Norman Guest 1921-2010

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Norman Guest (EPA Anglia Region).

Norman was instrumental in starting pétanque in Norwich back in 1979 when he was asked by the Norwich city council to organise a come and try event.  Sometime afterwards the Norwich Pétanque club was formed followed by several other clubs all due to Norman’s influence. 

Following this growth in the area the BPA decided to separate Norfolk and Suffolk and formed the East Anglia Region later to be named the Anglia Region.

Norman held the posts of Regional Umpire for many years; I recall my first National event at British Sugar and asking one of my mates who is that guy that keeps popping out of the shed.  Well of course it was Norman and like everyone else I soon learnt not to ignore the rules or mess with the umpire.

Norman served as Secretary, Chairman of the County, Umpire and Public Relations Officer of the Region.  He was also the Secretary of the Norwich Pétanque Club from its beginning to more recently when he handed over to someone he trusted would do the job in his style. 

Regardless of which office he held Norman was always actively promoting our sport.

With a little help from his region we were able to trick Norman in to attending the 2008 Inter-Regional Championship, it gave me great pleasure, on behalf of our Association, to present him with his Honorary Life Membership Award, a well-deserved award which was made all that more special by the look of surprise and emotion on his face.

When recently Norman was asked if he would consider stepping down from one of his many posts if it became too much, he replied “I don’t know what else I will do". 

Pétanque was his passion and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

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CEP EuroCup - Group C

The Half Crown PC team representing the EPA travelled to Denamrk to compete against Finland and Denmark with the following results

Denmark	v	England	3 - 2							1st Finland - 2 wins
Denmark	v	Finland	2 - 3							2nd Denmark - 1 win
England	v	Finland	2 - 3							3rd England - 0 wins

England Success in Luxembourg

Englands Fay Golder, Sheila King, Joyce Nash and Barbara Sharratt (all from our Kent Region) recently joined 31 other teams to compete in the Kayl Ladies triples in Luxembourg.

In blazing sunshine and extremely high temperatures our team played against Spain, winners of the 2008 Ladies World Championships, in a timed game which they lost by a close margin of  8-11.  However, they went on to beat teams from Israel, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Germany and were the only team to beat DVP of Germany - winners of last years Junior World Championships (so we are told) who went on to be the overall winners by topping  Group A.

The only untimed games were the finals of the 4 groups, in Group B our ladies beat PVRLP Germany in the final and won the Silver Cup.

Due to the high number of contestants, only the top four scorers of the shooting competition rounds, competed against each other for the final placing’s. Spain taking 1^st place & Israel 2^nd.

England came 13^th out of 32 in the shooting, having been red flagged twice and losing valuable points.

Winning Finalists:
Group A - DVP - Germany
Group B - England
Group C - Florange
Group D - Bar le Duc 1 - Luxembourg

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Mens International Qualifiers

The EPA MC is pleased to announce that the winners of the Men's International Qualifying Series are:

Lee Jamieson, James Lewis, Matt Eversden and Dean Seville.

This team will be invited to represent our Association at the 45th World Championship.

for the full results click here

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Womens International Qualifiers

The EPA M.C. is pleased to announce that the winners of the Women's International Qualifying Series are:

Vivien Middleton-Sams, Wendy Ridehalgh, Clare Courtney and Tracey Austin

This team from the EPA's Eastern Region have accepted the invitation to represent our Association in the Women's European Championship

for the full results of the Women's top 8 click here

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Junior European Championship

The EPA Management Committee is pleased to announce that the team of Samuel Blakey, Josh Littley, Emma Longstaff and Samantha Thatcher will be invited to represent the EPA and England at the CEP's European Championship for Juniors which will be held in Montauban, France from 27 to 29 August.

The team won 13 games out of 16 played over the 3 Junior Grand Prix events beating their closest opponent by just 1 game.

For the full results of the Junior Grand Prix series click here

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EPA Titles Weekend

Despite the almost traditional first day weather of driving wind and rain the 85 players in the Singles Championship battled it out all day and after a very exciting final our new Singles Champion is Neil Phillips.

The weather greatly improved for the rest of the Bank holiday weekend which was a blessing for the 54 teams who because of the league and knockout format were playing until almost 10pm on Sunday.  The winners of the Doubles Championship were Sean Newton and Sean Prendergast, both from the Isle of Wight our hosts for the weekend.

Finally on Monday 45 teams took part in the popular Mixed Doubles Championship, our new champions are Paul Brooks and Emma Longstaff.

The EPA Management Committee is very grateful for all the support and help from members of the Isle of Wight region and the Hurricane's PC

for the full results click here

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Life Membership

Highest Award – Life Membership 

The highest award the EPA can give is "Honorary Life Membership" of the Association. This award is given at the discretion of the EPA Management Committee in recognition of services to the game of pétanque. A maximum of three awards may be given in a year.

To give this award the full recognition it deserves and to ensure all candidate proposals are fairly reviewed the EPA MC have appointed a "Life Membership" panel consisting of Ex Presidents who are "Life Members" in their own right.

The MC have, in consultation with the panel, introduced a new protocol which will be applied when proposing and considering candidates for this award.

The details are as follows:

• Life members are appointed by the Management Committee with each nomination being reviewed by an appointed panel of “Life Members”.
• These awards will be presented at The Inter Regional Competition or AGM.
• Members and non-members of the Association can be proposed by any EPA Member, County Region and the EPA Management Committee itself.
• Member’s nominations must be made via their Registered Club or County Region.  In all instances a signed copy of the minutes supporting the nomination must be enclosed with each proposal.
• There is no time bar or restriction regarding the number of times a person can be proposed.
• In reviewing nominations the panel’s main consideration will be the evaluation of the service, involvement and/or contribution made by the nominated person to the game and/or Association.
• All nominations must be submitted to the EPA Secretary by 30th June to ensure consideration in that year.
• Neither the EPA nor the review panel will enter into any correspondence with regard to decisions made. 

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Coaching Course - Club (Grade 3)

The English Pétanque Association Coaching Commission are pleased to offer two separate courses of two days duration for candidates to achieve the EPA 'Club' Grade 3 Coaching Award.

Applicants can opt for either course, stating their choice on the application form, but must attend at the same venue for both dates.

Course 1: Venue - Whitnash Sports and Social Club, nr Leamington, Warwickshire, the home venue of Whitnash Windmill Pétanque Club
Course dates - Saturday, May 22^nd and Saturday, June 19^th, 2010.

Course 2: Venue - Impulse Leisure Centre in Lancing, Sussex, the home venue of Adur Pétanque Club
Course dates - Saturday, July 3^rd and Saturday, July 31^st, 2010.

For further information please click here

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EPA EuroCup

The Half Crown Petanque Club (West Midlands) won the EPA EuroCup (full results click here) and will represent the EPA in the CEP EuroCup

The EPA (England) was drawn in Group C to play against Denmark and Finland in the 1st round.

2 teams from this 3 team group will go through to the next round.

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Arundel Grand Opening

On Sunday, 18^th April, a beautiful warm and sunny day, Arundel Pétanque Club (formerly The Lamb Inn PC) held the official opening of its new terrain at Arundel Football Club. The Mayor of Arundel, Councillor Mrs Wendy Eve, performed the opening ceremony of cutting the ribbon to the accompaniment of party poppers, blowers, cheers and champagne shower. She then threw the first boule of the following triples competition, and was presented with an Arundel club cap, which should go well with the Mayoral Robes!

25 teams from all over the Southern Counties, and from as far away as London, the Isle of Wight and Cardiff, entered the competition, to battle for the shiny new trophy and selection of fine wines.

The morning format was 5 leagues of 4 plus one of 3, with league winners and next best two going into the main section of the afternoon knock-outs. The next best 8 made up the Plate competition and the last 7 went into the Spoon. First round losers in the afternoon were able to carry on playing as there were consolage events for each section.

Only 4 teams won all their morning games. The Welsh Dragons looked to be favourites, grilling Les Escargots with their flames in the first round, but falling asleep (their own words) in the semi-final. The luck of the Irish Shamrocks ran out against the Arundel Aardvarks team to leave the final to be a local derby between the Aardvarks and KGB. The new Arundel Pétanque Club triumphed in its opening competition with players Geoff, Tomasz, Mike and Kath carrying off the Main Trophy.

Arundel teams were strong at the other end of the scale too. Arundel Castles (Peter, Clare and John) winning the first fanny AND Plate Consolage, and DDT (Derek, Dave and Tim) being the friendliest/strongest team, holding all the others up, to win the wooden spoons!

The successful teams were:

Position	Team	Players	Club
Main Winners	Arundel Aardvarks	Geoff Sully Tomasz Rypien Kath Knight Mike Knight	Arundel
Main Runners Up	KGB	Andy Barron Kim Elcome Graham Elcome Bernie Miles	Farmhouse Adur Adur S’ton City
Main Semis	Dragons	Phil Bradshaw Peter Westall Ian Bailey	Wales
Main Semis	S’ton City	Graham Galton Wayne Thatcher Kaylee Thatcher	S’ton City
Main Consolage Winners	Shamrocks	Merle Sullivan Mary McDonald	Croydon
Plate Winners	JPS	John Limburn Paul Hayward Sheila Hayward	Shedfield Limesdowne Limesdowne
Plate Runners-up	Farmhouse	Pam Treend Trevor Treend Sean Prendergast	Farmhouse
Plate Consolage Winners	Crondall 1	Harrison Ash Estil Boukhobza Colin Hersey	Crondall
Spoon Winners	Limesdowne	Mary Sheppard Mike Sheppard Trish Neville	Limesdowne Limesdowne Shedfield
Spoon Runners-up	The Joyful Whippets	Brian Searle Pam Croucher John Wiseman	Adur
Spoon Consolage Winners	Arundel Castles	Peter Maynard Clare Ide John Barnes	Arundel
Friendliest Team	DDT	Derek Coates Dave Newbold Tim Lawson	Arundel
Shooting Competition Winner		Paul Hayward	Limesdowne
Shooting Competition Runners-up		John Limburn Kath Knight	Shedfield Arundel
First 13-0	Arundel Castles	Peter Maynard Clare Ide John Barnes	Arundel
Best Junior		Kaylee Thatcher	S’ton City

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Adult Membership Survey

The EPA Management Committee (MC) have formed a number of Work Groups to carry out research on many aspects of our sport and membership.  One of the groups has produced a survey form which all adult members are being asked to complete.  To download your copy please 'click here' 

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Prize Money for the EPA Championships

This year the EPA MC have agreed to award prize money and trophies, for the Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Triples and Over 50's Championships.

The winners will get £50 per player, 2nd place £20 per player, 3rd and 4th place £10 per player.

This prize money is in addition the Championship title shirts for the winning team 

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Espoirs Grand Prix Series

Unfortunately with only 2 teams showing any interest in the Espoirs (18-22 age group) event the MC have been left no choice than to cancel this series of Grand Prix.

This leaves the MC with a dilemma because the European Confederation (CEP) recently announced that they will hold the Espoirs European Championship in 2011 with the first round of qualifiers held in week 12 (end of March, 2011).

The MC was discussing sending our top male and female Espoir teams, based on this years Grand Prix results, to the event but that is now not an option.

Possible options for the MC to discuss at their meeting on the 8th May are:
1.Not to enter the CEP event
2.To  hold 2 competitions (qualifiers) later in the year (if there is sufficient interest).

The MC welcome input from our Espoir members

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CEP EuroCup 

The EPA has been drawn in Group C to play against Denmark and Finland in the 1st round of the CEP EuroCup, 2 teams from this 3 team group will go through to the next round.
The Draw