Official Battle Cry of The Detroit Curling Club is...

..."Scots Wha Hae" and it is the name of The Club's newsletter.

Scots Wha Hae (English: Scots, Who Have) is a patriotic song of Scotland which served for centuries as an unofficial national anthem of the country.  The lyrics were written by Robert Burns in 1793, in the form of a speech given by Robert the Bruce before the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, where Scotland maintained its sovereignty from the Kingdom of England.   (Think of Mel Gibson in Braveheart).

English translation

'Scots, who have with Wallace bled,

Scots, whom Bruce has often led,

Welcome to your gory bed

Or to victory.

'Now is the day, and now is the hour:

See the front of battle lower (threaten),

See approach proud Edward's power -

Chains and slavery…. 

(Ed Note:  you can find the rest of the lyrics on-line)…  

You can also listen and read along on YouTube. 

Click here and/or click here.

The oldest issue of The Club’s newsletter (December 1934) in our records does not use this quote.  The second oldest issue in our archives is dated January 14, 1936, Vol. 3, No. 3.  The masthead reads:

“SCOTS WHA HAE”

Official Battle Cry of

The Detroit Curling Club

The font size and style changed a few times over the years, but this remained the masthead on the newsletter until January 1963.  We have never found a reference as to why it was used.  But we assume that with so many ‘Scotchmen’ in The Club in the early years that something that was considered a patriotic song of Scotland would be adopted by The Club’s membership.

Some Old Stones

This week’s article has nothing to do with curling in The Motor City.  I would like to share the story of a couple of curling stones in my collection.

Weight 39 pounds, 10 inches in diameter and 8 inches tall.  They are single soled with a flat running surface.  The drawer-pull or looped handles are brass, as is the identification tag under the handle.  The tags read: 

“Presented to James Boyd Esq.  Dunblane Feb 3^rd 1845”.

Years ago I contacted the Dunblane CC in Scotland.  They confirmed that James Boyd had been a member in the 1840’s and that he had served has their representative to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.  This year I contacted Bob Cowan (co-author of:  The Curling History Blog – click here).  He supplied the newspaper article shown below.

I found them in an old barn of an antique dealer south of Indianapolis.  I paid $100 for the pair in about 1985.  1854 to 1985 – 131 years!  I wondered where else they stopped along their journey.   

Good curling, Angus

We Got Mail

Dear editor,

Since I enjoy reading the articles about curling history, I read the article "Curling in the USA before 1832" with great interest. The article mentioned that "... the Orchard Lake Curling Club was declared the first in the USA." And later, "Sorry, Orchard Lake CC, you lose your title." The documentation presented indicated that curling took place in New York before 1832, but it did not indicate that there was an organized curling club before the Orchard Lake club. This could explain the apparent contradiction in Mr. David Foulis declaring the Orchard Lake Curling Club the first club while still mentioning that curling took place earlier elsewhere.  
Joel.

Thank you for the note, Joel.  We are very happy that people

 are reading these little articles. 

You raise a good question about our conclusion that the Orchard Lake Club is not the "Mither Club" of organized curling clubs in the USA. You're right in that there's no definitive proof of an earlier curling club.   It is all but certain, however, there was curling in New York before 1832.  Furthermore, it's likely that the Dutch were curling in New Amsterdam, even before the Scots arrived.

As to whether any of this curling was under the auspices of an organized club, the St. Andrews Society of New York (founded in 1756) would assuredly qualify. There's reasonable evidence that curling was a regular, if infrequent, part of the club's offerings and its members' lives.

Lang may yir lum reek,

Angus MacTavish

Peter Dow curling on Orchard Lake.  Circa 1915.  Note the small stones.  Perhaps they are "irons. 

Detroit Curling Club members demonstrate curling on Orchard Lake in 1975.