News Archive 2020-21

General Meeting 12th May 2021

Nairn Curling Club held a belated 'Annual' General Meeting, courtesy of ZOOM Technology, on Wednesday May 12th when the election of new office-bearers and other routine business was attended to.

Dean Clark was elected President with Paul Macdonald as his Vice-Ppresident. Alex Scott has taken over as Match Secretary in place of Alan Bulcraig who has had to step back from curling during the Covid pandemic. The Club is indebted to Alan and past president Ali Cruickshank for their good work in the recent socially troubled times. Mark Young continues as Secretary/Treasurer with Ally Tunstall as auditor. The Club is in a healthy financial state.

The committee has decided that the Club should try to conclude the outstanding games from the 2020-21 SGL, Millennium and Park Cup competitions at the start of the coming season.

Michael Green reported on the initiatives being undertaken by the Inverness Ice Centre this season in order to attract more interest in the sport.

28 December 2020

Messsage from Inverness Ice Centre

Board Announcement 22nd December 2020

We write with heavy heart to advise that the Board has unanimously agreed to close the Inverness Ice Centre from Christmas Eve and it is not anticipated we will open again before the end of April but as always this will be reviewed on an ongoing basis by Board and management.

The forever changing circumstances and ongoing uncertainty, has created too many unanswered questions, including, when we will actually be able to re-open, the financial viability of re-opening and not to mention the on-going safety of visitors and staff. This all leaves the Ice Centre in a state of flux. With the information available to us and with Furlough still being paid, the most prudent, and sustainable course of action for us to take, is to close the Centre.

Thank you for your support and patience which allowed us to open safely and to enjoy the start to the season which so many other Rinks were unable to do. We will, of course, keep you informed of any developments.

Our best wishes for Christmas. Please enjoy your time with your families. Hopefully, we can bring better news early in the new year and we can all return to more normal times soon.

Stay, safe and well and compliments of the season.

Michael G Green – Chairman

Gordon Y Barron – Chief Executive

28 November 2020

Messsage from Inverness Ice Centre CEO

It is two months now since we re-opened and all things considered things have gone well. We must thank the staff for the hard work and the many extra hours of cleaning, wiping, and fogging to keep us all safe and well. Not to mention the guidance and support to the participants to ensure the Covid rules are followed.

We also wish to thank all the visitors to the Centre for your ongoing support and patience. We have had to make many changes to satisfy Covid 19 requirements, it is never easy, but you have adapted well.

This year has been like no other and that also applies to the ice usage at the Centre. Unusually there are large gaps in the Curling diary Monday to Thursday with the number of Curlers being well down on a standard year. We are however booked solid from Friday lunchtime to late Sunday with Skating and Hockey.

Given the unpredictability when we re-opened, you may recall that the ice scheduling was planned to the end of December 2020 with an ongoing review.

Although we are fortunate to be in Tier one in the Highlands, the unpredictability remains, and will remain until a reliable vaccination is completely rolled out. On reviewing the situation, the reality is that little will have changed in the first few months of the new year. The social aspect is central to the overall experience of a successful Bonspiel and indoor social gatherings are not going to be possible anytime soon. With that very much in mind, the difficult decision has been made not to hold Bonspiels for the remainder of the season. As things unfold with the vaccine and if the guidance has relaxed sufficiently to allow social gatherings, we may try to schedule Bonspiels at the end of the season.

The need to maximise our ice income is heightened further by the Hospice’s decision to cancel all indoor fundraising events in 2021 meaning that Strictly Inverness will not happen again next year. As you will be aware the Strictly event is of huge financial importance for the Rink. We do have a commitment for Strictly to be relaunched again in 2022, however, we need to make changes now to ensure ongoing viability.

For the reasons mentioned, the changes will involve moving things around to maximise our Friday and weekend ice schedule to help replace lost revenue and the clubs concerned will be contacted directly over the next few days.

I thank you again for your support, commitment and understanding during these extraordinary times.

Regards,

Gordon

Gordon Y Barron

28 October 2020

Match Secretary's Report 2019-20

This report would normally be presented to members at the end-of-season AGM. Because of the Covid-19 virus, this gathering is deemd an illegal assembly at present, so Ali Asher is taking this opportunity to publish his final report on the Club's website.

Ali is retiring as Match Secretary and Alan Bulcraig is taking the responsibility for running the Club's fixture list. Ali's stint has run since 1995 with a break of 4 years when he was Vice-president and President. It is a duty he has carried out with dedication, often with inspiration and always with good humour, for which the Club is hugely grateful.

Alan Bulcraig takes over in difficult times, and does so with the very Best Wishes of All.

CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT

19 October 2020

Millenium Trophy Winners

In a tense play-off for the 2019-20 Millenium Trophy, John Bochel's rink emerged victorious 4 shots to 3, over a Seamus McArdle rink skipped by Danny Gray. The winning rink ( pictured below, suitably distanced) comprised John Bochel (skip), Alan Scott, Alan Morton and Paul MacDonald (lead);

October 2020

Sandy Gunn League Winners

Congratulations to the Winners of the Sandy Gunn League for the 2019-20 Season. Gus Forbes (skip), with Alex Scott, Sid Brown and Johnny Hogg maintained their position as table-toppers after the final round of games was completed on 14th October.

They will be joined by the rinks of John Bochel, Andy Orlinski and Seamus McArdle in the play off for the Millenium Trophy on October 19th.

October 2nd 2020

Club Curling - Latest

The final round of the Sandy Gunn League and the Millenium Trophy games have been rescheduled - see the competition pages.

The Inverness Ice Centre have advised that there will be no Bonspiel or Points games until January 2021.

The NCC David Brown Jubilee Shield season 2020-21 is now scheduled for Wed Oct 28th at 6.40pm

October 8th 2020

President's statement to Nairn Curlers

In the light of the continuing Covid-19 restrictions, President Al Cruickshank has issued a statement to Club members which can be read here;

September 2020

New Website

The Club's website has been hosted by Google Sites ever since the RCCC abondoned hosting club sites some eight years ago. However, the layout has recently been showing its age. Clunky to administer, and not made for modern smart phones and tablets. Google have replaced it with something slicker and up to date, and will discontinue the old site format in 2021.

Advantage has been taken of the longer between season break to transfer the site over to new Google Sites. The record of the Club's activities going back to the site begun by David Torrance in 2005 has been maintained.

September 2020

Statements from Chairman & CEO Inverness Ice Centre

I am delighted to announce that Inverness Ice Centre will be opening to the public on Monday October 5th 2020 . Working with stakeholders from the Scottish Ice Rinks Association, Ice Rink Managers Association, Sport Scotland, Scottish Curling, British Ice Skating and British Ice Hockey, the Board and the Ice Centre team led by CEO Gordon Barron, have worked tirelessly to create an environment for staff, members and customers, that has Health and Safety as its number one priority.

Prior to the emergence of COVID-19, I had instructed our CEO to carry out a root and branch review of all aspects of Ice Centre activity with priority being given to Health and Safety guidelines and compliance. The changes introduced following the review and the drive towards a culture of continual improvement, ensured that the Ice Centre had in place the robust procedures and protocols required to deal with the challenges presented by the emergence of COVID-19.

As soon as we went into lockdown, a Reopening Committee led by Brenda Macintyre, was formed and tasked with integrating the national guidelines from all three sports into a bespoke plan for the safe reopening of the Ice Centre. The plan, with guidelines, directives and supporting documentation, is constantly being updated to comply with Government policy and reflect evolving best practice.

Over the summer, we have engaged and consulted, via Zoom, with representatives from all three ice disciplines and created ongoing forums where members and users will have the opportunity to express not only

their immediate concerns, but also long term aspirations for their respective sports.With genuine engagement comes empowerment and aligned with more effective communication, the Ice Centre has now the structures in place that will allow the Board and stakeholders to jointly shape a route map to a brighter and more sustainable future.

However, the coming year is a transition year and as we navigate our way through uncharted waters, I would ask members and users to support the Ice Centre and their chosen sport, confident in the knowledge that they are returning to a facility where Health and Safety and their well-being is of paramount importance.

Michael G Green

Chairman Inverness Ice Centre

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As Michael has indicated in the Chairman statement, there has been lots going on behind the scenes to prepare to re-open safely. The Directors have been working collaboratively, drawing on each other’s expertise, preparing plans and developing solutions to satisfy forever changing guidelines. These plans are now being implemented or at an advanced stage. Everything being done is designed to ultimately keep us safe and I am hugely appreciative of their support.

I’d like to share with you the key measures being put in place to be ready for re-opening.

• Back in July, Law at Work (LAW) our Human Resource and Health and Safety partner conducted a COVID-19 audit and provided a Risk assessment based on their findings.

• We have arranged for LAW to return before we re-open to re-audit our processes and to sign off to say they are satisfied with all aspects of our COVID-19 Health and Safety.

• Staff are to be trained and rehearsed on the new COVID-19 Health, safety and Hygiene requirements.

• The Centre has taken delivery of all necessary PPE, gels, sanitisers and the like as well as two foggers. Notices, sanitizing stations and the like are ready to be installed.

• Once we have everything set up then we are to prepare video/s to walk through the Centre to help you familiarise yourselves with the requirements before you arrive at the Centre. These video/s will explain, what to wear when you arrive, how to enter the building where you can expect to find hygiene stations, protocols around face coverings, hand washing and safe distancing, the one way system as well as individual instruction for each sport to mention but a few.

• Full guidelines with be posted to our website and social media channels.

• Before we re-open we plan to have an open day where clubs and/or individuals can have a walk through for further peace of mind. Information will be circulated in due course about how times can be booked to avoid groups.

• To avoid bottle necks at touch points and cash handling we are exploring options for pre-booking and prepayments on-line and we are hopeful we can have these up and running before we re-open. Guidance will be provided when the time comes

• This week there are engineers altering our dehumidifier and adding fresh ducting to improve the air flow in the ice arena to meet strict standards. Additional fans have been purchased to provide additional air movement capacity and once the works are completed, testing of the Ice Centre will be undertaken. These will be retained alongside our other risk assessments.

• Over and above all the additional cleaning, “sorting and shining” being done, a “deep clean” has been booked with Rentokil for as near to our re-opening date as possible.

• As indicated, it’s a forever changing landscape and the Board’s decision making requires to be nimble and responsive. To give an example the First Minister announcement of only yesterday, the 10th of September, has had immediate implications for the Centre. The Board met last night to discuss how we would best mitigate these changes.

The outcome being the re-opening will have to take a phased approach with reduced sports capacity and the potential to re-opening for ice activities whilst the bar and café remaining closed at the outset.

I trust these proactive measures provide reassurance and confidence that it’s safe to return to the Ice Centre. Watch out for regular updates, these will contain important information and instruction.

I am eagerly looking forward to reopening and having the opportunity to see you all at the Rink once again.

Gordon Y Barron

Chief Executive, Inverness Ice Centre