City of Bath Newsletter - The Season of Tours

Lesley Hall It may still be freezing cold, but spring is around the corner and we can start looking forward to a new season of petanque.
I'm particularly excited as I retire in 3 weeks time after 20 years at City of Bath College, and can look forward to a summer of petanque practising, coaching and playing, as well as venturing further afield in this country and across La Manche. I'll be able to join you on Club nights more often, and look forward to getting to know more of you over the season.
Club Night returns to Alexandra Park on Monday April 1st from 5.30 onward. Coaching from 6 to 6 30pm for those wish to improve their game .
I must start working on my shooting skills, and am looking forward to an expanded Thursday league, playing old friends and new around Bath.
Planning for the trip to Aix-en-Provence is well advanced, but there's still room for more of you to join in. The programme is a good mix of challenging petanque, sightseeing and socialising, with plenty of good food guaranteed.
The Club is entering a strong team into the Brunel League too, and I look forward to hearing about their successes.
We're hoping to start off the season with a members' tournament, so that the whole Club can meet and play together - a bit of team bonding! The Bath Open in August will also be bigger and better than ever, so look out for invitations to enter, places will be limited.

Lesley

Aix-En-Provence Trip

May 26th to June 1st 2013

By Lesley Hall

After a years break we will be embarking on our club tour of Aix-En-Provence. The Jumelages (Aix's twinning association) will be inviting participants from all their twin cities. There will be daily tournaments at a number of different villages around Aix and players will accumulate points each day counting towards their final score with the best player from each city winning a challenge cup. On the final evening the best team from each city will compete against each other for the Twinning Cup.

Sightseeing tours have been arranged in the mornings as well as an official reception at the Town Hall for all the visitors. Additionally a number of dinners have been arranged at some of the clubs, an opportunity to get to know our hosts better and not to be missed.

The tours to Aix have now been running for the last 10 years and are well worth the trip. Over this time period the relationships with the local clubs have grown and their hospitality is unparalleled. The City itself is well worth the visit but this trip gives you the opportunity to visit some of the outlying villages as well as experiencing petanque as it was intended to be played.

I am attaching a couple of write ups that are too lengthy for this newsletter but if you are interested please click the attached links

Brunel league

By Don Grimes

With the addition of a new team in the league this year we have a fixture list of 22 matches.

The first match of the year will be on Sunday April 7th and for anyone who would be interested in playing regularly or as a reserve please feel free to come the inaugural practice session on Saturday 23rd March at Alice Park from 10.30 to 12.30. If you wish to play but are unable to make this practice session please let me know by email don@bathboules.co.uk or call 07973342349

The fixture list will be on the Bath and GWR websites but please bear in mind that dates may change and I will keep all players updated up to 4 matches ahead.

Thursday League

By Chris McGinn (League Secretary)

An informal gathering was held at the Northey Arms, Box on Thursday 28 February, to discuss arrangements for 2013. A substantial number of people turned up, to give their views.

Last season, we had two leagues of 6 and 9 teams, which is not an ideal scenario. This year we hope to be able to field 3 leagues, each of 6 teams, playing home and away, which would mean 10 matches by the end of the season. This would allow for 3 catch-up weeks, followed by 3 weeks of a Doubles Championship, as in the past, with a finals night to be held on Thursday 5 September, at a venue to be decided.

There have been some changes to the rules, a copy of which will be sent out in due course, to participating teams. The main change, is to allow teams in the lower two divisions, to allow anybody to play for them, irrespective of the fact, that they may have played for another team at some time in the season. This rule will not apply to Division 1 teams, whose members cannot play for other teams, in the Leagues.

There are three or four possible new teams, but one or two may drop out. Consequently, all members should endeavour to help in the formation of new teams and encourage new members from outside the club, to continue the growth of the Club.

Bath Open - August 18th

by Diane Greenaway

The Bath Open will be on the 18th August involving 32 teams. Diane Greenaway has volunteered to take on the organisation of the event and planning for the event is already at an advanced stage.

As the event is one of the main fund raisers for the club your committee have decided that now is the right time to upgrade the event while involving more members to make this a memorable competition. If anyone would be interested in helping either in the planning or on the day could they please contact Diane Greenaway

Further details will be available in the next newsletter.

Guernsey - Open to all CoBPC Members Sept 20th to Sept 23rd 2013

by Jim Canham

Coming this year ..... an organised GWR tour open to all Members to visit Guernsey, play in the Guernsey Open on Saturday, participate in the Sunday Melee and have time to discover the Island.

With the information that I had obtained I felt that a formal organised Tour was a non starter with different players wanting different lengths of stay, different travel days and different itineraries outside the organised weekend and the saving offered for a group travel was minimal. However not to be deterred and with some valuable help I have put together a more informal itinerary and found some great price deals that are available now and I urge you to book now rather than leave it to the summer.

Anyone interested in joining please contact Jim Canham (jim@bathboules.co.uk)