Petanque Wallingford

Without a cloud in the sky on what was possibly the hottest day of the year, we held our Doubles Trophy. Despite the poor turnout and with last minute cancellations, partners were selected by random draw. Unfortunately, two players had to volunteer to drop out to enable play to continue. With games underway Loren became the umpire for the evening and Adrian arrived later and presented the winners with their Dotty Cup trophies.

The teams were:
Julie and Ray
JJ and Debbie
Steve and Carol
Simon and Paul

There were some tense ends and some close games but the overall winners were Simon & Paul. Runners up were Steve & Carol. Simon dominates this year's trophy leader board.

Well done to everyone and a special thanks to Mike who volunteered to run the evening and to Loren for his umpiring skills.

PH

Well, what a day. We (Gerry and I) went to the Kings Head in Little Marlow for their Open Day. The sun shone and the reinstated terrain looked splendid and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces and to be greeted so warmly.
     We arrived in good time and play started at 10 sharp. Our first game was against two of the Kings Head Players and Eileen's son, and they beat us 13:4. Then we played against the Great Western team & Linda Thorpe and we were fannied! Always a good start, hey. We went on to play against some new players and after a few ends had to stop for lunch because it was being served at 12.00. After a lunch of chiabattas (!) we pulled our socks up and actually won (got a fortuitious six) and that put us in into the Plate.  Much to our astonishment. We met the newcomers again, and beat them so we went into the plate Final.
   However, we had an hour wait to play the plate final. Gave me time to have a little nap though. When we finally got to play (against Russel Ford, his brother and father). We got 5 straight off and from there just got better and better and we won the Plate 13:5. Fancy that hey. We got two bottles of wine (plus two in the raffle) AND the prize for the first fanny of the day!! So what with being the friendlyist player on Wednesday, Winning the Plate and getting the two wooden spoons for the first fanny today, it's been quite a roller coaster for early June.
     Paul and Dean and Bob won the main and the da Silvas of Great Western and Linda (the people who fannied us!!!) were the main runners up. We finally left at 6 pm, tired out…
     Many of them hope to come to our open in the middle of July.
Therese

On a blustery Wednesday evening 8th June 2022, we held our monthly money melee. With eighteen members signed up on teamer, lots were drawn and play began. With the first timed game underway, the concentration and silence were broken by laughter on piste three. Chris Hurst attempted to shoot out Debbie's holding ball, missing and hitting out his partner Steves ball,  Chris's ball then ricocheted back onto the cochonnet, putting them on. Not satisfied with that Chris took the opportunity to shoot out the ball he missed. This required a high lob over the top of another ball resulting in a fantastic carreau, putting them on for two. This is an example of how skill and error can be rewarding in the unpredictable game of Petanque. The weather stayed fine throughout the evening and everyone had a good time. After three games and without the need for lights play finished at 9:15 and the winners were announced.

First Place - John Johnson
Second Place - Bridget Jones
Third Place - Debbie Hammond
Friendliest player - Thérèse Lewis

Thanks to Wendy for arriving early and setting up and for Pete for taking the reins and running the event.
Paul H

A lovely sunny day, with the occasional cloud, for fun in the Park to celebrate and start of the Jubilee Weekend - some hockey was going on, people with squash and tennis rackets passed by and Matt and Michele did a barbecue in the specially roped off area outside the pavilion. This was well populated throughout the day.
     We started play at 2 pm - some 30 people turned out - members with friends and family, four very young boys among them. The boys played very well. After we had been playing for a while passers by, on the way to the barbecue outside the pavilion, stopped to watch and we invited them in to join us. They came and had a lovely time. We hope they will join! A father and his two young daughters sat and watched for a while and were invited to come and play on Brighton Beach much to their delight.
    After the first game we stopped for tea and cake, provided by Wendy (delicious lemon drizzle) and Val (scrumptious coffee and walnut). Some people went down and got burgers from the barbecue and several people also bought raffle tickets in support of the Sports Park fundraising. (Therese won a prize of karate lessons! Now that’s a pretty sight to imagine …)
    After tea more games took place and eventually everyone went home tired and happy. Three more days of fun and parties to go …

On Wednesday 4th May we played for our Singles Trophy, the first time in two years. Earlier in the day we had found that, after weeks without rain, the pistes were playing very fast. Two hours before play everything changed ... the heavens opened drenching the pistes. This deluge added an extra dimension to play as they became a lot slower, benefiting some but not all.
   Eight pistes were strung and together with Brighton Beach this enabled us to accommodate the twenty players signed up on Teamer.  At 7:15 precisely and to the sound of Mike's air horn 20 players raced to their allotted pistes, to play the 30-minute timed melee with four playing on Brighton Beach.
    The ten winners plus the next best six then took their places for a knockout round. Reaching the quarter finals were Dave Smith, JJ, Chris Hurst, Simon Ratliff, Mike Marshall, Loren Butt, Kevin Deane and Ray Hill .
     With everyone seated for the semi-finals, Christ Hurst and Simon Ratliff together with Mike Marshall and JJ, treated the crowd to some magnificent petanque. Both teams bravely battling to reach the final. The crowd cheered and applauded and to the sounds of ooh's and ah's the final was decided, Mike Marshall to play Simon Ratliff.
     The players at this point were feeling a little jaded and an umpire was called upon to eliminate the relentless pacing up and down. The crowd were not disappointed, both players produced some jaw dropping, nail biting play and with the mist now forming over the pistes, Simon eventually clinched the game, in what was a fantastic display of pointing skills by both players.
     Well done to both finalists', a superb game and another Trophy in the cabinet for Simon.
Many thanks to Mike Marshall and Pete Jones for running this event.

Paul

A cool damp start at Wallingford for the Red Kites match against Winnersh Wanderers. A couple of close games but overall, a great result for the Red Kites at home, resulting in a
6 : 1 win. Bob Young missed the photo opportunity but did play. Maggie 84 years young pointed like a real trouper and put up a good battle for her club.

Well done to both teams
Paul H

Winnersh Petanque Club were supposed to come and play a friendly this morning, but for one reason or another they were unable to attend so we played amongst ourselves instead.
   What a glorious day for our 2nd Money Melee this year, 25 members and two guests turned out to play 3 timed games, mainly doubles, in the warm spring sunshine. With the bunting blowing gently in the breeze a fun morning was had by all. It was good to see members that we haven't seen for some time and some new members joining in.
   With three games and + 22 points each, Adrian and JJ played a three-end decider. With the crowd taking their seats and cheering them on, JJ took the first point. Adrian managed to clinch the win in the end, both players then received a round of applause. The morning was finished off with a pint in the sunshine. Well done to all the winners and helpers.

1st Place - Adrian Aldred
2nd Place - John Johnson (JJ)
3rd Place - Wendy Harris
Friendliest Player - Kevin Deane

Well done Wombats with an away win at Winnersh against the Winnersh Nomads. We won four games to one.
Paul

Sunday 24th April 2022 saw the Thames Valley Regional Pairs take place at the newly revamped King's Head Pétanque club at Little Marlow.
   14 teams played in the glorious sunshine. The morning was a round robin, followed in the afternoon by a knock-out.
   Dave Chalkley and Peter Smith from Petanque Wallingford qualified for the main, they then went on to beat Frankie and Amrit, putting them into the semi-finals against two very talented new young players, Jack Taylor and James Wilkie from the King's Head P.C.
   They won that match and then played Linda Thorpe and Tomasz Drewniak.
Dave and Peter win very convincingly : 13 - 0. This gains them a place in the Champions of Champions.
    Congratulations to both Dave and Peter, a well-deserved win.

Paul H

Adrian, having recovered from catching Covid, organised a working party to top dress the Terrains today.
    4mm Granite chips onto the Main Terrain
    10mm Shingle onto Brighton Beach

The low branches over Brighton Beach were also trimmed back to provide plenty of height above the pistes. No excuse for not sending in those tricky high lobs now.

A big ’Thank You’ to Adrian, Val & Dave S, Martin W, John H and Mike M

T