The Journey
What would you do if you could not curl? Not because of pandemics or lockdowns, but because there just was no club nearby.
Well, that is the predicament we have found ourselves in. After many years in the USA and curling/spieling at many clubs, we have moved to Nottingham, England and completely shell shocked that there are no curling clubs in England, unless we drive nearly 3 hours to a club or visit the clubs in Scotland.
After watching the olympics many years ago, I decided to look up where to curl and found a club within 15 minutes drive of where I lived, which was amazing as I never heard of it. After trying it, and I'm sure as many of you already know, the addiction had started. Curling is all I wanted to do, I knew I was never going to the olympics, but the game itself, the touch, the delivery, the strategy, the comradery and above all else the social aspect that this sport brings was all I wanted to do.
The obsession had continued, to the point of where I moved, it had to be close to a curling club. I even met my wife curling and we are ever grateful for the sport and cannot imagine a world without it.
As a result, we have started Robin Hood Curling Club and we are about to commence curling in an arena imminently. As most of you know, however, we are at the mercy of the arena with regards to scheduling, and the cost is astronomical. After many discussions with people, near and far, we have decided to start looking at building a dedicated facility.
So where are we now?
Currently, we are working with the local ice arena to at least initiate curling and further promote this amazing sport. We are awaiting scheduling times from the ice arena, which should be finalised shortly. We have also agreed with the ice arena to have several days to run “Intro to Curling” with a lot of interest already.
On the new building front, we are working with architects, construction PMs and a surveyor. Despite the land shortages here in Nottingham, we have been fortunate to find an amazing location, and the club renderings have been started and I will be expecting them soon.
What happens if we miss our target?
In short, we will continue to fundraise and spread the word about curling, but we will still be curling on arena ice until our goal has been met. The vision will not change and nor will the dream to curl in Nottingham on dedicated ice.
Please Donate
Curling is more than just a sport, it is a social community, family if you like, and those that play will have lifelong friends. There are clubs all over the world to visit and every club will treat you like family, after all we have one very unique hobby, curling. This is why we have created this fund raising page, and that is to ask the curling family and friends, or those that can, to help donate anything possible and bring the dedicated curling facility to Nottingham so we can see you spiel in Nottingham, UK.