Newtonmore Camanachd Club

1] On the Field Another disappointing cup defeat to Kingussie for the 1sts, but several other victories and a draw against Kyles keep us at the top of the league albeit that Fort William have a game in hand and still have Glasgow mid Argyll to play to better our goal difference. Our defensive record is once again outstanding. Our disciplinary record is much improved for the second year in a row, but some recent silly bookings are costing us key player suspensions at a crucial point in the league campaign.

No such problems for the 2nd team against Kingussie as they won against them again fairly comfortably and had some very good performances particularly against Fort William and Kinlochshiel.

The next home game is the 1sts against Bute on 14th August.

2] Shinty strictly come dancing The final total raised for club funds was over £2000 so many thanks again to everyone who made this event such a success.

3] Sutherland Cup The committee is very grateful to everyone who helped make the day such a success. The pitch was in excellent condition. Smurdy did an great job as referee aided and abetted by Graeme Irvine and Laurie Skudos; Scott Duncan was a super piper and we had Newtonmore volunteers on the gate, as linesmen, as stewards, on car parking and raffle tickets and of course Gillian and helpers on refreshments. Many thanks to Beeb and Cammy for manning the BBQ which raised over £200 [and many thanks to Laggan Wolftrax for donating the burgers]; our share of the raffle was £160 and over £50 was raised in coffee etc sales. The Coyles and a host of volunteers provided an excellent meal, service and bar in the village hall …we will make a healthy profit on the meal and bar which I will report next month.

4] Donation Many thanks to Dalwhinnie Distillery for the donation of 6 bottles of 15 year old malt. The continued support from one of our longest standing supporters is very welcome. The whisky will be used as prizes at a number of events

5] World Cup Champions Congratulations to the Primary School for winning the shinty world cup against Beauly on 3rd July.

6] Shinty cat Janet Davidson was very keen for it not to be hidden in the clubhouse so it is temporarily residing in my garden and has already been photographed by a number of tourists. BBC Alba were very taken with it at the Sutherland Cup Final and insisted it stayed in the centre spot till throw up and then again at half time. It will soon take up permanent residence at the Eilan.

7] Planned improvements The committee wants to give the pitch a similar spiking, sanding and fertilising treatment as last year. As this cost nearly £3000 we are going to try and find grant funding before proceeding.

After further comments about the PA not being audible in parts if the ground, and when it is windy, we are looking at the feasibility of connecting two loudspeakers at the front of the clubhouse that can be hard wired into the existing equipment. Again we want to try and secure grant funding before going ahead.

The nets for both the metal goals on the training area and the main pitch are getting a bit worn so we are looking for £240 to replace both of these.

8] Sit on mower The club is now the owner of a sit on mower thanks to the generosity of the Scottish Community Foundation [SCF] who paid the entire purchase cost of £1799. This will cut down significantly the time needed to keep the non pitch areas under control. We will try and get SCF appropriate publicity for their support. It was SCF that paid for the disabled access improvements round the clubhouse last autumn.

9] Shinty lottery: take part in it or lose it There are a good number of loyal supporters who buy tickets every week not just in Newtonmore, but in Laggan, Dalwhinnie and Kingussie. Despite this the sales are on a downward trajectory and if this is not reversed the committee will need to consider if the lottery can continue [as we will potentially be in breach of lottery regulations]. This is very serious for the club as the lottery still provides about 20% of our running costs. This week there were no tickets sold in the Balavil, the Brae or the Chefs Grill and no players bought tickets apart from the three that have already taken out standing orders. It is easy to forget to buy tickets every week so why don’t you consider joining the nearly forty people who already have standing orders. The form can be downloaded from our website.

10] Best wishes to Rob Ritchie for a speedy recovery from his operation.

11] Highland Games Apart from running the bar we are also going to be manning a stall adjacent to the clubhouse selling our merchandise. We would be very grateful for volunteers to spend an hour helping Ann Kilsby with this. Please let me know if you would be willing to help. The club is running a disco in the village hall on Saturday 7th.

12] Newtonmore’s strongest man Keep an eye out for the date of this.

Ian Gibson   Tel 01540 673048   Mob 07817 378729     iangibson12@btinternet.com   31st July 2010

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