KENT PETANQUE ASSOCIATION ISSUE No.63 SEPTEMBER 2011 All roads, and petanque players lead west for the an- PONTINSPONTINS————BREANBREAN SANDS nual Inter-regional Championships at Pontins Brean 2011, SOMEWHERE AT THE Sands Somerset, the weekend of 17/18th Septem- END OF THE RAINBOW ber. The ownership of Pontins Brean Sands has changed hands and is under new management, not that you would know, because the new owners have kept all the old atmosphere of Pontins including fun, posters and markings. So….nothing has changed. For those readers without knowledge of this annual petanque knees-up, an explanation. Throughout the sum- mer all Regions/Counties of England run qualifying tri- ples competitions to establish their top teams to repre- sent the Regions at the National Regionals Competition. The weekend of competition is grouped into the follow- ing six separate competitions, all triples matches…… - Championship Division 1—Championship Division 1 Jun- iors—Championship Division 2—Championship Division 2 Juniors—Challenge Cup Division 1—Challenge Cup Divi- sion 2. Kent Teams faired as follows for this year…. Kent 1 finished 4th in the Championship Div.1 Kent Juniors finished 7th in Champ. Div.1 Juniors Kent finished 1st in Challenge Cup Division 1 In a field near bye, gives some indication of the weather for the Brean weekend. Kent 2 were the top team of Challenge Cup Div 1 Nice sheep. Kent 5 were the best team of Championship Div. 1 Top team in Division 1 of the “CHALLENGE COMPETITION” with most wins and points Kent Team ALAN CREGEEN, BRIAN KING, MICHELLE CREGEEN And RICHARD KING KPA GAZETTE Page 1 The Kent Team coming top of Division 1 of the Challenge Competition - Back Row L to R—Alan Cregeen, Brian King, Mags Yates, Trevor Gordon, Mike Capelin, Peter Isles and Charlie Shrimpton—Middle Row L to R—Michelle Cregeen, Diane Bryant, Joyce Nash, Irene Gibbs, Debbie Capelin, and Diane Isles—Front Row L to R— Martin Edwards, Mark Cooter and Richard King There were around 600 players from around England and Wales taking part in the Na- tional Regional Triples Finals. Kent will normally have just over 30 teams from clubs around Kent playing in 5 Regional Triples Qualifiers to establish which teams will represent Kent at Brean Sands. This year the qualifying competitions were held at Tovil Workingmen’s Club, Star Meadow Sports and Social Club, Lordswood Sports Club and two competitions at Hartley Country Club. So the big weekend arrives with most of the Kent players driving down to Somerset in time the quench their thirst from the four hour drive with a jolly good drink on the Fri- day night. The Kent Teams were managed by CORINNE COOTER for the main Kent Team, MARK COOTER managed the Challenge Cup Team and JENNIFER COOTER managed the Juniors. On the Saturday the games started at 8:30 am with all the teams playing seven games, and the last game of one match finishing in the dark at around 8:30 in the evening by the light of mobile phones. Sunday was a bit more leisurely with five games starting at 9 am and finishing around 5:30. It is very impressive to witness 600 players all playing to- gether, all playing in team strip. The weekend is expertly managed by the E.P.A., Mike Pegg and his helpers, including a group from the Isle of Wight who helped layout the terrain. The umpires were Tim Black- moor, John Thatcher and Bob Parker. The overall winners of the Main Competition was the Chiltern Region. KPA GAZETTE Page 2 From the Lordswood Club—Peter and Diane Isles Some of the Kent youngsters—Alex Spillet—Jake Mannering—Ben Thompson—Josh Littley and Sam Littley, now a lady Looking worried—Fay Golding and Neil Phillips of the Tovil Club From Hartley Country Club—Mags Yates, Irene Gibbs and Joyce Nash Dave Hurren from Meadow P.C and Simon Mannering and Ben Thompson Tovil P.C. and Jake Mannering from Matt Horrigan from Lordswood P.C. Lordswood P.C. KPA GAZETTE Page 3 Kevin Spillet and Dave Lavelle from Alex Spillet from Meadow P.C. and Jake Colin Senneck and Peter Bryant from Meadow P.C.. Mannering from Lordswood P.C. Hartley Country Club P.C. Was it him...or was it not him. Was it BRIAN STOTE appearing on the “BBC Antiques Road Show” on Sunday night 25th September at Charlecote Warwickshire…...wearing an old BPA black sweat shirt that was worth a lot more cash apparently than the antique Royale boxed tea cup that he proudly presented to the antique expert. The tea cup was an excellent antique with a picture in the bottom, and a very nice box with original wrappings, valued at the measly sum of £40…...must be worth more than that ?As well as being an antique cup holder…...Brian is the Chairman of the EPA Coaching Commission. Bits of a story coming together, not 100% sure of the facts. Recently there was a friendly Petanque match at the Walnut Tree Maid- stone, between a Maidstone Rotarians Team and a Walnut Tree Team. Playing was the Mayor of Maidstone, Brian Mortimer, ex-petanque player associated with Maidstone Clubs and the original Maidstone Winter League, and along with his father, were both one time active members of the S.E.Region, including being founding members of a number of Clubs. Also….It is proposed that the Summer League and the KP.A. combine for a common Annual General Meeting…..and the Mayor of Maidstone, Brian Mortimer might be asked to pre- sent the Trophies. Don’t be disappointed...enrol to play in the Kent Classic at Lordswood Sports & Social Club Sunday 23 October. An excellent International competition for all standards of play...should not be missed. See the KPA web-site for pre-registration details. Heard that the recent competition at Nord Maritime was a success. If you attended and would care to provide a few notes, and maybe a couple of snaps...the Gazette would take pleasure in publication. KPA GAZETTE Page 4 According to eagle eyes Jack Milner, and his trawling round the net…..a Kent success story of April this year has gone unreported in the UK, namely the “Jersey Open” of April this year. The winners of the main event were PAUL COLLINS and JACKIE SELLING of Tovil P.C. and JOHN HINES also of Tovil P.C. was one of the winners of the “Men’s Melee”. A belated well done to the Tovil trio. A select band of players, making just seven triples teams, turned out in the sunshine for the annual Courage Cup Triples competition at Seal’s Under River club at The White Rock on Sunday 11 th September. Fears about the tail end of Hurricane Katya came to nothing and all had a great day and a good competition. Even the White Rock’s land- lord, Frank Scott, played in his first open competition and showed promise making it into the semi-final with Seal’s Howard Sandom and Michael Webster. Eventual finalists Bob Gaywood, Martin Eggleton and Jean-Louis Guiot from Hartley won a close fought match to beat Chris Watkins, Gary Atkinson and Dave Chalkly from Lords- wood. Dave Martin, Chairman of Seal PC , said “ We were rather disappointed with the low turn- out but those who came all said they had a great day and enjoy coming The White Rock. Next year we’ll see whether we can hold the Courage Cup earlier in the season to encour- age more entries to this long standing event which dates back to 1977.” REPORT BY HOWARD SANDOM Mike Pegg convened a meeting at Brean Sands for all the Regional Presidents who were on site. Second and third hand info suggests…...that the meeting was held to inform of a proposal from a reputable holiday tour company (with Petanque experience) to organ- ise next years Regional Triples at another site other than Pontins Brean Sands. The pro- posed new venue will be at Mill-Rythe Hayling Island ( see http://www. mill-rythe.com). The event would be over a weekend “inclusive” of breakfasts and evening meals and eve- ning entertainment. Accommodation would be an option of 4 and 6 birth chalets with a nearby overflow caravan site also available. The location and size of the petanque playing area is not yet known. The “base” cost for the weekend will be around £130 per person, however “actual” costs will be different for the Regions dependent on the amount of subsidies. As a comparison, for Kent players at Brean Sands….. they are subsidised to the value of around £35 per player which covers accommodation only, players then buy all food and drink. Other Re- gions are not subsidised. The proposal is for the event to take place at a similar time of the year. In time….opinions of the Kent players will be sought by the KPA, at which time the exact details of the proposal will be clarified. At this stage…...there would appear to be advantages and disadvantages for both options. KPA GAZETTE Page 5 At Lordswood Sports & Social Club on a nice early autumn day, play- ing under the trees with Lordswood’s own micro-climate. Mick Weston and Eric Hat- field and their helpers had put in some early morning work to pro- vide the very good petanque venue that we have now come to expect. Ryan Rudden manned the bar-b-que with some “buttie” supervision from Mick. This annual competition is intended for those players who entered the Regional Triples Qualifiers but who failed to qualify to play at the National Championships at Brean Sands.