Achievements

Welcome to the new season! I hope individually and collectively it turns out to be happy and successful for everyone!

I'm trying three new presentational ideas this year. The first is to give each squad (9-a-side, and Saints and Pilgrims 6-a-sides) their own complete page, with Fixtures, Results, and unofficial League results and Table. This means that there will no longer be a page on which all of the league details for the three squads are integrated.

The second is to try to keep the Club Events page more dynamic and up-to-date by incorporating a month-by-month calendar that integrates all known club activities for that month. The success or otherwise of this experiment depends entirely on team captains, in particular, updating me as soon as there are any changes (bringing forward, postponement etc.) for their squad. The "Main Events" section of the page has a series of month headings as "thumbnail" pictures, and clicking on each thumbnail will open a diagram showing everything I have been told about that month's events. Please help this to be useful - email, text or phone updates (preferably to my mobile) will be much appreciated! The third is a new section under the "SCPC" heading for Minutes of the AGM and any Playing or Club Committee meetings held during the year.

The weather for Finals Day on Sunday 6 November turned out to be much better than anyone has a right to expect at this time of year, and the quality of play matched the weather! In the Singles final, David beat Trenty in three games to retain his title, with the pair of them having overcome Hilary and Kaylee respectively in the semis. Kaylee got her revenge in the Doubles final, playing with Aaron, when they beat David and Wayne, consigning them to the runners-up spot for the second year running. For a fuller report and the complete draw for both competitions, follow the Finals Day link. [Posted 8 November]

As last year's winners, we successfully hosted the SCPA 9-a-side Salver, won by The Ship, on Sunday 30 October, which turned out to be a pleasant day for the time of year, On the playing side, suffice it to say that we will not be hosting the event next season! [Posted 8 November]

Sam and Kaylee, with Dean Seville, and Graham and Wayne, with Mike Tull, formed SCPA's teams 1 and 2 respectively in the EPA Champion of Champions competition at Petanquers PC on Sunday 16 October, coming 9th & 10th respectively in their pools. [Posted 8 November]

In the SCPA Mixed Doubles, held at Burridge on Sunday 25 September, Sam and Dean Seville were losing semi-finalists. [Posted 8 November]

The SCPA squads were runners-up in both the main Inter-Regional competition and the Pontin's Challenge held at Brean Sands on 17/18 September. Many congratulations to all 7 SCPC players and 1 manager who contributed to this excellent outcome. [Posted 8 November]

We hosted the SCPA Triples and Junior Doubles on a terrible wet and windy day on Sunday 11 September. Kaylee, playing with Dean Seville and Debbie Elcome, won the title, beating Graham, Wayne and Mike Tull in the Final. Bernie, playing with Andy Barron and Kim & Graham Elcombe, was runner-up in the Plate competition. [Posted 8 November]

Sam beat Bernie in the SCPA Singles Plate competition final at Shedield on Sunday 4 September, and she also came 4th in the Shooting competition. [Posted 8 November]

In the SCPA Regional Masters at Arundel on 2nd & 3rd July, Sam, with Dean Seville, Debbie Elcome and Jacques Tivillier claimed spot for the Inter-Regional competition. David, with Sean Prendergast, Harrison Ash and Simon Greeve, were team 5, and Graham and Wayne with Mike Tull made up team 6. Kaylee, with Callum Lombard, Daniel Baker and Martin Brooks, formed the Junior team managed, once again, by Peter. Bernie, with Andy Barron and Kim & Graham Elcombe, made it into the Challenge squad, while Aaron, with Jack Hilton, Danny Corp and Tony Jones, was selected for the EPA Combined squad. [Posted 8 November]

The outstanding result from SCPC members' participation in the EPA Championships at Sandown, Isle of Wight on Saturday 28 to Monday 30th May was Kaylee narrowly losing in the Singles semi-finals by 31-11 to Dean Seville. Brilliant performance by Kaylee! [Posted 22 May]

As a result of the first and second Regional qualifiers, on Sunday 15 May at Burridge and Sunday 19 June respectively, the following SCPC members have qualified forthe Masters weekend to decide the Regional squad for the Inter-Regional Competition at Brean Sands in September:

David, with Sean Prendergast, Harrison Ash and Simon Greeve qualified 1st with 8 wins from 10 matches, poimts difference +52;

Sam, with Dean Seville, Jacques Tivillier and Debbie Elcombe qualified 4th, 7/10, pd unknown;

Bernie, with Andy Barron and Kim & Graham Elcombe qualified 6th, 6/10, pd unknowm;

Graham & Wayne with Mike Tull qualified 11th, 6/10, pd +6;

Aaron, with Jack Hilton, Doo Goopal and Tony Jones just missed qualification in 13th Place, with 4 wins from 10 games.

Congratulations and best wishes to all those who qualified, and commiserations to Aaron and his team [Posted 22 May]

Many thanks to Bernie for the following two items about Sam's international achievements this season [Posted 16 May]:

- Sam with Emma Longstaff and Josh Littley represented the EPA at an international invitation event in Holland on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th May 2011. They finished second to Monaco in the Plate competition. Great result for Sam and her team.

- Sam with Debbie Elcome, Chris Best and Ang Gaughan represented the England Ladies and at an International Competition in February 2011 held at Rastatt in Germany. The England Ladies team finished in 3rd place but overall, with two Men’s Teams and a Junior Team, England finished in 6th place (Updates posting from 16 March).

While David was having a good day at the club, the Thatcher family was cleaning up at the SCPA Adult/Junior competition on Bank Holiday Monday. Sam, playing with Dean Seville, beat Kaylee and Mike Tull in a hard-fought Main competition final. Meanwhile Declan & Graham won the Plate! [Posted 14 May]

David won the Bernay Cup for the second year running at the club on Bank Holiday Monday, 2nd May. Hilary was runner-up. [Posted 14 May]

Winning start for the 9-a-side side away at Farmhouse on Thu 21 April by 5 games to 4. After a fairly catastrophic first round, in which 2 of our teams only managed 1 point between them, the squad managed to pull back to win both other rounds and hence the match. Results: Aaron/Bernie/Richard P 0-13, 13-3, 13-9; Kaylee/Sam/Robin 13-1, 13-3, 4-13; Graham/Wayne/Wendy 3-13, 9-13, 13-10. Our injured captain provided motivation support from the sidelines - get well soon David! [Posted 23 April]

Minutes of the Committee meeting held on Tues 19 April can be found by following this link. At the meeting, Robin announced the sad news that Pete Baigent, Chairman of Millbrook Rugby Club, had passed away. Condolences from SCPC to his family and friends at MRFC. [Posted 23 April]

David, with Sean Prendergast, and Sam, with Mike Tull, lost in the quarter-finals of the Cobbetts Doubles on Sunday 10 April. Kaylee & Wayne lost in the Main Consolage semi-final. [Posted 13 April]

12 club members took part in the first evening Club Melee of the season on Tue 5 April, with Graham, Wendy and Bernie winning both their respective games, but Graham and Wendy scooped the pool by virtue of better points difference. Click the pic for full results. [Posted 6 April]

Sam, playing with Dean Seville & Debbie Elcome, was runner-up in the Arundel Open Triples on Sun 3 April. They beat David, Graham & Wayne 13-12 in the semi-final. [Posted 4 April]

Saints made the best possible start to the defence of their 6-a-side Division 1 title by demolishing a strong Bordon side 5-0 at SCPC. Highlight, perhaps, was a fanny by David, Robin & Kaylee, but all wins are important! [Posted 30 March]

Pilgrims made a spirited start to their 6-a-side Division 3 campaign with a 2-3 away defeat to Crondall. The difference between winning and losing the match was 1 point in a 12-13 doubles defeat (although other games were also close and could have gone either way)! [Posted 30 March]

Saints beat Crondall 3-2 in the HLRC semi-final at The Ship on Sun 27 March, but then lost the final by the same score to Farmhouse. The team were disappointed not to win the competition again, which they felt was within their grasp, but petanque does that to you sometimes! Runners-up is pretty good too! [Posted 30 March]

Saints narrowly overcame Bordon 3-2 in their second round HLRC tie at the Ship on Wed 23 March, and now go on to play Crondall, who knocked out Pilgrims by the same score the previous evening, in the semi-finals on Sunday 27th. Onwards & upwards! [Posted 25 March]

David's new team also won all 5 rounds of the "snake" qualifier & then the final of the Farmhouse Open Triples on Sunday 20 March. [Posted 25 March]

David, playing with his new team for this season of Sean Prendergast, Harrison Ash and Simon Greeves qualified from the 5 preliminary rounds for the finals of the Indoor Grand Prix Series at Whittlesey over the winter, where they WON the Plate. [Posted 17 March]

Sam was invited to play for an EPA Women's team sometime somewhere in Germany, but no further details are available. [Posted 17 March - update, above, 16 May]

Saints overcame Cobbetts 2 4-1 in their first round HLRC tie at the Ship on Wed 16 March. Kaylee & Wendy narrowly lost their doubles match, but otherwise it was wins all the way for them and Sam, David, Graham & Wayne. Highlight was a 3-end fanny by Sam & David! [Posted 17 March]

Pilgrims beat Limesdowne 3-2 in their first round High Level Roofing tie at The Ship on Tues 15 March. Bernie's triples & doubles teams won both matches, while Jean, Hilary, Gianni, Tim & Richard all won in either doubles or triples. [Posted 16 March]

Ten players turned up for the first of the season's melees on Sunday 6 March and we were favoured with exceptionally good petanque weather for the time of year, even if the terrain was in pretty poor condition. After three games in 4½ hours, Tim emerged as the winner, being the only player to be on the winning side in all three of his games. Gianni was second with the best points difference amongst those with two wins. A most enjoyable start to the season! [Posted 6 March 2011]

On Tuesday 28 December 2010 at the Arundel Winter Doubles, Bernie and Tony Mann (Brighton and Hove PC) won the Plate, and the Plate Runners-up were Sam and Graham Elcome (Adur PC). [Posted 4 March 2011]

For detailed news of the latest developments on the Oasis Academy, Lords Hill, see Robin's email of 25 February.

Key points:

* Planning Permission has been granted, subject to a long list of conditions, most of them 'technical';

* white lines are to be repainted in the existing/playing field (i.e. 'our') car park (which will decrease peak capacity but make it look neater - Richard);

* 5 additional floodlights are to be provided in the existing car park;

* during the early stages of building the Academy, access to the construction site will be via the existing car park;

* the Principal of the Academy is very keen to work with the local community, including sports clubs, for mutual benefit, and proposes the setting up of a "Playing Field Users Group";

* he doesn't think there will be conflict over Tuesday evening car park use, and is very keen to avoid any - the proposed "Users Group" would share dates of fixtures, Academy events, etc;

* it has emerged since Planning Permission was granted that the City Council's Children's Services & Learning Department, not Active Nation, are responsible for maintenance and management of the car park and have been for almost 2 years; (this was, apparently, a surprise to the officer in the Council's Planning Department who had been dealing with the project, possibly also to Active Nation, and presumably to those current users who have learned of it). (You might think that all of us should have been told so that any representations could have been properly directed, acknowledged and addressed; a cynic might suggest that maybe that's why we weren't - Richard)

About SCPC

News and Achievements, 2011 (Last Update 08/11/2011)