A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

 It might well be that a picture is worth a thousand words-and an ancient Japanese philosopher claimed it was - or was it an American advertising man? Whatever might be the truth, we’re just a few weeks into the new shinty season so far and already the Wing Centre has begun to let his regular programme of blogging slip just a little. And, to make things worse , he’s struggling for pictures.

The really big miss is that the club doesn't have a dedicated photographer- so we have to rely on folk from other teams to capture our memories. However, throughout this blog I’ll pop in pics showing how the club has helped to support the Community over the years- you’ll find out why at the end.

So what has been happening on the field?

Last Saturday saw action in the MOWI at Blairbeg between the Glenurquhart Women’s 2^nd Team and Skye which resulted in a 3-0 win for the red and blacks. With the pitch bone dry after two weeks of sunshine, the dry and fast surface perfectly suited the free-running game of the young Glenurquhart forwards and right from the start they put the Skye defence under pressure. The visiting keeper had to look lively on several occasions to keep the Glen at bay but eventually a neat pass in from the wing via Daisy Ross found its way to full forward Rowan Brockie and she fired home the opener.

Skye fought back well but found that they were quite unable to make any headway against an excellent Glen back line where both Rebecca Van Loon and her sister Emily each gave a solid display of defensive shinty- anticipating the play, snuffing out the danger and firing the ball up to the centreline where Roisa Brown and the rest of the midfield were on hand to bring the forwards into play. The wing forwards, in particular Jessica Crichton and Sophie Power helped by the dry conditions kept the Glen on the offensive - and by the end of the match this superiority had yielded two further goals. The second also came from Rowan Brockie who latched on to a ball crossed over by Sophie Power and despite being forced wide the team’s top scorer still managed to find the net from a tight angle.

The Glen’s final counter came courtesy of some quick thinking by Hayley Ross who followed up a strike which was stopped by the Skye keeper and swept the rebound into the net to make the score 3-0 in favour of the Glen.

Meanwhile the Men’s first team has been doing OK too despite a slip up to Col-Glen (let’s draw a veil over that). Wins against Strathglass and Inveraray, a draw with Kilmallie and a narrow 2-1 victory over Bute in the Camanachd will have to do for just now.

However,the narrow 1-0 loss to Lochaber though did cause a little confusion in the Glen not that a Lochaber win was unbelievable.

You have to picture the scene. The scoreline comes through. The spectator asks

“Its 1-0. Who scored for them?”

“Delaney.”

“What! Mike Delaney - he’s not playing at his age is he?”

“Don’t be daft.”

“Don’t tell me it was Kirsty”

Now you never know if some people are trying to wind you up or not-or is it simply down to the fact that both Michael and Kirsty are much better known in the Glen than Ben is.

The good thing is that some of our own young lads are starting to get goals but they will be tested this week against Lovat in the MacTavish. 

The seconds have had some hard tests too – though truthfully in their league results will to some extent be determined by whether their opponents have their first team playing away  or not.

They have in fact run Inverness first team close twice and the defeat to Newtonmore saw a loss of four goals late in the game after the Glen being up 3-1 in the first half.

Still a 10 -0 win over Inverness’s 2^nd team in the Highland Industrial Supplies Sutherland Cup cheered everyone up particularly Oliver Black who bagged five goals all to himself.

Sadly for Ollie, the Treasurer was so mean he wouldn’t allow him keep the match ball. Other scorers on the day were Glenn Macdonald (2) Seonaidh Macleod (2) Andrew Corrigan and Jamie Maclennan.

However, away from the action on the field for a moment it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate how the club integrates into the community.

 

It has long been the Wing Centre’s belief that Glenurquhart Shinty Club is one of the corner stones of the Glen community but of course without the wider community there would be no Shinty Club.

Bearing this in mind  the Shinty Club has always been  keen to put something back which is why this picture from 2007 shows the then Glenurquhart and Scotland under-17 international Neale Reid down at the Glen Care Centre handing over a cheque for £100 which had been donated by the Club to help with the old folk’s Christmas Party.

Accepting the cheque on behalf of the Care Centre is Mrs Agnes Morrison whose son Burton Morrison was also a Scotland shinty internationalist and turned out over many years for Glenurquhart , Aberdeen University and Glasgow Mid Argyll. Time has moved on- and now Agnes’s son Burton is the  President of the Camanachd Association.

A lovely picture then which shows how the indigenous sport can reach across the generations and unite the community - and it is also perhaps a reminder of how important it is both for the Club and for those outside it to reflect on what a community is.

Of course this is not the only aspect of village life which the club has supported. The Pavilion at Blairbeg was also built and entirely funded by the Shinty Club - without any Council help. It is also there for the use of the Glenurquhart Highland Games on its big day as well as being available to other local organisations.

Beyond that, Glenurquhart Shinty Club regularly gives back to the community in another way not everyone realises. In fact every year since 2013 Glenurquhart Shinty Club has handed over to the Glenurquhart Care Project a generous portion share of their Annual Christmas Raffle (aka the Swinndle).

This year was no different and on Saturday past, the day of the Daffodil Tea held in the Care Centre, the Treasurer handed over a cheque for £770 to Val  Cooper, chair of the Friends of the Care Centre.

As you can see from all the pictures of cheques being presented over the years there’s a little bit of theatre involved in the presentation. This year the Treasurer and Val tried to harmonise their cos-play- and its doesn’t look too bad. They both blend in with the planter -more or less – which was apparently the intention.

 Enjoy the pics- and remember all these old friends who are in some cases no longer with us.