Cardross Curling Club was instituted on Monday 20th July 1863 at a meeting within the Parish School House. The Pond ( believed to be in the area of the existing bowling club) was to be entirely under the control of the Proprietor and may be withdrawn if he thinks fit. The rules of the Caledonian Club were to be adopted and members were to provide their own stones. Subscription was set at one shilling each per annum.
A fuller constitution was drawn up at a meeting on Tuesday 13th December 1864 . Rules were laid down on conduct at AGM’s with the Chairman authorised to fine 6d for the first offence, and 1/- for the second, and the 3rd offence punishment to be determined by the members at the meeting!! Skips picked their own teams and if there were a number of young players, every rink had to take one to play along with them for practice. If a member was to curse or swear while engaged in a game he was fined 6d for the first offence and the second offence. If repeated he was called before the management committee.
The Club agreed to join the 10th Provincial Curling Club (formed in 1860) at this meeting.
Cardross Curling Club first appears in the RCCC annual of 1864-65. The President was JohnWilliam Burns, Vice President Thomas Meikle, Chaplain Rev. William Dunn, Treasurer Thomas Meikle and Secretary Robert Ferrier and seven committee members. There were 29 members in total, one of whom was a John King.- An entry in the Lennox Herald around August 1901 says – ‘of the five inns that once catered for the creature wants of the indigenous and migratory residents of the village during the last century, only one remains. It is located in the middle of the village. i.e. The Coach House Inn opposite the Golf Club. The club has returned to this establishment for our AGM in recent years without realising its long association with Cardross Curling Club. You might be mistaken in thinking that John King was the source of the King Cup that we play for today but it was in fact presented to the club by a Colonel John Westall King who was a member around 1904/05.
In 1905 President of the club was Mr J.G.Chrystal, Vice President E.O.Fulton, Treasurer Archibald McIntyre, Secretary Alexander Ferrier, 31 ordinary members and 37 Ocasional members. Archie McIntyre ,grandson of Archibald McIntyre attended the 150th dinner.
In 1913-14(50 years) President of the club was Campbell Martin, Vice president J G Chrystal, Treasurer John Shaw, Secretary Alexander Ferrier, 30 regular members.
In 1933/34 President was Claud Allan, Treasurer George Fraser, Secretary William Brown., 24 regular members and 21 occasional members. In 1934-35 the Kilmahew Cup was presented to the club by Claude A Allan who was also the first winner of the Trophy.
A letter written by Michael Wilson, grandson of Claud Allan, to Archie McIntyre illustrates curling experiences by Claud Allan and his team:
‘By one of these happy coincidences I have just come across a letter from Claud Allan to one of his children dated 5th January 1938 with references to curling at Kilmahew. The relevant extract reads-
We curled on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Sunday was the only day with good ice, it thawed on the other days. Yesterday we went to Edinburgh to play in the inter-province match. My team, Stratton, Dunbar and Ait-ken played magnificently and we finished 6 up. The other Cardross rink was 12 down and our province on the 18 rinks was –83, a most unfortunate result, it meant relegation to the second division.
We left Edinburgh by the 4.50 train and owing to fog it took us 4 hours to reach Glasgow, at one point we saw our fireman climbing the signal post with a lamp in his hand to see if the signal was in his favour.
In 1954-56 Jack McIntyre ( Archie’s father) was Province President.
In 1963-64 (100 years) President of the Club was J R Brownlie, Secretary Ian McKinnon, Treasurer T J Brown, 22 regular members and 8 occasional members.
On Thursday 2nd April 1964 Cardross Curling Club held its Centenary Dinner in Cameron House, Hardgate. The Club President John R Brownlie welcomed everyone. Mr T J Brown gave the toast to the RCCC which included “we at Cardross CC were elated when a son of our own parish- Brig. Gen. J Gow was honoured as President of the RCCC for two successive terms in 1958-59 and 1959-60”.
In 1968-69 Ian McKinnon became Province President.
During the next 50 years, the Filshie family were synonymous with Cardross Curling Club with John and later his daughter Anne holding the office of President and Hon. Presidents. They both also held the office of Prov-ince President in 1978-79 and 2004-05 respectively and John’s wife Agnes was secretary and his daughter Mar-garet treasurer. Province Vice President, John Filshie was selected for the Scottish team to tour USA in Janu-ary 1977.
In 1991-92 Ian Gilmour was President of Cardross and also 10th Province. He also played for Eaglesham CC in 12th Province and in March 1994 he presented the Gilmour Memorial Trophy to the Province for an annual match between 10th and 12th Provinces. Ian died in the summer 1994.
In 1994-95 President was Alex McLeod, Secretary J Clinch, Treasurer Mrs M Currie, 36 members, boosted by an influx of 8 members from Helensburgh ( Glennan Curling Club). For the next 15 years Lairds, Pauls and McLeods dominated the club scene.
8 Enders were skipped by Ian Wragg and Wille Laird, Willie’s playing against his sister Liz Paul.
On Saturday 12th January 2013 Cardross Curling Club held it’s 150 Year Anniversary Dinner at Helensburgh Golf Club. Club President Caroleen Clark welcomed everyone, Ewen Baird gave the toast to RCCC and guest Alan Durno Vice President of the RCCC replied. President Caroleen Clark then gave a history of Cardross Curl-ing club since it’s formation. The vote of thanks was given by Preston Fleming. The dinner was attended by 46 members past and present,spouses and guests.