Club News

June 2025 Club 100 Draw

3 July 2025 / Webmaster / No comments

The June draw was made last week at the Club. The lucky winners were:

1	Ann Marie Sheridan	£103.50
2	Lyndon Francies	£34.50
3	Phil Lloyd	£17.25

The 100 Club currently has almost 70 members, making the monthly prize pot approximately £155.00. In addition there is a bonus draw in December for a prize of £175+ (depending on the number of members). If you are not a member please consider joining. The more people that join the bigger the prizes and the more improvements we can make to YOUR Club.

Congratulations to the winners but don’t forget:

YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT

Contact Bernard on treasurer [at] monkstonepetanque [dot] org [dot] uk or speak to him at the Club if you would like to join or for more details.

Category: Fund Raising /

Friendly v Royal Wootton Bassett 1st Leg

3 July 2025 / Webmaster / No comments

Toady, we welcomed to our club, a party of 15 friends from Royal Wootton Bassett PC. The occasion was the the 1st leg of the annual competition between the clubs. The 2nd leg will be played at RWB PC on 18 September 2025.

Our guests were welcomed in typical Monkstone sunny weather and were treated to tea/coffee and Welsh cakes after their journey across the bridge.

The match was in the usual format of 2 rounds of 6 doubles followed by 2 rounds of 4 triples.

When play got under way Monkstone took an early lead in the first round of doubles and finally won the round by 4-2 (games) and 62-43 (points). The pattern continued the second round of doubles with Monkstone again edging it by 4-2 and 56-41.

A break was then taken for a sumptuous lunch provided by the MPC members with a trip to the bar for those who wanted to slake their thirst in the hot weather. The deserts provided included, what else in Wimbledon fortnight, strawberries and cream.

So, after the repast, play recommenced with round one of the triples. Monkstone proved they hadn’t overeaten or drunk by continuing in their fine form to take the round 3-1 and 50-26.

On to the final round of triples but Monkstone took their foot of the gas a bit and RWB earned a draw with 2-2 and 45-36.

So the final score was a 1st Leg win by 13-7 and 213-146. They may “think its all over ……….” but it’s not. Monkstone can expect a tough fight from RWB in the return fixture in September as they try to overcome the deficit.

Many thanks to those who played and those who provided the lunch and a special “Well Done” to Ros Goddard, supervising her first event in her new role as MPC Fixture Secretary.

Category: Competition, Friendship /

2025 Monkstone PC Open Triples

22 June 2025 / Webmaster / No comments

Monkstone PC open Triples were contested today with 15 teams taking part. The weather was mixed, mainly sun and cloud but apart from a couple of very light showers we escaped the threatened rain.

The format was pools of 4 in the morning with Gold and Silver elimination competitions in the afternoon.

It was great to see a many members from MPC, including couple of our up and coming Juniors, Maddie Bartlett & Kitty Johnson, taking part against some of the best players in the WPA.

ENTRY LIST

QUALIFICATION STAGE RESULTS

GOLD COMPETITION RESULTS

Winners – Good, Bad & Ugly Runners Up – International All Stars

SILVER COMPETITION RESULTS

Winners – Three Point 5 Runners Up – Platonquers

Category: Competition /

MPC Open Triples Entries

16 June 2025 / Webmaster / No comments

MPC Members

The following teams from MPC have entered the club’s Open Triples on Sunday 22 September. We have a total of 15 entries and 1 more entry would be great to avoid byes and to make the afternoon knockout as 2 groups of 8 which makes for a great competition.

If you haven’t entered please consider getting a team together and entering – first come first served. If we get more than 16 entries there will be a waiting list and the entries will only be allowed if we get to 20.

Whether or not you are playing, we would still appreciate any raffle prizes you can donate.

Category: Competition /

It’s Petanque, Jim ……………..

19 May 2025 / Webmaster / No comments

…………… but NOT as we know it!!

Last Thursday, a small group from the Club were invited by, Tomas Martin who works for Disability Sport Wales as Boccia Coordinator, to a Welsh Paralympic Performance Session for Boccia – a game very similar to petanque in many ways but with some notable differences, amongst them:

the jack is as big as the boccia balls
the balls are like mini stuffed footballs that range from squidgy to very hard and each player can have a selection of balls of differing hardness – unlike petanque where, in a set, each boule is identical
the players sit in a line alternating each team so that each player from a team has a different view of the game which often determines who plays the next ball
players who are unable to throw a ball use a ramp similar to the one we used to roll pennies down at the funfair – but much larger. (these players are known as “rampers”). Normally “rampers” would not play against “throwers”
the winner is determined after a fixed number of ends not by reaching a certain score
as in petanque there is a plethora of minor rules which were explained to us but would take too long to repeat here

The evening started with introductions and a chat about boccia. Tomas, who has competed for Wales in various international events, is the grandson of our own club member, Tony Martin who took most of the photos in this article.

Then it was down to the Sports Hall where we split up into 2 teams to play a couple of sessions each against the “throwers” and the “rampers”. By the end we were beginning to get the hang of it, getting balls relatively near to the jack and even shooting.

Tomas Martin with the Monkstone Team

I am not sure if anyone knew the final result but it didn’t matter – everyone had a great time and an evening to remember and Inclusivity in Sport was the winner!

A big thank-you from Monkstone Petanque Club to Tomas and all the other players and volunteers who made the evening such a success and good luck to Wales Paralympic Boccia team in the future.