Rotarians take their fellowship to the ice.
It’s the sort of story that should start with a limerick: “There once was a fellow from Scotland … ”
In February 1956, a Rotarian named Bob Mackintosh traveled from Hamilton, Scotland, to Montreal with his wife, May, a lecturer at Edinburgh University who was meeting with a publisher. While in Montreal, Mackintosh made the acquaintance of fellow Rotarian Aubrey Legge, and they discovered a shared love of curling, the game that bears a passing resemblance to shuffleboard on ice. (Though the disc, which is called a “stone” or “rock,” is directed by hand instead of a stick, and the strategy and scoring structure are more reminiscent of chess and baseball.)
Legge expressed his desire to curl someday in Scotland, where the game originated, and Mackintosh suggested that he gather some Rotarian curlers. Legge’s wish came true that November, and the following year, a group of Scottish Rotarians ventured to Canada for an encore. In 1958, it was agreed that the tour would be held every other year, with the two countries alternating as hosts. It’s been smooth curling ever since.
Peter Wheatley, a retired schoolteacher and member of the Rotary Club of Norfolk Sunrise in Simcoe, Ont., describes the November 2014 tour as “an intense month of being treated well.” He and the other 21 members of the Canadian curling team stayed with Rotarian families in 12 towns in Scotland over 29 days and took part in 12 curling matches. In 2016, Wheatley and his teammates will play host to curlers from Scotland, who will compete against a newly assembled team of Canadians.
“Curling is the anchor for most of the days there, but it really is all about the fellowship,” says Wheatley, who holds the title of “goodwill ambassador” for his club. Sherri Agnew, of the Rotary Club of Kingston, Ont. – who made a bit of history as the first woman to serve as captain of the Canadian squad – concurs. “Curling is the reason for going, but it’s not the be-all and end-all,” she says. “In Scotland, the parents of one of our hosts were having a 30-year reunion of their 1984 tour, including their spouses. So the fellowship continues.”
For Wheatley, one of the highlights beyond the curling ice, known as the “sheet,” was a chance to take a flight of fancy – in a classic two-seater airplane with one of his hosts, pilot Brian Spence. “I’m 6-foot-7, so I was folded up like a napkin,” he says. But as the Scottish countryside unfurled below and he gazed over the historic battlefields of Culloden, having to keep his legs curled was but a minor inconvenience.
Agnew, whose family tree has distant roots in Scotland, saw her ancestral castle in the town of Leswalt during the trip, her first to the country. “It’s a private home now, but one of the Rotarians there contacted the owners and arranged for me to visit,” she says.
The curling competition plays out over a month, as the teams vie for three trophies that have been created over the years. The visiting teams always carry the trophies back home, regardless of the outcome. This time, Canada came out on the short end of the broom, but in a tradition of sportsmanship that may date back to the first tour, the final stones of the final game are not thrown – so, in effect, the tournament never finishes, and the competition is one continuous match.
Rich Lepping, a member of the Rotary Club of Madison, Wis., and president of the International Curling Fellowship of Rotarians – founded by Legge in 1972 – says the Canada-to-Scotland tour leaves him “a little envious.” Being from the United States, he is ineligible to participate.
Fortunately for him, the curling fellowship holds a tournament – known in curling parlance as a “bonspiel” – every two years that includes four teams from Canada, three each from the United States and Scotland, and one from England. The competitions have become so popular, Lepping says, that a “friendship” event has been added. At last year’s world tournament, 11 teams competed for the championship, and 10 played in the friendship event.
With Canada and Scotland boasting about 90 four-member teams between them, and with another nine in the United States and two in England, the fellowship has more than 500 members on its roster. Lepping hopes to broaden the base beyond those countries during his four-year term, with an eye focused on Switzerland – and possibly on China, where curling is increasing in popularity. He points interested Rotarian curlers to the fellowship’s website, www.curlingrotarians.com.
“Our big mission is to grow what I consider the world’s best-kept secret of Rotary and curling,” Lepping says. “It has produced incredible friendships.” And although the competition is spirited, he points out that “we never criticize a bad shot, and we always compliment a good shot. And,” he adds, “a social visit after the game is almost considered mandatory.” – Paul Engleman