Bayside Boules visit to Malahide Boules Club:
Tuesday 5th Sept 2023. After a long-standing invitation to visit the new facility in Malahide Castle grounds, today was the day.
A few players from Bayside assisted in their set up as a club a year ago. They have over 60 names on their books, currently, and their Tuesday morning sessions are their busiest time hence our visit today.
Mark and Zvia were on hand at 10 a.m. raking and setting out the gear and setting up tables and chairs.
We had nine players to their sixteen. They requested a 'versus' competition which, with the very different numbers, was a challenge. All the BB players played three games and the majority of the MB players also played three games.
The weather was spectacularly good and one of their members Aubrey had platters of sandwiches, nibbles and wine at the finale. Our thanks to him and the entire group for their support.
We totted up the scores of our nine BB players over the three games: Total: 235
We totted up the top nine MB scores and they totalled: 271
MB won by a margin of 36 points over the three 35 min. timed games. The had two players who scored the max. 39 points while we had just one player to max out..
We hope to have MBC to Alden Park after Easter and before the Summer next year, 2024, to reciprocate.
Final Friday Night Social Boules for the Season:While the weather didn't help this summer the Friday nights were enjoyed by all. The Boules; the occasional glass; and the music all supported the convivial atmosphere across the weeks. Our thanks to Ciarán for the suggestion and reminder texts.
Saturday Doubles Competition August 26th:The randomly chosen partnership of James and Sean proved a little too strong for Yvonne and Eddie in the successful Doubles Weekend blitz. All who played enjoyed the competition and thanks again to Ciarán for the enthusiasm ands organisation.
Visit to Cavan Petanque Club Sun. 20th August 2023:
Our first 'Official Away Trip' was to Cavan Petanque in Belturbet. They have hosted a few clubs across the country already and our visit was on the cards for some time.
The current President of the IPA is Billy Gleadell who is also a founder member of this precocious club. They had a couple of auspicious visitors including Dawn Kirk the IPA Hon. Sec. and Sylver Breteché, Competition Sec. of the IPA.
We travelled by Bus and cars and all our players arrived in time for the competition. The weather gods smiled on the occasion and with our 20 players and their 15 players competition got underway following the pleasantries.
The surface and the strung boundaries were novel to us and the finer points of competition Play became obvious to us as we played. Rules that we have been lax about were enforced, rightly so. That said, we had a wonderful day's play. We played a varied of games and according to the final tally Cavan, not surprisingly, won the event.
They provided a wonderful array of eats and drinks before the presentation. We put our donations in a box to help defray the costs of the food and drink. Thankfully the toilets and changing rooms were open despite the bar being out of bounds.
Tom Donnellan was presented with the bespoke trophy as 'best?' player from BB and Billy's brother was presented with the MVP for CPC. Dawn was awarded the overall trophy for her efforts on the day and her work on behalf of the IPA.
We presented the hosts with two presentation packs of HOPE Craft Ale from one of our local businesses at Howth Junction. We had a wonderful day with great hosts and a reciprocal visit is on the cards for next year. Our 'green caps' were a simple identifier for our members on the day.
Ciarán's Innovative Shooting Competition:
We know that one of the improvements needed in our game is for more people to try the skill of 'Shooting'. It is not all about power but more about accuracy in the air. The 'power' can come from the legs as much as the arms. His games provided an opportunity to practice over varied distances. Ciarán, Tom and Michael won the main prizes followed by Eddie and Nigel.
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