Stockton on the Forest Petanque club is one of the nicest places to play the game in the north. It’s rural and the terrain is huge (in fact there are 2 terrains with about 15 pistes in total) and the welcome is always friendly. It used to be the home club of Mick Hardisty who was Head Groundsman, septic tank engineer and experienced pipe smoker. He was also a demon shooter. He would walk slowly into the circle ( he never did anything quickly), take aim and usually hit the target boule cleanly.
I played with him when I was a novice pointer and he guided me through to some of my early victories in Northern events. Sadly Mick died last year but a bench in memory of him has been installed at the terrain.
Last Wednesday some members from Huddersfield travelled to Stockton for one of their famous all day melees. 5 games in a day. Over 40 players. £3-50 entry fee and as many sausage rolls as you can eat alongside your sandwiches. Fairy Cakes, Jam tarts and sometimes swiss rolls. Add the free tea and coffee all day and an exciting raffle at lunchtime and what more could a man want.
Sue and Brendan won 2 of their 5 games; Paul won 3 but Roy won all 5 including a 13-0 victory.
Obviously he was in among the prizes but couldn’t quite make top prize which went to Tony (a Stockton member and very experienced player) on +45 but Roy came in 2nd with +41. Here he is with 2 expensive bottles of wine and a traffic cone.
A great day and there are more Stockton melees this year.
Why not have a go. Talk to Roy about how easy it is.
Huddersfield Pétanque 