Our friendly match with Wilton Bridge took place under sunny spring skies in Ross-on-Wye. Both teams were fielding 14 players apiece, with three rounds of play ahead.
The first round comprised four triples and one double. The results of the five games were pretty close, with MPC edging Wilton Bridge 3 wins to 2 (60-48). It was good to see some of our less-experienced players, such as Keith Miller and Linda Lippett, playing well.
In round 2 there were seven straight doubles to play and the best result came from the two Lindas, Lippett and Thomas, who won their game 13- 2. There were also wins for Bernard & Mike, John Maroney & Keith Thomas and Keith Miller & Peter Lippett. Overall we won the round by 4 games to 3, but the points difference of 72-68 shows how close the games had been.
So, with a lead of 7 games to 5, it was all to play for in the final round of two triples and four doubles. Wilton Bridge still had a chance to come good. But it wasn’t to be. We took four of the six games, giving us a final result in the match of 11 games to 7 (202-164). Congratulations to all our players and especially to three players who completed a hat trick of winning games: Bernard, Linda Lippett and Keith Miller. Well done to them and to all our players for giving up a day to play for our club.
Wilton Bridge are a developing club and they want to improve. Their performance in this first match shows that they are on the right track and we look forward to hosting them in the next leg.
Sunday 15 December 2024 was a busy day down at the Club. It started with the Christmas Melee which was followed later by the first Monkstone Christmas Dinner at which the December Club 100 Draw was made.
Christmas Melee
The melee started almost on time at 11:00am after it transpired that the Organiser had set up the teams for the 40 people he was told were there when in fact there were 42! This little hiccup resolved, play commenced.
After Round 1, as might have been expected , there were 21 players on 1 win. The early leaders were Lindsay Christian & Claude le Razavet (+12) followed by Mike Jones & Tony Cooper (+11).
Round 2 is where the real contenders for the title begin to emerge if they can follow up their Round 1 win with another victory. When the dust had settled there were 13 players on 2 wins. Of the Round 1 leaders only Lindsay & Claude had managed a second win but some of the lower winners had good Round 2 wins to bring them up into convention. So, leading the field were Lindsay (+18), Peter David (+16), Claude (+14) and Alex Skibinski (+14).
Onto the 3rd and final round – could Lindsay maintain her lead and take the trophy or would someone out of the top 4 have a big win and propel themselves to the top. When the scores were in and checked Claude & Peter had fallen at the final hurdle but Lindsay & Alex were still up there. The final results were in and the top 4 on 3 wins were:
1st
Alex Skibinski
+25
2nd
Lindsay Christian
+24
3rd
Lloyd Kinsey
+23
4th
Keith Thomas
+15
Congratulations to Alex and thanks to all who took part.
Melee 1
Melee 2
Melee 3
Melee 5
Melee 4
Christmas Dinner
After the Melee some of the players repaired to the clubhouse, where they were joined by other Club members and families along with one or two friends, for the first (annual?) Monkstone PC Christmas Dinner.
The meal of Christmas Dinner or Vegan Wellington followed by Christmas Pudding or Gateaux was served amongst the sounds of everyone having a good time. The meal was rounded off with coffee and a chocolate.
A very enjoyable occasion and, from appearances, a good time was had by all.
Huge thanks are due to Judith Smith (who had decided that Madeira was a better option!) for organising the event, Katrina Munro & Richard King for setting up the room on the day and making sure everything went well with the serving and Katrina, Richard, Vickie Adshead & Sandy Warner for clearing up. Apologies if I have missed any one who was involved in any way in putting on the event.
Meal 1
Meal 6
Meal 2
Melee 6
Meal 4
Club 100 Draw
The December draw was made at the Christmas Dinner. This was the big one with the Christmas Bonus draw – “El Gordo”. The lucky winners were:
Bonus
Roger “Ben” Bennett
£200
1
Spencer Bartlett
£100
2
Del Axon
£40
3
Keith Thomas
£20
The Club 100 has 69 members which means the total monthly prize pot is approximately £155. In addition there is a bonus draw in December for a prize of around £200 (depending on the number of members). Grateful thanks to all those Monkstone Club members and others who support the petanque club through the Club 100. 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.
The first leg of the annual Winter Friendly Competition against Caerleon RFC PC was held at the club on Sunday 8 December. After the storms of Friday and Saturday we wondered what state the pistes would be and whether the competition would go ahead at all. When we arrived at 10am the pistes were fine with very little standing water but we had lost a few fence panels. So after hasty repairs we were all set to go. Caerleon are the current holders of the Winter Friendly trophy so Monkstone were determined to win it back.
Things started off well with Monkstone taking 7 of the 12 singles games to establish a 4 point lead. Caerleon came back in the doubles winning 4 of the 6 games and the lead switched to Caerleon who were up 2 points.
As is usual in this competition the 4 triples games that decides the winners meaning that Monkstone needed to win 3 out of the 4 games. All the games were very hard fought and when the last game finished it was honours even so Caerleon retained their 2 point lead [32-30].
Not quite the result we wanted but its all to play for in the 2nd leg at Caerleon on 5 January 2025.
Monkstone PC today ventured into England to play the second leg of a friendly competition between our club and Wilton Bridge PC, Ross-on-Wye, Monkstone having won the first encounter 5 games to 2. The setting for the encounter was picture perfect as Wilton Bridge is situated in a leafy quarter of this pretty Herefordshire market town.
Round 1 consisted of four games of Triples on pistes that were flat and thinly gravelled. At the end, honours were even at 2-2, although Monkstone had a points advantage of 45-38.
After a tasty lunch provided by our hosts, we played a round of six Doubles and it was clear that Wilton Bridge were up for the fight. With just one game to finish, the scores were 3-2 to Monkstone, but our last pair, Roger and
Roger & Vickie dig in on the penultimate end of the crucial final game
Vickie, were 12-11 down with Wilton Bridge on the verge of win and an honourable 5-5 draw on the cards. Wilton Bridge failed to take their chance and Vickie was able to point in for 2 to secure the match 6-4 (115-89).
After the match Monkstone captain, Roger, presented Wilton Bridge captain, Phil Lear, with a Monkstone PC pennant.
A fantastic day of boules, with (believe it or not) the sun actually shining for once! More importantly our two clubs have agreed to make our friendly an annual event as is our annual match with Royal Wootton Bassett PC which comes up next month.
The Monkstone team was Ash, Bernard, Beryl, Frances, Ian Campbell, Ian McC, Keith Thomas, Peter Donovan, Phil Roberts, Robin, Roger and Vickie.
We are currently appealing for funds to enable us establish a Junior Section at the Club. This appeal is being made via the Localgiving website. To donate click on the button below.
