The Brett Trophy
A
surviving relic of the curling rage in turn-of-the-century Banff has made
its way back to town and into the Whyte Museum. Thanks to donor Margaret
Ellis Blackburn, a beautiful silver curling trophy has been added to our
heritage collection. The front is engraved “Brett Trophy – Banff Curling
Club – 1900.” The back of the finely crafted trophy has an etched scene of
seven curlers in traditional Scottish costume playing a game outdoors.
Distant mountains form a backdrop.
| "Our curling club is having such a
rush that it has been found necessary to put on a night shift. The
existence of the club is made very prominent by the number of
bonnets to be seen around town and by the number of our citizens who
now scorn to speak in anything but the broadest Scotch. If only our
old tune piper would come back, then indeed Banff might present the
facsimile of its namesake." – Calgary Weekly Herald, January 18, 1900 |
Dr. Robert G. Brett was at the center of Banff’s curling scene and was instrumental in starting the Banff Curling Club in 1899. Margaret Blackburn’s grandparents, Thomas Griffith Jenkyns and Sarah Jane were good friends with Dr. Brett and his wife. The Jenkyns family lived in Banff from approximately 1910 until the late 1920s and the trophy has been in their possession since that time. Margaret’s mother Laura Wyneiva (Jenkyns) Ellis wished the trophy to be returned to Banff. Margaret has now fulfilled that wish.
A little digging in the Whyte Museum’s Archives uncovered a photograph taken by Byron Harmon in 1912, showing the Banff curling team posing with trophies. Front and centre in the lower foreground of the photo shines the Brett Trophy. The trophy is now on display in the winter sports section of our heritage gallery.
– Carol Black, Coordinator of Heritage Collections