Richard Mackenzie and family help to make Fochabers Curling Club 150th anniversary special
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Following his December trophy successes in the Inverness Ice Rink, Richard Mackenzie had the extra delight of spending a family weekend in Inverness when he accepted the invitation from Fochabers Curling Club to join in their 150th anniversary year bonspiel.
Eighty rinks from all over Scotland joined in to toast the club that was formed in 1870.
The guests were put up in the Kingsmills Hotel and played from Friday afternoon until Sunday, when ten rinks went into Sunday's finals for five club bonspiel trophies.
There was one special curling guest invited, multiple world, European and Scottish champion Ewan MacDonald (Inverness) who acknowledged the occasion by turning up with two curlers from his Scottish championship winning rinks, Ewan Byers (Lockerbie) and Duncan Fernie (Pitlochry).
Completing his the rink was Jackie Byers (nee Reid) a former Scottish junior girls champion.
The MacDonald rink put on a show and were unbeaten over the three days to win the main Christie Cup beating the host club's skip Neil Durno in the Sunday final.
Sutherland Province's top curler Richard MacKenzie took extra delight of making it to the final of the Durno Stone as he was for the first time leading a family rink – wife Christine, daughter Emma Deeth and son-in-law Andrew Deeth. They missed out by millimetres on a weekend break in Liverpool and tickets to a home Anfield football match when their final opponents, skipped by Fochabers George Christie, promoted the last stone into the house to win 5-4.
Rogart's Nigel Murray was another guest skip with Val Murray, Willie and Heather McRae and from the neighbouring Ross Province Peter Fraser and Lynne Fraser played in the rink that won the Paul Quaich, while also from the Belmaduthy club Iain Fraser was a guest member of Neil Durno's rink.
Caberfeidh's Bill and Lorna Shirran with Belmaduthy's Alistair and Brenda Macintyre lost their final of the Langs Trophy to Wilson Burnett (Fochabers).
