Kinross bidding to be new home of curling

Sep 30 2008 by Jenny Wood, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

KINROSS is bidding to be at the centre of sweeping changes to Scotland’s sporting scene.

A huge project is in the pipeline which could see the market town become the new home of UK curling, attracting top athletes to train.

A decision is due within weeks on Kinross’s bid to become the nation’s centre of curling, bringing with the honour a new ice-rink and facilities, museum and headquarters for the governing body of the sport in Scotland.

The determination could come just in time to save local facilities for the popular winter sport.

Jamie Montgomery of Kinross Estate and the Green Hotel – home to the area’s present ice rink – revealed the town’s much-loved “little shed” built over three decades ago realistically only has a few years life left in it.

“The reason we put the bid in the first place was to safeguard curling at Kinross,” he said.

“This would mean we would lose our cosy, shambolic, little shed of an ice-rink, but we would be able to recreate a vibrant club atmosphere in a brand new building.

“Kinross would become the centre of curling in Scotland,” he added.

To a packed meeting of curlers who use the Green Hotel facility, Jamie Montgomery outlined the area’s bid to be home to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club’s National Academy.

The vision is to build the curling centre on part of the town’s market park field, opposite the Green Hotel, and incorporate and share carparking with the neighbouring golf courses.

The whole site would be leased for a nominal amount to the project by Kinross Estate and, if all paperwork goes to plan, could be running by 2010.

The National Curling Academy would provide training facilities for the country’s top curlers but, Jamie Montgomery stressed, “it would very much still be a local curling venue for local curling clubs”.

“Thirty-five local clubs curl here regularly,” he explained.

“We never would have wanted to do something on the market park like build houses, but for something as prestigious as this it is a great site,” Mr Montgomery said.

“There will have to be a lot of consultation with the local community,” he stressed, explaining another hurdle the project faces is surviving the planning application process.

But there is a lot in Kinross’s favour to lure the National Academy to the town.

“We are in the best location.

“Great for transport links, very central and we have great local facilities. It ticks a lot of boxes in terms of location,” Jamie explained.

Local councillor Willie Robertson has added his support to the local bid. “This would be a great thing for the area and, as a keen curler myself, I would support this myself if it came to Kinross.”

The board of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club is expected make a decision next month on which of the two short-listed bidders has been successful.