After the previous years experience at Pontins Holiday Camp in Brean many of us including the 9 City of Bath Players set out with much trepidation as to what we could expect at Hayling island.
About two and a half hours drive from Bath we were quickly parked up and efficiently checked in by the camps staff. And, to our rooms where we were met with made up beds, towels, soap, toilet paper and showers / baths that worked – a far cry from Pontins. After a quick practice on the newly laid pistes it was off to the bar (of course) and then to dinner where separate sections in the restaurant had been assigned to each region.
Another revelation, the choice of waiter service, self service or a combination of both, a four course meal awaited us and while officially it was not “eat as much as you want” noone seems to have gone short. The wine, however was another issue, at £7.99 for a bottle of house red, it did little to encourage this group of highly trained athletes to abstain and retain their strength for the following days competition.
Breakfast was, similiar to dinner, a revelation ensuring that noone missed out on the necessary sustanance to prepare us for the day ahead.
Bob Rumble explained ” As a new member to the squad and having never played in the Inter Regional Championships before the sense of closeness of players, spectators, official umpires, nearly 100 pistes and the need to maintain awareness of everything that was going on around proved to be distracting on the first day. By the second day I had become used to the surroundings and the distractions” He also added that “I really enjoyed playing against the other teams, not only for the opportunity to learn from them and improve my game, but because everyone was so friendly. A cracking weekend all round. Would love the opportunity to repeat it next year”.
While the pistes were very different from Brean, being smaller and the surfaces rougher, they threw up their own challenges which sometime made you feel it was a lottery but in reality we all have to learn to play on all types of surfaces. Although the team only won 25% of their matches, we have now set a benchmark against which we can measure ourselves as a region. Last year we were only able to field 4 teams, this year it was eight and with the experienced gained and new players coming along there are opportunites to improve next year.
The GWR committee have a number of ideas that hopefully next year we can enter teams in the Championship, Challenge and Juniors (a total of 13 teams).
Overall the facilites were good, the catering was excellent, the bar was cheap although service could be slow and finally the Pistes were a challenge but they will settle down and next years contest will be eagerly awaited by those who attended and hopefully those who will join in next year.
Cary – Official Photographer
Jim signing his scorecard
Don checking the boules positioning
Mark points against Sussex
John Dee and Christine wait for the umpire to check the measurements
Helga, Gerry and Chris practice before the match against Sussex
John, Christine and Diana inspect the lay of the land
John Dee and Christine discussing the next next throw
Mark launches his Boule
Chris starts team 1’s campaign against Sussex
Helga and Gerry practicing
Christine and Chris take a well deserved break
Gerry and Helga finish the match
Jim surveys his teams progress
Don, Richard and Michael wait for the opposition to throw
Christine and Mark discussing the next throw
Don Richard and Michael still waiting for the opposition
Chris observing the game while he sits out the match
Mark and Helga in between games
Coffee break for Mark and Helga
Team manager Thelma relaxes while Chris keenly observes his team mates
Gill, Jean and Tony against the Isle of Wight
Bob rumbles off with his first point
Mike in his game against Sussex
Great Western Region Team – Hayling Island 2012
Clive pointing against London
John pointing off against London
Keith points to save the end
Tactics being discussed between James, Bob and Andrew
James relaxing between games
Richard pointing against Sussex
Robin in a world of his own
Malcolm taking a well deserved snooze between sessions flanked by Jean and Gill
Jean starts against the Isle of Wight
Gill points
Heavy lunch demands a nap
Richard takes a measurement watched by Michael and Don