Abergavenny Pétanque Club

Four representatives of Abergavenny Petanque Club recently visited Troon Petanque Club in Scotland to celebrate the 20^th Anniversary of the Troon club. Boulers took part in a week end of festivities culminating in an open tournament. Abergavenny Bouler Pat Ford won the Plate Competition teaming up with members from Scotland and France. Members of Abergavenny Petanque Club certainly have opportunities to play their sport far and wide – they are now planning a possible trip to Normandy to take on the experts! To join the club contact 01873 853317, or pop along to the piste in Bailey Park on a Monday evening!

John Prosser

Dear all,

Congratulations to all ladies who participated in last week’s Ladies Qualifier in the pouring rain at the Wheatsheaf! Out of 4 triples teams, 5 players were from Abergavenny, more than any other club in the WPA which is a fantastic achievement and is testament to the standard of play of the female members of the club. Although it seems a little weird to say it (!), many congratulations to Bérengère for finishing in the top team and thereby qualifying to represent the Welsh Pétanque Association at the World Championships, probably in Thailand, in November this year. Depending on the final venue being confirmed and the potential to raise sponsorship, her attendance is not finalised as yet so watch this space!!!

The APC Open entries have really picked up pace and the event is now over half-full with just under 2 months before the competition date! The competition promises to be the highlight of our calendar and if you have not entered yet but plan to, you’d better hurry and send your form in!!! Our meetings are now underway for the organisation of the day and I will be in touch with further information and rota’s etc in the first week of June! Please do everything you can to ensure you are available to help make the day a success!

Finally, you will see the league scores and tables regularly being updated on the website and it seems the Reds are off to a stormer in Division 2! Congratulations to them and best of luck to everyone for the next few weeks. Keep an eye on our site and the WPA site for forthcoming events you can take part in.

See you soon!

Gareth

Firstly congratulations to Ian Bailey who was the sole member of Abergavenny Pétanque Club in the successful Welsh team who defended the Celtic Challenge Trophy for the third time in a row. Congratulations also go to the whole team who have done extremely well to achieve this feat and to win a closely contested contest by just one game from Ireland and 2 games from Scotland!! Next year the event will be back in Wales (it really will be 3 years since we hosted the event!) and you will all have the opportunity to qualify to represent Wales in it, at a time and place to be decided later in the year!

A number of club representatives have also just returned from a Twinning trip to Beaupréau where several games were played with and against the local side, SMS pétanque in a “melee” competition. The aim of the competition was to participate in a social game of pétanque with the traditional aperitif afterwards!! Much of the trip was devoted to celebrating the 20 years of Twinning between our 2 towns, all of the participants from Abergavenny had an enjoyable weekend and members of APC enjoyed their games of pétanque, and a try at “sand boule” in some cases too! APC’s very own “celebrity couple” of Mayor and Mayoress John and Christine Prosser were much in demand during the whole trip and did a sterling job representing our town and club at a multitude of functions and events. Despite the success of the whole event, there was a sentiment amongst many “petanquers” that it would be nice for the 2 clubs to meet outside of the Twinning “framework” for a weekend of 100% boules…..and pétanque-related socialising of course!!! Now that the Twinning has created the “bond”, we will investigate the possibility of a “Pétanque Club” only trip and see how feasible that may be!

Finally, the league season is now underway and both the Blues and Reds have made a good start to the campaign, and are currently in the top 2 places in their respective divisions. Having only played one game so far due to a bye, the Clarets are solidly placed mid-table, just above the Golds, although the Wheatsheaf C in division 2 have won both of their games 4-0 and are the early pace-setters. With only 2 weeks gone however, everything is still to play for, so every point (and shot….) counts!!

Don’t forget your entries for the Abergavenny Open if you haven’t already sent them, and I will be in touch soon regarding the details when my sub-committee has met! The event itself will take place on the 12^th July and, as I mentioned before, it is imperative that we get as many helpers involved as possible to make this event a success and a stand-out event on the calendar for the future. I am assuming therefore that all members will want to be part of this grand occasion for our club, even if you can only spare a few hours, but if for some reason you will be unable to help out at all on the day it is important you please let me know ASAP as I will start organising “teams” to run the event very soon!

Good luck all, and see you soon.

Gareth