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Aix-en-Provence France

35th Anniversary of French Twinning in Bath.

The Bath – Aix-en-Provence Twinning Association will celebrate its 35th Anniversary this year with ‘Une Soiree Dansante’ on Saturday September 22nd 7pm – 11.30pm at BRLSI in Queen Square.

There will be a glass of sparkling wine on arrival, a buffet supper, and music from a group of Breton musicians and a chanteuse. They will also lead us in some simple traditional Breton dancing, for the willing and able! A group of 14 ‘honoured guests’ from Aix will be coming for the celebrations.

It would be great if a sizeable contingent from the City of Bath Petanque Club joined in the celebrations – the Twinning Association in both cities have supported our visits over the years and helped to make them so enjoyable.

Please contact Lesley Hall, the club’s Aix Twinning representative, for your tickets, priced at £30 each.

lesley-hall@hotmail.co.uk or phone 01225 328685 (day), 01373 827406 (eve)

 

Categories
Aix-en-Provence France

French boulistes show us how it’s done!

 

After 9 years of Bath petanque players visiting our twin city of Aix-en-Provence, we were able to return the hospitality at last when four intrepid Aixois spent the weekend of 22nd-25th June in Bath.

Joachim, Bernard, Renee and Lili were sponsored by the Bath/Aix Twinning Association and the City of Bath Petanque Club to play in the Bath Boules tournament in Queen Square on Saturday.  Inevitably the French team ‘Les Aixois’ sailed through all the heats to the play offs in the afternoon.  They were visited by the new Mayor of Bath, Councillor Andrew Furse, and the Mayoress, Mrs Mei-Ling Chou Furse, who are firm supporters of the city’s Twinning Associations.  The distinguished visitors chatted to the French team and watched them play a few ends, before touring the square to greet other players.

Categories
Holland

Club Tour to Alkmaar (Netherlands) October 2012

AalkmarThe beautiful city of Alkmaar is famous for its canals, cheese market, historical houses and windmills. Following a successful Club tour in 2010, a second tour is being organised from 5th to 8th October 2012. This coincides with the Celeritas Open Doubles Tournament, and Alkmaar Liberation celebrations. A number of social events and a friendly match are planned as well as participation in the Tournament. Hotel rooms are being booked well in advance because of the high level of demand for that weekend. If you would like to know more about the tour, please contact Diana Lockwood at dmlockwood@tiscali.co.uk or 07967 711120

Categories
Aix-en-Provence

Visit of guests from Aix-en-Provence

Title: Visit of guests from Aix-en-Provence
Location: Bath
Description: On Friday we welcome our first ever petanquers from Aix-en- Provence who will be staying over the weekend. The have been entered into the Veuve Cliquot Bath Boules Tournament for Saturday.
It would be great if anyone around town on Saturday can drop into Queen Square and say hello and cheer the team on, I’m hoping to have a small table and chairs to use as a base.
Otherwise, Saturday evening, Sunday lunch and Sunday evening are good opportunities to join the group and help to make the visitors feel welcome.

Look forward to seeing you around during the weekend. Do let me know if I’ve forgotten anything!
Lesley

Start Date: 2012-22-2012
End Date: 2012-25-2012

Categories
Germany

Bremen and Braunschweig

September 30th and we are on our way to Bremen and Braunschweig to compete in a couple of tournaments, attend the 40th twinning anniversary of the Anglo German Association.

Plaques from Bremen
Plaques presented to the City of Bath Club at the Bremen Open

Our trip started with a visit to Bremen in Northern Germany to compete in the Bremen Open. As saturday dawned we were greeted with blue skys and warm sunshine. The competition is held round the Werder Bremen football ground and we were assured that we were the first english side to have graced the Bremen Open. While the results were not positive both teams gave a good account of themselves and after a enjoyable day were presented with a memento of our visit. Dinner that night was exceptional and despite a limited menu it was agreed that we could not have done better.

 

 

Sunday and on to Braunschweig by train. Don had been advised by our host, Lutz, ahead of our visit that

There are two possibilities for you to practise petanque. The easiest is to go to the square in front of the Magnikirche, fairly central -actually in the oldest part of town – and just play there. it is open to everyone. The second is to play at the grounds of the BffL where the championship will be held. But this is more complicated. Firstly, it is a nudist club and on that day there will be nudist club members in the grounds, which may not be to your taste.

In the end, deciding to prevent any embarrasement for the tour members we arrived in front of the Magnikirche to be greeted by a number of our hosts for a preliminary game of pétanque before the main competition and of course a few beers.

Categories
Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence 2010 Tour

City of Bath Petanque Club made a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the sport last week when they paid their annual visit to Aix-en-Provence.

Aix-en-provence gathering at Luynes - a new club
Aix-en-provence gathering at Luynes – a new club

Members took on their counterparts at the Boulomaine Club in the French town of La Ciotat, famous as the birthplace of cinema and the place where the first game of petanque was played in 1906.

It was part of a busy week for the Queens Square-based club, who also caught up with old friends in Bath’s twin town of Aix-en-Provence and also played against the Cercle Club at Tholonet.

The tour was City of Bath’s second venture abroad this year, having also visited Holland during Easter to establish a playing relationship with their counterparts in Alkmaar.

Club captain Chris Garratt said:

While we hope that our newly-established relationship with the petanque clubs in Alkmaar will develop into a thriving one in the future, there is nothing like the challenge of meeting the French at their own game on their home territory.

In recent times, we have learned a few hard lessons from our adventures to Provence. However, it’s been great how they have been so pleased to see us having a serious go at their sport. They have been so very encouraging and this has enabled our own standard of play to progress significantly – the City of Bath Club is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with.

 

The club would like to thank its local sponsors, including John Moore Sports, The Raven and Bath Aqua Glass.

 

Categories
Holland

Trip To Alkmaar 2010

In April of this year the City of Bath Petanque Club recently went Dutch when they visited the twin city of Alkmaar,  in the Netherlands to challenge the local teams. Eight intrepid travellers met up at the Hotel Stad en Land on Friday night allowing themselves plenty of time to discover the nightlife on offer.

On Saturday we were invited to the Sportlaan Club where we joined our hosts for a challenge match won by Bath by 13 games to 12.

On Sunday we were invited to the Celeritas Pétanque Club where we were kindly treated to lunch before heading into our second tournament of the weekend. Unfortunately this time we finished second in a competition of 32 teams.The trip provided plenty of inspiration as Celeteris has a large indoor boulodrome attached to their bar, something the Bath club would like to replicate.

Categories
Aix-en-Provence

Trip to Aix-en-Provence 2007

The fourth trip to Aix – Le Petanque Ensemble – took place in early June. We visited three local clubs and played against AAGP the the foot of Mount Sainte Victoire made famous by Cezanne. For photos of these days please see the gallery below.

Day with AAGP

Our day with AAGP in the Provence Country side
Our day with AAGP in the Provence Country side

A beautiful day.A series of games in the car park, followed by a feast of a picnic in amongst the shaded trees.A gentle walk up around Mount Sainte Victoire, taking in the lovely scenery, giant ants, reservoir and with storm clouds threatening a hasty walk back down – until they drifted away.We stopped off on the way to have a look at the marble (bottom right).A winding drive through Cezanne country on the way back to Aix.