The Ice Melters Curling Club is a

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

club based in

Southern England Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of ...

. It was formed in June 2003, by Chris Munns, who wanted to provide curling opportunities for those based in England (a country that at the time had no curling facilities whatsoever). This was achieved by club members regularly traveling to other countries within

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

to both train and compete. At the same time, the club actively campaigned for the introduction of curling facilities in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In November 2004 the club was able to base itself at England's first ever dedicated curling rink when Fenton's Rink, near

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, opened to the public. Privately owned, funded and built by a local landowner (and not any specific curling club) the rink is now at the heart of English curling.

Champions

In January 2005, the Ice Melters Curling Club became inaugural Superleague Champions at Fenton's Rink, while it continues to send teams to compete at various bonspiels throughout Europe.

Twin Club

The Ice Melters Curling Club is twinned with Malmö Curlingklubb in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, with the twinning aimed at promoting friendship and providing additional curling opportunities for the members of both clubs.

Community Amateur Sports Club

During 2004, the Ice Melters Curling Club was awarded 'Community Amateur Sports Club' status within the UK. The award recognises the quality of the club set-up and its policy of membership being available to all, regardless of location, nationality, gender, age or ability.

Charity

The Ice Melters Curling Club also works hard on behalf of 'The

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Benevolent Fund', raising money for the

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

each summer through a number of sponsored activities.

External links

Ice Melters Curling Club – Official Website

Malmö Curlingklubb – Official Website

The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund
{{Royal Tunbridge Wells Curling clubs established in the 21st century Sports clubs and teams established in 2003 Curling clubs in the United Kingdom Curling in England Sports clubs and teams in England Sport in Royal Tunbridge Wells 2003 establishments in England