We went early to Newbury this morning to find the Rotary Club had got to the square even earlier and had almost finished preparations for the 16 teams of four to come and play. (Some of the photograph in the Rotary site are of last year's event – they have not posted the recent ones yet).
They had constructed four pistes for the teams, and one which appeared to be less sandy for the 'closest to the jack' competition to take place during the morning and the finals match which would take place in the afternoon. M A and T arrived shortly after so the 4 from Petanque Wallingford were ready to show the teams how to play, to 'supervise' and help them score, etc.
The day started overcast, but we all stopped while the Town Council and people of Newbury watched a parade led by a bagpiper celebrate Armed Forces Day. When this was over they marched away and down came the rain! Well, true to form, we played in the rain which thankfully was not torrential. It stopped after half an hour and eventually the sun came out and it warmed up a bit so much fun was had by all.
Rotary had worked out a schedule of play for the day – leagues of 4 vs 4 in the morning (not 'proper' petanque, but needs must), playing half hour games, half an hour for lunch then the Quarter and Semi finals – normal length games (13 points) followed by an enthusiastic crowd watching the nail-biting Finals between Boules Dogz v Prestige. It was very well done. Below are a few pictures of the event.
They had constructed four pistes for the teams, and one which appeared to be less sandy for the 'closest to the jack' competition to take place during the morning and the finals match which would take place in the afternoon. M A and T arrived shortly after so the 4 from Petanque Wallingford were ready to show the teams how to play, to 'supervise' and help them score, etc.
The day started overcast, but we all stopped while the Town Council and people of Newbury watched a parade led by a bagpiper celebrate Armed Forces Day. When this was over they marched away and down came the rain! Well, true to form, we played in the rain which thankfully was not torrential. It stopped after half an hour and eventually the sun came out and it warmed up a bit so much fun was had by all.
Rotary had worked out a schedule of play for the day – leagues of 4 vs 4 in the morning (not 'proper' petanque, but needs must), playing half hour games, half an hour for lunch then the Quarter and Semi finals – normal length games (13 points) followed by an enthusiastic crowd watching the nail-biting Finals between Boules Dogz v Prestige. It was very well done. Below are a few pictures of the event.
