A Brief History of Bearsden Curling Club.
Bearsden Curling Club was founded in 1911 and celebrated its centenary in style during 2011/2012 curling season.
The club grew out of the Bearsden Skating and Curling Association which was formed in 1907, and who had a pond in what is now Colquhoun Park where it can still be seen. The members of the Association in the beginning seem to have been householders from the wealthier houses of the Burgh.
In 1911 Bearsden Curling Club broke away from the Skating and Curling Association as a body in their own right, and was admitted to membership of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.
Two years later, it was decided to allow Ladies to join, although it was to be another nineteen years before the first Lady Skip was elected.
In those days of long cold winters most, if not all curling would have taken place outdoors, but from the earliest years indoor curling was available at Crossmyloof Ice Rink and gradually this became the centre of the Club’s activities.
Curling also took place on an ad hoc basis on various freshwater lochs around the area, notably Loch Ardinning and the Mill Dam in Strathblane. ( Then as now, it seems, the ice in Colquhoun Park was rendered unplayable by those with no interest in skating or curling ! )
When Crossmyloof closed in 1986, the centre of activity moved to the Summit Centre at Finnieston until it too closed in 1998.
A year later the new Braehead Rink opened, and the centre of the Club’s activities has remained there since.
Up until 1995, the Club had been in the total control of a committee of eight elected skips (with 2 retiring every year), who made all decisions on both curling and administration, but the constitution was changed that year and democracy came to the club for the first time !
The new constitution means that all of our office bearers are elected annually, and committee members are elected for a three-year period. It is our aim to try and keep the gender balance equal in both membership and administration. Our first Lady President was elected to serve for seasons 2001 to 2003.
It is no longer necessary to be a resident of Bearsden to become a member of the club, and both junior and wheelchair members are welcome.
Many of the Trophies that members play for today, in a wide variety of competitions, have their roots deep in the Club’s past, and were presented by Members unknown to most of today’s curlers, but our internal competitions, and participation in external competitions, friendlies and away weekends, gives all of our members the chance to participate at every level of the sport.
The hundredth anniversary of our admission to the RCCC was celebrated throughout season 2011 / 12 with special Bonspiels, a grand Gala Evening and Dinner and even a Civic Reception !
Bearsden Curling Club now looks forward to providing sociable and competitive curling long into the future !
NWC
An excellent video giving the history up to 2011
A History of the Speirs Trophy
ROBERT ROBSON SPEIRS
1863 – 1920
R Robson Speirs, the son and grandson of a carpenter and mason both named Alexander Speirs, was born in Gavinton, Berwickshire on 24th March 1863. He was employed initially by the bank in Duns and in the family construction business. By 1891 he had moved to Glasgow where he lived and worked in the city before residing at Maxholme, Roman Road, Bearsden, where he lived till his death in 1920. The 1911 census indicated that he was a Structural Engineer. He played a major role in the family firm of Speirs and Co (later Speirs Ltd), thought to be owned by his cousin, John Speirs. The manufacturing part of the company was based at Speirs Wharf (named after another Speirs, the 18th century Tobacco Lord Alexander Speirs) and its offices were in Blythswood Square. The company manufactured and designed corrugated iron and prefabricated timber structures for commercial and domestic use. These included schools, hospitals, churches (Bearsden Episcopal Church 1902), Bearsden Skating and Curling Association Pond House at Colquhoun Park, which Mr Speirs donated in 1908, and possibly the first Scout/Guide Headquarters, Jubilee Path, Bearsden opened by Mr Speirs’s wife, Kate, in 1921. The company ceased trading around 1974.
In 1909 -12 Mr Speirs became the second President of the Bearsden Skating and Curling Association and became the first President (1911-12) of the Bearsden Curling Club, donating the Speirs Cup in 1915. Records show that he played a very major role in the club, along with his contemporaries N Glen, C A Scott, G Waddell, A Frame and J Morton Dykes. His wife, Kate, and his children Molly, Cath and Gavin were all members of BCC between 1907 and 1934 . Kate died in 1935. Their elder daughter, Cath, married William Hill and Molly married David Hill in 1919 in New Kilpatrick Church. Their son, Gavin, a Structural Engineer (BSc) and Army Colonel (Military Cross and Bar 1916), lived at “Hume” 4 Ellergreen Road, Bearsden between 1924 and 1945. In 1945 Gavin became Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Dunbartonshire and died in 1961. Gavin’s wife, Dulcie, died in 1969. Mr Speirs, Kate, Gavin and Dulcie are buried close to the main entrance of New Kilpatrick Churchyard. Dulcie and Gavin’s daughter, Charmiane Katherine Chauncy Dunlop (nee Speirs), was born in 1920 and lives in Glasgow.
Mr Speirs was a popular, generous entrepreneur and philanthropist and had many interests. These included bringing flying exhibitions to Scotland, The East and West Kilpatrick Foal Society, charitable work for the Red Cross, hospitals and youth organisations, welfare of old soldiers, and fund raising for the war effort. Apart from curling, golf, tennis and bowling he was also a Unionist Councillor representing Bearsden and a Justice of the Peace in both Glasgow and Dunbartonshire.
Robert Robson Speirs died from appendicitis on 5th April 1920 at his home, Maxholme, Roman Road, Bearsden – now the Baptist Church. It is through his legacy, his contemporaries and subsequent Presidents, office bearers and members that Bearsden Curling Club continues to flourish, develop and grow 100 years later as no doubt would have been Mr Speirs’s wish.
Researched 2011/12 by Valerie and Brian Veitch