What is pétanque? If ever you’ve been on holiday in France or Spain, there’s a good chance that you’ve either seen the game being played, or even tried your hand at it.
Fist-sized steel boules are thrown with the aim of getting as close as possible to a little wooden ball called the cochonnet or butt. The scoring is straightforward and, simply put, the first team to thirteen points wins.
If you have tried playing you probably enjoyed it, but even more important is the fact that it’s a great game for socialising. It’s already becoming very popular in much of England and Scotland, but not so much in the North East of England.
Things are changing though. A growing number of pétanque enthusiasts meet every Sunday at 3pm at The Wheatsheaf Inn in New York, North Tyneside, which boasts the best pistes (pétanque courts) in the whole of North Tyneside. Andrew, proprietor of the pub, is more than happy for anyone to turn up when the pub is open and use the pistes; you can even borrow some boules, if you don’t have your own. If you catch the bug and want to take the game a little more seriously, come along on a Sunday and enjoy an afternoon with a friendly group of people and learn more.
For more information, see our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/northtyneside.petanque.1) and if you have any questions then get in touch by emailing northtynesidepetanque@gmail.com.