October

Meeting yesterday attended by yours truly, Alan Swift (Northern Petanque Regional President) John Fletcher Head of Parks, Landscapes and Streetcleaning, KMC) & Robert Whitaker from Parks.

Agreed the terrain looked good;  extra dressing of gravel/granite chips needed; noticeboard to be erected with details of the game & the Club; Discussions on provision of tables & chairs. Meeting planned soon for steering committee to help in development of club;

3 local residents make contact by email…   It’s started!

September – Lift off!!

Finally things are happening. The terrain is very nearly finished. There will be a technical meeting soon to agree final works then it will be signed off as ready for play. The terrain is level but with the slope of the ground has quite a wall at the far end. Surrounding areas are level and seeded with grass. There is provision for 2 benches and I think planting has been done but maybe not. It’s cordoned off at present but very nearly there…

Green

Meetings are planned to get things moving but it is expected to put on some taster sessions at weekends in October for people to try the game and sign up to join the club. Some PR is also being considered.  Click photo to enlarge it.

August

Steady progress. contacts on holiday so no reply from KMC. Maybe next week.

MIrfield remains unbuilt but Huddersfield is getting close to completion. The base is down and the top dressing has been added. Two pictures here show the overall look which is a grey top surface (not surprising when it’s 6mm to dust granite) over a fairly compacted sandstone base. There is a granite topping but there’s not much of it as it was more dust than 6mm. If they add more granite 6mm and no more granite dust then it may come out looking a bit like Wetherby.

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The surround is still to be sorted.

There are piles of ashphalt and turf and I talked to the two lads working on it (Julian & Sean) and they  reckon it will be at least a month before it’s finished.

There will be a path surrounding it and grassed areas as well. We’ve suggested clubhouse and a few other items but they’re not thinking that far ahead.

No plans yet about how it’s going to be marketed or promoted but I’ve volunteered to help. An Indian summer would help the french game…

Click to enlarge pictures.

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Building starts

IMG_0727Mid July. A telephone conversation with KMC reveals  that work has started and is expected to finish by the end of the summer holidays. It’s looking good. A large terrain about 30m by 12m. plenty of room around it for landscaping and good distant views over the hills.

There are elements that should be incorporated but we’ll have to negotiate these in meetings in the next months. We should be playing in a couple of months.

Mid May

No real news. Many people around the region are keeping their eyes on this project. Informal contact says Mirfield will be built first  as funds are available but there were rumours that Greenhead had been started. A site visit established that nothing had been done but the resources crucial to a Petanque club are mostly in place. We tested toilets, cafe and also found a community room that is available for hire which seems a good place to hold meetings and eat sandwiches on rainy days. All these are within 80m of the proposed terrain. Parking was not as bad as expected. We spotted 20 parking spots on public roads within a few minutes of the site.

Let’s hope we see progress this summer.