Southport Challenge Shield
Southport Challenge Shield
Competion Nov 1887
Presented by
Glasgow Lilybank C.C.
Won by
Liverpool
On the rear it states
WINNERS
Wm Alexander Jan 2nd 1891
Wm Alexander Dec 26th 1891
Wm Thomson Jan 4th 1893
M.M. McMillian Jan 4th 1895
Wm Alexander Jan 28th 1899
John Alexander Dec 28th 1899
John Alexander Feb 15th 1901
Willian Reid Jan 16th 1903
James Shankland Jan 25th 1907
K.M. Reid Jan 20th 1910
I. Graham Feb 2nd 1912
A.L. Haugh Feb 6th 1913
S.E Carson Dec 6th 1928
S.E Carson Nov 28th 1929
Lilybank Curling Club
Lilybank Curling pond once hosted the Crossmyloof Curling
Club in Glasgow, Lilybank Curling Ponds were located off Shawmoss Road just along
from Crossmyloof railway station, and across the road from Hutchesontown
Gardens, an area of allotments and ornamental gardens including a bandstand
(This area was built on for residential use in the 1960s and is generally known
as Crossmyloof Gardens). The ponds were purpose built to allow a shallow pool
of water to freeze in winter, ultimately creating a flat surface for curling.
Lilybank Curling Club was formed in 1865 and the first reference
to the clubs activities survives in The Scotsman from 4 December 1869. The
Herald (7 January 1879) provides the first mention of a ‘pond at Crossmyloof’,
where £5 was collected in a match for the Unemployment Fund. The curling pond
appears on a Post Office map for the first time in 1895 and appears for the
last time on an Ordnance Survey map of 1910.
I have recently been
spending time and energy finding the precise – and not so precise – locations
for curling places in England, I have been wondering about the earliest
machine-made ice used for curling in that part of these islands. I refer, of
course, to the Glaciarium at Southport in Lancashire.
This ice rink was opened in 1879 and provided
ice for skating and curling. From the start 'the Roaring Game' was encouraged
by the presentation of a handsome silver shield for which the first competition
took place over three days in September 1879. Of the twenty-two English clubs
that belonged to the RCCC in 1879, twelve played in the opening
competition with two rinks each. Glasgow Lilybank also fielded two rinks and
were beaten in the final by Manchester. The Glaciarium did not, however, fulfil
the hopes of its proponents and it closed its door after about ten years,
despite the efforts of the Royal Club to patronise it by holding their AGM there
in July 1885.
That the game and its traditions had passed
unchanged into the foreign soil of England is pretty well evidenced by the
following poem, which comes from George Hull's The Poets and Poetry of
Blackburn, 1902, and was written by Joseph Jardine. The surname betrays his
Scottish parentage, though he was born in Blackburn; he was the president of
the Burns Club and honorary secretary of Blackburn Caledonian Curling Club.
Here is his poem.
The curlers named in the poem were all members
of the Caledonian CC, as can be deduced from the RCCC Annual for 1880-1881.
'Ayrshire Willie' was William Ferguson, the
vice-president; 'Connell' was ordinary member William Connell; 'Yates' was
ordinary member James Yates; 'brave Buckley' was Samuel Buckley, the club
secretary; 'Tam' was probably Thomas Ferguson, member of the committee;
'Lourie' was T P Lowrie, committee member; 'Gibson', the 'hog', was ordinary
member William Gibson; 'Kit Wells' may have been extraordinary member C Wills;
'Gillespie' was Thomas Gillespie, ordinary member, but who 'Archie' was is not
clear.
The
GLACIARIUM the most important contribution which our English friends have made
to the development of curling is the construction of the Glaciarium. The North
British Advertiser of December 31, 1842, contains a notice of a "miniature
Alpine lake," 70 feet Iong x 50 wide, the composition of which had been
laid down in London by a Mr Kirke, who claimed to be the inventor of it.
"The
Glaciarium," as it was called, had been tried by Sir W. Newton and some
members of the Skating Club, and pronounced satisfactory, "the ice having
a cracking sound as the skaters glided over it or performed their
`spread-eagles' and `back-strokes.' " How long the skaters used this
"lake" we are not in a position to say, and we do not hear of curlers
having tried it.
In
the Graphic of 24th March 1877 we have a. sketch of a curling match played on
the Rusholm Ice Rink, Manchester. This rink was manufactured by a process which
was patented at that time by Professor Gamgee as his invention. The Real Ice
Co., Manchester, paid the Professor £8000 for the use of the same within a
radius of ten miles of Manchester, and including building and plant—£12,000,
the cost of the Rusholm Ice Rink was £20,000. Mr Hyde, secretary to Professor
Gamgee, seems to have proceeded on a, mission to Scotland with many testimonies
from curlers in favour of the new summer-ice, and to have tried in Edinburgh
and Glasgow to get up artificial rinks.
He
appeared at the annual meeting; of the Royal Club in 1877 and laid the subject
before the representatives. A letter was also read to the meeting from
Professor Gamgee. The Committee of Management were entrusted with further
consideration of the matter, but we hear zoo more of it in the Royal Club, nor
of the success or failure of the Manchester Company. At Southport, however, a
rink was laid down on Gamgee's principle, which has been the scene of many a
gallant curling contest. This rink was opened on January 10, 1879, the total
cost having been over £30,000.
On
February a half-dozen English curling clubs had a spirited competition for a
cup, which was won by Liverpool. Since then, the great event at the Glaciarium
has always been the tournament for the Holden Challenge Shield, value 30
guineas, presented by Edward Holden, Esquire for competition every half-year.
We give the last ties in each of the competitions :--
* In the course of playing this tie the Hamilton men (J. Clark Forrest, skip) scored 8 shots at one end.
"The
best contested and most brilliant exposition of the popular Scottish pastime
ever witnessed at the Glacarium."--Soul/sport Guardian, November 10, 1888.
In
ten of the eighteen Southport competitions English clubs have won first place,
and of the thirty-six in the final ties fifteen are Scottish clubs. The Alloa
Prince of Wales Club has done honour to the name of our Royal patron, by three
times carrying off the shield from this curling Wimbledon, while on two
occasions this club was second, and on another third. Bolton has also three
times won the shield, thanks mainly to the redoubtable skip M'Nabb, whose rink
was on each occasion composed of the same players.
In
recognition of the great benefit conferred on curling by the Glacarium, the
Royal Caledonian Club decided to hold its annual meeting at Southport in July
1885. The competition for the Holden Shield was fixed to come off at the same
time, and several other valuable prizes were offered. Mr Nightingale, the
excellent manager of the Glacarium, and the English curlers made every
preparation to give the Scotsmen a hearty reception, and as a result the
Southport meeting was one of the most successful ever held by the Royal Club.
The
excellence of the ice and of the English play more than astonished our
"Northern representatives, and the hospitality shewn to them by the
Southern curlers was unbounded. To crown all, a complimentary dinner,
"essentially a Scotch one," was given to the Scottish delegates by
the Southport Club in the Prince of Wales Hotel, at which over 200 were
present. The Mayor of Southport extended to the Royal Club a cordial welcome,
and Mr Josiah Livingston, who presided at the Southport meeting, made an
eloquent reply, the whole proceedings being characterised by the. utmost
enthusiasm and good-feeling.
John
Frost, it seems, is to have his revenge on the English curlers for wresting his
patent out of his hands. As we write, we are informed that, after a loss of
£25,000, the burden of which has mainly to he borne by Mr Holden, the
Glaciarium is being dismantled, the company being in process of liquidation.
Many will join with regret in the lament of Mr M'Inroy, who has always taken a
great interest in the scheme
"Alas; on Southport ice no more
Shall sound again the curlers roar
The song of 'Nightingale ' is hushed,
And Holden's hopes for ever crushed."
Where
there is sufficient frost such an institution is not required. As the Wigan
secretary expresses it, "the Glaciarium slackens the interest in outdoor
curling, while its expense has a tendency to bring the game within certain
social limits." There is a natural want about it of which the curler is
conscious, even when the air is bracing and the ice is good. On the other hand,
where there is little frost and little facility for outdoor curling when frost
conies, the Glacarium is an undoubted boon; and we hope to hear of the
Southport machinery being transferred to Manchester or some larger city, so
that the benefit of the remarkable invention may not be entirely lost