The Queenshill Cup at Castle Douglas - 1952
ABOUT THE FILM : The Queenshill Cup at Castle Douglas
Scottish Screen Archive - National Library of ScotlandYear: 1952
A hundred or so players were wearing themselves out. Looking more closely at it, this strange competition is none other than curling, a sort of bowling on ice. The shot has a rounded shape like an old iron made of cast iron. Each player must throw the shot to reach a target, situated nearly 40m away. Concentric circles engraved in the ice represent the target. The diameter of the biggest circle measures approximate 3 m.
Nationality: Scottish
Length: 2' 58"
Genre: documentary
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: black & white
Producers: Templar Film Studios, Newsflash Production
Composer: Eric Le Guen
Original language: English
A BRIEF HISTORY : The Queenshill Cup at Castle Douglas
This Scottish film, produced by the Glasgow Templar Film studios, was news in 1952. Templar shot news stories for NBC in the United States of America, for the British Gaumont newsreel and for the newly established BBC Scotland television news in the 1950's. Templar Films operated from 1949 until 1980.
It covered the curling cup that took place on the Carlingwark loch, in the vicinity of Castle Douglas. This region in the south west of Scotland is the original homeland of curling. Furthermore the shot is made up of a dense, rare granite that comes from the island of Ailsa Craig, situated a little off shore. A handful of bent iron allows you to have a hold of the stone that in principle weighs a little over 19 kilos!
Two teams of four people confront one another. The stone must reach a target situated at the end of the ground. Metal footrests stabilise the first thrower. At the other end, the second team member shows the point to aim at. Once thrown, the other two get rid of the water in front of the shot with their brush to improve its trajectory.
Curling appeared in Scotland in the 16th century and then conquered the Nordic countries, Canada and Brazil. It was presented in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1924. But it wasn't until 1998 that curling became an Olympic sport.
