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Four Nations An action packed 4 Nations weekend kept everyone on tenterhooks right up to the last stone of the last end of the last of the 30 games as England’s ladies tried to squeeze one shot out of Ireland to win back the Turnbull Trophy. In a situation typical of the to-ing and fro-ing of the weekend the Irish had fought back from a 12 shot deficit after 2 games (5-7, 3-13) and, while their men had increased the deficit by losing by 3 shots following a spectacular triple raise double take-out from England, their ladies were holding a 15-0 lead to tie the match with their match- winning stone well guarded. With no repeat of the final stone on the next sheet forthcoming an amazing turnaround was complete and Ireland won by 29-28, their third win in 5 years by the same 1 shot margin! Ireland won just one more trophy when they beat Wales, also by one shot (25-24) in a match where, by comparison, all the games were close and two of the games ended up peels, both achieved by the same Irish skip! It was 7 years since Scotland last beat Ireland but they came out fighting this year and after two games (men and women) it was 19-8 in their favour. Unlike England, Scotland managed to hold on to their lead and actually extend it by 2 shots to win by 30-17. It is only in the last few years that Wales have managed to consistently beat Scotland and they were the holders of the Big Bertha Curling Stone Trophy. The first session of games showed that they meant to retain the trophy as the scores were 12-1 (women) and 12-3 (men) for the Welsh and an amazing 20 shot deficit faced the Scots as their mixed teams took to the ice. While one team clawed back a couple of shots with a 12-10 win the other could not find the 19 shots required and in fact lost by 1 to make the final score 43-24 for the Welsh. The Welsh also held the Kay Trophy having beaten England on home soil in Kent last year and with three of their teams winning by close margins it looked like they might retain it but having performed heroics against Scotland, the Welsh ladies suffered against England, losing 1-14 and enabling England to regain the Kay Trophy, their only win of the weekend. Scotland against England is the bedrock on which the 4 Nations weekend is founded and the matches between the two retain the old format with men and women playing separately for two trophies and, as Andy Tanner, the Welsh President, pointed out at the dinner on Saturday evening, it has a long history with the Tom Ballantyne Trophy (for men) having been first presented in 1933 though of course matches between the two countries date back to the 19th century. The trophy, which the Scots won last year, was absent this weekend but the competition was as strong as normal. Eight games were played and after 4 it was 30-27 to the visitors. With one score still to come in it was still England leading by 5 shots but that last game saw the Scots turn that around with a 12-3 victory to retain the Trophy by 55-51. The Connie Miller Trophy (which Connie originally won for a points competition at Crossmyloof in 1955) had spent the last year in my house following England’s thrilling win last year and after the 11