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My friend Dave bequeathed 3 sets of boules to me. They had been in his shed on a French campsite for many years and were rusty, spotty and discoloured. After a preliminary scrub I found out that one set were Boule Noire which was a French company founded in 1967 and had created the famous “COU” brand but in 1985 the brand was bought by Obut. They now make a CX Cou boule with a black satin finish which rubs off with use. They retail now for €211. You can have lisse (smooth) or une strie (one stripe). My boules were smooth.

So I thought they were worth saving and upcycling. There’s only so much you can do with spit, wire wool and Mr Muscle so I decided to bring in the professionals. I found a local metal polishing company on the web and went in person, showed them my boules and chatted to the boss. All the staff were polishing aircraft wings and oil tankers in an old mill building but he was sympathetic and interested and promised to have a go at cleaning my boules. I said I couldn’t obviously pay his commercial polishing rate but he said OK. I left them with them overnight and went back the next day.

This is the before picture

  And the result of a good polish

What’s more he threw in a polishing cloth and a small jar of his firm’s secret formula metal polish. All this for a small donation to the corporate biscuits tin.

I used a firm called High Spec Metal polishers in Sowerby Bridge but I’m sure there are metal polishers near you.  Depends whether you want very shiny, look like brand new boules or whether you value patina, rust and discolouration.

I went further and wrote to Obut quoting the unique reference number and asking if they could tell when they were made and what the diameter was. Here’s their reply.

“We have received your email and thank you for your attention to our brand. The reference number of a triplet does not allow us to date the product. Regarding the diameter, you can use a caliper. We remain at your disposal.”

At least they replied in English and within 24 hours but a tad disappointing. The website laboulenoire.fr redirects to Obut and the wayback machine doesn’t have any other hits. La Boule Noire is a concert hall in Montmartre.

I now have a pristine set of La Boule Noire lisse 700g in shiny silver. I’ll find a caliper in a day or two.

HPC narrowly missed a place in the semifinals at the inter-club competition today.  Our consolation was winning the plate, which meant that our £35 entry fee was refunded. Sometimes you have to be content to break even! Lovely day, and thanks to our band of supporters. 

It was a complex format but there were 8 teams split into 2 leagues. This was our morning set of fixtures which meant we went into the Plate competition in the afternoon rather than the main competition. The 4th column is the lanes they played on. Looks like some games didn’t reach 13.

This is the afternoon Plate competition. Our win over Hollicarrs meant we went through to the Plate final where we beat Stockton.

Leeds beat Heckmondwike in the Main competition Final.

If you look hard you can find Moira and Mike who played in the Jersey Open two weeks ago. It shows there are plenty of opportunities to travel beyond Huddersfield and have a good time and see new places.

Moira says:- We played in the doubles and triples with my brother. We got through to the quarter finals of the plate both days out of 32 teams. First day we played for 10 hrs. 

More info:- Most of these events involve a whole day’s play where the first half ranks the teams and in the second half there are a series of finals at different levels so everyone has chance to play at their own level. For whole weekend events they have doubles on one day then triples on the second. There’s a lot of games but also sightseeing and food & drink. Previously HPC members have played in competitions in Guernsey, France and Australia

No pictures but 32 players took part and it threw up some interesting pairings on a mostly warm and sunny Thursday. Nigel and Yvonne won 3 games with a points difference of +21 to take 1st place. Not far behind were David & Paul with 3 wins and +18 followed by Nell & Chantal with 3 wins and +13 points. No-one else won 3 games.

Next Shotgun event is Thursday 24th August and is a triples competition.

Oxshott, Surrey 22nd & 23rd July 2023. Two more HPC members represent Yorkshire bringing the total to 7.

Moira writes:-

Amanda and I attended this event. We played doubles on Saturday, this was a 4 round Swiss, we did well considering we have rarely played together and never in competition. We finished 9th out of 28, considering the level and experience of people from every county, we did well and enjoyed it. Sunday Amanda joined a lady from Central and one from Southern and beat one triple by 13-0, good result. I played with Migs and Rosanna in the triples and we came 2nd, only losing by 5 points to 1st place. 

This was run to PE National rules, with very strict rules of attire and this was checked at registration, if it had been cold say and the fleeces didn’t match etc you couldn’t play. One person was told off for shorts too short, change them for second day. 

It was highly competitive and the quality of play was very good due to county and England players, with many years of experience. It was a very well run event in a lovely setting and once play had finished it had a great friendly atmosphere.  I must say I enjoyed every minute of the weekend, apart from the 6 hour journey down and 5 hours back.

Amanda adds:-

It was an honour to be selected to play in the event and represent Yorkshire.  I really enjoyed the challenge of playing at such a high level, and the experience across the weekend really helped me to “up my game”.  It rained for all of Saturday afternoon, but we were lucky with the weather on Sunday as it was sunny and warm.  As Moira says it was a friendly atmosphere amongst the teams, and a great experience.  A bonus for me was getting to know Moira and Mike better.