Ampney Crucis Pétanque Club
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Contents:
Background to Ampney Crucis Pétanque (Boule) Club
Phase 1- Construction of the first pitch
The new boules pitch at the cricket field is now in use following the Grand Opening and “Have a Go” session during the Jubilee festivities which attracted over 20 new member households. Use is restricted to members only but membership only costs £5 per household. Members are welcome to play at any time, but Club Night is on Wednesdays at 7.30 p.m.
For further information contact Martin Cridford ((851313) or Liz Anderson ((850141). This gentle but competitive activity is suitable for ages. Come and give it a go! New members welcome.
Notice Board
Our new Riverside Pitch is located at the cricket club, Ampney Crucis.
Club night is Wednesdays from 7.30pm – just turn up – with or without boules. If wet, members may be in the Crown of Crucis.
Enquiries – Martin or Christine Cridford – 01285 851313 - or Liz Anderson (Treasurer) 01285 850141
Membership is only £5 per household, for this year to April 2003.
To join – turn up on club night or contact as above.
Use of the pitch is restricted to members and their accompanied guests – this is for insurance purposes – we are on private cricket club land – please respect the needs of the cricket club and their players.
Members may use the pitch whenever they wish – please be fair if more than one group wish to use it at the same time
- The pitch has been booked for a private social event on evening of Saturday 13 July.
Rules of Pétanque
Who can play: All ages. (Members and guests only)
Equipment Required: A set of boules per player.
Types of Boules: Plastic boule: Best for casual beach use only.
Leisure Boule: Metal, without weight markings.
Competition Boule: Required by anyone intending to take part
in competitions of any note. Identified by weight mark and manufacturers stamp.
Any of the above can be used for casual play in Ampney Crucis. (The club hopes to purchase some for loan and/or competition)
Rules of Play:
- Play is between two teams of 1, 2 or 3 players ie 2-6 people per game. Each player has 2 boules.
(In competition, 1 or 2 person teams play with 3 boules each).
The first player is a member of the team who wins the toss or wins the previous “End”.
The first player traces a circle of 35-50 cm diameter ie large enough to stand in. The throwing player’s feet must always remain in the circle until the jack or boule touches the ground.
The first player throws the jack (or pig or but) 6 –10 metres. ( 3 attempts are allowed if this distance is not achieved). They then throw their first boule as near the jack as possible.
The first player of the opposing team then throws their first boule and tries to get it nearer to the jack.
The opposing team continues to play until they get their boule the closest to the jack (the leading boule) and hence become “the leading team”. At this point the first team plays again. This continues until both teams have run out of boules. Team members can play in any order.
- Types of throw – boules must always be thrown underarm
- “Marking” – trying to put the boule as close as possible to the jack.
“Shooting” – knocking the opponents boule out of the way
The “End” finishes when all boules have been played. The team with the boule nearest the jack wins the “End” and scores one point for each boule closer to the jack than the other team’s nearest boule.
The next “End” is played in the same way, but in the opposite direction.
The Game continues until one team has scored 13 points – and wins.
The full competition rules can be found at www.britishpetanque.org or from the club.
Background to Ampney Crucis Pétanque (Boule) Club
The Village Appraisal carried out in 1999 identified the desire amongst villagers for more sports and activities to be available in the village. Of the potential sports activities suggested boules was the fourth most desired facility (after tennis, keep fit and badminton) - 48 people expressed an interest and it was particularly popular amongst the 45-59 age group.
A group of villagers has now formed a Pétanque Club as part of the Cricket Club using the spare land located adjacent to the pavilion.
The available land is partly surrounded by mature trees and
the Ampney Brook and was overgrown with nettles and weeds for most of the year.
This area provided an ideal location as it is easily accessed by villagers and
sufficiently remote from the cricket square to be safe and not to disturb
cricket matches.
Following the initial article in Ampney Crucis Times twelve people/couples
expressed interest. A few of these attended the preliminary meetings and took
part in working parties to build the pitch.
Discussions with the cricket club concluded that the boule club would be a section within the Cricket club and the pitch would be available to members only for insurance purposes. However anybody could become a member of the boule section and that fees would be kept low. The cricket club agreed to waive any affiliation fee so we have been able to keep membership for this opening year at £5 per household.
Funding
It was anticipated that membership fees will allow the club to be self-supporting once. However help was requested from the Parish Council and CDC to build the pitch and establish the club within the village and we are very grateful for their support.
An estimate of the costs of preparation of the area for Pétanque was prepared in phases.
- Phase 1 - Site clearance, levelling and the construction of the first pitch.
Phase 2 – Building a second pitch adjacent to the first, this will allow two games to proceed in parallel.
- Phase 3 – This could happen before or after phase 2 depending on priorities once the club is running. Landscaping the surrounding areas to permanently keep down the weeds and stinging nettles currently growing in this area.
Phase 1- Construction of the first pitch
actual cost £368.77
Which has been raised from:
Ampney Crucis Parish Council £ 25.00
CDC Rural Projects Fund £270.00
Membership fees £ 73.77
Phase 2 & 3 will be discussed in future depending on the success and needs of the club.
Have a Go Day
The new Ampney Crucis Pétanque Club was launched as part of the Jubilee celebrations on Monday 3 June 2002.
The afternoon was a success with a steady of flow of visitors, at times queuing to have a go. Boules, or more correctly Pétanque, is a great game as it can be played by all ages as was seen during the afternoon with whole families (and their visitors) coming to join in.
Martin & Christine Cridford attempted to explain the rules and keep score while Fran Huckle was kept busy signing up new members. By the end of the afternoon 23 households had joined. We look forward to seeing everyone on club nights (Wednesdays 7.30pm) – although if all 70 people turn up at once we may be building the second pitch sooner than we thought!
The afternoon was no doubt improved by the French style refreshments provided free of charge – all visitors were invited to partake in the brie, pate and French bread washed down with (French) wine and lemonade. Our thanks to Waitrose for donating the food and club members for donating the wine.
Sorry but we don’t offer this spread every club session!!