BHPC September 2009 Newsletter

September 09 Page 1 www.bhpetanque.org

September 2009 Newsletter

Club Charity Doubles – Sunday 16th August

On a sunny Sunday 16th August the club held another new competition for its members, the Charity Doubles. This half-day competition was specifically aimed at members who (for whatever reason) find it difficult to play over a

full-day. Also, instead of the usual trophies/medallions as prizes, all the entrance fees and money raised would be donated to the charity of the winner’s choice.

Eighteen members took part in the competition and including donations the funds raised was £76. The format of the day was a 3-round snake competition but with 9 teams in total taking part there was a bye in each

round for one team (an automatic 13-7 win). There was a random public draw for the opening round (the last team drawn having a bye) and a further draw for the teams that would have a bye in the next two rounds. The top two teams (decided by the number of wins and overall points difference) would then play-off in a final decider.

W L For Ag Diff =1st Ray A & Bob W 3 0 39 13 +26 =1st David A & Tony M 3 0 39 13 +26

3rd Jeanne B & David M 2 1 32 26 +6 4th Daniel T & Tricia T 2 1 30 31 -1 5th Chris V & Di V 1 2 31 33 -2 6th Terry G & Alan I 1 2 29 33 -4 7th Clifford C & Ann W 1 2 24 30 -6

8th Bill C & Jeff T 1 2 20 32 -12 9th Jill G & Olive S 1 2 15 30 -15

Before the final started both teams declared the charities they were to play for - Ray & Bob were playing for the Somerset Day Centre and David & Tony the Martlets Hospice.

continued on page 2

Contents

1/2 Charity Doubles

2/3 Shooting & Pointing 3 Club BBQ 4 Sussex PA Doubles 4 Club Triples 5 Adur PC - Challenge

5 Autumn Mixed Doubles League

6 Open Triples 6 Mixed Doubles 6 Quiz Night 6 Moving Mêlée

Doubles 6 BLAGSS 7 Coaching 7 Eggheads DVD 8 Club Members go

forth

8/9 Inter-Regional Championships

9 New Members 9/10 Spotlight on… 10 BHPC Polo-shirts 10 When can we play ?

10/11 Top tips & etiquette 11 Xmas Dinner & Dance 12 Message from the

Club President 12 Member Feedback 13 Executive Committee

13 Events and competitions to come

Key

BHPC Brighton & Hove Pétanque Club

EPA English Pétanque Association

EC Executive Committee

PST Peace Statue Terrain

99 Club Members

W = Won L = Lost

For = points scored

Ag = points conceded Diff = points

difference

In the 1st round Jeanne B & David M had a bye, in the 2nd round Ray A & Bob W and in the 3rd round Di

V & Chris V. After 3 rounds of play the positions and final results were as as detailed in the table below.

Special mention to Daniel & Trish Taylor (4th place) and Chris & Di Vincent (5th place) who are some of our newer members.

There was a two-way tie for the top spot between Ray & Bob and David A & Tony M so it seemed perfectly fitting that these two teams should then play-off in the final decider.

Left – action from the day


Shooting & Pointing Competition Sunday 8th August

For the second year running the club held itsShooting & Pointing Competition giving everyone a chance to test out their existing skills and/or their newly learnt skills. Based on the EPA Skills Award the competition comprised of 4 pointing and 4 shooting exercises: throwing the jack, pointing a boule,

avoiding blocking boules, promoting a boule, shooting a target boule, shooting a middle boule, shooting a back boule and shooting the jack. All of these are very real situations that occur in any game and are good skills to work on and practise.

Twenty-four club members entered the competition (eight more than in 2008) and they were split into

two groups; “experienced” or “newcomers”. There were 17 experienced competitors and 7 newcomers.

The competition in full swing

Each competitor had three attempts at each task from three different distances (7, 8 & 9 meters). The maximum score on each task was 2 points with some tasks allowing a score of 1 or 2 points.

In the Shooting exercises Nick Rowlands was the

highest of the newcomers with a top score of 9. It was a two-way tie between Ray Ager and Tony Mann for the category of “Super Shooter” with both players scoring 14 points. They then faced a “shoot-off” which Ray Ager won to claim the prize as “Super Shooter”.

The most skilful newcomer (combined scores from

pointing & shooting) was Chris Vincent with a fantastic score of 24 (fourth highest in total).

continued on page 3

Club Charity Doubles continued from page 1

What on paper should have been a closely fought contest turned out to be a rather one-sided affair

with Ray & Bob winning 13-3. Bob, in particular, was in fine form and consistently pointed within inches of the jack forcing Tony to shoot more often than not.

A cheque made payable to the Somerset Day Centre to the value of £76 was duly prepared and presented to the winning team of Ray & Bob.

The centre is situated in Kemptown and provides day care for the over 65s. A photographer from The Argus was also there to capture the event and Tony presented the cheque to the centre on

behalf of BHPC.

After the presentation Ray & Bob organised an indoor pétanque game for the members using soft pétanque boules and Tony was invited to start proceedings by throwing the first jack.

The Charity Doubles was a great event for the club

and we plan to make this an annual fixture.

The Argus did a small feature on this with a great photo on page 2 of their edition on Friday 28th

August.

In the Pointing exercises every competitor managed to score with the total scores

ranging from 2 points up to the highest of 19 points. Chris Vincent (pictured right) was the highest of the newcomers with a top score of 18 from the pointing (2nd highest

overall) with David Alfred being the “Perfect Pointer” on 19 points.

Right – action

from the final and David & Tony are looking

puzzled

On Wednesday 19th

August Tony Mann was invited to visit

the Somerset Day Centre where both Ray & Bob work.


Shooting & Pointing Competition continued from page 2

In equal second place amongst the newcomers were Nick Rowlands and Phil Thomas who both

scored 18 points. With 21 points Jill Gebbett was the highest scoring female player and on 18 points Nick Rowlands was the 2nd highest ranked female.

The most skilful player overall was David Alfred with a total score of 29 points, closely followed by Ray Ager in second spot with 28 and Tony Mann in

third with 25.

Pictured left – Ray Ager Pictured right - Tony Mann & David Alfred

The following awards were presented :- • Most Skilful Newcomer - Chris Vincent • Best Pointer - David Alfred

• Best Shooter - Ray Ager • Most Skilful – 3rd place – Tony Mann • Most Skilful – Runner-Up - Ray Ager • Most Skilful – David Alfred

Some interesting (or not!) facts & figures • Of the 421 points scored 59% were on the pointing

tasks and 41% on the shooting • The task receiving the most points was pointing a

boule into the circle – 90 points • The task with the least points was shooting the back

boule – 22 points • Surprisingly more points were scored shooting the

jack out of the circle (54) than shooting a boule out of the circle (48)

• David Alfred and Andrew Albrecht scored the highest on throwing a jack into a 50cm circle – they each achieved this 3 times

• David Alfred pointed a boule into a circle 5 times scoring the highest score of 10 points for this task

• With 12 points Ray Ager was highest at pointing into a circle past two blocking boules

• For promoting a boule into a circle Eddie Kehoe scored highest with 5 points

• For shooting a single boule David Miller achieved this 3 times and scored 6 points

• For shooting the middle boule it was Fergal Hogan who performed best achieving this 3 times and scoring 6 points

• Shooting the back boule was the most difficult taskand the highest scorer was Ray Ager with 3 points (!)

• For shooting the jack out of the circle it was Tony Mann who performed best achieving this 4 times and scoring 8 points

All competition photos courtesy of David Alfred

Club Social Barbeque Sunday 8th August

Immediately after the Pointing & Shooting competition (see previous article) the club held itssecond social BBQ of the year – and very popular it was too !

Our BBQ organisers were Pat C, Terry G and Eddie K and our thanks go to these three for getting the charcoals burning.

Tucking in ! Photo by David Alfred

There was a wide selection of food from chicken, to burgers, to sausages to plantain and a separate vegetarian disposable BBQ offering veggie sausages, burgers and bakes. Members also

brought along some wonderful salads and even some mini doughnuts for dessert. Oh there was plenty of wine too !

Terry G once again organised a splendid fund-raising raffle which has been steadily increasing our coffers during the year. We will reveal the sums

raised from the raffles towards the end of this year.

Ray Ager also organised a shooting contest during the BBQ where for £1 competitors had 3 attempts at shooting a boule. If they hit they went forward to the next round if they missed they could buy back in for the next round for an additional £1. This proved very popular and Ray won the

competition (and the pot of money) without needing to buy back in.

Action from the impromptu shooting competition photo by David Alfred

This rounded off a splendid Saturday for the club with Week 1 of the Beginners to Winners induction course in the morning, followed by the Pointing & Shooting competition and finally the BBQ. All on a

gloriously sunny summer’s day !!


Sussex PA - Regional Doubles Sunday 9th August – Crowborough Social Club

Of the thirteen teams that entered this competition four of them came from BHPC.

Considering no teams from outside of BHPC attended the Sussex PA Triples that we hosted in July we consider this to be a good turnout.

The competition was held at the Crowborough Social Club and Sussex registered EPA members were eligible to play. The four BHPC teams were :-

Jill & Olive were in the league of 5 teams and had to play 4 games in total unfortunately losing every game therefore not making the Main.

David & Tony’s opening match was against Dave Leigh and Steve from Hastings. Despite winning 13-

5 it was a drawn out affair with 8 dead-ends in total (2 caused by Steve shooting out the jack and 6 by Tony shooting out the jack). David & Tony went on to win their remaining two games 13-10 and 13-1 to top their league.

Ray & Fergal and Andrew & David were drawn in

the same league and faced each other in their opening match. It was a marathon affair that lasted for 1 hour and 20 minutes with Andrew & David finally emerging victorious. Some teams had already completed 2 games before this match had ended. Andrew & David went on to win their

remaining two games to top their league with Ray & Fergal finishing second after winning their next 2 games.

The top 2 teams in each league plus the next 2 best performing teams then went through to the Main rolling knockout competition in the afternoon. The 3 BHPC teams avoided each other

in the opening round and all three teams won their games to ensure that there were 3 BHPC teams in the last four.

Andrew & David R lost their next game to the Welcome Stranger duo of Mick & Herbie to just miss out on a place in the final. Ray & Fergal played David A & Tony for the right to go through to the final and were very quickly down 1-12. However they staged a remarkable

comeback to 12-12 before finally losing 12-13. Therefore David A & Tony just made it through to the final.

David & Tony played against Mick & Herbie in the final with lots of players watching and lots of banter from the crowd. Having won every game to get to the final they were disappointed to lose 5-13 at the end of the day.

Club Triples Sunday 30th August

The club’s annual triples competition was held on Sunday 30th August. As this was too late to appear in this month’s newsletter a full report will be available in October’s Newsletter.

David A & Tony M Andrew R & David R Ray A & Fergal H Olive S & Jill G

All pictured from top

to bottom

The format for the day was leagues in the morning (two leagues of 4 and one league of 5

teams). The top 8 teams went through to a Main rolling knock-out with the remaining 5 teams going through to a

Plate competition.

In the play-off for 3rd & 4th

place Andrew

& David R met Ray & Fergal for the second time that day and won for the second time.

Pictured above - Andrew & David

Randall (3rd place).

Pictured right – Fergal & Ray

(4th place)

Overall with BHPC teams finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th it was a

good day for the club and continues to increase our profile across the Sussex region. Pictured left – David A

& Tony (2nd place)


Adur PC – 2nd Challenge Match Tuesday 25th August

This was the return match against Adur PC, this time at their home terrain at the Lancing Leisure Centre following on from their visit to us in June when Adur won by 8 games to BHPC’s 6.

Fifteen members of BHPC attended and were allocated to 7 doubles teams with Adur lending us one of their players to make up an 8th team. The

Adur teams were all triple formations as they had more players in attendance.

The 1st round of games commence

It wasn’t a good opening round for BHPC with only Eddie & Pat Kehoe and Tony M playing with Adur’s

Richard achieving wins. Full 1st round results below:

BHPC Adur PC David A/Fergal H 12 - 13 Malcolm/John/John W Jill G/Olive S 1 - 13 Vee/Vanessa/Sue Ann W/Jeff T 9 - 13 Barbara/Marian/Diane Clifford C/Jill C 5 - 13 Jeff/Bren/Dave Pat K/Eddie K 13 - 12 Margaret/Ted/Brian M Daniel T/Trish T 7 - 13 Norman/John/Jeff Ray A/Partho SG 11 - 13 Kim/Graham/Tracey Tony M /Richard 13 - 7 Debbie/James/Brian L

So a big improvement was needed by BHPC in the 2nd round and they started off well winning 4 of the

first 5 games to finish. If they won the remaining 3 games they could win the match overall. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be with Clifford & Jill C and Daniel & Trish losing their matches.

This left Ann & Jeff playing the last match of the night with lots of players from both sides watching on and playing for the pride of BHPC. And what a game it was with our team 7-11 down in the penultimate end an amazing display of pointing from both players secured 5 points to make it 12-

11. In the final end Jeff pulled off a great shot under intense pressure to put the pressure back on the opponents and they failed to make their final point securing BHPC their 7th win of the match.

Jeff & Ann (far left) – in the final enthralling match Photo by David Alfred

The full results from the 2nd round were :-

BHPC Adur PC David A/Fergal H 13 - 4 Barbara/Marian/Diane Jill G/Olive S 13 - 10 Jeff/Bren/Dave Ann W/Jeff T 13 - 11 Margaret/Ted/Brian M Clifford C/Jill C 6 - 13 Norman/John/Jeff Pat K/Eddie K 0 - 13 Kim/Graham/Tracey Daniel T/Trish T 4 - 13 Debbie/James/Brian L Ray A/Partho SG 13 - 1 Malcolm/John/John W Tony M /Richard 13 - 0 Vee/Vanessa/Albert

Overall BHPC won 7 games to Adur’s 9 scoring a total of 146 points to Adur’s 162.

Combining the home and away matches BHPC won 13 games in total to Adur’s 17. This is a

winning ratio of 43% compared to 2008 winning ratio of 38% so we are improving but we will now have to wait till 2010 for another chance of beating our friends from Adur PC.

Autumn Mixed Doubles League From 5th September to 1st November

For the 2nd year running the club will run the Autumn Mixed Doubles League which in 2008 was won by Janice D & David A

Teams must consist of people of the opposite sex so ladies grab your men and men find your ladies. Open to current members it costs only £3 per person to compete (£6 per team). Prizes for everyone who takes part.

Flyers advertising the league were sent out last month. You can pre-register for the Autumn

Mixed Doubles League making your payments to Ann. The closing date for registration will be Sunday 6th September. We will then provide each team with instructions & scorecards detailing all the teams that are taking part and this will be used to officially record your scores.

The games can be played at any time and on any terrain between the competition dates as agreed by the teams. Every team should play each other once. A win will earn 3 points and 1 point is earned for a loss. The overall winners are the team with the most points and in the event

of a tie the highest match points difference.

The results of the league go towards the 2009 Player of the Year Award.


Open Triples by-the-sea Sun’ 6th September – 9.30am for 10am start

Following on from our successful Open Doubles in June comes our Open Triples. You don’t have to be a club member to take part in an Open competition, as it is open to all !!

We have been busy advertising and promoting the event and are hoping to once again attract teams from all over. It’s a Triples competition and

will cost £12 per team (£4 per person) to take part.

Big prizes to be won:- £60 first prize, £45 runners-up and £30 for third place.

This will be held on the Peace Statue Terrain and

registration will be strictly from 9.30am to 9.50am for a 10am start. Flyers for this competition were sent out last month. You can register on the day but it would help the organisation if members pre-registered using the form

Club Mixed Doubles Competition Sunday 27th September

As with the Mixed Doubles League this competition is strictly for teams with members of the opposite sex. You can stay in your Mixed

League teams or form new teams, its up to you !

Open to current members it costs just £4 per person to compete. Registration is strictly from 9.30 to 9.50 for a 10am start.

This another great opportunity for newer members and those members not used to playing in competitions to get a taste of competitive play in a more relaxed and fun

environment. So if you haven’t played in competitions before and would like too then this is an ideal opportunity to do just that !

The exact format of the competition will be decided on the day depending on the number of teams entering. As always it will be designed

to ensure that everyone gets as many games as possible and has something to play for.

Flyers for this competition have been sent out with this newsletter. The results of this competition go towards the 2009 Player of the Year Award.

Would like to take part but don’t have a partner? Then don’t despair ! Of course you should ask members if they want to partner you but failing

that simply contact Ann W who will try to pair you up with other members looking for a partner.

Club Quiz Night – Wed 16th September Iron Duke pub Waterloo Street 7.30 for 8pm start

Following the success of our first ever Club Quiz night held in May we bring you another. Please

arrive from 7.30 for an 8pm start. Quiz mistress Ann Wordsworth has compiled the questions and there will be nine different subjects (including a round on pétanque) - so there should be something for everyone! All members

and their friends are welcome to attend.

Entry fee is £2 per team member, and teams should comprise no more than 4 people. Don’t worry if you don’t have a team – please come along and we will find you someone who needs your specialist knowledge of macramé!

There will be prizes and a raffle will be held during the evening. All profits will to go towards

Club funds.

Club Moving Mêlée Doubles Sunday 11th October

This will be the club’s final competition of the year. Teams are formed by the random drawing of names and change after every round.

Therefore you will have the opportunity to play with a variety of different partners against a variety of different teams. This makes the competition quite unique and adds to the fun of the day. Full details next month.

BLAGSS – Brighton Lesbian & Gay Sports

Society

BHPC host fortnightly evening meetings for

members of BLAGSS during the summer continuing a partnership that was forged last year. There were 3 sessions held during August and a further 3 planned for September.

Future sessions (all starting at 6.30pm) have been scheduled as follows :-

• Thursday 3rd September • Tuesday 15th September

• Thursday 24th September

These evenings are open to all members of BHPC and BLAGSS regardless of sexuality. Also check out the BLAGSS website on www.blagss.org to see what else they have to offer.


Club Coaching – A report by Jeff Taylor

There are many benefits offered by BHPC and one of the jewels in the crown is the availability of first-class coaching.

When I first joined the club in April, having never even picked up a boule before, I attended the

club’s course “Beginners to Winners”. Over the four sessions we covered pretty much every situation that can crop up on a pétanque terrain. This gave me the confidence to enter into competitions where many experienced

players could see that I was making a serious attempt to improve my game and they very generously gave me lots of useful advice.

For example, there are many options available for different types of terrain and it’s been very

helpful to revise these choices and to really improve my awareness of the tactical possibilities in everyday game situations.

Another bonus for returning to the “Beginners to Winners” course is enjoying the games we finish each session with and having the chance to

help the newcomers with the basics of the way pétanque players think. I know that I’m greatly encouraged by the more experienced players who come along to these sessions. I’m confident that every club member, regardless of how long they have been playing, would find their game

benefits from this revision and that they would really enjoy helping the newcomers to feel at home. Come along and find out!

Just a reminder that these coaching sessions are

free to club members.

If anybody has any particular requirements or suggestions please talk to Ray Ager or Tony Mann. All sessions take place at the Peace Statue Terrain.

Last month we reported receiving a grant of £500 from the Hedgcock Bequest to fund the temporary terrain used at the Corporate Games and TAKEPART at Preston Park as well as towards coaching lessons and qualifications for

Would you like to be a qualified coach ? Ray Ager writes - The club has £250 from the

Hedgcock Bequest towards developing the club's coaching programme. The plan is to: • Get a number of club members qualified as

EPA Grade 3 (Club) Coaches • Extend the coaching programme to

encourage more members and established

teams to participate • Run a Skills Awards scheme, with Bronze, Silver

and Gold Standards for Pointing & Shooting (similar to our recent Pointing & Shooting competition)

• The Skills Awards will include ongoing

monitoring and evaluation of individual and team progress

There are three parts to becoming a Grade 3 Coach:

1. A theory exam - written or oral 2. Demonstration of correct Pointing &

Shooting techniques 3. Evaluating the techniques of other players

All of these are fairly basic, not daunting and just cover simple pointing and shooting techniques -if you've attended the Beginners to Winners progamme, you should sail through!

The overall idea is for the club to be seen to encourage those who wish to improve their

game and to have a group of members qualified to help. If you'd like any further information, please speak to either myself or Tony Mann.

Other Club News Brighton Bouleheads vs Eggheads - Back in

July 2008 a team from BHPC entered the TV quiz show Eggheads under the name of the Brighton Bouleheads (see February’s Newsletter for a full report). We can now offer members a copy of the DVD of the contest for the cost of a donation towards the club funds. How much you want to

pay is up to you but please remember that there was a cost in purchasing the original DVD (£40) and costs in time and money for making the copies.

If you would like your own copy of the DVD (for a club donation) then please contact Ann Wordsworth.

The 4-week course started again at the beginning of August

and I was pleased to have the opportunity to revise the skills I’d learned earlier. I’m really surprised how much more I’m

learning, now that I have the experience of having played for 4 months.


Club members go forth…. Club members getting out ‘n’ about

Kent ab fab Classic – Lordswood PC On Sunday 23rd August Fergal Hogan, Tony Mann and “super-sub” David Alfred (last minute replacement for Ray Ager) played in this triples competition in Kent. There were 44 teams including many of the best players in the

country.

The BHPC team were drawn in a tough league featuring a team from The Engine (the European Cup for Club team winners) and a team from Lordswood featuring experienced England and World Championship players. Up against a team from Hartley PC first they won 13-7. Then it was

the team from Lordswood featuring Dave Chalkey, Matt Horrigan & Barry Wing. Our BHPC team went 6-2 up before eventually losing 6-13. The final league game was against The Engine team of Matt Eversden, Alan Newland & Jamie Lewis. It was a tense game with both sides

needing to win but BHPC got their first big scalp of the day with a tremendous 13-5 victory.

Finishing second in their group the BHPC team qualified for the Silver Cup Competition. The top 8 teams qualified for the Gold Cup and the next 8 for the Silver Cup. This was a straight knock-out

competition. In the quarter-final they faced a team from Braintree in Essex and won 13-9. There was a long wait for their next game as they were to face the winners of a game between the top English Ladies team (soon to go to Thailand) of Angie Jamieson, Debbie Elcome and Vanessa

Webb against Mehdi & Yousef (Brighton 2009 Open Doubles winners) together with London Regional President Bruce Rowlands. The ladies narrowly lost this game.

The semi-final was therefore between the BHPC team and Mehdi, Yousef & Bruce and our team

got their second big scalp of the day winning 13-6 to reach the Silver Final with a fine display of pointing, shooting and tactical decisions.

Being presented with their £100 cheque –

Tony, David & Fergal

In the final our team faced a strong team from the Chiltern Region featuring another two

members from The Engine’s European Cup for Clubs team. It would be great to say that our boys continued their impressive display of pointing and shooting from earlier in the day and that it was a closely fought game but it was none of these and they were convincingly

beaten. Perhaps one game too many? However their smiles returned when they were later presented with a cheque of £100 for finishing as runners up in the Silver competition.

If you have entered into any pétanque competitions outside of BHPC then it would be great to include a mention of it in our newsletters. Write a short piece on your experience and email, post or hand it to Tony

Mann for inclusion.

Inter-Regional Championships Brean Sands, Burnham-on-Sea 19/20th Sept’

As reported last month, 3 teams from BHPC qualified to represent the Sussex Region at this year’s Inter-Regional Championships.

Team BBH Ray A, David A, Fergal H & Tony M

finished as the 2nd Sussex seeded team after the three qualifiers.

Team 240 Pat C, Terry G, Alan I & David M together with team Sharps Janice D, Jill G & Olive S didn’t make it in the top Sussex eight but will represent Sussex in the Challenge Trophy.

In their first year Sussex finished bottom of their division but last year they climbed three places

to finish 5th and hope to improve further this year.

It’s a two day event. On the Saturday the 8 seeded Sussex teams will play their corresponding seeded teams from the other 7 regions of Division Two. Those regions are:-London, Isle of Wight, Anglia, Great Western,

Kernow, Thames Valley and a Combined region.

On the Sunday the format changes and the No. 1 seeds play the No. 2 seeds, the No. 3 seeds play the No. 4 seeds and so on.

continued on page 9

There are 16 regions in total that take part and they are split into two divisions. The

Sussex Region was only formed 2 years ago and automatically went into Division Two.


Inter-Regional Championships continued from page 8

This means that team BBH will have a tough challenge as they will be playing the number

one seeded teams on the Sunday.

The top two teams in Division Two get promoted to Division One next year with the bottom two from Division One getting relegated. Running alongside are two other competitions. A Challenge Trophy for regions who wanted to put

in an additional 4 teams and a Junior competition. Each region must enter a junior team. Team 240 and Sharps will represent Sussex along with two other teams in the Challenge Trophy which Sussex will be entering for the first time.

The Sussex squad from 2008

A full report on how Sussex and in particular our three teams do will be in October’s Newsletter in the meantime we wish our BHPC teams and all the Sussex teams success at Brean Sands.

A welcome to our new members

At the time of going to print with this newsletter

the club has a record 99 members (twelve

more than 2008’s total of 87 and 19 more than at the same stage last year) and just one short of the elusive 100th club member!

As always the club offers a warm welcome to our latest new members for 2009 :-

• Sally Ann Baker • Max Crisfield • Thomas Mercer • Daniel Taylor • Doug Young

Spotlight On – Partho Sen-Gupta

This month’s “Spotlight On” features Partho Sen-Gupta our Webmaster.

How long have you been playing pétanque? I had never played or even heard anything about this game before I moved to Paris in 1993 for higher studies. My friend Pierre (a Marseillais)

introduced the game and taught me how to play. Slowly it became my favourite game.

For the first few years we would play on the terrain around the Buttes Chaumont in the 19th

arrondissement. But a few years later another friend, Jerome bought a rundown bar on the banks of the Canal de l’Ourcq with a large pétanque terrain. For the first time in Paris, a bar offered free pétanque boules and deck chairs if you bought drinks from them. The BarOurcq was

to become my quartier-generale (headquarters) until 2006 when we moved to Brighton. http://www.timeout.com/paris/clubs/venue/9966/bar-ourcq

Why and when did you join BHPC? - In 2006, my partner Alana got a job as lecturer at the University of Sussex, we decided to rent a flat here for the first six months and ‘check it out’. I had never lived in England and so we held on to

my Paris flat.

I found Ray Ager’s pétanque site and called him up. We fixed up a meeting and met Ray and another chap on the West Pier terrain on a dark, wet and windy afternoon. Ray was teaching the

other chap how to play pétanque. I chatted with them for some time and agreed to join them. A few weeks later I was a BHPC member.

The other guy with Ray would in a few years become one of the most active and dedicated pétanque players of Brighton and Hove and

President of the BHPC since 2008.

What do you most enjoy about the game & club? - I am not a very sporty person. I find most sports too competitive and reeking of machismo, with too many rules and too much bravado. What I like about pétanque is that it is a game for all ages and both sexes, a game

that can be played almost anywhere in the world. All one needs are boules and some good will (and some Pastis). As a foreigner and newbie in Brighton, BHPC has been a great place to meet new people. It has been my first place of

contact with people from different backgrounds and even people I would rarely meet in the normal course of my life.

continued on page 10

We arrived here in September to look for flats and were doing

our rounds with the estate agents. I looked up the internet and searched for a pétanque club in the area. I thought who

knows I could throw some boules with les anglais.


Spotlight On – Partho Sen-Gupta continued from page 9

What was the last film you saw? - I saw Sin Nombre, a wonderful Mexican film made by a

first time director at the Duke of York a few days ago. A must see

And the last book you read? - ‘La contre-révolution coloniale en France’ by Sadri Khiari (La fabrique éditions, 2009) I am still reading it

What music are you listening too most at present? - Bleu pétrole by Alain Bashung, Shaft by Issac Hayes, Born under a bad sign by Albert

King

Give us one fact that few or no members currently know about you? - My secret plan is to construct a clubhouse with toilets and bar on the Peace Statue Terrain with part of the money that I’ll win in the Euromillions next week or the week

after that

What is your favourite Brighton or Hove place? - E-Kagen Sushi & Noodle Bar on 22-23 Sydney street, BN1 4EN. Great Tokyo style eatery with great Udon and Soba noodle soups, rice dishes and sushi/sahimi. My favourite is the Tempura

Udon soup. Good prices, good food, nice and simple. BYOB £1 per drinking person. Situated on the first floor up a flight of stairs. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Ekagen+brighton&fb=1&split=1&gl=uk&view=text&latlng=12697213665283976265

What one thing are you most looking forward to in the next few months? - Our first baby ☺

Club polo-shirts for sale

The club has a limited number of polo shirts in white with our club logo embroidered on the left breast.

When can we play ? - Summer times

We have scheduled start times so that people coming for the first time know when to attend and so that club members will be there to greet

and meet them. The scheduled days, times and terrains are as follows :-

• Saturdays - from 2pm – General Play on the PST (from 1pm in Winter)

• Sundays - from 2pm – General Play on the PST (from 1pm in Winter)

• Tuesdays - from 1.30pm – General play at the Hove Lagoon Terrain

• Wednesdays - from 6pm – General Play at the PST (Summer months only)

• Saturdays - 11am to 12am - Club Coaching at the PST (Summer months – see Newsletter for dates and details)

As all our terrains are public open terrains you can play whenever you want but as a team

game it is much better to play when others are also down to play with.

Top Tips & Etiquette Regular monthly column providing different tips, rules and pétanque etiquette to gradually build up your knowledge & expertise of the game

Last month – we asked “the 6 meter strategy ?”

Ray Ager replies - If you play pétanque as a regular team, it makes sense that the team knows what strategies to adopt for recurring situations, rather than debate each time what to

do on the terrain, or worse, disagreeing each time about how to play. A common scenario is what strategy should your team follow against opponents who like playing a 6m game? The answer to most pétanque questions is always, "it depends" - usually on the relative pointing &

shooting abilities of both teams, plus the score.

Let's answer for two cases: 1) You're lucky enough to have a team of goodall-rounders, capable of pointing or shooting as the game requires. 2) You have a good team of pointers but aren't

so good shooting.

Both teams should be asking the same question: why do the opponents want to play a 6m game? The usual case is that they're happy and willing to shoot at this distance but less so at 10m.

continued on page 11

Sizes & quantities available :- • Female Large (3)

• Female Extra-Large (1) • Male Large (5)

Made from 100% cotton and costing only £14 each. Please contact Tony M if you would like to purchase one or more.


Top Tips & Etiquette continued from page10

1) The all-rounders should be thinking about shooting every boule - beating the opponents at

their own game! Of course, you each need to be confident about shooting at 6m. If not, you need to practise!

What is usually a mistake is to think, plenty of room to point, no need to shoot. Very embarrassing if it then takes 3 or 4 boules to beat the "easy" first boule...

Remember as well, that the opponent's strategy

will be to shoot anything that beats their 1st boule. So if you do point, you're playing their game.

If you miss, you'll need to re-evaluate - but you shouldn't be missing at 6m!

2) The pointers need to find a winning strategy. If you can out-point them 6 times, you'll win the

end. Obviously you're hoping they will miss a shot but you have the advantage of boules, so you could beat them. • Think carefully about where to point • Try not to give them "easy" shots • Play close to their boule, making the shot

harder • A boule on the jack may completely change

the game if they shoot and the jack moves • Playing behind the jack may make them

think before shooting

The obvious reaction is to play a long jack, the opposite of what they want. But think before you do this: what's the optimum distance that suits your team and disadvantages the opponents? Where to place the jack? If your strengths are

pointing and theirs shooting, place the jack where it suits the pointers. This could be on a smoother part of the terrain, to make it a bit easier or conversely on a rougher part, if your pointing skills are superior to the opponents.

NB If you watch most of the top-class French

games, nearly everything is played at 9-10m. Why? Because it makes for a more challenging game and they know quite well that if they did play a 6m jack they're gifting the opponents 6 simple shots.

Next month – we look at “Set Pieces - the basics that every team should address”

Christmas is a coming ! Terry Gibbons writes

The BHPC 2009 Christmas Dinner Dance will be held at Alfrescos on Saturday 5th December

2009. The price is £27.50 per person and this includes a three course dinner (see below) followed by dancing to their resident disco.

A great time was had by many members and their guests last year and this year promises to be even better! If you would like to attend, please

contact Terry G as soon as possible to reserve your place(s). Payment can be made at the time of booking, or if you prefer you can pay as little or as much at a time convenient to you over the next few weeks – ask Terry G for details.

As usual, guests are very welcome – so come along, enjoy a super meal and then dance the

night away to celebrate the festive season with fellow BHPC members and friends. After all, ‘tis the season to be jolly!

Winter roast root vegetable soup with parsnip

crisps

Home cured salmon gravalax with crayfish tail

and cucumber salad served with a sweet

mustard dressing and warm bread

Home-made chicken terrine served with a rich

Cumberland sauce

□□□□□

Baked courgette stuffed with Somerset goat’s

cheese, sunblushed tomato & pesto herb crust

served with a tomato & roast pepper sauce &

grilled artichokes

Steamed fillets of lemon sole on a bed of garlic

spinach with baked Duchesse potato and lemon

butter sauce

Escalope of British turkey coated in oregano

and lemon crust with seasonal vegetables and

roast potatoes

Traditional roast local beef sirloin with seasonal

vegetables, potatoes roasted in dripping, crisp

Yorkshire pudding and red wine sauce

□□□□□

Chocolate brownies served with ice cream

If (when!) you win the end, how

will you play the next end?


The current set-up for our EC is as follows :_ There are 3 Club Officer positions :- • Club President • Club Treasurer

• Club Secretary There are 3 other identified roles on the Executive Committee :- • Development Officer • Competitions Secretary • Webmaster

and provision for 3 further additional members.

Any paid up member of BHPC can be nominated for any of the positions above and are fully encouraged to do so.

We will be contacting all members soon with more details about the club’s AGM and the role of the EC.

The EC and member feedback, ideas and issues

Currently the EC meets on a monthly basis and we produce an agenda for and action minutes of each meeting.

If any member would like to raise an issue or present a proposal to the EC then I encourageyou to do so by any of the following means :-

• You can speak to any member of the EC

• You can email or put in writing your

issue/proposal to any member of the EC

• If you wish to raise an issue or proposal in person to the EC then you should ask the Club Secretary, Pat Connolly, for the date of the next meeting and you will be welcomed to attend. What we would ask in return is

advance notice of what the issue or proposal is so that we can use the time productively to discuss and respond

• If you wish to see any minutes of the EC meetings these can easily be provided to you. Just contact Pat Connolly who will arrange

• What I do ask is that if you have a complaint or issue then please also think about how youcan help improve things

A message from your President – Tony Mann

August was yet another busy month for the club. We had competitions that were introduced last

year that are now firm fixtures (the Pointing & Shooting competition and the Adur PC Challenge Match). We had a brand new competition (the Charity Doubles). A club social BBQ and a full 4 weeks of our “Beginners to

Winners” induction and training course. We also went further afield with members participating at in Crowborough for the Sussex PA Doubles Competition finishing a very respectable 2nd, 3rd

and 4th and David A, Fergal and me finishing as runners-up in the Silver Cup at the ab fab Kent

Classic.

It is great to see our club developing, our membership increasing, our continued successes regionally and beyond whilst still staying true to our local community spirit. Our collaboration with BLAGSS has been successful during this summer and we have achieved our first new member as

a direct result of this partnership. It was fantastic to see a local charity receive our donation from our Charity Doubles competition too and for this to be features in The Argus.

Our webmaster, Partho Sen-Gupta, has been working hard creating our new website

www.bhpetanque.org – this is still a work in progress but we would love to hear your views and comments about the site. Partho has also incorporated the wonderful world of Twitter to the new site that has immediately generated new interest in our club and our activities. So get

online and get tweeting !

AGM News We are looking to bring forward the club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) which has

previously been held in February each year to be held in November. This follows feedback at the last AGM concerning setting the club’s annual subscription in advance of the new calendar year and also allowing the new

Executive Committee (EC) more time to plan the forthcoming year than taking office in February allows.

A number of activities take place at our AGM. I will chair the meeting and give my annual report. The Treasurer, Olive Sacre, will also give her report. There will be the election of Club

Officers and the Executive Committee (EC) for 2010. We will discuss and set the BHPC annual membership subscription for 2010. There will also presentations for the award of the 2009 Club Player of the Year.


�

The BHPC Executive Committee

Tony Mann Club President 01273 273543 [email protected]

Pat Connolly Club Secretary 01273 441325 [email protected]

Olive Sacre Club Treasurer 01273 881623 [email protected]

Ray Ager Development Officer 01273 673637 [email protected]

Ann Wordsworth Competitions Secretary 01273 702131 [email protected]

Partho Sen-Gupta Webmaster 07529 559641 [email protected]

Terry Gibbons Committee Member 01273 204556 [email protected]

Norman Hazelden Committee Member 07794 596563 [email protected]

Alan Smith Committee Member 01273 503570 [email protected]

2009 - Events & Competitions still to come

CLUB COMPETITIONS – Peace Statue Terrain

Sun 27th September 9.30/9.50 for 10am start Club Mixed Doubles Sun 11th October 9.30/9.50 for 10am start Club Moving Mêlée

CLUB LEAGUES

Autumn Mixed Doubles 5th September to 1st November Winter Singles 14th November to 28th February 2010

BHPC OPEN COMPETITIONS – Peace Statue Terrain

Sun 6th September 9.30/9.50 for 10am start Open Triples by-the-sea

CLUB SOCIALS AND OTHER EVENTS – Peace Statue Terrain

Wed 16th September 7.30 for 8pm BHPC Quiz Night Iron Duke Pub Sat 5th December time tbc BHPC Christmas Dinner Alfrescos

EPA INTER-REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sat 19th to Sun 20th September Pontins at Brean Sands

Documents

BHPC September 2009 Newsletter