JERSEY TRIP TO COUTANCES SEPTEMBER 2006 - click here to return to News page
Forty members of the Club recently travelled to France to celebrate the 20th anniversary visit of the Club to the Loisirs Corporatifs Coutances. The association between the two Clubs dates back to 1986, when a Petanque team from Coutances competed in Jersey as part of the Jersey-France festival of that year. Every year since, a team from Coutances has visited Jersey in June and the local club has returned to France in September.
To celebrate the special occasion, the weekend began on the Saturday morning with a reception at the Coutances Town Hall, hosted by the Mayor of Coutances, Mnsr. Yves Lamy. The Presidents of the French and Jersey Clubs, Mme. Josianne Halley and Peter Bastion, made speeches and exchanged gifts.
Outside the Hotel de Ville before the reception Ken Vibert, Yves Lamy, Josianne Halley, Peter Bastion
After a lunch held at the Coutances Sports Grounds, the serious part of the weekend got under way. Thirteen teams from each side played four games each in a triples format. After the first round, Jersey were leading comfortably 10 to 3. However the next two rounds were won by the hosts and the final result was still in doubt with only four games left to play. Jersey finally took the match 29 to 23.
The usual Saturday night dinner and prize giving was held at the Casino in Coutainville, where the hosts hoped at least to relieve the visitors of some Euros to bolster the French economy.
Preparing for lunch! Top Jersey Team
Paula Foster, Joy Hart, Maggie Allchurch
Overall winners and top Jersey team with an impressive four wins, plus 30 were Maggie Allchurch, Paula Foster and Joy Hart. Their victory was made even sweeter by the fact that they beat a team made up of their respective husbands’ into second place!
Third place went to last year’s winners, June Bastion and Dorothy & Gordon de Gruchy and fourth were Beryl & Ken Vibert and Mick Malzard. The top four teams all won four out of four games.
The French team will be back in June next year hoping to avenge their latest defeat.