Mansfield Cash Triples

Mansfield Open Cash Triples – Sunday June 16th 100% of monies given out in prizes all information on the Flyer.

Mansfield Open V2Download

Hayling Island Regional Finals

43 members of Mercia Petanque Association descended upon Mill Rythe holiday village, Hayling Island, on the weekend of 10th and 11th September 2016 for their first serious event in National competition.

Saturday dawned dry and bright for the initial preparations and briefings for almost 900 players and the Team Managers for this mammoth happening, but by 9.00 the forecast rains began and continued until well into the afternoon.

Players and officials were soaked and cold but nothing seemed to spoil the amazing atmosphere. It was Mercia’s first foray into this competition and although the team finished bottom of the list on day one, there had been some close matches which could have gone our way, but sadly not. On day two, the results were better as we moved up two places on that list but not enough to improve overall.

Best memories were the ever-smiling faces and the camaraderie amongst all teams in such a serious competition and in such conditions. Sunday brightened up considerably as Sou’westers were exchanged for sun creams and the playing conditions dried out but were still difficult.

Mercia teams can hold their heads up high as their playing abilities and team spirit were brilliant. Jim.

TRI-WAY CHALLENGE, August 14th,2016

After many weeks of planning this triples competition, and all aspects necessary to carry off such a large event the day finally arrived.

Heart of England and Northern  Petanque regions arrived at Mansfield PC’s home in Titchfield Park  very early after long drives to the venue. At previous meets between the two regions, they thought it would be more acceptable to share the distances involved and hold the competition near halfway, Mercia Region’s Mansfield Club seemed to be ideally placed and the third challenger was accepted.

This would be Mercia’s first major team event since its inception and Mansfield PC  had previous success at organising important competitions, notably the Home Nations in 2014.

Mansfield Club members and volunteer helpers from other Mercia clubs were involved in the preparation and duties of producing this day to remember and many thanks to you all.

The day started very early for the volunteers as three gazebos had to be erected, pistes to be prepared and breakfasts to be ready in time to welcome our guests for the day which had dawned nice and dry thankfully.

Registration over and play began around 9.30 with the first of six rounds amid the colourful scenery of the park and the Regional “uniforms.”  After three rounds the welcome lunch break arrived, a cold buffet provided and serviced by Mansfield PC and our brilliant volunteer force.

Very soon, it was back to business for the teams as play continued until evening time when the results were added to the ongoing score sheets, giving very quick updates and a final result. Mercia Region came third with a very respectable 22 wins in their “virgin” tournament. Northern and Heart of England Regions tied on 25 wins each but the Challenge Trophy was awarded on points difference to Heart of England, congratulations to them.

Best individual team award went to Mercia, so honours were well shared out.

Our visitors then began their long treks homewards and our willing band of helpers finished the day with lots of clearing up and cleaning of the park and premises after a very long and tiring day for everyone.

The final verdict on a fabulous day’s competition was that everyone had enjoyed the experience, played in a wonderful friendly atmosphere and all in all a very successful occasion and another large feather in the cap of Mansfield Petanque Club.

Many thanks to all who helped out and/or competed on the day, Jim.

Lots of event photos can be viewed at :-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mansfieldpetanque/

Then click on “albums”….Tri-way Challenge

 

Birthday BBQ, Sunday, July 31st 2016

Thanks to the enthusiasm of Club members old and new, Mansfield PC celebrated the annual barbecue in style on a fine day.

As usual it meant an early start to preparation of the pistes and the pavilion before members arrived bearing all manner of foodstuffs for the party, thank you all for the wonderful response and to Richard for arranging the very necessary bbq meats etc.

Play started at around noon until the word was given that the food was ready and there was a sudden evacuation of the play areas to the gazebo and pavilion for a jolly good meal.The room had been decorated and looked very welcoming for the many members to enjoy and show what a great crowd we have.

All too soon it was time to cut the cake to the strains (very strained!) of Happy Birthday and to begin the task of cleaning up and returning the site to normal.

Many thanks to all those who helped in any way, also for the generous donations of food and time devoted to the success of the day. Jim.

Valentine Social 2016

We certainly needed more than Valentine love to keep us warm on Saturday afternoon when 38 hardy people came to Titchfield Park for another excellent social event.

After a few months’ haitus when we did not know if we even had a future in the pavilion, it was good to get permission to continue using the facility at least for now.

Our visitors from Nottm, Worksop and Fernwood clubs joined Mansfield to brave the cold weather and play a few ends of boules before retiring to the warmth of the pavilion and the welcome sight of the suitably decorated room and a hot cuppa.

As usual there was a fine array of food provided by everyone to share and enjoy during the evening until the raffle was drawn. The centrepiece of the display was yet another marvellous Heart shaped chocolate cake by our master chocolatier, Rose.

Many thanks to you all for your continued support for our club through these difficult times and we look forward to more events throughout the Summer, and sincere thanks to all who help out whenever there is such a function.

Mansfield PC’s Christmas Party 2015

Thirty Five members of Mansfield PC enjoyed their Christmas party held at Forest Town Arena on December 5th 2015. On arrival we were very pleasantly surprised at the room presentation prepared for us by the staff, it did indeed look lovely. It only remained to layout the raffle table and the many prizes before welcoming the party-goers.

The excellent meal duly arrived, good sized portions, hot and very nice too and was followed by the raffle draw and much happy chatter. The service provided was very good and eventually, everyone set off home laden with prizes and full stomachs to face the horrible gales outside.

Thanks to all who helped out in any way, Jim and Judy. 

 

 

Keith’s 80th Birthday Party

Members of Mansfield PC’s Thursday Fours Teams were kindly invited to celebrate Keith’s 80th Birthday at the local Italian Restaurant close to Mansfield Petanque Club’s HQ.

The Party was organised and very generously provided by Keith’s wife, Joyce, as a surprise!!! but I think that he spotted the notice board!

Thank you very much for a great night and an excellent meal.

Xmas Social Play

Please note that the last day’s play this year will be:

Sunday 20th December 2015 (Last Day Play)

from Noon –

Bring your mince pies/ cakes along to share – we will be in the Pavilion!

The first day’s play in 2016 will be:

Friday 1st January 2016 (New Year 0pening Play)

from Noon –

Bring your ‘leftovers’ to share for a ‘fuddle’ later in the day – we will be in the Pavilion!

Please Note:

Limited chairs available,  so bring your own if able.

Edinburgh Trip.

Edinburgh, 2nd to the 5th of October 2015, the Mansfield club took a coach trip to Grangemouth staying at the Leapark Hotel with friends from Nottingham and Fernwood to play Boules, the club we played at was the Inverleith petanque club who made us very welcome and even went out of their way to make sandwiches for us.
Sunday was their annual competition and we were invited to play alongside the Scottish players, we were asked to select our top five teams to play against the top five Scottish teams, so I picked two from Mansfield, two from Nottingham and one from Fernwood. We did not win a trophy but with my partner Graham Dear we beat the men’s Scottish Champions and then went on to beat the Ladies Champions.  All in all everyone enjoyed the weekend and we are looking forward to the Club’s next trip. report by David.

Message of Thanks

June and Mike Ricketts send their heartfelt thanks to all the helpers who joined them last Friday at the Arena and helped to build the pistes at Bluebell PC’s new home. 

You were all so generous with your time and worked so hard. We really appreciate every thing you did. Let’s hope we get to spend many happy times playing Petanque, all together at the Arena. 

Much love June x