KENT PETANQUE ASSOCIATION

ISSUE No.88 OCTOBER 2013

Page 1 KPA GAZETTE

Win

nin

g is h

ap

pin

es

s !

Another successful trip to the South Coast for

Kent players…...full results can be found on the

E.P.A. web-site. The decision of a couple of years

ago, to transfer the EPA Regional Triples Finals

from Brean Sands to Mill Rythe Holiday Village on

Hayling Island has proved to be the correct and

popular decision. The organisation by all parties,

including Mill Rythe Holiday Village, Isle of Wight

Tours and the E.P.A have managed a smooth tran-

sition to the new venue, and Mike Pegg and his as-

sistants have done an excellent job in organising a

great weekend of Petanque.

Kent managed to group together a very strong

squad of players thanks to no small part played by

the five qualifying rounds of the competition, and

the number of Kent players who participated. Let

this player interest and success continue into year

2014.

Hayling Island Photo’s by JACK MILNER

Kent petanque is lucky to have an active and enthusiastic Management Commit-

tee that does its best for the KPA membership. The KPA at present has a very

healthy financial base, which has included passing on substantial cash grants to

Clubs for improvements and to individual players and teams, and juniors for

KPA representation. HOWEVER ! It is important that you and your Club have your “say” as

to the direction of the KPA……...PLEASE ATTEND THE A.G.M. on 21st NOVEMBER

KPA GAZETTE Page 2

Held on Sunday 29th September with 14 teams taking

part.

WINNERS… taking away £60 were the team of Bob

Pittaway, Hilda Griffiths and John Griffiths

Runners Up ….taking away the prize money of £40 were

the team of Jean Louis Guiot, Bob Gaywood, and Brid-

get Snow.

Semi Finalists were the team of Mick Nash, Aron Nash

and Joyce Nash and, and team Lois Adam, Linda Brad-

ley and Colin Senneck, with both teams taking away

prizes of £25.

PLATE WINNERS….and prize money of £40 were the

team of Sheila King, Brian King and Richard King, who

beat the team of Ken Potter, Barbara Potter and Alan

Rush in the final.

Team, John Fowers, Eileen Fowers and Hazel Teale won

the Consolage.

Competition organiser COLIN

SENNECK toils over the figures in

the horse-box office ensuring a

smooth and enjoyable

competition.

Found…..this re-

cently taken snap of

KPA Chairman

Martin Eggleton

presenting ………….a

white thing with a

yellow bit in the middle ……..to the

England and Meadow team of

GREG DAVENPORT, MARCUS

HICKMAN AND KEVIN SPILLET. Not sure what this is about...not sure who took

the snap.

Face-book for the knights of nothing !

Face-book for those who know all the

answers !

The EPA Face-book page, can at times

keep us individual petanque players in-

formed as to the latest information. All of which can be found and read without contrib-

uting. Some times it works as a useful forum and other times it acts as a wall for unwant-

ed graffiti. The recent complaints and unwarranted criticism of the organisation of the

European Cup on the Face-book page is not necessary. Organised Petanque in the UK sur-

vives by the time , work and unpaid effort by a few for the benefit of many. And low and

behold !......sometimes mistakes might occur, or acceptable alternatives cannot be found !

KPA GAZETTE Page 3

Kent League Handicapped Competition 20 October 2013 A report by MICK NASH

On what was something of a dismal day 19 teams registered for the Kent League Handi-capped competition. Most divisions of the league were represented at the competition with winners from the first to seventh division, and several in between. In a departure from the norm of the past few years, the organisers supplemented cash priz-es, which will be paid to the clubs represented at the AGM in November, with bottles of wine to the individual players on the day. The full prize fund was £285, the total money collected on the day. Additionally 27 bottles of wine were distributed.

A very nice photo of a beach on the south coast of France, adjacent to a camp site used by the JOHN

PRICE PETANQUE TOURS—photo supplied by

Babs Carr taken during the summer of 2013 that has

nothing whatsoever to do with the Kent League Handicap

Most teams enjoyed 6 games with the finalists playing a seventh, and from a 10 am start time, the entire competition was complete by around 4.30pm. Thanks to all who attended and we look forward to a bumper turnout in 2014. The full list of winners is as below:

GOLD COMPETITION Winners Jack Blows, Dean Ashby (both Railway) and Dave Chalkley (Lordswood) Handicap 1 point—won cash and wine Runners Up Geoff Booth, Fred Booth and Ruddell Brewis (all New Ash Green) Handicap 5 points—won cash and wine Semi’s Craig Pointer, Sylvia Pointer and Shirley Freear (all Hartley Merlins) Handicap 4 points—won cash and wine Semi’s Richard Spillet, Rowland Jones and Max Boyce (all Meadow 2) Handicap 1 point—won cash and wine SILVER COMPETITION Winners Tim Edwins, Rebecca Ruddick and Caroline Edwins ( all Bat & Ball)

Handicap 7 points—won cash and wine Runners Up Kevin Spillet, Tracey Turner and Corrinne Cooter (all Meadow 1)

Handicap 1 point—won cash and wine Semi’s Alan Cregeen, Dave Blakeley (Northwood) and Richard King (Bat & Ball)

Handicap 1 point—won wine Semi’s Colin Senneck, Bridget Snow and Ron Freear (all Hartley Hawks)

Handicap 4 points—won wine CONSOLAGE COMPETITION Winners Ken Potter, Barbara Potter and Lois Adam ( All Hartley Eagles) Handicap 1 point—won wine

The competition was held at Hartley Country Club and was organised by MICK NASH (League Secretary) and COLIN SENNECK

Traditional window cleaning—Residential—Small Commercial and Gutter

Cleaning. Existing customers in New Barn, Hartley, Meopham, Istead Rise….

Phone NEIL on 07557 447342

KPA GAZETTE Page 4

W H O A R E T H E Y ?

MAIN COMP. RUNNERS-UP

DANIEL MULLINS, BECCI BROWN &

STEVE BROWN

MAIN COMP. WINNERS.

JACK BLOWS, MATT HORRIGAN &

SCOTT ASHBY

PLATE COMP WINNERS

REY GUILLAUD, JASON WHITE &

DEAN ASHBY

MAUREEN MILNER & SYRI NOBLE

(Chiltern Region) won nothing but model

very nice rain gear

Photos By

JACK MILNER

KPA GAZETTE Page 5

Report And Results of The First “Railway Inn Triples Competition” of Sunday 13th October 2013

The Club had been ready to call it off some weeks ago, until The Railway Public House in Sole Street re-opened with Dave Littley (of the “Villager”, Vigo) taking over the lease. The competition was then ‘on’. The weather forecasts showed doom and gloom, and a good deal of wet weather for the coming Sunday. Consideration given to calling it off, and then the BBC said it would be a dry Sunday!! Come Sunday morning the sky darkened & torrential rain occurred and the tournament seemed unlikely to go ahead. The rain remained heavy as registration time came and only a few had arrived. Time passed and a few more turned up, where on registration closure 13 teams were present! There were several highlights of the morning session; one being when a lady was heard to ask ‘how wet is my tee shirt’ (turning away of eyes was obviously the order of the day)? Curious-ly, at the end of the day the said tee shirt was left behind(!!!!), Another being the colourful um-brellas in use during the morning – ‘Mary Poppins’ style – by the men as well as the ladies!! The Plate. Was between the “Swimmers” (of Linda Bradley Lyn and John Lucas from Hart-

ley), the “Dragons” (of Mike and Deborah Capelin and Pete Illes from Lordswood and the Rail-way), the “Frogs” (of Dean Ashby Jason White (a junior) and Rey Guillaud - from the Railway and London Region), “Sherwood” (of John Skingley Larry Belcher and Geoff Grout). The “Frogs” and the “Dragons” won their games and went through to the final. The Final was a well fought and very close game, but the “Frogs” came out on top taking away a cash prize. The Main. The “Railway” team (of Steve & Becci Brown and Daniel Mullins) beating

“Lordswood”, the “Toads” team beating the “Water Babies” (of Josie Elvin Jean Olley and Val Rossall from Hartley), the “Olympus” team (of Jack Blows Scott Ashby of the Railway and Matt Horrigan of Lordswood) beating “Villager A” (of Mark Hopper Tony Montez and Andy Brewer) and the “Ducks” team (of Bob Gaywood with Jean Louis Guiot both of Hartley and Neil Phillips of the Railway) beating ‘the duo “Birds” of Maureen Milner and Syri Noble (of the Beauty of Bath & Chiltern Region). The semi finals were between: The “Railway” and the “Ducks” which was a close fought game being won by the “Railway”. In the other semi the “Toads” from Chiltern (with Kent’s Sarah) lost to “Olympus”. The final was just one step too far for the “Railway” who fell at the last hur-dle but still went away with the cash for second prize, with “Olympus” deserved winners of the top prize money. Noting: Another visiting spectator from afar, being a friend of Mike & Deborah Capelin, from Halifax (West Yorkshire) had her first introduction to ‘Petanque’. Results Main: The competition Winners were Scott Ashby, Jack Blows and Matt Horrigan – “Olympus” team Runners Up were Steve & Becci Brown and Daniel Mullins – “ Railway“ team Plate: Winners were Dean Ashby, Jason White and Rey Guillard – “Frogs” team Report by BUNCAN BROWN and JACK MILNER

ANOTHER very successful Jazz Concert was held at the Ryarsh

Village hall on Saturday 12th October. The band was the

SOUTHERN REVIVAL BAND and the evening, including a substan-

tial ploughman’s buffet was organised by Chris Stotesbury of the

Duke Of Wellington Petanque Club. The evening was supported by

several groups of petanque players from Kent Clubs.

KPA GAZETTE Page 6

Courtesy of RAY AGER …….a reprint of his piece

taken from the English Petanque Facebook page.

“Do you have any examples of players 'not understanding' aspects of the game? I'll give an example: I

have fairly large hands and play with fairly large boules, usually 76mm. A few times when measuring

close points, players have argued - in all seriousness - ''it's unfair playing with larger boules, the differ-

ence means you're closer to the jack''. Of course, if they're closer, they say nothing”

Any other examples?

And the GAZETTE science department puts this “Big boule—Small boule” hypothesis to

the test !

C L

C

L

L

C

C

C

C

C L

L

L

L

Dimension “X”

Centre line of boule—to—centre line of cochenet

EXAMPLE #1. The world wide, International, and Medway Area Scientific/Engineering standard

measurement between two circles, two holes or two spheres…..is between “centre lines”….dimension

Dimension “X” equal for both big & small boule

C

C L

L

Max. Dia. = 80mm

Min. Dia. = 70.5mm

cochenet dia = 30mm

15mm Dimension = “X” minus 15, minus 40mm

Dimension = “X” minus 15, minus 35.25mm

EXAMPLE #2. Shows clearly that the BIG boule and SMALL boule that have an identical centre measure-

ment to the cochenet, do in fact have different “surface” to “surface” measurements…...ie the BIG ball

surface is closer to the cochenet. (ignoring the true tangential distance between the two surfaces due to dimensions “Y” and ”Z”).

The FIJP RULES of Petanque do not clarify which measurement should be used ….just wordy stuff like

“ closest boule to the cochenet”.For obvious and practical reasoning, plus common sense ,dictates….that

the above mathematical explanation is a load of crap !! THE ONLY PRACTICAL MEASUREMENT ..

is to MEASURE BETWEEN THE TWO SURFACES….as we all do. Can only imagine the increasing

annoyance of the “I-NEED-THAT-BOULE-MEASURED! Brigade….should we use an alternative !

“Y” “Z”

KPA GAZETTE Page 7

True story reported by an English

guy who was stopped and asked to

give a breathaliser test.

The English guy lives near Le Bugue in the Dordogne and at the time he was stopped he was totally drunk. The gendarme signals to him to wind down the window then asks him if he has been drinking, and with a slurring speech the English guy replies; 'Yes, this morning I was at my (hic)..daughter's wedding, and as I don't like church much I went to the cafe opposite and had several beers.' 'Then during the wedding banquet I seem to remember downing three great bottles of wine; (hic)... a corbieres, a Minervois and (hic)...a Faugeres.' 'Then to finish off during the celebrations.... and (hic) during the evening ...me and my mate downed two bottles of Johnny Walker's black label.' Getting impatient the gendarme warns him; 'Do you understand I'm a policeman and have stopped you for an alcohol test'? The Englishman with a grin on his face replies; 'Do you un-derstand that I'm English, like my car, and that my wife is sitting in the other seat, at the steer-

ing wheel?'

KPA GAZETTE Page 8

Meadow Petanque Club supplied the

ENGLAND Team for the “MEN’S EU-

ROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS” in Rome

on the weekend of 10/13th Octo-

ber…...a few words from Mark Cooter. A creditable performance by the team, finishing 13th ensured that England team for year 2014 have automatically qualified for next year’s World Champi-onships that are due to be held in Tahiti. The French team, including their young stars DYLAN ROCHER and KEVIN MALBEC retained their European Men’s Championship title by beating Monaco in a very close and exiting final in which the Monaco millieur shot the cochenet three ends running to keep the game alive. Rocher also retained the European Men’s Shooting title against Diego Rizzi of Italy in another close final.

A week later Rocher was in the French team that retained the European Men’s Espoirs ( under 23) title in Germany. This brings Rocher’s tally of World and European Titles to 14, at the ten-der age of 22.

ENGLAND 2013 -GREG DAVENPORT—

MARCUS HICKMAN—KEVIN

SPILLET—ROWLAND JONES

and team Manager DAVE HURREN

Page 9 KPA GAZETTE

go to JACK MILNER , MARK COOTER, BABS CARR and JIM

CARR for providing info and details for this issue of the

Gazette.

SUNDAY 3rd NOVEMBER ICICLE DOUBLES at

LORDSWOOD SPORTS CLUB

ME5 8YE Starts at 10 am

NOT TO BE MISSED

The combined A.G.M.,s of the Kent Petanque Association— the K.P.A. Shepherd Neame Summer League and the K.P.A. Winter League.

THURSDAY 21st NOVEMBER at Gravesend Rugby Club— Milton Rd. DA12 2PP Starts at 8pm—will also include presentation of

seasons prizes and trophies. REMEMBERANCE DAY DOUBLES

SUNDAY 10th NOVEMBER

Tovil Workingmen’s Club

Tovil Hill—Maidstone

ME15 6QS

Starts at 10

CHRISTMAS HAMPER DOUBLES Star Meadow Sports Club Darland Ave. -Gillingham ME7 3AN Starts at 10am

OK…. who had the bright idea of installing “SEAFOOD BARS” at airport terminals ? Very early morning flight...still a bit sleepy….queued for the mandatory hour and half in the “security” shake-down….have you ever seen an MP or celebrity, pop star or film star queuing for the security shake-down ?....walk at least a mile to gate 436….planes never depart from gates 1 or 2….board the crowded plane and have the misfortune to be in a seat next to a couple who have just eaten the 6am bellyful of

seafood. FOUL-AIR takes off for the sun !

For the discerning reader of the Gazette…..it is obvious that some of

the articles in this issue have no connection whatsoever with Petanque !

Which is an indication that we are now approaching the season of little

or no Petanque news. In an attempt to publish the Gazette monthly,

your views, comments and articles for inclusion in the months of

December, January and February would be greatly appreciated. Club

news, player news or straightforward obtuse and irreverent articles will be very welcome.

Please e-mail to……...www.ronyates6@btinternet.com

A very good turn out of 23 teams on the day that the weather forecasters predicted a

stormy end . Strangely, Hartley can usually rely on plenty of home players to attend their

Sunday open competitions !......not so at this particular competition, just a few….a good

spread of players and teams from far and wide, and some new faces to the Sunday scene.

The competition was organised by GEOFF FULLER and COLIN SENNECK.

The Main Final was won by the team of JACK BLOWS (Railway) and PHIL BRADSHAW

(Wales) (£100) who beat MATT HORRIGAN (Lordswood) and ROWLAND JONES

(Meadow) (£60). The Plate final was won by the team of STEVE BROWN (Railway) and

DANIEL MULLINS (Railway) (£40) who beat VINCE HILLS (Harrow) and

ROBERT ROBERT (Harrow) ( £20). And there was a Con-

solage won by MICK JENNINGS and ANN JENNINGS

(both Hartley) (£12)who beat LIAM KIDD ) and TONY

KIDD ( both Handcross) (£6) in the final.

KPA GAZETTE Page 10

Page 11

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The KENT PETANQUE GAZETTE is edited by RON YATES.

Any item of news for inclusion in future editions should be sent to e-mail

ronyates6@btinternet.com The views expressed in the KENT PETANQUE GAZETTE are those of the

editor and contributors only, and do not necessarily reflect the views of

the KENT PETANQUE ASSOCIATON or the

ENGLISH PETANQUE ASSOCIATION

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