Reaching 200,000

P911 makes a good point, referring to Irma. Yes, it is going wrong and has done for years.We (SCIG) have always said and said again and again, palaces are fine for some things but curling needs small curling rinks. Curlers feel at home in them and support them, and they become a focal point for the area. Twenty years ago these rinks were common, Gogar, Letham Grange, Forest Hills, Forfar, Brora, Drimsynie, Kinross. It is a long list growing ever shorter, as all the money gets spent on large multi-function facilities that do not work for curling but it's all there is.

The Circle design looked at all the pros and cons, why they're shut or unprofitable or still open and struggling or even profitable. The principal problem seems to me that the governing body has everything to do with competitions, usually national ones, and very little to do with day-to-day curling, and that is the curling that pays the bills. The RCCC is so preoccupied with the top end that the bottom has no structure to speak of and it is very difficult for the grass roots to believe in the RCCC. So the grass roots effectively has no structure through which information, knowledge and money can be gained or pooled to develop new four sheeters. The Circle design is for four sheets, because all the signs point that way. It is affordable and will be profitable, because it will be fit for purpose and will provide excellent ice for all and a home to its curlers.

The NCA, on the other hand, is for the top end, while the paying curlers will have to take what they get. The vast expense will eat up all the money available -- for what? Glory, that curling does not need.

Reaching 200,000 says to me people care and want to curl. The only problem is they don't have somewhere to curl that they can afford to support.