Fan of the Month: Richard Brown
Above: Richard Brown, of Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland, MA.
Above: Richard and friends at Curlapalooza.
About Richard
From: From Oxford, UK, living in Hudson, MA
Home Club: Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland, MA
Occupation: Social media thingy-ma-do-sits
Years Curling: Repeating year 4
Question (Q): What has been your favorite Curler Outreach webinar?
Richard Brown (RB): Favorite webinar would be a toss-up between “Adaptive + Inclusive Curling Through Community Engagement: A Panel Discussion” and “Curling with Pride: Panel Discussion” - mostly because I have the least experience there and found it a great learning opportunity to see new perspectives and how to approach things in our club’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity (DEI) initiative, as you just don’t know what you don’t know, right?
Q: Do you have any special roles at your club, or leagues/spiels you regularly enjoy?
RB: For roles at the club, I’m part of a great, small, group of volunteers planning our club’s first event of the season, the fifth anniversary of the Broomstones Oktoberfest Open. I’m also often volunteering in the kitchen during other events or helping out with learn to curl/rental events, and I also help with the bar, on the beer/can side of things.
Travelling spiels are fun, and a few I’ve had a lot of fun at include Big Buckin’ Spiel at Bucks County, PA, The Schenectady Open (SOB) in New York, and the McKay Douglas at Ardsley, NY.
Q: How did you find curling? What was attractive about it?
RB: Amusingly, we lived up the road from the Belfast Curling Club up in Maine for a few years, but we never checked it out. Then they held an open day the weekend we moved to Massachusetts and had the opportunity to check out Broomstones but didn’t take it up. When we heard that an arena club was just about to start, the Marlborough Curling Club, we went to a learn to curl they hosted nearby, loved it, joined straight away, but it was a while before the club got going. We were able to get on board and help out and loved the community that came about it all, but when they moved to another arena we took another opportunity to join Broomstones.
Above: Richard and fellow curlers at Broomstones Curling Club, in Wayland, MA.
Above: Richard poses with a stellar axe-throw.
Q: Best moment of curling in your life- on or off the ice.
RB: Best moments of curling? As a last-minute addition to the team, and more despite of me than anything, winning the A event at the BOO was pretty thrilling. I enjoyed the inaugural Baystate Winter Games event hosted by Curl Berkshires. Though what makes it, the friends made at the club, as well as the regulars you see at a lot of these events, and the shenanigans in the warm rooms.
Q: Do you have any personal curling goals for the future?
RB: A personal goal would probably be to not fall on my face when we finally get back on the ice in what feels like forever. Possibly hit the broom now and again, too. Also, to finally get that certified level one officiating completed, have a few more games to time but then events got cancelled and I never quite got it finished.
Q: Especially in these uncertain times, what does being a curler mean to you?
RB: What it means to be a curler, I think, is the opportunity to meet people and make friends who you would probably never meet otherwise, from all walks of life.
Q: Anything else you'd like folks to know- about yourself, your club, etc?
RB: Come check out the BOO, it’s filling up, but we’re near Boston, and it’s a lot of fun, with some fantastic food and drink
Thank you, Richard, for your support of the Curler Outreach Program. Good Curling, Richard, Broomstones, and Massachusetts!
Have an idea for our next Fan or Bunch of the Month?