Brighton and Hove Petanque Club

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place at the Holiday Inn hotel on Sunday 29th November. Tony Mann chaired the meeting. Thirty-five members attended with apologies being received from a further 15 members.

PST Storehouse conversion. Tony explained that this had not progressed as far as any had hoped partly due to long delays in receiving rental figures and changes in personnel within the Council. A summary of the information provided is given below :-
• Rent – £1,200 pa based on 300 sq ft @ £4 per sq ft
• Rates – £594.13 for 2009/10 year – under review
• Insurance – Linked with the Council’s block
policy for the building covering internal walls, ceilings etc.. There are 2 options:-
1) Basic – which covers fire, lightning, aircraft, no excess payment & cost approx £100 pa
2) Full – covers above + riot, earthquake, water ingress etc. Excess £250 and cost approx £200 pa

Any contents insurance would be our own responsibility.
• Utilities – Electricity & Water. Currently shared by the whole block. Agreement needs to be reached covering shared bills with Council.
• Lease – Standard lease that Council uses with other clubs. A 10-year term with 5-year review. Read the rest of this entry »

The Winter Singles League started on 14th November and runs through till the end of February 2010. Twenty club members are taking part in the league. These are :-

Ray A               David A               Jill C
Lisa C               Pat C                     Clifford C
Bill C                Sheena C              Max C
Janice D         Jill G                     Terry G
Fergal H         Alan I                  Tony M
David M         Olive S                 Trish T
Jeff T               Ann W Read the rest of this entry »

The club’s Autumn Mixed Doubles League ended on 1st November. There were 12 teams in total who entered but unfortunately due to illness one team had to withdraw. This meant the remaining 11 teams had to play a total of 10 games each and everyone completed all of their games on time.

 
A win earned 3 points and 1 point for a loss. The overall winners were the team with the most points and in the event of a tie the highest match points difference.

 
No team remained undefeated throughout the league but with only one defeat in 10 games Jill Gebbett & Clifford Conway were worthy winners amassing 28 out of a possible 30 points. Their only defeat was against the 2nd place pairing of Janice Doherty & David Alfred who achieved 8 wins, 26 league points and the highest points difference of +49. Their 2 defeats were against the eventual 3rd place pairing of Ann Wordsworth & Tony Mann and a surprise 2-13 defeat against Dona & Max Crisfield.

The final league table is as follows :-

Key
W  Games Won            

 L           Games Lost

For     Points scored               

  Aga       Points conceded
+/-      Points difference          

 Pts         League Points Read the rest of this entry »

2nd Round – BHPC versus The Welcome Stranger

This knockout competition is to find the top 4 club teams in England who will then play off in a separate event to find the overall winning club. The winning club will represent the EPA at the Confédération de Européenne Pétanque (CEP) European Cup for Club Teams competition. All clubs registered with the EPA with a minimum of 6 members (one of which must be of the opposite gender to the other 5) are automatically entered in the draw. Each club is allowed one team. All players must be EPA members for the current year and hold their membership through BHPC to play for BHPC.

Our squad is as follows :-
Main squad of 6
Ray Ager                                            David Alfred
Janice Doherty                                Norman Hazelden
Fergal Hogan                                    Tony Mann
2 reserves
Pat Connolly                                     Terry Gibbons

In the 1st Round we were drawn against The Junction Inn who withdrew so we received a walkover into round 2 where we faced our friends from The Welcome Stranger. The match was played on Sunday 22nd November at the PST. The conditions were atrocious with relentless strong winds and horizontal rain. With Norman unavailable Pat was brought into the squad. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Taylor shares his recent experience
Less experienced pétanque players enjoy two great advantages in entering as many competitions as possible early in their career. Firstly, I have found experienced players to be very generous in providing advice and encouragement to those who are just starting out. Secondly, there is far less pressure in terms of expectations. People are impressed if you can get all three boules within three feet of the jack and, furthermore, nobody expects you to hit an opponent’s boule if you have the nerve to play as shooter – they just admire your willingness to have a go.

When people learn how enthusiastic and willing you are you will also find other opportunities open to you. Early in October Ray and Tony found that their regular team members were not available to make up a triples team to play in an open event at Adur and they asked me if I’d like to join them. I said “yes” immediately before they had the chance to change their minds, but I must confess to being more than a little nervous about playing with such good players in the sort of tournament which attracts other toprate players within a considerable travelling distance of the venue. Read the rest of this entry »