They think its all over …………….. it is now!! Despite being held to a draw by the Marmots, The Mammoths now have an unassailable lead at the top of the table with one game to go. The fight is on for second place with 3 teams realistically in the chase.
The action is hotting up as we enter the run in to the end of the season. The table as it stands after Week 7 (w/c 10 March 2026):
Your scribe has been busy over the last few months with membership issues both for the Club and WPA. As a result publishing news from the Club has been a bit thin on the ground so here is a brief catch up of what has been happening.
November 2025
The month ended with the return leg of the annual Winter Friendly against Caerleon RFC PC. Monkstone had taken a commanding lead in the first leg (reported previously).
Unfortunately the lead turned out to be not commanding enough and after the combined scores were totted up, Caerleon had won by the tightest of margins.
December 2025
This highlight of this month was the annual Club Xmas Melee which was followed by a “bring a plate” lunch in the Penylan Club.
The Xmas Melee was won by Ian Campbell RIP who sadly passed away a few days ago.
The winners of the December Club 100 draw were:
| Xmas Bonus | Ros Goddard | £200.00 |
| 1 | Geoffrey Keast | £100.50 |
| 2 | Chris “Buzz” Rees | £33.50 |
| 3 | Peredur John | £16.75 |
January 2026
The winners of the January Club 100 draw were:
| 1 | John Edwards | £102.00 |
| 2 | John Barnes | £34.00 |
| 3 | Gareth Bartlett | £17.00 |
February 2026
The winners of the February Club 100 draw were:
| 1 | Ian Campbell | £102.00 |
| 2 | Ann Maries Sheridan | £34.00 |
| 3 | Gareth Bartlett | £17.00 |
Ian Campbell RIP
25 February 2026 brought the sad and completely unexpected death of club member Ian Campbell RIP. Ian was a good petanque player and a popular member of the Club. He will be sadly missed.
The first leg of the annual Winter Friendly against Caerleon RFC PC took place today with Monkstone seeking to wrestle back the trophy after 3 successive wins by Caerleon with a good start in the home leg.
After the 12 singles matches honours were even at 6 games [12 Points] each which was not the start MPC were looking for. I would like to be able to say that the captain gave the most rousing, encouraging speech ever before the doubles round but something stirred the dragon in them and they took all 6 doubles [18 Points] which is possibly the first time either team has won all the games in one of the rounds. It nearly didn’t happen as, in the last game, Vickie & Bernard were 10-5 down when they heard that MPC had won all 5 doubles that had finished. Not wishing to have the finger pointed at them as the only losers, they fashioned a surprising come back to win 13-11.
So its was on to the triples – could Monkstone increase their 18 point lead to take into the 2nd leg in 2 weeks time. It was not to be, however, and with 2 wins [10 points] each, the final score was 40-22 to Monkstone.
So with an 18 point lead in the bag, Monkstone move on to the 2nd leg at Caerleon on 30 November. Its not over till ………….. as the saying goes, but its a good position to be in.
It’s ours to loose ……… !!!!!!
RESULTS
Under cloudy skies and a not very promising forecast, 24 members, including 3 Juniors, assembled for the annual Club triples on Sunday 9 November 2025. In the event, despite a few showers, the weather was much better than expected.
The competition was organised in the usual format of a 3 round melee with partners being selected at random with the help of a little seeding to try to get evenly balanced teams as far as possible.
Being Remembrance Sunday, before play got underway, 1 minute’s silence was observed by the teams as a tribute to those who laid down their lives in WW1, and the many conflicts since, in order that we may enjoy our freedom.
Phil Roberts/Paul Hawkins/Vanessa Jones took an early lead in Round 1 with +9 closely followed by Vickie Adshead/Andrew Jones/ Stephen Haynes on +8.
In Round 2 Phil/Paul/Vanessa and Ash Seath/Keith Miller/Kitty Johnson were the only teams on 2 wins with Phil & co holding a clear lead on +10 while Ash’s team were on +3.
So it was all to play for in Round 3, with a possibility of one of the other teams coming through, if they both faltered. Could they hold their nerve or would there be yet another Golden End finish to decide matters. When the dust settled, Phil & co had come up with another win to be the only team with 3 wins +21 but they were run close by Vickie’s team on 2 wins +20 and Roger Green/Colin Burfoot/Jon Giddy on 2 wins +17.
The Best Junior award went to Kitty Johnson as part of Ash’s team.
Congratulations to Phil/Paul/Vanessa on becoming the 2025 Club Triples champions and to Kitty for her Best Junior award.
RESULTS
WINNERS
Best Junior Award
Organiser Bernard presents the trophy to Kitty
Club Doubles Champions
Organiser Bernard presents the trophy to Paul/Vanessa and Phil
