News

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.

Tuesday 25th July.

Huddersfield won through by the narrowest of margins against Heckmondwike in the cup semi-final. In the triples Huddersfield women had a comfortable 13-3 win, whilst the men suffered a crushing defeat, with Clive from Heckmondwike playing a flawless game.

So, to the doubles, in which Nell and Phil had to face Clive and Alma, who won easily.

At 2-1 down, Huddersfield needed to win both remaining doubles matches. Thanks to Brendan and Margaret, Roy and Moira (who played the shot of the match (if not her lifetime)) HPC triumphed 3-2 overall.

And so to our second cup final in two years… It will be on August 22nd at a neutral venue. We’re waiting for the result of the second semifinal. We’ll keep you posted.

Wednesday 19th July. There were 8 HPC members out of the 19 that attended at this event just north of York. Nell, Carol, Robin, Rita, Nigel, Maureen, Sandy and Sue C. Nigel was the only player to win all 4 games and was the overall winner on the day then Robin won 3 to be second. There were also many raffle prizes for HPC. Apart from one heavy shower it stayed fine for us and we really enjoyed the day. Thanks to Nell & Nigel for driving. We’re hoping to go again on Wednesday the 16th August

For those who don’t know this is regular event at Stockton on the Forest Petanque club (known as Stockton Fox) in summer. It’s 4 games with random draw for partners every round. Most players are social players but now and again there is a county level player. There’s a raffle and £4 entry fee with free drinks all day and small cash prizes. Ask someone who went about it. Corrected 27 July after finding out details from someone who actually went there.

A “big” event with sponsors so entry fee was higher and prizes were higher. Huddersfield sent 4 teams. Pete, Margaret and Didier were Les deux garçons et une fille; Robin, Rita and Shirley from Heckmondwike were Rock and RollerS; Brendan, Nell & Roy were Menage a trois; Kevin, Christine and Bill from Heckmondwike also took part .

There were many teams and the format was leagues of 4 in the morning which split the field into knockouts in the afternoon with better placed teams being in Gold, then Silver then Bronze Finals where 8 teams played quarters, semis and a final. So every team had a chance of winning something in the afternoon at their own level. Full results later

Comments from players

Although we didn’t score high the 3 of us certainly enjoyed being part of such an enjoyable and extremely well organised event . We will continue to enter more events where we get the opportunity to play against players of a high standard as it can only improve our game.

We made Gold finals section but lost in the quarter final

It was an excellent day and very well organised and run by Hecky. We won our morning league with 3 wins from 3 games and went into the Gold competition in the afternoon. We won our first game in this against Robin’s team so went into the Gold semi-final where we lost to 11 to a team from Rainworth PC who made it to the Gold final. As Gold semi-finalists Menage a Trois trousered £100 – the best win I have had so far.

Our team were losing semi finalists in the Silver section and won £50.

A group from Greenhead College had a staff away day on Thursday 13th July. One of the activities was a session in the morning at the terrain where they had a 10 minute coaching briefing followed by 30 minutes practice where Brendan, Nell, Roy & Paul helped them refine their technique before a 2 round snake with random draw for partners.

Following this mini tournament Richard won the gold medal for winning both his games and the one end playoff. Could become an annual event…