Petanque Wallingford

31 people gathered at the Boulodrome and hoped the forecasters had got it wrong - it would remain dry! 14 People came from round and about – Marlow, Winnersh, Oxshott, Oxford.  We  registered for play between 9.15 and 9.45 and got underway for some serious melee play at 10.00, fitting in four games before lunch in the Pavilion.  The delicious buffet lunch was made for us by Lamoon and we all ate it swiftly because we were keen to get our final 2 games finished before the forecast rain arrived. We were only able to complete one and all got rather wet! Nothing daunted, a winner emerged and the presentation of the cups and prize packets was made about 3.00.

The winner was Pam from Marlow with 5 wins, The next 3 places were taken by Petanque Wallingford and all had 4 wins so were ranked by shot difference with Mike C getting 2nd place (+21), JJ took 3rd place (+16) and Wendy Harris took fourth place (+12).  We also held a raffle and £125 was donated to our chosen charity – Marie Curie Nurses.

28th August – Doubles Match
Our Wednesday Club Match night – and this was for the Doubles Trophy. We tried to balance the teams so everyone had a shooter, then we held a team melee. 24 people took part and some really intense play resulted!

The players in the final were Chris Shaw & Steve Gothard against Tony Murrell & Wendy Harris. Tony and Wendy won. Well done to them and thanks to everyone for taking part!

 

Today Petanque Wallingford hosted a visit by the Saxons of Cricklade.  The weather forecast started off pretty awful, but then 'they' often get it wrong, so we lived in hope and all 42 of us turned up. As it happened, the weather was lovely for three games but the heavens opened for the fourth game, so half way through we had to call it a day and retired to the Sports Pavilion for an early lunch.

After lunch we held the prize giving. There were four modest monetary prizes and each player received a wooden cochonnet too. First place went to Mike C of Petanque Wallingford (he also got the a dotty red and white cup), Second place went to Tony M of Saxons, Third Place went to Gerry Lewis of Petanque Wallingford and Fourth place to Roy of Cricklade. After prize giving we all went home, wet but happy and of course, the sun came out!

Everyone enjoyed themselves and the Saxons want us to come and play on their terrain, soon, but Malcolm feels we should make this an annual event and do it again next year.  Good idea! Thanks for coming, pity about the rain.

Our next BIG EVENT is the open day on 30th August – lets hope for a good turnout and better weather, but bring the wet gear, in case!
And once again, I forgot to take pictures! Oh well.

The Women's Institute came to play tonight – 7 of them, and one 'supporter'. Because we were one short, John did the honours and made up the numbers and Gerry acted at 'referee'. After they were shown now to play, they played two full games and one three quarter games because it got a bit damp (!) and then had prize giving and supper which was Pizzas and salad in the club house.

First place, the WI challenge cup (a specially painted egg cup) was won by Jean, Second Place was taken by Wendy, she received some foil-wrapped marshmallow tea cakes (which look like boules!) and Third Place was a big bag of jelly babies. The friendliest player was Jan – she received a bottle of Shoot! And a lovely time was had by all and we hope that next year more people come to play for the cup!

A lovely day saw us at Marlow playing the MTTA Horses at the Kings Head Public House – The team was Chris, Gerry, Loren, Ant, Sarah and Jules. I went along for the ride and to cheer them on! We won overall, but the last game was very closely contested! We were 8:2 down, and crept up to 8:4, the Horses got to 12, and we thought that was it! 12:4 down – gulp!

Some bad decisions were made in our attempt to improve matters, but eventually we clawed our way up to 12 all, then in the end we made it. Phew that was hard going Krys of the Horses was really on form yesterday!

Our next meeting is against a team from the Wokingham and Winnersh Wanderers playing in the CEP Euro Cup for Clubs at Home.

After the meeting we adjourned to the pub and Alan provided sandwiches for us. Thanks Alan, we thouroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Here is the final table of results after 10 matches, and below is the table of overall results for Petanque Wallingford by shots/games for and against.

Better luck next year!

Yesterday we went to the Club at Burnham, to play for the Silver Salver in memory of those who are no longer with us (Christiane passed away in April and Ros W who passed away in July). But also, of course, for others in Thames Valley Clubs.

We fielded 9 people in our nice new red tops and Paul formed teams from those who entered. He was short of one person to make up a team so asked if Trevor Harris would play.  Trevor had come to watch because he has a poorly throwing shoulder so he would only be able to play with his left hand (and, he said be 'pretty hopeless'), and with borrowed boules (mine!). Well, like a Trojan, he agreed to 'have a go' and made up a team with Eric and Joan – both strong players, so no pressure on Trevor! Loren had to scoot off at lunch time, so he would play 3 games and then I would substitute for him for the 2 afternoon games (which I did, using his boules which are heavier than mine …).

The day was cloudy but warm and we started with Paul handing out the playing sheets and we all observed a minute's silence. Then we set to.  Loren's game went on longer than he anticipated, so he left after 2 games, having won 1. So I took over and won one game before lunch and one after.  And the temperature climbed.

I ended up coming 7th. Phew.  We left before the Final was played but were thrilled to learn that our Club was represented in the 'top' three places and Trevor and his cunning left hand came 5th. Well done all.