Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

 As far as he can remember the Wing Centre thinks that the guys who first composed and sang this little ditty- see above- finished off the line with ten flat notes that were, after repetition, very annoying. Maybe that was the idea- or maybe that is just a false memory. Could do with some false memories at the moment but then again there is no point in being negative about things shinty wise.

Indeed, one good memory came up in the Wing Centre’s Google Photos the other day along with the guilty realisation that he had not prioritised it for appearance on either the website or social media- that was the annual charity donation to the Care Centre of monies raised at the Christmas Quiz and Swinndle. This has been a regular ritual for more years than one ought to remember and given the length of time it has continued then the club with the help of the various businesses in the village- in particular the Millers at the Clansman and the Gift shop have contributed a sum of over five figures to the Care Project.

This past year the annual Quiz Night and Swinndle draw was held on 29 ^th December. Eventually Club Treasurer Fraser Mackenzie handed over a cheque for £1,322 to one of the oldest users of the centre, 99-year-old Mrs Catherine Henderson, at the annual Strawberry Tea on June 8^th 2024. This picture was taken at the time- and took a little time to be cleared for publication- but here it is now so let us celebrate the Clubs outreach into the community. Not many people know that, unfortunately – and it’s certainly a better record than anything by Max Bygraves (google him if you must) as a man said to me this morning.

Another pleasant recent memory was Jimmac & Kate’s Ceilidh on the 20^th July up in Cannich. An excellent evening with Jim & Kate’s daughters Alison and Ellis at the door. Lots of good conversation and laughs to be had. The music from Jimmac’s nephew Stuart and his mate was good as was the food at the end of the evening and a fine crowd of all ages from tots to pensioners enjoyed the evening fully. The money from the event will be split between Strathglass and Glenurquhart for the good of Children’s shinty in the area which was Jimmac’s passion. The hope is that the evening will be repeated in Drum next year.

While there it was brought to the attention of the Wing Centre that even although he had heard no reports of the score at Cannich between the Strath and the Glen there was in fact a video of the action. Naively the Wing Centre having spoken with Eoghann the Bard and Roddie agreed that he should watch it on YouTube and find out the tenor of the game. Big mistake- everything ‘Glass hit went into the net- which seems unfair- and only Glenn’s penalty counted for us. 

However, we always have the girls who have been putting forward a streak of wins not least being their most recent 5-3 win away at Badenoch. Now let us not get too carried away – we are talking not about the top division but at present we head WCA Mowi North Division 2 and with a following wind and some good fortune, we might pick up a trophy which would certainly be good for club morale.

The Badenoch game is worth a comment or two because the team played an excellent game of shinty. The pitch on the Dell is very much like our own in that it suits their game and is conducive to single touch passing. Beyond that the side displayed determination and while never ever giving up they played with no little skill.
The game was an end-to-end affair with both sides playing ten aside. This was at the request of Badenoch as they had had no first team game as well as a number of   extra first team players wanting to play.
After twenty minutes Rowan Brockie opened the scoring for the Glen when she found the back of the net with a tidy half swing from the edge of the box. Badenoch quickly responded with a neat equaliser.
The Glen held firm however with Roisa Brown a commanding presence in the midfield and Lyndsey Fleming using her pace and skill at half forward to frustrate the  Badenoch girls and forcing them to work hard.
Emily Van Loon  at half back put in an excellent performance with very little getting past her while her sister Becca at full back combined with wing back Amanda Maclennan to shut down Badenoch at every opportunity.
After a short  water break  and bringing on fresh players to help police the mid-field the Glen seemed rejuvenated and this period was rounded off with Freya Gault smashing home an excellent goal to put the Glen 2-1 ahead at  half time.
Glen again refreshed the mid field after half time but despite that. Badenoch equalised to make it 2-2 but once again Gault turned up the pressure on the home side then smashing home her second to restore the Glen lead.  Rowan Brockie followed it up with another strong strike to take the Glen to a 4-2 advantage
Some tense end to end play concluded the match with Badenoch making it 4-3 with Lexi Farquhar completing her hat-trick. However, Glenurquhart held firm and finally Tara McClelland sealed the game with a superb shot from a tight angle from on the wing to make the final score a well-deserved 5-3.

On the men’s side as there have been some good performances if not necessarily results since the Lochaber game.

However, last Saturday’s Premier defeat to Oban Camanachd was a disappointment – but more so, despite a good first half performance was the 3-0 loss to Skye by the second side. Jordan Murchison did the damage later in the game but it would be good if we picked up some points in our remaining matches to stay up in the League. However, whether we do or not depends many factors not least among them how we prioritise the next game against Beauly-though lack of players through injury, holidays and work can play havoc with the best laid plans. The youngsters are playing well – and in the top team its not that far away at times as the Lochaber game showed.

We’ll just have to wait and see how things go against Beauly and ‘Shiel this week- and whatever happens on the field, keep looking on the bright side – and there is no excuse for not looking on the bright side when you consider that all five of our youngsters- Doug Brockie, Tom Edwards Daniel Maclean Alfie Macleod, Seonaidh Macleod have been selected for the Inverness Area U17  team at Spean Bridge on Sunday Ist September. You cant say fairer than that.

Especially not when Finn Cooper, Kaleb Power and Glenn Macdonald have all been selected for the Inverness Area U14 team to play at Spean Bridge on Sunday 8th September. It looks as though we'll all just have to be patient.