Women’s Curling Together: The Waterfront Ladies’ Network

Friendship, competition and a shared love of curling connect women at the Waterfront with fellow curlers across Scotland—and beyond. With the Henderson Bishop and Morton Trophy competitions approaching, we look at the network behind these events and how local clubs take part.
Women’s curling at the Waterfront is supported by a Ladies’ Branch committee bringing together members from local clubs, including Newark, Gourock Ladies and Greenock Ladies.
The committee forms part of a wider Scottish network. Ladies’ Centres at ice rinks throughout the country are represented on the Ladies’ Standing Committee, helping local curlers stay connected with developments in women’s curling.
Karen Jack is the Waterfront’s representative, attending meetings during the year and reporting back to the local committee. She also serves as the Waterfront’s Morton Secretary, coordinating fixtures with other centres.
The Ladies’ Branch encourages women’s participation in curling, supports friendship between curlers and organises incoming and outgoing international ladies’ tours. Its work connects competition on the ice with opportunities to meet people and build friendships across clubs, ice centres and countries.
The Henderson Bishop: representing the Waterfront
The Henderson Bishop Trophy has a long place in women’s curling. Presented to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club by Andrew Henderson Bishop in 1929, it continues to bring together teams representing their local ice centres. eastkilbrideandharemyrescurlingclub.org.uk
This season, the Waterfront qualifying competition includes ladies’ teams from Newark, Gourock Ladies, Greenock Ladies and Largs.
The local round-robin games will take place during November and December, with the winning team earning the opportunity to represent the Waterfront at the national finals.
Those finals will be held at Stranraer from Monday 22 February to Thursday 25 February 2027. It is an opportunity to compete against teams from other centres and carry the Waterfront’s colours onto the national stage. Scottish Curling
The Morton Trophy: clubs joining forces
The Morton Trophy offers a different way to represent the Waterfront.
Rather than competing solely as individual club teams, women from different local clubs come together to form the Waterfront’s teams against other ice centres. Three teams are required for each fixture, creating opportunities for more curlers to take part.
The competition has been bringing women together for more than half a century. Its purpose includes encouraging female curlers to improve their game and participate in team events. scottishcurling.org
This season, the Waterfront is in the West section, alongside Greenacres, Stirling and Lanarkshire. Its programme includes two home fixtures and one away fixture, with the sectional games due to be completed by December.
The winners of the North, South, East and West sections then progress to the national finals, scheduled for Tuesday 9 March 2027 at Lanarkshire Ice Rink in Hamilton. Scottish Curling
For the Waterfront, the Morton is an opportunity for women of different abilities to play alongside curlers from neighbouring clubs, gain experience and enjoy representing their home ice centre together.
A shared network and a shared welcome
The Henderson Bishop and Morton Trophy offer two routes into a wider curling community: one through local qualifying teams, the other through clubs joining forces.
Behind both is the work of representatives, secretaries and committee members who arrange fixtures, share information and help keep women’s curling active locally.
Women interested in learning more about the Waterfront ladies’ network or future opportunities to participate can speak to their club representative or Karen Jack.
Our thanks to Karen Jack for explaining how the Ladies’ Branch works locally and for providing the Waterfront’s competition information for this season.