Petanque Wallingford

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

The Red Herrings played their first away match of the season at the new Sonning Petanque Club based at the Berkshire County Sports Club. Sonning Lane RG4 6ST
The Red Herrings Team was Chris S, Val, Dave C, Bridget, Steve G and Mike M.
The members of the BCSC1 Team were Frankie, Leslie, Narinda, Maryanne, Dennis and Ian.
Dry and fine with lots of warm sunshine between the clouds but a bit cold later as the sky clouded over.
   BCSC have five new gravel terrains next to the car park beside the Squash Courts. Quite a challenge to play on as the surface texture is very variable. The format played was three doubles matches followed by four triples matches – 7 in all.
Final Result – Red Herrings 7 : BCSC 0
   BCSC was made up of mostly new players and the result does not reflect the excellent standard of play shown by this young team. Thanks to them for their warm and friendly welcome.
Mike Marshall

The Red Kites played at home. The Kings Head PC were sadly were unable to get a team together so conceded the games to the Kites who just played amongst themselves.
Final Result - Red Kites 7 : Kings Head PC 0

A cold bright sunny morning, with clear blue sky's, what a lovely day for our first friendly with Arborfield in over 2 years.
Our friends from Arborfield, Mark, Helen, Jo, Phil, Richard, Snowy and 90 year old Gussie joined twenty Wallingford members for a three-game melee. During the morning it was lovely to see Therese & Gerry who came to watch. The weather didn't disappoint and with the sun still shining and a gentle breeze blowing we finished with tea and cakes, served from the best bone china.
   Congratulations and well done to Mike Marshall the winner and our friendliest player was Julie.
   Thanks to all the ladies who made cakes and to Wendy for helping with the teas.
Feedback from Arborfield, they thoroughly enjoyed the event and requested more of these.
The bar was well supported!
Paul H

   The 29th March saw Wallingford Wombats hosting the Kings Head Jacks, the first match of the 2022 Thames Valley District Midweek League.
   The Jacks brought a team of eight with them: Linda (Captain), Brenda, Brian, Elaine M, Elaine S, Louise, Matt and Russell.
   The Wombats only managed to field six players for a number of reasons: Chris S, Dave C, Cliff, Nick, Paul H and Mike.
   A very friendly competition played under lights into the night. A bit cold but we were well wrapped up.
   Final results were 3 Games to the Jacks 2 to the Wombats.
   Congratulations to Linda and her Kings Head Team.

   Sunday 27th March saw Play for our First President's Trophy, the first in 2 years. Despite the fact that this fell on Mother's Day and the beginning of daylight saving, there was a good turnout of members, some arriving on foot or bike. They fought gallantly for the two magnificent trophies.  With the sound of the whistle play began promptly at 10:00am, there were four timed games, on what was a dry cloudy day.
   Well done to the two worthy winners, Wendy Harris for the Ladies and Simon Ratliff for the Gents, who both won four games.
   Thanks to all of you who turned out for this earlier than usual start on this busy day and thanks to the Sports Centre for doing a grand job with the car parking.
   A special thanks goes to Wendy for helping make this event run smoothly and to Mike and team for giving the shelter a makeover prior to the event.
The winners were presented with their splendid trophies by our First President Loren Butt.
Paul H