Only one plate made it to the dishwasher but Bill was non the worse. Toby’s wife had made a delicious tray of sweets in the shapes of curling stones and brushes. We returned to the hotel with the majority retiring for the night.