Annual Dinner

annual-dinner-2016-logo-300x100Friday 27th and over 40 members and partners attended our annual dinner at Greenhead Masonic Lodge. It was a nice 3 course menu with coffee & mints and wasn’t bad at all.  Before the meal there was speech from the Chairman to say how well 2016 had gone. Membership at 86; good results in the leagues we have entered; players moving out to play in other clubs and at regional events and considerable money raised for our chosen Charity.

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We also awarded 3 Petanque Oscars for the most improved players (M/F) and the most useful member (AKA Rake of the year). Both pictured below. Categories for next years Oscars to Committee before end of 2017 please.annual-dinner-jan-2017-041

Then we started eating. After first course we presented a bunch of flowers to Liz Henstock (still our best supporter) and also to Sue Crofts our treasurer who was also awarded an Honorary Life membership in recognition of her massive contribution to the club over 3 years.annual-dinner-jan-2017-001

We had a game or two of Heads and Tails with Brendan as MC. Winners won prizes. Raffle tickets were sold.

Then we continued eating.

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After main course we played Play your cards right with Robin as MC. Incredibly 9 players failed to get through to the end until finally one player made it.

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Pudding followed and then it was Raffle. There were.. wait for it… 18 prizes to be won. It took some time but 18 people walked away with a prize. Best one was an bottle of ancient Port.

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Believe it or not there were still prizes to give away so we played heads and tails again to get rid of them.

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Everyone agreed it was great night and at least half the people who attended walked away with a prize (some with two or three!).

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The committee decided later that we’ll have a repeat in the summer. This will be the Petanque Picnic and will be on  a sunny day in June or July. We may not be able to have alcohol in the park so we’ll have to bring our own lemonade. More later.

 

February Members Melee

16 people played but only two won all 3 games. Rita S just beat Christine K by having a points difference of 24 instead of 22. Seven players won 2 games with Robin and Sandra B being the best with 14 points difference.

Winter Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Total adj
Daniel 10 13 9 12 9 53 35
Robin 7.5 11 10.5 29 29
Sue 13 8 1.5 7 3 32.5 28
David 7 4.5 13 8 32.5 28
Sandra B 11 3.5 10.5 25 25
Marie 3 11.5 9 1 24.5 23.5
Fred 8 8 4 20 20
Christine K 8 12 20 20
Barrie 4 11.5 15.5 15.5
Richard 12 2 14 14
Brendan 3.5 10 13.5 13.5
Kevin 13 13 13
Rita 13 13 13
Roy 8 5 13 13
Michael 12 12 12
Sandie 2 10 12 12
Malcolm 4.5 7 11.5 11.5
Jack 11 11 11
Elisabeth 9 1 10 10
Mick X 10 10 10
Amanda 3 6 9 9
Rita W 1 2 5 8 8
Diane 7.5 7.5 7.5
Edwina 6 6 6
Pauline 6 6 6
Paul 6 6 6
Alasdair 5 5 5
Sandra L 1.5 1.5 1.5

All this means that Daniel cannot be caught. If Robin had been 3rd rather than 3rd= he could have equalled Daniel’s score in the March Melee (assuming Daniel didn’t play or scored nothing). However that’s not the case. Daniel is the winner.  The race for 2nd and 3rd is still on. Any from 6 players can fill these 2 places.

April first Sunday is not happening as we are playing an away fixture at Mansfield. May 7th will be the first in the summer season.

Souper Sunday

15th Jsingle-300x222anuary saw 11 brave souls play a singles handicap. There were 3 rounds in a snake format and the top two played a final.

Handicaps ranged from a zero for about 5 experienced players to 3 for less experienced. Entry Fee was £2. Cash prizes were available for the top 2.

Another feature was the homemade soup that was available between rounds. The flavour was Potage du chef de bureau – a little known recipe involving cinnamon, mixed spice, paprika, carrot, coriander and Aldi.

Back on the terrain ony 2 players won all the early rounds so Fred and Marie contested the final. Marie came out the winner continuing her run of success and taking away first prize and a handsome little trophy to show her grandchildren.

New Year – New Rules

rules69-620x400Busy day  January 1st as it is also the day a number of rule changes come into effect. The main one affecting play at club level is under Article 6. Start of play and rules regarding the circle which states:-
The team winning the toss or the previous end will have one attempt to throw a valid jack. If this jack is not valid it is handed to the opposing team who may place it at any valid position on the designated terrain.
Subsequent clarification has confirmed that the team placing the jack may use a measure to place it at exactly 6m or 10m if they wish. 
Other changes of interest are:- In all cases the circles must be marked before the jack is thrown. This is good practice anyway but becomes important If a player picks up a circle when there are boules still to be played, the circle is replaced but only the opponents are allowed to play their boules..
Article 27, Removed Boules states If a player picks up his boules from the playing area while his partners have boules remaining, they will not be allowed to play them. (note to our lady members. I am quoting the rules exactly as written by a group composed largely of men and nearly all continental. Clearly the correct terminology should have been his or her !)
Article 3. Approved Jacks this now states Their weight must be between 10 and 18 grams. It has been suggested that the dimpled jacks that some members have recently acquired are outside these limits and if so they cannot be used.
There are two copies of the new rules in full in the club house. The changes and additions are printed in blue for ease of identification
The club will run a talk session about the rules in a few weeks.

Happy new members melee

MeleeOnly 7 turned up on a cold and rainy New Year’s day so the good news for them was that they’d each score big points. And they did. 3 players won 2, 3 players won 1 & one player didn’t win a game but still scored points. Because of the numbers we had to play an unusual 3 v 2 and 1 v 1 system. Here’s the result.

David 13
Daniel 12
Robin 11
Brendan 10
Marie 9
Roy 8
Sue 7

With 2 rounds still to go anyone from the top 14 places can win if they get big wins and those above them don’t.

Winter Oct Nov Dec Jan Total adj
Daniel 10 13 9 12 44 35
Sue 13 8 1.5 7 29.5 28
David 7 4.5 13 24.5 24.5
Robin 7.5 11 18.5 18.5
Fred 8 8 16 16
Barrie 4 11.5 15.5 15.5
Marie 3 11.5 9 23.5 14.5
Sandra B 11 3.5 14.5 14.5
Brendan 3.5 10 13.5 13.5
Kevin 13 13 13
Michael 12 12 12
Richard 12 12 12
Sandie 2 10 12 12
Jack 11 11 11
Elisabeth 9 1 10 10
Mick X 10 10 10
Amanda 3 6 9 9
Christine K 8 8 8
Rita W 1 2 5 8 8
Roy 8 8 8
Diane 7.5 7.5 7.5
Edwina 6 6 6
Pauline 6 6 6
Alasdair 5 5 5
Malcolm 4.5 4.5 4.5
Sandra L 0 1.5 1.5 1.5

Happy new year to all. We have a singles competition in Mid January and next members melee is February 5th.