At 8am morning class Basil Baird and Jim Barr were in charge of distributing our magic gin potion with the hotel staff preparing the drinks to Basil and Jim’s recipe. Dougie updated us on the day’s events with Jura, Dalmore, Bruichladdich and Fettercairn playing in the morning game against Halifax Curling Club and then all five rinks playing in the afternoon against Mayflower Curling Club and dining there. The Sherrif had no hesitation in awarding the Tammie to George Bee because of his “lost” passport antics at Toronto airport. We arrived by bus at Halifax Curling Club ( one of the oldest in Canada who will be celebrating their bicentennial next year) and received a warm welcome with a piper and broom arch. The curlers were piped on to the ice and game one of the tour got underway. Meanwhile Tamnavulin were tasked to go on a shopping trip for essentials ( pants, socks, deodorant, shaving gear etc) for the 15 tourists who were missing their hold bags. In addition we had to return to the hotel to pick up Dougie’s curling trousers. These tasks were facilitated with the assistance of John Shea and Tony Stirling ( more about Tony in future report). By the time the shoppers returned the games were nearing completion and the scores weren’t ideal. Halifax had fielded 4 strong teams which resulted in all four tourist rinks losing with a minus 11 shots total. The ladies of Halifax CC provided us with an excellent lunch before we headed off to Mayflower Curling Club.
We were again welcomed by a piper and broom arch and after changing were piped on to the ice. Once again Mayflower fielded strong rinks and while the four teams upped their game from the morning, Tamnavulin who were playing their first tour game didn’t play their best and lost by 7 shots. Jura recorded a one shot win , the first of the tour, Dalmore peeled their game, Bruichladdich lost by 2 shots and Fettercairn by one which combined with the morning game gave a minus 20 shots – not the ideal start! As Dougie was one of the five tourists who had their hold bags it was agreed that while the rest of us would dress in our Number Twos for the Banquet, Dougie would wear his Number Ones. A toast to the King was given by Mayflower Curling Club President Tim Guest and we then enjoyed an excellent banquet after which m/c Brad McCaugham introduced the top table of Mike Savage mayor of Halifax Regional Principality, Mike Strang from Nova Scotia Curling Association, John Shea the Canadian Strathcona Cup Captain and our own Dougie Reid. The official welcome was delivered by John Shea and Dougie gave the reply. All 5 tourist teams were called up in order and introduced individually after which m/c delivered a few closing remarks. It was then time to bid our farewells and board the bus back to our hotel where there was time for one drink before the bar closed at 10.30pm.