Petanque Wallingford

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

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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

After five rounds of competition starting way back in October last year (20 teams split into three leagues), it all came down to the final at Arborfield on Sunday. Twelve teams, four from Wallingford, competed in the Sunday FINAL. It was cold but we had dry and fine weather through the day.
The four Wallingford teams were
The Wolves – Dave Chalkley & Peter Smith (Nick Zalinski sub for Peter)
The Eddie Bears – Debbie & Paul Hammond
Mind the Gap – Wendy Harris & Steve Gothard
The Special Ks – Yvette & Mike Marshall

The morning matches were played in a round-robin format, three groups of four playing each other to qualify for either the Main (Top 6) or the Plate (Remaining 6).

After a lunch break in the Clubhouse the split was announced.

The Eddie Bears and The Special Ks qualified for the Main.
The Wolves and Mind the Gap playing for the Plate.

A great final match was played between:
The Twiglets – Paul Webb & Phil Claydon and The Saints – Dean Webb & Bob Boothman.
Both these teams had each only lost two of their fifteen games in the five rounds of earlier competition so were odds on favourites to win.

The Saints won the Cup but both these top two teams showing outstanding ability. Demonstrating hard accurate shooting and consistent high-lob pointing to within inches of the Jack.

Phil very kindly gave us some good playing tips – emphasizing the importance of good grip (thumb just resting on index finger) and the importance of *Muscle Memory in playing consistent shots.

The Plate was won by Girl Power – Linda Thorpe & Elaine Smith – well done to them.

A great result for the Kings Head taking both the Cup and the Plate – Congratulations to them.

It was a great day of friendly competition for everyone taking part. Big thanks to Arborfield for hosting us all on the day.

Mike Marshall

*Muscle Memory
Muscle memory is a process of reorganizing and rewiring our nerves to make the brain/body connection stronger, faster and more accurate. When we practice a new movement over and over again, we are literally “grooving” a new neural pathway within our central nervous system.

Friday 18th February 2022 saw the worst storm in three decades with gusts in excess of 90 mph. Storm Eunice took its toll on the pistes, littering them in branches, twigs and debris. So some clean up required before play!
   This was our first Money Melee of the year. With the forecast a bit shaky, 21 intrepid members turned up for what was my first melee as organiser. It was great to see so many turn up, including some new members, Pam, Cathy and Martin along with some players we haven’t seen for some time, Peter Smith and Pat Hayton. With fine drizzle coming down, play began with the blow of my whistle at 11am, a stampede of eager players dashed to their allotted piste. Five teams played three forty minute games. Luckily the weather held out until the end. Score cards were handed in confirming that the winners were:
 
1st Place                     Nick Zalinski
2nd Place                    Steve Gothard
3rd Place                     Wendy Harris
Friendliest Player        Pat Hayton
 
Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all those that braved the elements for what was a very enjoyable morning.

Paul H

     Bridget, Pete, Debbie and I decided to go to Worthing to do some cycling on the South Downs and enter a triples competition at Worthing Petanque Club. This would give us an opportunity to meet new players and to gain experience.
     Worthing Petanque Club is based in West Worthing and was started in 2013. They have over twenty pistes and a variety of playing surfaces, including part of a car park that they use for big events.
     The triples competition was open to all clubs and attracted 28 teams including several England players as well as Southern County players. It was played under international rules, which was a first for us. Our team of Debbie, Bridget and me, was placed in a League of four teams and we played three matches in the morning. The weather was reasonable and after losing the first match we rallied and won both our other matches, one against women from the England squad.
     The afternoon session started late and was split into Gold, Silver, Bronze and consolages. As we topped our league we were placed in the Silver. The weather took a turn for the worse and afternoon play was a battle against the rain, wind and cold. We held our own but sadly it was not to be.
     However it was a great day, with like minded friendly people with many remembering the man in the shorts from Wallingford!!
     Pete who was not originally playing, offered to help out with a team from Oxshott who were short of a member due to Covid. They started off by playing the England mens team who eventually went on to win the competition. They qualified for the Bronze category and battled on through the afternoon, eventually finishing around 6:30 pm, thoroughly soaked. Sadly no prizes, but we all feel it was a great experience and day out.
Paul Hammond