Wheatsheaf
Pétanque
Club

STARTING SOON!!

Winter Mêlées will start on Sunday 15th November at 12pm.

Wrap up warm and join us!!

12th-16th November 2009

Well done to the girls (Gemma Foster, Jill Brace, Gay Murphy and Barbara Vaughan) who travelled to Thailand this weekend to represent Wales in the Women's World Championships. Friday night, we were drawn against the USA in the first round, and after a 'late' start we took the win 8-3. Next round - Hungary, after 45mins, the scoreline was 3-4 to Hungary, a tough game but they pulled away and we lost 4-11. Saturday morning saw us face New Zealand, a disappointing game where we really didn't do ourselves justice and lost 5-11. But hey, they were nice and swapped shirts with us at the end of the competition!! Fourth round brought Slovakia, another disappointment. We tried to play a more complicated game but they played as if they were at the Wheatsheaf rolling their boules all over the piste - we lost 5-13. The final game before the competition was split, we got Monaco. French speaking, French coaches, they looked experienced and we were expecting another crashing defeat. We outplayed them by far and won 9-6! Our 2 wins put us into the Nations Cup where we drew Hungary again in the first round. We put on a much stronger performance this time and really had them worried. At 12-7 up however, their shooter decided she wasn't going to miss another shot and she pointed well too. After 2 and a half hours, we lost 12-13. Completely gutted to have been that close to the second round but pleased with our efforts and the experience. (This we felt much later on!!) Jill also bravely took part in the shooting competition on Friday morning - she did very well and scored 11 - 2nd best result in Wales - well done Jill!!

We'd like to thank everyone who has supported us before the trip and would be happy to show pics and share what we learned and experienced.

Sunday 8th November 2009

The Champion of Champions took place at The Wheatsheaf this year. The top 2 teams from each division in the BIG League took part. Representing The Wheatsheaf was our A team, they were runners up in Division 1 and also our D team who were runners up in Division 3. Home advantage worked a treat, although not until the last games were played - well done to the A Team who took the title by 1 game!!

Sunday 18th October 2009

The Stuart Clark Cup was held at The Wheatsheaf for the 4th year running today. The competition was limited to 20 teams, who must be WPA members. Well done to Jake and Gemma who finished Runners Up in the Plate Competition. The Main Competition saw Neil Dobbins and Cyrille Royer battle it out against Ian Bailey and Matthew Franks. Despite the scoreline of 13-1, Neil and Cyrille had a tough game to finally win the day's competition. Thanks to everyone who took part and enjoyed the lovely weather!!

Sunday 11th October 2009

Wenvoe PC held the Celtic Challenge Qualifier this year in anticipation of hosting the competition next year. 22 teams entered and got very wet!! The top 8 qualified to play next year. Well done to Jake, who finished in 6th place with team mates Scott Murray (Penarth PC) and Paul Mayfield (Caerleon RFC).

September 19-20th 2009

A good weekend was had by all those WPA members who represented Wales this year at the EPA Inter-Regional Competition at Brean Sands. Wales were hoping to stay in the main competition this year as we usually bounce between Division 1 and 2. Unfortunately, they went back into Division 2 after a tough weekends play. The teams in the Challenge Competition however did very well and finished 3rd, narrowly missing out on the Runners Up spot. Well done to all those Wheatsheaf players who took part - Gemma Foster, Jill Brace, Jake Caston, Steve Brace, Roger Morgan and Gay Murphy.

September 16th 2009

This will be the final melee night for this year on a Wednesday. The Quiz nights will start the following week (23rd). Thanks to all those who have supported the melees. Our Winter melee will start late October - watch this space for dates!

September 6th 2009

The sun was out and 14 of us turned up to play in the Club Singles Competition. We split into 2 leagues of 7 and played a round robin in each league. The winners and runners up in each league played each other in a semi-final: Basil v Roger and Jake v Ged. One close game (Jake losing 12-13 to Ged) and a not so close game (Basil losing 3-13 to Roger) gave us our finalists. In what seemed to be a runaway victory for Ged at 12-1 up, we saw a fight-back from Roger and he came out on top - winning 13-12. Well done Roger and Ged for a great final!!

1st - Roger Morgan

2nd - Ged Beaumont

3rd - Jake Caston

4th Basil White

September 3rd 2009

Both the BIG League and the Cardiff League have now finished - hurray!! Congratulations all round in both leagues.

BIG League

Well done to the D Team, who finished 2nd in Division 3 and are promoted to Division 2. They also got through to the semi-final of the plate competition, losing to a Division 1 side at the Clytha - not an easy terrain! The C Team had a good season and finished 3rd in Division 2. The B Team had a better second half to the season and finished 5th in Division 1. Well done to the A Team who after a tense final week where 3 teams could have won the league, finished 2nd behind Caerleon A. They will now play in the Champion of Champions along with the D Team and the other top 2 teams from each division. (Date and venue TBC)

Cardiff League

Another excellent year from the Squirrels - winning Division 2 in style! 16 wins from 18 matches - a record 61 points. They will now join Wheatsheaf A in Division 1. A somewhat disappointing year for Wheatsheaf A - drawing 9 matches in total! However, after another tense final week where our closest rivals were level on points with us and with the same team to play - we managed another draw and they lost 4 - 0 which gave us the runners up spot for the second year running!! We have to be pleased with that as Monkstone Monarchs have won it for too many years in a row now to mention! Let's hope we can both hold on in Division 1 next year and challenge their record...

August 15th/16th 2009

The Home Nations competition took place this year in Swansea, where the WPA welcomed teams from England and Scotland to compete against the Top 8 Welsh teams who qualified through our Grand Prix series earlier in the year. The pistes certainly turned out to be an interesting leveller for each nation!! England usually run away with the competition towards the end of the first day, this year however their winning margin was narrowed to just 5 games. Well done!!

England 58 Wins

Wales 53 Wins

Scotland 33 Wins

August 9th 2009

As part of their fundraising efforts to help send them to the Ladies World Championships in November, Gemma Foster, Jill Brace and their team organised a doubles competition this Sunday. The 'Thai Pairs Competition' was held at Panteg House and 11 teams turned up for a glorious day of sunshine and boule!! We even managed to get the BBQ going - that has to be a first at Panteg!! The girls would like to give a big thanks to those who came along to support them and helped raise £114 towards their funds.

LOOK OUT FOR THEIR NEXT EVENT - QUIZ NIGHT AT THE ROF GLASCOED ON SEPTEMBER 5TH!!

July 26th 2009

Wales versus The Marches was held this year, for the first time, at The Swan near Hereford. A lovely dry morning eventually gave way to a very wet afternoon - none of us seemed to care by then and Wales successfully retained the winning title with 45 wins to the Marches 27. The top men's side were Jake Caston, Stewart and Gareth Spencer and the top mixed side were Jim and Linda Hutchinson and Berengere Demay. Next year's competition will be back at Brecon.

July 19th 2009

The WPA National Triples competition at The Monkstone - once again in very wet weather conditions!! No surprise that the winners of the main competition were Neil Dobbins, Phil Bradshaw and Cyrille Royer! In the plate final, IRS (Steve Brace, Roger Morgan and Ian Bailey) beat The Hustlers In Disguise (Gemma Foster, Jake Caston and Kevin Hughes) 13 - 5.

July 12th 2009

A double event - our Club Doubles Competition and the Abergavenny Open Triples. The weather was good to us - for a change and a good day was had by all.

At the Wheatsheaf, 7 teams turned up to play. They played a round robin and with a few teams on 5 wins, Tony Warren and Ged Beaumont had a better points difference to win them the title!! Well done boys!!

1st - Ged Beaumont and Tony Warren

2nd - Jim and Linda Hutchinson

3rd - Basil White and Pat Daviss

At Abergavenny, Sue Foster and her partners Kevin and Christine Hughes (Panteg) came runners up in the Plate Competition whilst Jake Caston and his partners Stewart and Gareth Spencer (Abergavenny) were 3rd in the Cup Competition. We also managed to sell the cakes that we didn't sell on Saturday night and raised another £70. Thanks to those who made and bought them all!!

July 11th 2009

A big thank you to those who supported the Club's Fun Day BBQ on Saturday. A good night was had by all - despite the weather and having to have an indoor BBQ!! We were lucky enough to have lots of cakes made for us and plenty of bottles for the bottle stall. At the end of the night, we raised a total of £200. Thanks again for your support!!

July 5th 2009

The WPA National Doubles Competition in Wenvoe saw Jake Caston and his partner Richard Harris (Caerleon PC) lose to Neil Dobbins and Phil Bradshaw in the final - after a rocky start to the morning, god knows how they lade it to the final!! Though they put up a good fight taking 6 points from the winners, who had only had 4 points scored against them all morning!! Well done Jake and Richard!!

June 28th 2009

The Hereford Open was held at its new venue - The Swan @ Letton, just outside Hereford. The Welsh contingent again did well in thie competition - Neil Dobbins, Ian Bailey and Peter Westall winning the main, beating Dai Cannon, Jeff Ball and Mike Jacques in the final. The second competition was also won by a Welsh team and a member of the Wheatsheaf - Jake Caston, Stewart and Gareth Spencer. Well done to everyone!!

June 14th 2009

Henry's Day brought glorious sunshine and a good crowd. The 24 players took part in an open mêlée of 5 games, 3 before and 2 after lunch. The buffet lunch again provided an interesting variety and a large number of sausage rolls, not to mention a giant pasty!! Two people managed to get fannied during the day - well done to Keith and Diana! Pat won a special prize (a pickled egg) for failing to win a game all day! We also presented Marge with a lovely bouquet of flowers for her continued support.

1st - Jake Caston - won all 5 games during the day

2nd - Kon Tomcyk - 4 wins

3rd - Jill Brace - 4 wins

Steve Brace entered the National Singles Competition in Penarth and congratulations to him for winning the competition! Beating WPA President, Tony Smith in the final. Well done Steve!!

June 12th 2009

18 of us went bowling and 18 of us found out that not all boule skills are transferable!! An enjoyable evening saw Sue Mitchell winning a rubber duck scrunchie for the Most Ducks (missing all ten pins), Mike North and Carmen Cook won wooden spoons for finishing bottom Male and Female, Jake Caston and Gemma Foster won a bottle of wine for the Highest Male and Female scores. We then went for the all you can eat indian buffet next door - with a few of us trying to compete for the most number of visits to the buffet counter!! Ged won for the ice cream round!! We look forward to the next event...

May 24th 2009

We had 6 teams at the Club Triples and the weather turned up too! It was a very hot and very long day, but was enjoyed by all. We played a round robin so everyone played everyone else. After lunch each team was in with a chance. In the end 3 teams finished with 3 wins and only points difference separated them, the winning team had 4 wins and a good few bottles of wine to celebrate! Only 1 fanny on the day - well done to Basil and Gail!!

1st - JST (Jill, Steve and Tony)

2nd - French Tarts (Kon, Barbara and Sue)

3rd - The Leftovers (Jake, Gemma and Gay)

May 17th 2009

The WPA Ladies Qualifier was held at The Wheatsheaf. Four teams entered and played a double round robin format - everyone played each other twice. Despite the VERY wet weather, it was a successful day for Wheatsheaf members. Sue and her team got off to a great start, winning their first 2 matches - putting them in the lead going into the afternoon round. On the other hand, Jill and Gemma's team got off to a slow start and lost their first 2 matches - starting the afternoon in last place! They did well though and won the first 2 matches after lunch, Sue's team won their first. This meant that the result would depend on the last game and the points that were scored. At 10-0 down Sue's team managed a fight back to 13-9 but lost. This meant that Jill, Gemma and Bérengère (Abergavenny) finished top and won the competition with 4 wins and a points difference of +16. Second place went to Tansy (Caerleon), Gay (Wenvoe) and Julie (Abergavenny) with 4 wins and +5. The girls now qualify to represent Wales in the World Championships in Thailand in November. Obviously this is going to be a costly trip so look out for the fundraising events over the next few months! Well done girls!

May 10th 2009 

The WPA Grand Prix series came to an end at Brecon a fortnight ago, with one of our members and his team finishing in the top 8 teams - well done Jake and the Dischromatics! They played today at Pentwyn Leisure Centre in a competition to seed the top 8 teams, this would determine the top 6 teasm who would then be eligible for international invitations to various competitions. They ended up 7th - the same position that they went into the competition in. They will now represent Wales in the Home Nations (Swansea) in August and the EPA Inter-Regional Competition (Brean) in September.

Well done also to Roger, Steve, Jill and Gemma who qualified in the top 12 - they will represent Wales in the EPA Inter-Regional Competition (Brean).

May 2nd-3rd 2009

We would like to wish Jake all the best for this weekend when he represents the club and Wales in the Celtic Challenge in Cork, Ireland. Good luck!!

Well done to Jake and the Wales team for a well deserved win at the weekend - though it was a close one! Wales winning by 1 win over Ireland. (Results: Wales 29, Ireland A 28, Scotland 27 and Ireland B 12)

April 22nd 2009

This will be the first Mêlée evening, it is a week later than planned due to the Quiz Nights not quite being finished! We would like to start by 7pm to get the most out of the light so please try to be there for 6:45pm.

April19th 2009

The final round of the Inter-Club Challenge took place today at Abergavenny - thanks to all those members who took part and helped us to win the trophy back for the fourth year running!! Well done team!!

April 12th 2009

Happy Easter!! And well done to those teams who played again in this round of the WPA Grand Prix series - we have members in 3 teams who are in the top 12 of this series of competitions - hopefully they can keep progressing and move up the table!! The final round is at Brecon in a fortnight...

April 5th 2009

The second round of the Inter-Club Challenge was held today at The Swan, Letton. Another lovely sunny day and even though we only won 7 out of 16 games, thanks to our lead from the home round, we managed to keep our lead. At the end of this round Wheatsheaf had 18, The Marches had 16 and Abergavenny had 14. The next round is at Abergavenny in a fortnight (April 19th).

March 31st 2009

After the BIG League AGM, it was brought to our attention that 4 of our members, who are also members at the ROF but play for us in the Cardiff (WPA) League would not be covered by their WPA insurance policy when playing for the ROF at home. In order to rectify this, the Wheatsheaf Committee held an extraordinary meeting and have decided to make the ROF a subsidiary of The Wheatsheaf for the purpose of insurance cover. This will have no effect on any of our members, except for the 4 who are members of both clubs. In order to be covered by the Welsh Pétanque Association's insurance policy, you have to be a member of the WPA. You can join for £10 annually, through the website or Gemma. We do recommend that you join - for insurance purposes as well as then being able to compete in a number of other competitions outside of our club - however this is a personal choice and not compulsory.

March 23rd 2009

The BIG League AGM took place at Panteg House. The league will start on Monday 27th April. Due to the number of players who would like to play in the league this year, we have entered a fourth team - Wheatsheaf D Team. This year we have our A and B teams in Division 1, the C team in Division 2 and the new D team in Division 3. The main outcomes of the meeting were:

• the Champion of Champions competition will consist of the top 2 teams from each of the 3 divisions playing a round robin format at the end of the season
• substitutes can be used during a league match, they MUST be declared at the start the match and are the obliged to play, changes can only be made at the end of a game
• league matches are NOT allowed to be re-arranged unless the weather conditions are unplayable (teams must then agree to play the fixture at the away teams venue, replay the match in the same week or if this cannot be agreed, the points are shared)
• in Division 3 there will be a bye for 1 team each week, if a team who has a bye wants to play a game then the Newport High School Old Boys (NHSOB) have a few players who would be grateful of a game

March 22nd 2009

Today was the first round of the Inter-Club Challenge, a competition between Abergavenny PC, The Marches and ourselves. This round was held at The Wheatheaf and what a lovely sunny day!! In this competition, each club has a squad of 8 players (4 pairs) who are seeded 1-4. Seeds 1+2 from each club play each other and seeds 3+4 do the same. This means 16 points are up for grabs for each club at the end of the day. After this round, Abergavenny have 6, The Marches have 7 and we have 11. Obviously we had a home advantage today so let's hope we can keep ahead and win for the 4th consecutive year!! The next round is at The Swan, Letton for The Marches home round on April 5th.

March 18th 2009

Jake and Steve have kindly spent some time up at the pub and have laid more stone dust on top of the pistes to repair them, as discussed at the AGM. Thanks both!!

March 8th 2009

10 of our club members took part in the first round of the WPA Grand Prix Qualifiers this Sunday at Panteg. All teams did well despite freak weather conditions!! Two teams managed to finish in the top 8, which would qualify them for international competition (Home Nations and Brean) - however there are another 3 rounds so we'll keep you posted and wish everyone luck!!

March 2nd 2009

Our AGM was held at the Wheatsheaf Inn. Only 19 members were present. The main outcomes were:

• Jake Caston was elected as Chairman, the rest of the Committee remained the same.
• Our A and B teams in the BIG League are going to select a squad of 6 players at the start of the season, to help ease absences during the summer.
• Teams playing at home are to pay subs to contribute to refreshments provided by our landlady.
• Newer members would like to have some coaching on a Wednesday night, to be organised with Christine Hutchinson at the start of the season.

March 1st 2009

The final round of the Welsh Cup for Clubs was held today at Wenvoe. We played against The Barn and had our best result of the competition - a 7-0 win! This was enough to keep us in second place behind the Monkstone, who will now be put into a draw to find out who they will play in the European Cup for Clubs.

February 22nd 2009

After the second round of the competition, held at The Monkstone Inn, we are now lying in second place with 15 wins, the Monkstone are top with 19 and have a match in hand! Caerleon are hot on our heels with 13 but we hope to have a good win against The Barn at Wenvoe this Sunday (1st March) and fingers crossed someone takes some points from The Monkstone!!

February 15th 2009

The Wheatsheaf held the first round of the Welsh Cup for Clubs Competition. We also entered a team who did well on the day, winning 10 out of a possible 14 games. On the day The Wheatsheaf team played Caerleon Pétanque Club and Wenvoe Pétanque Club, winning 5-2 against both sides. Overall the day was a success, Marge (our landlady) served up chunky vegetable soup and our famous faggots and peas for lunch. The next round will be played at the Monkstone Pétanque Club on February 22nd.