Bayside Boules Club - Alden Park

This Saturday morning following the extreme rain of the past few days seven locals braved the elements to play.  The rain held off for an hour and a half and we had a very enjoyable session.  Two attendees are not in picture. We have had a few instances of littering and loitering at the benches recently but thankfully no further defacement of the new facility.  We cleared up the rubbish left behind following one nightime session. We hope to have new starter sets of boules for beginners next week.  The 'formal' introductory sessions are being advertised at a few points in the park.  At present most takers are understandably from Verbena Park but as the weather improves in Spring and with more players available to introduce others to the game expansion is probable.   By summertime 2020 a managed schedule may be necessary for access without over attendance.

Start watching Petanque / Boules on You Tube to see the game played at a high level with the rules in operation. This is the English translation of the official rules of the French Petanque Association.... http://www.irishpetanque.org/assets/fipjp-rules-of-the-game.pdf For a simpler read ........ The Rules of Petanque   Nothing quite says summer like the clink of Pétanque balls. Pastis and Gallic shrugs optional! Pétanque (or Boules) is played in two teams with two sets of differently marked boules. You can play in teams of two (3 boules each); three (2 each) or one against one (3 each). 1. Draw a circle on the ground (or use a coiled rope or commercial ring ), 50cm in diameter. 2. Toss a coin to decide who starts. A player from team one stands in the circle and throws the jack/cosh (the small wooden ball) to land 6 to 10m from the circle, and a metre away from any other object. Team one throws a first boule as close as possible to the jack.

One of those days.....grey and grim with the constant threat of rain but the lure of the Boules proved more attractive than the daunting weather for a few well-clad locals. Seven players made their way to the 'PLAYGROUND'  to sample the delights of the Mediterranean sport with the thermals stuffed into the socks. Getting the 'starter sets' of Boules, so that they can play at any time, might have added to their enthusiasm in the face of the forecast.  We have four different colours to help with identification during play. The rain held off for the hour and a half and armed with the new boules we had a great session of competitive fun.  The measuring tape was highly sought after as 'home-town' decisions were queried! As we can see there are no 'losers' in Boules....only winners!  A pity that our only lady player, Agnes,  had just departed before the photo.  She'll feature in many more, I'm certain. The sessions on Saturday morning

Dry, cold morning with five from St. Anne's Park group and four from Verbena.  Our thanks to the trainers from St. Anne's who are giving their time and expertise to get the boules rolling so to speak! The benches are proving to be very valuable for keeping our gear together and off the ground.    We're grateful to Mike, one of the St. Anne's party for making the scoreboards and donating them to us.   I've posted laminated posters similar to the one below at suitable locations near the perimeter of the park.  Each will have the date of the next training session with boules provided.  As some residents can't play on Sat. mornings we will have some weekday morning sessions over the winter time, weather permitting.  

Playing Boules / Petanque in Alden Park Despite the wintry weather play has started on Saturday mornings.  We are trying to introduce the game to local residents.  Players from the Wednesday Boules Group from St. Annes's Park, Raheny have supported these introductory sessions. We hope to continue these sessions for a few months into 2020 and as residents gradually become familiar with the game and the rules we will schedule slots for play in the mornings and afternoons. The equipment required is not expensive but not readily available in Ireland yet. However, Decathlon, the french sports store is set to open in Dublin next year so equipment should be simpler to access. The supporters from St. Anne's Park have been very impressed by the facility and they hope the facility in St. Anne's Park will be upgraded to a similar standard. Saturday November 2nd. Saturday November 9th. The first flyer in an attempt to get recruits to play Bou

Teething Issues  ..... As happens with public facilities the more we use them the more things we find that need to be addressed.  Our joy at the new facility was predictably but unfortunately dampened when the new benches were daubed in salacious graffiti within a week.  We have photos of the damage but they are not suitable to display here.  We hope the defacers will one day enjoy the game and support community endeavours. A couple of residents spent some hours, in fortunately dry weather, sanding down the benches and putting three separate coats of Woodstain on the flat surfaces of the benches.  We hope that they are left undamaged for community use in the future.  We also collect the rubbish as there is no bin provided in the park. Issues to be addressed: 1:  We would like to have a metre-wide pathway around the whole facility as spectators / players like to move forward to view the progress of the game, in safety and without having to walk on the grass, even

Construction of the Boules / Petanque area in Alden Park. Following up on our clean-up of Alden Park we met with a Superintendent representative of Fingal Parks Section and she saw the proposed area for the development of the Boules Pistes.  She was broadly supportive of the proposal but she had to research Mapping, Funding and Quantity Survey the requirements for such a facility. She visited the Boules area in St. Anne's Park, Raheny.  She took measurements, viewed the layout and took photographs.  She advised that if anything might happen it would probably be for discussion in the estimates for 2020. We were pleasantly surprised, therefore, when we saw that a chosen contractor arrived on site in early October 2019 to start the construction.  While some of us who had experience of playing the game would have liked to be present during the construction, but with some slight reservations, we are very happy with the outcome.   They scored the original tarmac surface t

Inspiration from Bayside Community Association actions. The crew from BCA gave us great advice and support following their 'Tidy-Up' of the 'Lamb Chop Park' on Bayside Park which, like our own Alden Park, had very limited use over the years.  Now it contains a Children's Playground, the Community Area, and a Nature / Conservation Trail.  Pride in the area has risen as a result.  None of these facilities happened by accident but rather through the driven ambition of a dedicated group in conjunction with their local representatives and the officials in Fingal Co. Co. Parks Section.  The results of the co-operation is manifest in the photos. The Community Garden The Winter Garden The Enchanted Garden The Children's Playground and Adult  Exercise Machines