134th Post: At the risk of Droning On....
Two New Pistes:
The two piste extension is up, readyand in use. Our thanks to Alan Bennett for the aerial footage using his drone camera. Already we are reaping the benefits of the extra facilities with no pressure on numbers wishing to play, in competitions or otherwise. The school will have the benefit, also, on return after the holidays.
The two new benches are due within the month. Our thanks to Nigel for designing and creating the three new scoreboard holders.
The two new benches were installed today 18-07-24 in the rain! One is wheelchair accessible. We will stain the table/seat parts to deter graffiti as we did with the previous benches. We must wait for a dry day! The contractors also replaced the damaged timber on Piste B. Photos courtesy of Ciarán, Tom B and Tom D.
Stained today to hopefully deter graffiti!
Friday Night Social Boules:
The Friday Night Boules is going steadily. We had over twenty tonight including two local ladies for whom it was their first experience, Elizabeth and Phil. Hamed's son Nathan, who played on Bastille Day came along and enjoyed the games with a variety of members. They enjoyed their games and were well integrates by the members.
New Practices:
The Pistes have been redesignated A to F starting with the piste closest to the school.
Our thanks to Ciarán and Tom B for shifting the mound of grit and redistributing it across the pistes. They will settle even more and the novelty factor will wear off and we will become better 'lobbers' and 'shooters', in the meantime.
We are now using just one ring during Competition, which is accepted practice in IPA competitions and other clubs. Now the last player throwing has to remember to collect the ring.
The ring is then placed over the 'Jack/Coche' as the start point for the next end [another thing to remember!] . However, if you don't have 10.5 m ahead of you the throwing team may move the ring back in line so they have their desired distance between 6 and 10.5m from the dead ball line.
If [and only if] there is no direction in which the jack can be thrown to the maximum distance… the player may step back, in line with the previous end's line of play, but without going beyond the maximum distance allowed for the throwing of the jack.
We are now using just one trolley now from the storage box. We have 6 rings, 6 scoreboards and 6 tapes. The tapes are now kept in a separate bag to the pegs.
NB. Please make sure you return the selection cards to the clear plastic box each time after piste selection. Even one card going missing is messy! Also, please ensure the gear is securely locked away after play. Best if one or two players use the store for each group.
Malahide Boules Club [ MBC ] reciprocal visit to BBC.
We are due to host Malahide Boules Club here on Tuesday 30th July with play starting at 10:30. Both clubs had a great response, Malahide hope to have 13 players in attendance and we have 22, on last count, so we're up close to the magic 36 - out total complement.
As we were treated to refreshments in Malahide we are intending getting platters of sandwiches [ as with the Christmas function] and have the afters in The Bayside Inn c. 1p.m. where players can use the toilet facilities and have a drink or tea/coffee. To fund the food we are asking our group of players to contribute €5 each on the day which should feed both teams with any overrun paid from BBC funds.
A couple of our players will be asked to volunteer to play with Malahide.
A photo from Malahide last September 2023.
Some BBC members represented the IPA at a French Festival in Portarlington on Sat 13th July. The day was lovely and the venue, Solas Eco Garden Centre, was a surreal experience. While we introduced the sport on astroturf it was nonetheless hugely enjoyable and there was a small prize for the top three players. Eileen, Yvonne, Terry and Tom really enjoyed the experience. Ciarán has uploaded a lovely reel of our visit on our Facebook Page
Shooting Practice:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2084291871964535
Bastille Day Boules:
The BBC event for French National Holiday on the 14th July 2024 was, as usual, a great success. With the weather playing ball we played in the morning. With the two new pistes we had fun activities on all 6 pistes. We had 22 players and all were able to play each activity four times. The winners for each station received a bottle of wine for their efforts. Most wore French tinted attire. Our thanks to the 'CREW' who spent the best part of an hour setting up the arena for members enjoyment. We don't take your efforts for granted. Many thanks.
BBC League Competition:
As promised the new League Competition which was open to all members started on Monday 01-07-24. We can see from the WEEK 2 score sheet below, that new players are trying the Weekly Singles Competition. Welcome to Marie, Terry, John O, Eddie and Hamed who have recently joined the Competition. Charlie heads the table after Week 2.
Our thanks to Ciarán for continuing to run the competition and retain the stats for future standings.
Shooting Practice:
We purchased 3 Boules + Chains to support our shooting practices. We are looking for members to
design a 'holder' for individual or multiple Boules+Chains. The structure can not be like the Belturbet [Cavan Petanque Association] one which is permanent and heavy. We need stable, portable, resilient structure/s that will serve the purpose. It can be for a single unit or multiple use.
Send a photo of your design to Tom D 0874115145 before August 1st. Eddie is the first to send in a design possibility.
Mike Deegan Memorial Trophy:
The annual event is in St Anne's on Friday 26th July. We remember Mike but also Kitty Rowland and Shay Coyne and any others indisposed at present. This may become our annual Remembrance Event. Nigel and Tom will not compete but rather run the event for those who show up. Play will start at 10:30 so please be present by 10 a.m to organise the Singles tournament. We hope to be finished by 12:30 so we can retire to the Red Stables for a coffee.
2023
Day trip by train on Sat. Aug 10th. We have 7 members currently travelling. We'd like to make it 10+.
If interested, please contact Tom D For train times etc. Should be a great outing at a lovely location.
Precision Shooting Competition:
Dirk, Ciarán and Tom D were due to compete next Sunday in the IPA Precision Shooting Competition in Bushy Park. It has been postponed to a later date. Disappointing.
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