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| City of Bath Petanque Club Newsletter |
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August Newsletter | August 2012 |
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Upcoming Competitions | |
Ladies Doubles September 8th
Shooting Competition September 8th
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| Greetings!
 With the season rolling on I am wondering, as I expect we all are, what happened to Summer? - and will I actually get to play a complete match this year without at some point needing to wear waterproofs. Notwithstanding the poor weather the club has achieved some good results in the BTLP, Brunel and individual competitions. The Brunel team has struggled at times to field a team but has nonetheless managed to stay towards the top of the league - however it needs new players so if you would like to give it a go please contact Chris Garratt. At the risk of blowing my own trumpet one of our teams did well to come as runner-ups in the Ship Masters in a close-fought game. There are still lots of events to look forward to - details below and in previous newsletters.
Martin
CoBPC Chairman
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35th Anniversary of French Twinning in Bath.
Tickets selling Fast
The Bath - Aix-en-Provence Twinning Association will celebrate its 35th Anniversary this year with 'Une Soiree Dansante' on Saturday September 22nd 7pm - 11.30pm at BRLSI in Queen Square.
There will be a glass of sparkling wine on arrival, a buffet supper, and music from a group of Breton musicians and a chanteuse. They will also lead us in some simple traditional Breton dancing, for the willing and able! A group of 14 'honoured guests' from Aix will be coming for the celebrations.
It would be great if a sizeable contingent from the City of Bath Petanque Club joined in the celebrations - the Twinning Association in both cities have supported our visits over the years and helped to make them so enjoyable.
Please contact Lesley Hall the club's Aix Twinning representative or Chris Garratt asap for your tickets, priced at �30 each.
lesley-hall@hotmail.co.uk or phone 01225 328685 (day), 01373 827406 (eve)
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Ladies Doubles - September 8th
CoBPC will be hosting the GWR ladies doubles at Alexandra Park on September 8th. Entry will be �3 for EPA members and �6 for Non EPA members. Anyone interested in entering should contact Cary Bush or Don Grimes.
Shooting Competition September 8th
At the same time as the Ladies Doubles there will be the annual GWR shooting competition. This is open to all EPA members, both ladies and men, the entry fee will be �3 per entry. Anyone interested in joining should contact Don Grimes. |
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The Ship Masters
The Annual Ship Masters Tournament took place on Sunday 12th August 2012 at The Ship Petanque Club in Keynsham.
This event has become one of the most popular and prestigious events of the season's calender and offers a high level of competition with teams invited from those currently playing in the Regional Brunel League. The City of Bath Club entered 2 triples teams.
Although the day started with an unseasonal thunderstorm, 20 teams gathered early morning to begin the contest in group leagues which took play up to lunchtime and a welcome hog roast.
The Bath triple of Martin Ellis, Cary Bush and Mark Gilbert fought hard in a tough group, notably coming back to tie a match against the Brunel League champions, The Ringers, having been 0-7 down! In the afternoon, they found themselves qualifying to play in the main event, whilst the 2nd Bath triple, was to play off in the Plate/Consolation draw.
Competition hotted up in the post lunchtime stage, and the Bath team had to show great resolve to come through well-contested and very tight quarter and semi-final matches; both ties going down to the wire with either team having victory within its grasp.
The Final saw the City of Bath team pitched against the home team and previous winners, The Ship, which had the advantage of home piste knowledge of course.
It proved to be a step too far for the Bath team, but not before the crowd witnessed a real contest, with the Bath underdogs doing themselves and our club great credit with consitently well-placed pointing and some vital shooting, particualrly from Martin Ellis who held his nerve in the circle at one or two critical moments. It was a great team effort and is the first time that a team from this club has progressed to the final of this particular competition.....another step forward for us! As runners up, the team each received a commemorative Bristol Blue Glass Goblet.
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Thursday Night League
League
For the first time the league was split in to 2 with 6 teams competing in division 1 and 9 teams competing in division 2. Despite the poor weather the majority of the teams were able to finish their games with the Clubs team "The Bears" winning the overall league followed closely by Compton Inn (winners of the previous two year tournaments). Division 2 was tightly contested by 3 teams with Reside finally coming out on top closely followed by Barnhouse.
Doubles
The doubles competition commenced on the 9th August with 16 teams entering ( a record turnout) and the finals will be held at the Northey Arms on Septemebr 6th.
End of Season Dinner
The annual Dinner will take place at the Northey Arms, Box on Thursday 6 September. The Menu and Order form are attached. Please send your orders, with payment included, to Chris McGinn at 'Alexander House', Pulteney Mews, Bath BA2 4DS Tel. 01225 329325. All orders must be received by 31st August.
The menu is priced at �15 for 2 courses and �18 for 3 courses. Cheques should be made payable to 'The Northey Arms'. and attached to your order form
The finals for the Main competition and the Plate Doubles will take place at 6.30pm, with the Dinner timed, for 8pm.
The Future
Hopefully better weather however we are also looking to expand the league into 3 divisions with 6 teams in each allowing for both home and away matches. If anyone is aware of potential teams who may like to join the league would they please contact Don Grimes (m) 07973342349. Any other suggestions to improve / promote the league would be welcome. |
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New Website
The club is in the process of building a new website to replace the existing site which has served the organisation well over the past years. While not yet complete it is available for club members to view and we would appreciate any feed back as well as suggestions as to what you would like to see from your club site. Please forward and suggestions to Cary Bush at cary@carybush.co.uk New on the site is a news blog allowing news to be regularly updated, and an events calendar which will show any activities that may be of interest to both club members and potential members.
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Brunel League
Despite the difficulties of putting out a settled team to represent The Bath Club in this league, the team currently holds 5th place (of 11), having played 13 of the 20 matches to be played by end of season. We now move into the final third session of this season having won 9 of these matches, which is the same number of wins as the top 3 teams.
There is now a well defined gap emerging between the tightly pascked teams in the top half of the league and those in the lower half. We are 11 points adrift of the top placed team, which leaves a big gap to make up, but a strong finish could see us at least in the top 3 places again, as last season.
Upcoming games
August:
Wednesday 22nd away v Pirates
September:
Sunday 2nd, home v Ringers
Sunday 9th, home v Stingers
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Alkmaar
There are still positions available for the tour to Holland from the 5th to 8th October. If anyone is still interested in going could they please contact Diana Lockwood at dmlockwood@tiscali.co.uk or 07967 711120 |
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Club Secretary
Diana Lockwood has decided to stand down as Club Secretary. The President and Club Committee would like to thank her, on behalf of all club members, for all the hard work and dedication she has shown to help run the club over the years. |
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Fanny Club
A new club was established in Bath in March 2012: "The Fanny Club a la Petanque".
This is in essence a charity fund raising organisation with membership available to all Petanque players everywhere.
Cricket has its, "Primary Club" for all those unfortunate batsmen suffering a first ball dismissal and this has grown to make huge amounts of money for blind and partially sighted youngsters. Now, for the first time, the sport of Petanque has its own charity support, and we'll be choosing our beneficiaries from time to time as we see fit; initially, this will be in aid of Cancer Research UK, partly in rememberance of the late David Keith who helped to get Petanque going in Bath with the establishment of the Bath League de Petanque in 2002 and later The City of Bath Club in 2005.
In addition to its core aim of fundraising, The Fanny Club is intended to:
- help publicise and promote the sport of Petanque
- preserve on of the sports original traditions
- create a bond between all players everywhere
- show how competition and good humour find a place together on the piste
Most of us will get "Fannied" at some time; it's nothing to be ashamed of but a reason to celebrate. Losing to nil points shows that you are now a more complete participant in the sport, and Fanny will celebrate this with you and is waiting to welcome you to her club. An initial joining fee of a minimum �12 donation gives you 2 season's membership and joining pack of badge, certificate and member card. and yes, any past Fannies will count of course! One of the best aspects of this club, is that you can join nominate and sponsor someone else, even without them knowing. They'll receive a nice surprise through the post! The Fanny Club website is: www.fannypetanque.co.uk Contact Chris Garratt for further details or with any queries. |
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Boules for Sale
2 new sets of competition boules: "la Boule Noir" ZX COU (black boules), both size 72 mm, 680 and 690 gms, 1 striation line, @ �90 per boxed set. (Chris 07789470577) |
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