February Newsletter

It has been a sad week for the club with the loss of our beloved Phil. She had been a great Petanque friend to us all. She loved her association with the club and appreciated getting the newsletters in the latter months. A minute’s silence was held at the club singles and a candle was kept lit throughout the day in her memory.
Thanks to all of you who attended a Phil’s funeral. A great turnout.
God bless you Phil, we will miss you.

As Alison so aptly put it, imagine Phil, Heather, Ron and Daphne all up there together on the celestial piste. Imagine the size of the swear box!!! (For those of you who did not know Daphne, she was a 'formidable” member of the Hataitai Club. Heather, most of you will remember and Ron, is Joan’s Husband, a real character and talented player )

It is also with sadness that I report the recent death of Frances Wilson from the Otaki Club. Frances was instrumental in getting the Otaki Club established and was a very competitive player. Frances had been ill for only a short while.
Our sympathies have been sent to the Otaki Club.
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JANUARY MELEE:

Because of the heat, it was decided to hold the melee later in the day so we started at 5.00pm. We had 17 turn up and played three games. Winners were Graeme B/Tony/Kelvin and second were Roger/Tina and John.
We will look at doing something similar next time if the heat continues
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CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES:

This was held on Sunday the 6th of February.14 entries were received.
We had two pools of 7 with the top two from each pool going through to the playoffs.
Qualifiers in Pool 1 were Tom and Lorraine and in Pool two, Joan and Ralph.
Joan was the top qualifier with 5 wins. A great effort.
The final was held between Lorraine and Joan with Joan winning 13/11. Tom and Ralph played off for third with Tom winning 13/12. Incidentally, Tom qualified with 4 wins + 10. Roger and Elsie both finished on 4 wins +10. If Roger had one more point, he would have qualified as he had beaten both Tom and Elsie.
Congratulations to all the finalists and a special well done to Joan who played the final with a very sore back. We saw a display of faultless pointing from her.
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OCEANIA:

What a fantastic effort from the New Zealand team. More medals than the 10 previous years combined. This is great exposure for the sport and hopefully will have an ongoing effect with new members popping up. A very special congratulations to Barbara who won a silver medal in the triples along with Margaret from Hataitai and Fiona from Hawkes Bay.
Well done Barb, we are all very proud of you
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WBS:

Only two weeks to our major summer tournament. If you are thinking of putting a team in, you will need to be quick. We have a limit of 24 teams and already have 20 registrations.
If you are not playing and are available for some volunteer work, please let me know. There won’t be a lot to do but if I had a pool of names, it will make life easier for us all.
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WPA WOMEN’S SINGLES

The 2005 WPA women’s singles will be held at Park Ave on Sunday the 6th of March. Entry forms will be on the notice board.

INTERCLUB:

Our next interclub challenge is against Silverstream on Saturday the 19th of February in Masterton. Team selection will be done on Thursday. At present I have 4 names and need 6. If you are interested in playing please let me know prior to Thursday.
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CHAMPION OF CHAMPION’S

Each year a tournament is held amongst all the clubs local championship winners.
This year the dates are.
C of C Singles – Sun 20 February
C of C Doubles - Sat 05 March
C of C triples – Sun 13 March

If you are our CURRENT champions and would like to play in these tournaments, please contact me and I will get an entry form for you.
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UP COMING OUT OF TOWN TOURNAMENTS:

Anzac Doubles – 5/6 March -Rotorua-
WPA triples – 19/20 March – Park Ave
PNZ triples – 2/3 April – Park Ave
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HAWKES BAY SUMMER DOUBLES

Four teams travelled to Napier last weekend to compete in the annual summer tournament a Bay View.
Joan and Claire played with distinction getting in to the final 8 and they were the only ones who beat the eventual winners. Sharon Cannon and Bethne Rouse, all weekend. Well done!.
Ralph and Graeme B, Graeme M and Barb and John and Sheila all had a lovely weekend!!

Also in this years tournament were a couple of junior entries. One team of two young boys and one team of a young girl and her mother. Junior rules applied which meant that when playing them, you had to play between 5 and 8 metres. They played with small boule about the size of a snooker ball and the weight of a ping pong ball!!.
There was some dissent about the rules. On numerous occasions the cochonnet was moved beyond the 8 metre mark and the kids had no trouble whatsoever playing the longer lengths. In fact the mother/daughter team got into the final of the bowl. It was felt by some that it was an open tournament so normal rules apply. It may sound petty but it was quite hard to adjust to 5 metres and when you are fighting to qualify, it can be quite an important factor.

It was a great tournament and the hospitality there is always good. Norm, the car park attendant particularly endeared himself to everyone.

Cheers for now, Graeme B, Club Captain.