We play petanque for fun on open ground on a small field near the Sports Centre.

4th September 2024

It was a special day for the pétanque group as we were invited to the home of group member Margie. Her hay had been harvested and the ground was suitable for playing, the sun was also shining but hid itself towards the end of play and a few spots of rain started to fall. However, our spirits weren’t dampened. With 10 players present, Gwen, the group leader, divided us up into teams. The first team was Margie, Clive and Tricia who played against team 2 consisting of myself, Anne and Phil. Team 2 stormed ahead winning several games but then went rapidly downhill allowing Margie’s team to have a convincing win with 18 points to 5.

Meanwhile, Gwen and John challenged Don and Margaret. They managed to play two rounds with the second one being the men versus the women; the men marginally won, much to the disappointment of the two ladies.

We were then treated to tea and delicious homemade cake. It was a great afternoon thanks to the hospitality of Margie and her husband.
-Diane Caulkett

16th August 2023

Unfortunately, our first game of the month was cancelled because of heavy rain. On 16th August we had a beautiful sunny day. We only had six players this time: Anita, John and Phil played against Clive, Geoff and myself. We had a very close, competitive game with Phil's team eventually winning.
Our next game will be on 6th September.
-Gwen Pocock

April 2018

We started the new season on 4th April. It was a lovely morning and Pat kindly went to see if the ground had dried enough to play on after the very wet conditions.  We decided to play but by 1 o’clock there were very black clouds above.  At 3 o’clock 6 of us arrived to play but we only threw 1 boule each and the rain poured down.
Match abandoned!
Two weeks on and it was a beautiful day. We had 11 players this time and as some of the players brought their own boules we split up and played 3 matches.
It was a very enjoyable afternoon.
-Gwen Pocock

October 2017

Most of you won’t have heard of Keith Boleat but he was one of the three members of the Jersey Islanders Pétanque Team recently competing in the European Veterans Triples in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.   However, he was forced to play much of the competition with borrowed boules after his bag, containing three metal balls, a phone charger and lead, raised the eyebrows of security officials on mainland Europe who thought it was parts for a bomb.  Apparently Keith found playing with borrowed boules quite unsettling.
At the U3A we play with all manner of borrowed balls: there are new, shiny ones belonging to some members and dull ones from others and so we end up with silly team names such as ‘dullards’ and ‘shinies’ – but I’m sure we compete as earnestly as Keith and unlike him it doesn’t stop us, the ‘dullards’ that is, from winning! Sorry John but you will have to wait until next year before you get your own back as the group has now finished for the season.
-DavidG