2003 - the DHO

Wengen Curling Club 2003
Everyone who was in Wengen this January will have their own unique memories
conveying a myriad of events, incidents and happenings. Trying to give an overall
impression for those who were not fortunate enough to be in Wengen is not easy - so
bearing in mind that 'a picture speaks a thousand words' a few photographs have been
included for the first time in an attempt to give a impression of the three weeks during
which the Wengen Curling Club members congregated once again.
On arriving in the village, the first news to be received was that
Hannah Stettler had broken her leg, having been knocked over
by a horse. She came home from hospital about a week later
and was progressing well but we missed seeing her around the
village.
The weekend prior to the commencement of our season saw the
inauguration of the JCCW Surprise Cup - a popular
competition, with WCC members in the top three rinks. In fact
the winners were the team which had prevailed in our Hotel
and Chalet Cup in 2002 - Walter and Elspeth Marti with Detlef
and Barbara Scholten. The Holland Cup, played outside in bitterly
cold and cloudy weather kicked off our programme and
was won by Iris Klay, Stewart Fleming, Barbara Ritchie and
Morag MacKenzic.
It was good to see numbers increasing daily, even at this early
stage and eight teams competed the next day for the Wright
Bowl with Ian MacKenzie skipping the winning rink,
comprising Jan af Sillen, Hugh Brown and Penny Waley.
Obviously 'on a roll', Ian again led the winning rink of Willy
Wenger, Hugh Brown and George Weech to victory in the
Hewitt Cup, which was presented in the Club House where
everyone enjoyed a glass of wine.
The sunshine of the previous day had disappeared and the
forecast w r as uncertain, so the Buhlmann Cup commenced
indoors, again with eight teams competing. Happily the
afternoon games and those the following day, were once again
outside, which allowed the spectators to enjoy the sunshine and
witness Ian MacKenzie win his third consecutive competition
with the very able assistance of Allan Higgins, Jan af Sillen and
John Stevenson.
Saturday saw the all razzmatazz of the I.aubcrhorn Race in full
swing - beautiful sunshine and a Swiss winner resulted in the
village being full of happy people, and smiling faces! Jan af
Sillen, Gillie McRac, John Stevenson and Philip Snook (who
had curled for the first time only the previous day) were also
smiling when President Diane presented them with Peter's Dolly
for winning the Lehman Bonspiel.
By now you may have noticed some new names among the
winners - there were 24 new members this year, many of them
being present in Wengen - an encouraging number with an
interesting mix of ages and nationalities!
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