Dundee Curling Club marks 225 years amid push to recruit new generation

Dundee Curling Club is marking its 225th anniversary as it steps up efforts to secure the future of the sport in the city.

Founded on December 13, 1800, the club is the oldest in Dundee and among the longest-running curling clubs in the world.

While the sport was once played on frozen ponds, members now train indoors as rising energy costs place increasing pressure on ice rinks across Scotland.

Club president Ken Laing explained the organisation’s long history to STV News, pointing to one of its most prized artefacts.

He said: “This trophy was first presented in 1853, so it’s the oldest trophy we have in the club. We call it the silver kettle.

“It’s in the shape of a curling stone with a spout added onto it. to allow you to fill this with liquid and pour it out at our dinners, so the winner of the trophy has to do so.

“There are some really interesting names on this. One of the names on this trophy is Sir James Caird of Caird Hall fame in Dundee, a great benefactor of the city, and there are lots of others, Lord Provosts and others, on this trophy.”

The club is now focusing on drawing younger players into the sport, including a partnership with Dundee & Angus College.

Laing said: “Getting younger people into the sport is one of the key things, and we’ve been working quite hard on that over the last couple of years with Dundee & Angus College.

“They’re now building curling into their curriculum, and we had a group of about 32 students come along here, and they’ll be coming back to do a weekly event. The purpose of that is to give them exposure to curling, but hopefully we might get some of them interested enough to take up coaching in curling.”

One of the club’s recent recruits is Phoenix Davies, who joined while studying in Dundee and has since gone on to compete for the English junior team.

Phoenix said: “Curling in Scotland is just so much bigger, and at my home club, it’s just the one club, whereas in rinks in Scotland, you’ll walk down the hallways, and you see trophies from 50 clubs from 200 years back, so it’s really nice having the legacy of curling.

“My next aim would be to play in the England ladies’ team and play at the European Championships and then hopefully at the World Championships.”

With financial pressures mounting and ice rinks facing uncertain futures, the club says developing new players and coaches is essential.