Family Affairs at The Province Mixed Pairs.
With five of the eight entries that contested the Province Mixed Pairs for the Grant Salvers being either related or sharing Council Tax bills, it was no surprise that the final showdown ,which,incidentally, was not decided until the very last stone came to rest, turned out to involve four players that reside under a single roof.
The MLC rink resounded to a rash of Rankins as Mum Janice and son Jamie took on the might of Dad Steve and daughter Zoe. Not content with those four, a further two Rankins were spotted amongst the crowd. It must have been dad’s responsibility for tea, as they were happily scoffing a delicious looking dish that local gourmets described as “cheesy chips.”
Back on the rink, mum and son carried a +6 score into the decider against dad and daughter’s +4. In a terrific contest, the latter pair were worthy 4-2 winners and so pushed Mum into third place on the night.
The interloping runners up turned out to be Sandra Maciver and her partner Gordon Fraser( no relation) whose two wins first over Morag Cumming and Mike Pickthall and then the Forres pair of Linda Hardie and Howard Anstruther propelled them into the silver medal position.
Just outside the medals, were Darnaway Duo Heather Henderson and Eddie Milne and then Aberlour’s best dressed couple Jean Richardson and Ade Firth.
In geographical terms it seemed strange that Firth was Fifth and not Forth.
Linda and Howard were sixth just pipping Morag and Mike and bringing up the rear were the couple voted the night’s most popular, Les and Sandy Morgan who,it can be confirmed, still travelled home in the same car.
So after all the excitement had died down, it was a second consecutive Pairs victory for Steve Rankin, this time partnered by daughter Zoe and the Grant Salvers will once again grace the ever expanding family trophy cabinet .