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CURLING grabbed the attention of the nation in 2002 when Great Britain's women curlers secured the country's first Winter Olympics gold medal for 18 years.
The British team, led by skipper Rhona Martin, clinched the title and a place in history with the last stone of the final end.
Martin, backed by Fiona MacDonald, Margaret Morton, Janice Rankin and Debbie Knox, became the first British Winter Games gold medallists since ice dancers Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean back in 1984.
It'll come as no surprise that the women curlers hailed from Scotland but some readers may be shocked to learn that curling is growing in popularity here in Wales.
The Welsh Curling Association was founded in 1974 at Queensferry, Flintshire, and regular events take place at Deeside Leisure Centre between September and March.
Curling arrived at Deeside in autumn 1973. At that time curling took place on Thursday evenings after the ice had been cut and gouged by a succession of ice skaters and it was later discovered that some of the rinks were three feet too long - this may well have accounted for some of the early members' inability to reach the house!
The Welsh Curling Association was formed on 4 July 1974 and made steady progress, sending its first official Welsh team to curl at Perth in Scotland in October 1975.
By 1976 the Welsh Curling Association had secured affiliation to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club and hosted its first International Bonspiel (curling tournament) in autumn 1978.
In 1979 Wales entered the European Curling Championships for the first time, fielding a men's team of John Stone, David Humphreys, Peter Hodgkinson, Gordon Vickers, and Scott Lyon.
A year later they were joined by a ladies team. The greatest moment (so far) in Welsh curling was the achievement by the Welsh men's team of Jamie Miekle, Adrian Meikle, John Hunt, Hugh Miekle, and Chris Wells in qualifying for the 1995 World Championships in Canada.
More recently, Wales sent a team of Yadzia Wiliams, Scott Lyon, Helen Lyon, and Pete Williams to the inagural European Mixed Curling Championships in Andorra last year.
League and knockout games take place at deeside each Monday at 7.30pm between September and March and the sport is a curriculum activity and has a thriving youth and wheelchair programme.
The Lottery provided a much improved ice facility in 1999 and with help from the World Curling Federation, a British Olympic gold medal, exciting TV exposure, more ice time and an increase in interest and membership; the sport is in the ascendancy.
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