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):
Winter Catch Up
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.
Tony Newton RIP
A group of Monkstone Members today paid their final respects and said goodbye to Tony Newton at Thornhill Crematorium. Tony was a well loved member of the club from 2018 to 2023 always cheerful with a positive attitude – and could he point!
Sadly, he succumbed to the dreaded Alzheimer’s along with other health issues which forced him to resign from the club at the end of 2023. The memory problems were, however, the cause of some lighter moments especially when, during a 3 Round melee, he would disappear after Round 2, only to be found in the bar with a pint because he thought he had finished. And if you notice the big green Exit buttons on the wall of the main clubhouse lobby, then think of Tony. They were installed as, on numerous occasions, he pressed the fire alarm button instead of the (not so obvious) magnetic door releases.
RIP Tony – we all miss you.
November 2025 Club 100 Draw
The November draw was made on 18 November 2025 at the Club. The lucky winners were:
| 1 | Ian Campbell | £102.00 |
| 2 | Gill Clark | £34.00 |
| 3 | Chris “Buzz” Rees | £17.00 |
The 100 Club currently has around 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@monkstonepetanque.org.uk or speak to him at the Club if you would like to join or for more details.
Category: Fund Raising /
2025/26 Winter Friendly v Caerleon – 1st Leg
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
Category: Competition, Friendship /