8th November

Junior Weekend of Excellence

The EPA MC is pleased to confirm that our Junior/Cadet Weekend of Excellence will take place on 28^th & 29^th November 2009 at Whittlesey Bowls & Pétanque Complex, 194-198, Station Rd, Whittlesey, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. PE7 2HA.

As with last year, the event is open to juniors and cadets who have not attended previous EPA Weekend of Excellence.

Places are initially limited to 2 juniors per region. 

If your Region has more than two juniors wishing to attend the event then they will be added to a reserve list providing they have been nominated on the application form.  If all places are not filled by other regions, then those on the reserve list who have not been before will be invited to attend prior to any juniors who have attended in the past are offered a chance to return again.

The weekend will begin at 10:00 on the 28th finish by about 17:30 on the 29th.

For further details please contact

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7th November

Hoax Email

Over the last few days a number of hoax emails have been sent by a hacker from the email address of Bruce Rowland, London Region President.

The email claims that Bruce is in Lagos, Nigeria and has lost his wallet containing his credit card and money, it goes on to ask for a loan of £550 to help Bruce get back to the UK - It is a hoax DON'T send any money!

Bruce is at home in London and unable to access his email account so he has now setup a new address bruce.rowland13@gmail.com

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2nd November

EPA Ballot

Due to a candidate for the Presidency and a candidate for one of the 6 MC Regional vacancies withdrawing their nominations a postal ballot is no longer required.

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14th October 2009

National Membership Secretary

We are pleased to announce that Angie Gaughan, Northern Region has agreed to join the Management Committee replacing Corinne Cooter as EPA National Membership Secretary until the 2010 AGM.

Angie is dealing with all membership matters under the guidance of Corinne until the 2009 AGM after which she will be officially co-opted by the MC.

Her contact details have been sent to all Regional Membership Secretaries and an email address will be published soon.

We are grateful to Angie for stepping in midterm and wish Corinne all the very best.

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8th October 2009

World Championship - Juniors, Tunisia

Reece Gould, Ross Jones, Max O'Rourke & Sam Blakey along with Kevin Moss, Head of Delegation and Gareth Sullivan, Team Manager represented the EPA at the World Championship - Juniors in Tunisia

Our results in the qualifying rounds which was played to Swiss system/timed games was

 

This took us into the Nations Cup which was a knockout event.
Unfortunately we lost in the first round against Tunisia 1.

During the Championship the FIPJP held the World Shooting Championship - Juniors.  Our Sam Balkey scored 18 points missing the cut for the 2nd round by just 1 point

You can see the full results of the World Championship - Juniors by following this link - Junior World Championship website

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7th October 2009

Honorary Life Membership

In recognition for their services to our sport the EPA Management Committee is delighted to award Honorary Life Membership to

Corinne & Mark Cooter

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3rd October 2009

World Championship - Women

The EPA Management Committee (MC) is disappointed to announce that it will not now be sending a team to the Ladies World Championships this year.

Unfortunately the team that won the EPA Ladies qualifying series decided they did not want to go as they felt "the team was not strong enough without a 4th player".

The place was then offered to the runners up in the series but unfortunately two of the team members could not go.

The EPA MC will not insult the integrity of the Ladies World Championships by sending any lower placed teams or by 'making up' an untried team from the remaining members of the first and second placed teams.

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8th September 2009

Inter-Regional Championship & Challenge Tournament

Unfortunately this year we have an odd number of regions (7) taking part in Division 2.
Arrangements for the “Combined Squad” including chalet bookings had already been made by the time we were told that our Great Western Region would not be taking part in the Championship and that Devon and Kernow were again combining to make 1 squad.

Although we could simply introduce byes to each region on Saturday it would present us with problems which includes issues over the ranking/byes for the second day (Sunday).

To overcome this we are amending the format slightly.

The 7 regions are playing each of the other 6 twice, i.e. 12 rounds, the change will be in the formula for the playing order to avoids the need for byes.

For example Isle of Wight 1,3,5 & 7 may (subject to the draw) be playing against Kernow/Devon 1, 3 5 & 7 and Isle of Wight 2,4,6, & 8 could be playing against  London 2,4,6 & 8 and London’s 1,3,5 & 7 against Sussex 1,3,5 & 7 and so on…  as clear as mud?  I’m sure all will become clear as we progress during the first day

We appreciate that this may cause some problems for the squad managers but working together will mean this change should not affect anyone’s enjoyment or the competitiveness of the Championship.

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26th August 2009

 Grassroots sport and recreation to benefit from BingoLotto launch

Sports and recreation clubs across the UK are set to benefit from the launch of an interactive TV game, BingoLotto. Participants will be able to buy a £2 Gamecard at the check-outs at every Tesco store throughout Britain and each Gamecard will raise 40 pence for good causes. The TV game, hosted by Ulrika Jonsson, will air weekly on Virgin 1 every Sunday evening starting on 13 September.

The BingoLotto TV game has run in Sweden since 1991 where it has raised just under £1bn for charities and sports organisations. At least 20% from each Gamecard sold in Great Britain will be distributed to sport, recreation and voluntary projects up and down the country through CCPR and the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). Profits will be distributed to the governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation through a ‘community interest company’ structure set up by CCPR, the umbrella body for these organisations.

The funding for sport and recreation will be spent on new and enhanced programmes of activity at grassroots level and also on special projects, such as infrastructure improvement and capacity building, for which funding is currently unavailable.

Tim Lamb, CCPR chief executive, believes the investment distributed to CCPR members can make a big difference to community sport and recreation:

“It is CCPR’s role to protect, promote and provide for its members, their clubs and participants and BingoLotto proceeds have the potential to contribute to all three of our aims. The financial environment for clubs is still very tough and this new funding stream will hopefully give them a much-needed boost.”

As part of Tesco’s promotion they are hoping to involve clubs in local stores on certain dates.  In order to assist with this we are asking if you are able to help in indentifying one of your clubs in a Tesco store in one of the towns highlighted below.  If this is something you can help with please contact:-

, EPA Director of Promotions

Tesco store areas and dates seeking clubs to participate are as follows:

Thursday 10th September	Friday 11th September	Saturday 12th September	Sunday 13th September
Swansea Cheshunt Leicester Liverpool	Cardiff Brooklands Leicester Baguley	Newport Gwent Sutton Cheam Coventry Chester	Talbot New Malden

For further details of the scheme, visit www.bingolotto.tv.

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21st August 2009

Home Nations Championship 2009

This year the Championship was hosted by the Welsh Pétanque Association in Swansea.

 EPA Squad & Full Results

Senior teams (1-8) report & Junior teams (9-10) report

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9th August 2009

EuroCup 2009 - 1st Round (Group B)

by: Alan (The Rock) Newland
The Engine entertained PUK HAARLEM from Holland and SLOGA from Sloveniia. The Engine terrain being too small, the tie was held at the Irish Club Letchworth. Both visiting teams arrived on friday afternoon, a reception was held at the Engine in the evening and get to know you games were played before the serious stuff on Saturday. All three National Anthems were played before start of play which got under way at 9.30 in front of a decent crowd. The Engine team consisted of Matt Eversden, Miles Gooda, Alan Newland, Myra Huntley, Phil Winston, Jeremy Huntley & Danny Sims. The Holland team inculded several internationals, were expected to prove tough opposition, but it was the Slovenian team that surprised everyone with their ability as well. After two days intense competition the results were.
 
Engine PC 1  PUK Haalem 6
Engine PC 3 Sloga 4
PUK Haarlem 5 Sloga 2
 
Puk Haarlem qualified for the next round on October 4th in France.
 
Over the weekend many friendships were made, a trip to Slovenia is planned. A truly memorable weekend. Petanque at its best. Our thanks to Paolo and the Cuckoos, and to the E.P.A. for officiating.

by: Graham Elcome
Over the course of the weekend 3 teams met at the N.H.I.A. club Letchworth. They were the Engine (England), Sloga Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Puk Haarlem (Netherlands). The play consisted of rounds of triples and doubles with mixed and single gender teams.

The visiting teams were hosted by the Engine from Friday evening through to Monday morning. The Engine were the perfect hosts throughout the weekend, arranging accommodation, transport and food which included a buffet and BBQ with live entertainment on Saturday night.

With the 3 national flags fluttering in the background the opening ceremony started with the presentation of the teams  welcomed by the EPA National President, Mike Pegg and the Chiltern Regional President, Jonathan Sewell.  After their shorts welcoming speeches the 3 National Anthems were played, all under a clear blue 'Letchworth' sky.

Play commenced promptly at 9:45 and continued throughout the day with a very high standard maintained but with rather more exceptional shooting and pointing from the Netherland teams. The playing programme was comfortably adhered to with a climatic last triples game of the day between the Engine and PUK Haarlem that went to 12 all before the final winning point was won by the Netherland team.

Sunday morning started off overcast but brightened up during the course of the morning and again a high standard of play from the Netherland teams. The English teams played very well and were only just defeated in some very long close fought games.

The last game of the day was against Puk Haarlem and Sloga Ljubljana and was another stunner at 12 all with the Netherlands winning. With a few seasoned international players it was predicted that the Netherlands teams were the favourites to win this group, the big surprise was the high standard of play from the Slovenia teams.  Play concluded at about 1.30pm after which team and group photos were taken and a presentation of gifts from the EPA were made to the visitors.

Having spoken to the visiting teams they were clearly very happy with the venue and very impressed with the hospitality and organisation which went without a hitch.

Our congratulations to the Engine PC for not only the efforts of playing but also for their excellent hospitality making this such a successful weekend of boules.

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28th July 2009

Men's European Championship/2010 Triples World Championship

Thanks to the success of our team that took part in the Men's European Championship in Nice, France the EPA will be invited to join the other 24 European Nations to take part in the 2010 Triples World Championship.

Well done to Chris Allen, Greg Davenport & Rowland Jones

Congratulations also to our friends the Welsh Pétanque Association who also qualified...

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18th July 2009

National Membership Secretary

I was saddened to be informed that Corinne Cooter intends to stand down as the Associations National Membership Secretary at our AGM in November.

I have spoken to Corinne and fully understand her reasons which include having enough of the moans and groans, particularly when the Management Committee give up so much of their time for the benefit of the members.

She feels that after 5 years on the management committee it is the right time for others to step forward to give their support for the running of the sport.

Corinne will be a hard act for anyone to follow; she is a dependable hardworking member of the MC and I know she will be greatly missed by the MC and Regional Membership Secretaries alike as we have all come to depend on her counsel and support.

Corinne’s resignation may give the Association some practical difficulties as her appointment was a 2 year term and constitutionally we can only co-opt someone to the role for 1 year.  I hope that a volunteer will come forward soon so that they can work with Corinne to effect a smooth transition.

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13th July 2009

Junior World Championship

The EPA M.C. is delighted to announce that the team invited to represent the Association and its members at the FIPJP World Championship for Juniors in Monastir, Tunisia is:

Samual Blakey, Reece Gould, Ross Jones & Max O'Rourke
Junior World Championship Website

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5th July 2009

EPA European Championship for Men Team

The EPA MC was saddened to learn of Ashley Jamieson's accident whilst riding his mountain bike.  We understand that he has broken his elbow/arm and won't be able to play pétanque for quite some time.

Ashley is a member of the team that is to represent the EPA at the European Championship for Men in just two weeks time.  He was due to meet up with Chris Allen and Greg Davenport who along with Vanessa Webb will be representing the Association at the French "EuroPétanque event held the weekend before the Championship.

With such little time to make any other arrangements and with possible extra costs involved the MC are grateful to the teams suggestion to replace Ashley with Rowland Jones, another Premier League player.  Fortunately for all concerned Rowland is able to travel with the team which means the full team will now have the benefit of taking part in the EuroPétanque event as preparation for playing in the European Championship.

I'm sure you all join us in wishing Ashley a speedy recovery and of course our team Bonne chance

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3rd June 2009

Safeguarding Vulnerable & Junior Members

The EPA MC is aware of the new Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). We are also aware there are some minor changes to legislation this autumn, but that the key parts of the Act relevant for sport will not have an impact until July 2010.

This gives the EPA MC a full year to prepare and to provide clear guidance for members at every level of our organisation but until the Government has issued the guidance specific to the sport and leisure sector the EPA MC is not in a position to make detailed plans, nor to consult in an informed way with members.

The EPA MC will work closely with the CCPR and other relevant organisations to plan, consult and deliver information and guidance to members in such a way that ensures our organisation and its members are fully compliant with the requirements of the Act.

In the meantime the EPA MC  strongly advises members to follow all the EPA MC  guidance on best practice in safeguarding vulnerable and junior members.