Half Crown Petanque Club Draft

Saturday Melee 4th September
There was a good turn out on 4th September when 16 players competed in our monthly Saturday Melee. There were four unbeaten players after three rounds, the honours going to Rich Powell on +25, just one point ahead of Edna Lewin on +24. Maurice Rendall was a close third with +21 and Bob Burt 4th with +10.

August Saturday Open Melee 7th August
Just 12 players turned out for the Half Crown August Open Melee. After three rounds there were three unbeaten players, the first prize going to Maurice Rendall with a +26 points difference, with John Walker 2nd with +18. Rosaleen Preston was 3rd with +11.

Congratulations to Jim Patrick
Jim Patrick teamed up with Keith Turner from Coventry to compete in the Coventry Open Pairs on Sunday 1st August and secured first place in a good competition.

18 players turned out on a very hot day to contest the July Saturday Melee.
There were just two unbeaten players after three rounds, the honours going to Jim Patrick with +29, just pipping Dave Hancox on +25. Ian Brittain was third with two wins and +11 points.

Congratulations to Geraldine Gardiner and Natalie Turner who won the Coventry Over 60's Pairs Competition on 11th May.

Congratulations are also due to Rich Powell, Philippe Bonnet and Martin Baker - "The Half Crown Subs" - who won the Solihull Open Triples on 16th May, beating another Half Crown team - Los Kimpos (Dave Hancox, Garth Fletcher and David & Janet Kimpton) in the final.

Twelve teams entered the Solihull Open Triples which also doubled as Round 2 of the West Midlands Presidents Cup. The Half Crown Subs won their opening game 13-11 against Barry & Carol Cox (Solihull) and Keith Turner (Coventry) but were then given a wake up call by a team consisting of Dave Mason, Jack Such (Whitnash) and Brian Stote (Coventry) losing 13-10. However the Subs went on to win their final two games 13-3 and 13-5 to sneak into the Semi Finals.
Meanwhile Los Kimpos won all of their four qualifying games. In the semi final they faced Mason, Such and Stote and powered to victory 13-5 to set up an all Half Crown final against the Subs who beat Ian Brittain (Half Crown) and Pete & Teresa Bingham (Warwick) 13-7 in their semi final. Los Kimpos team were looking for revenge over their club colleagues having been beaten by the Subs in the final of the West Midlands Triples two weeks previously. The Subs took an early lead with Philippe Bonnet's shooting prowess being the difference between the two sides. After struggling early on in the day Rich Powell then led the Subs to victory with some accurate pointing and two crucial shots in the final end to give the Subs an emphatic 13-0 win.

Saturday Melee 5th June
20 players turned out on a very hot and sunny afternoon to contest the June Saturday melee. There were three unbeaten players after three rounds, the honours going to Lin Rendall from Whitnash with a +26 points advantage. Ian Brittain was second with +24 and Steve Moores from Whitnash third with +19.

Half Crown Dominate Whitnash Spring triples
34 teams turned out on Sunday 11th April to contest the Whitnash Windmill Spring Triples title, including six teams from The Half Crown PC. The competition was played in almost perfect weather conditions, although it did get very cold in the closing stages.
Three of the Half Crown teams ended in the top eight and qualified for the Gold KO Competition and the big money prizes. Unfortunately two of our teams were drawn together in the quarter final and Jerome Rousseau, Nic Baxter and Jamie Lewis beat Dave Hancox, Rich Powell, Garth Fletcher and David Kimpton in a hard fought tactical game.
The other Half Crown team of Janet Kimpton, Philippe Bonnet and Martin Baker were 3-11 down in their semi final but fought back to secure a sensational win and a final place against Jerome's team to make it an all Half Crown final. Again this was a hard fought contest between players more used to playing with each other, and in the end Jerome's team were champions, picking up the first prize of £120, whilst Janet's team picked up the 2nd prize of £60.

Saturday Melee 1st May
18 players turned out on a dry, if cold, afternoon to contest the May Saturday melee. There were four unbeaten players after three rounds, the honours going to Hugh Evans from Coventry with a +22 points advantage. Ian Brittain pipped Steve Moores from Whitnash with +15 vs +14 points difference, and the Half Crown's Geraldine Gardiner was fourth with +12.

Jacob Tanner competed in the trials for the Juniors Triples at Whittlesey on 28th February.
The EPA have been invited to send two junior teams to an International Event in the Netherlands in May and 10 teams competed in February for the best two teams to be selected to play for England. Jacob Tanner's team won three matches, out of five, losing only to the best two teams in the competition, ending up just 4 points off the play off. This was a great achievement since it was a scratch side, the three boys only having met on the day, and they received a plaudit from the organisers.
Jacob and the team played really well and hope to compete in the Junior Grand Prix Series this year

Half Crown Easter Triples
On Easter Monday, 5th April, 12 teams turned out for the Half Crown Easter Triples. The weather held out well, although it did become very cold towards the end. The winners of the main competition were Rich Powell, Ian Brittain and Brian Stote who were unbeaten on the day, securing a fine win in the final against another Half Crown team - Dave Hancox, Garth Fletcher and Janet Kimpton.
The silver consolage was won by Geraldine Gardiner playing with David Mason and Paul Stoodley.
The bronze consolage was won by Pete and Teresa Bingham, playing with their grandson Jacob.

Brian Price Melee Saturday 3rd April
11 players turned up for Brian Stote's coaching session on Saturday morning and stayed on for the BBQ. They were then joined by a further 29 players for the Brian Price Memorial Melee, including 12 members of the Price family.
These 40 players then enjoyed an exciting afternoon's Pétanque in reasonable weather - with just one annoying shower mid-afternoon. There were five unbeaten players after three rounds, with Tony White (Whitnash) having the best points difference of +28 and winning the Brian Price Memorial Charity Cup. Charlie Caruana (also Whitnash) was 2nd with +24 and Rich Powell was 3rd with +23. £181 was raised for The Air Ambulance.

Congratulations to Ian Brittain
The Half Crown Winter League concluded on Saturday 27th March with Ian Brittain the new champion with 41 points. Bill Bentley, last year's champion, was second with 38 points and Mary Sturgess was joint third with John Emberton on 26 points. The Half Crown Summer League starts on Saturday 3rd April and from then on the Saturday Club will be retimed to start at 2.00pm.