A curler’s link with the past

While researching Port Glasgow Curling Club’s approaching bicentenary, club member Jim Ballantyne came across an old advertisement for the Marine and Curlinghall Hotel in Largs. It offers a glimpse of how strongly the area’s history was connected with curling.

The advert says that the constitution of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club was originally drawn up in a building that later became part of the hotel. It also names Dr John Cairnie, the hotel’s former owner, as the club’s first president and recalls an artificial curling pond on the site that had become a putting green by the time the advert was printed.

Scottish Curling records that Cairnie was the first president when the Grand Caledonian Curling Club was formed in Edinburgh in 1838. The advert adds a fascinating Largs connection to that wider story, although its account of the constitution would need further historical evidence to confirm.

For Port Glasgow curlers, the find comes at a fitting time. The club was founded in 1827 and will mark its 200th anniversary in 2027. Jim’s discovery is a reminder that photographs, programmes and even old advertisements can reveal unexpected parts of curling’s past.