The annual Petanque England Inter-Regional competition was held at Hayling Island last weekend
14th – 15th September, to which the Welsh Petanque Association had their much-appreciated invitation.
This professionally well organised and most enjoyable event was held in glorious sunshine and, as in previous year, lived up to all its expectations of competitiveness and enjoyment of the sport of petanque.
It gave the WPA squad a chance to catch up with old friends and make some new ones for the future and as always to compete at their very best throughout the competition.
With the sad news of one of the most respected and liked Welsh players, Peter Westall, passing away prior to the event, the determination of the Welsh squad was stronger than ever and although some of the results did not go their way there was no relenting from the task they had set themselves, right down to the last boule of the very last game which saw Wales 7 (Super Sue Foster – Sean Smith – Jeremy Clare and Captain, Jayne Dunn) in a fierce battle with Great Western 8 both sides giving nothing away and with the full support from both squads cheering every boule made a thrilling end to the tournament
WPA winning 13 – 10 but overall a 4 -4 squad draw, a fitting result to end the day.
The WPA would like to expresses their appreciation to PE for our invitation and all involved for their hard work on organising this tournament and hope to see you all again next year.
Thank you to all of the players who represented the WPA in this event your determination and team spirit throughout this occasion was second to none, well done, Peter would have been proud of you I’m sure.
Thanks to Wales 8 (Wally Wilkinson – Dai Bevan – Ian Wheeler – Tania Howard) for providing our base camp gazebo much appreciated.
A big thank you goes to Matthew Clare who stepped in and took on the task of squad manager ensuring all teams went to the correct lanes, scores were entered correctly and signed by team captains, before handing them in to the control desk. A daunting task of responsibility at the best of times but for a junior to have the confidence to take the task on, was exceptional. Well Done Matthew
Finally a huge thank you to Ken Aston for his generosity in sponsoring the new WPA representational shirts, very much appreciated by all members.
