'Evans' above.........we got bronze!!

Sunday September 27th
The Star Inn, Wenhaston
2009 Suffolk Coastal Petanque League - 3rd/4th Place Play-Off Match

Missing our team captain Jimmy and Tina from the most important match so far of Aldeburgh Boules Clubs very short history was not an ideal situation but the enlisted (or perhaps press-ganged) Chrissie and Binnie Evans came to the teams rescue in our final match of the 2009 season.

Playing on a neutral venue of The Star Inn, Wenhaston against the ever-improving Three Horseshoes side from North Cove, vice-captain Simon led the 'Seasiders' into battle, with the potential 5th game decider being needed if the match was to get to 2-2.

Previously unbeaten as a pair all season, Simon & Lewis lost 13-10 in the first round whilst Chrissie and Binnie made a fantastic debut appearance with a 13-11 victory. So all square at half-time and decisions, decisions.

Simon coupled up with Chrissie but lost to North Coves captain Darryl and his partner, but over on the 'bush' side of the terrain, Lewis & Binnie gained an Aldeburgh win to put the match at 2-all and therefore create the need of a deciding game.

Vice-captain Simon felt that his play wasn't up to scratch today and therefore resisted the urge to partner Lewis again, this time choosing Lewis & Binnie to go back on. Lewis, fresh from his County Cup heroics earlier in the week with his Stowmarket side, mopped up anything that Binnie created and the team eventually reached 13-6 and thereby getting the Bronze Medal position for the 2009 season.

A great season, a great finale and a superb debut by Binnie as well as a good performance by Chrissie saw the team improve upon their 2008 position by a considerable way.

Our thanks to the Mill Inn, Aldeburgh

The Aldeburgh Boules Club would like to thank Sue & Dennis Peel at The Mill Inn, Aldeburgh for their continued support of the team and the excellent after-match refreshments and hospitality.

The Inn has AA3* accomodation, bar meals and restaurant facilities.

The Mill Inn, Market Cross Place, Aldeburgh, IP15 5BJ (01728 452563)
Suelpeel15@aol.com
www.themillinnaldeburgh.com

End Of Season Play-Offs

With the Deben Divisional title under our arm, the team have reached the 2009 End of Season Play-Offs due to be held at The Star Inn, Wenhaston on Sunday 27th September.

However, as we had the lowest points average of the 3 divisional winners, we find ourselves in the overall 3rd/4th place play-off match against the best runner-up, coming from the Blyth Division, the Three Horseshoes North Cove.

North Cove this season, won 6, drew 2 and lost 2, achieving 14 points but finishing second in their group behind the Bell Inn Walberswick, who are in the Grand Final versus Ipswich PC'09 from the Orwell Division.

Title secured by 'Seasiders'

Sunday 13th September 2009 - Deben Division

The team of four went into todays match, versus our old friends and adversaries The Exiles Bealings, knowing that to secure the Deben Divisional title and therefore a prized play-off place, avoiding defeat would be enough to pip Suivre Les Boules Playford.

Playing against a team that defeated us 3-1 both times last season and also the only team to beat us this year, also by the same scoreline, it was going to be a difficult task for Jimmy and his team.

Sticking with the tried and trusted partnership of Simon & Lewis, who had previously won 7 out of 7 this year, Aldeburgh went 1-0 up with a 13-7 score but Jimmy & Tina, after leading 10-2 at one point, lost 13-10 to leave the match at 1-1 at the 'half-time break'.

Jimmy and vice-captain Simon agreed it wasn't worth switching or experimenting with the pairings, so again Tina was paired with Simon whilst Jimmy doubled up with Lewis. After a whirlwind game of only 6 ends, a draw was secured with Tinas pair earning a 13-1 victory. Jimmy & Lewis, not to be outshone, completed the day with a 13-5 score giving Aldeburgh a 3-1 win, breaking the Bealings 'hoodoo' and winning the divisional title.

The team lost only one match this year, winning 5 and drawing 2, giving us 12 points, one more than Playford and earning the third entry to the 2009 End Of Season Play-Offs.

Local derby bragging rights to Aldeburgh

Sunday August 30th - Deben Division

Probably nowhere in our League will we have as bigger spectator audience as the one we had at The Golden Key Snape earlier today. Marshalled by Team Player Manager & Landlord, Nick Attfield, not only did our hosts have the full 8 person compliment team, but also at least another dozen 'squad' members and associated entourage on the sidelines.

Aldeburgh's side was somewhat smaller with the 'usual 4 suspects' and no travelling support!!

Earlier in the season the two sides drew 2-2 at the Moot Arena, Aldeburgh and since then the Snape team has grown in stature and skill, especially proving difficult to beat on their home piste.

Le capitaine, Jimmy, paired Simon & Lewis together in the first pair whilst he took up the partnership with Tina in the other game. Whilst Simon & Lewis had a bit of a dodgy 'middle' section of the game, managed to put together a 13-8 win but Jimmy and Tina couldn't match this, losing heavily 13-1 on the bottom 'lane'.

Once again, 1-1 at half-time, with Aldeburgh needing to win this match to stay in contention for divisional title and play-off position. Decision time for Jimmy, does he pair up in the normal way or change it around a little.

In the end, it was a case of selecting the tried and trusted pairings and to start off with Jimmy & Lewis had a tight game but pulled away near the end to earn a 13-5 score and put the 'Seasiders' 2-1 up overall.

Down to Tina & Simon then, which didn't look good at one point with the Aldeburgh pair 6-1 down, but turning it around to lead 11-10 at one stage. Another 2 ends and another two points for the Snape side giving them a 12-11 advantage and sitting game point on the ground. Simon pointed hard against one boule to turn it to one point on the ground for Aldeburgh and then with the next boule shifted Snapes boule, giving 2 points to Aldeburgh and 13-12, the game and the match 3-1 overall.

A very close and tense last game with around 30 interested onlookers seeing some decent boule from both sides but just ending in Aldeburghs favour. As it turns out, an even more important win as The Exiles Bealings lost 3-1 at home to Suivre Les Boules Playford, leaving the title undecided going into the last match.

Many thanks to Nick and his team for the match and absolutely fantastic after-match food and socialising. The Snape team must surely be the leagues best newcomers for the 2009 season and a team to watch out for next season.

Our final match is at home to The Exiles Bealings on Sunday September 13th.........Divisional title decider!!

On paper away win, on gravel....different story

With the team venturing to winless Pettistree Greyhound and having beaten them 4-0 at the Moot Arena earlier in the season, you could be forgiven for expecting an Aldeburgh away win, as the team push towards a play-off spot. A win would have meant going from third place to top spot above both Suivre Les Boules Playford and The Exiles Bealings.

However, things are not always as clear cut as you think they might be....

Team captain, Jimmy. left the pairings in the usual format with himself and Tina partnering up leaving Simon & Lewis to form the other double. Playing on a deep gravelled car park in brilliant sunshine, the team started off well.

In the first two ends Simon & Lewis took a 5 and a 5 to be 10-0 up straight away and although dropping one point on the next two ends, finished with aplomb as the coch was shot out for the game winning points, 13-2. Our other game saw us lead 6-1 at one stage, only for the home team to rally well and turn it completely around and get a 13-10 victory.

So 1-1 with halfway reached.

The Tina/Simon combination worked well again and with good pointing and a bit of accurate shooting, a 13-0 win was achieved within 8 ends. Again as has often been the case recently, this left the Jimmy/Lewis game as the decider. At one stage the teams were locked at 7-7 but the home sides Pauline played out of her skin and consistently frustrated our pair and finally got herself and partner to a 13-7 scoreline and thus making the match end at 2-2.

A first league point for Pettistree (& deserved on the balance of play) but a missed opportunity for the 'Seasiders' as this will probably now mean that all four points will be required from the remaining two matches, starting next week with the big local derby, away at Golden Key Snape, whom themselves aren't out of the running yet.

On The Road Again

The Aldeburgh team make the reasonably short journey this weekend to the Pettistree Greyhound, for a Deben Division match in the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League, still in the chase for an end of season play-off position.

With other teams in the other divisions racking up big numbers of points, it is probably becoming more likely that the Deben Division group winner will be the only qualifier from our section that will qualify for the play-offs, and a decent win for Aldeburgh will see them jump back to the top of the table.

However, Pettistree are now the only team in the entire 17 team league that has yet to win a match and with the fixture being on their home piste, just about anything could happen with home advantage.

Aldeburgh Carnival Boules Tournament 2009

Club members Simon & Lewis won the 2009 title, after topping their group of 6 teams with 4 wins out of 4, and progressing to the Grand Final, where they beat Robert & Bev (Wheeler?) from Middleton by a score of 13-4.

Other members of the Aldeburgh squad played in the tournament, including Richard & Heather who made the 3rd/4th place play-off.

Overall, an entry of 12 teams played from around 10.30 till about 3pm.

Aldeburgh Carnival Boules Tournament...Places Left

Saturday 15th August 2009
Starts at 10.30am

Maximum of 16 teams of 2 players
Deposit of £5 per team

Please arrive at the Moot Hall piste (opposite The White Lion Hotel) at 10am to find out the order of play.

There are a few spaces left for this tournament, so to enter please contact Councillor Caron Hill on 07890 159320

'Seasiders' climb the table

Subject to results elsewhere, Aldeburgh Boules Club moved into second place of the Deben Division of the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League, following a very good home performance earlier today at the Moot Arena, culminating in a 3-1 victory over Suivres Les Boules Playford.

The visitors, Playford, were currently heading the divisional table and had only suffered one defeat this season, this being the 3-1 defeat by Aldeburgh earlier in the league programme.

Starting with the 'normal' four players, Aldeburgh commenced with Simon & Lewis (fresh from their petanque exploits in Turkey) in the first pairing. Four ends later and Aldeburgh were 1-0 up with a 4,3,1 and 5 scored earning a 'fanny' 13-0 result. Over on the seaward lane Jimmy and Tina started well but eventually went down 13-9 to Playfords Malcolm & Sam.

So with the match poised at 1-1, like most matches seem to, the Aldeburgh team knew a victory was required to give them any hope of reaching the end of seasons play-off. Tina and Simon played a short distance game and secured at least a draw with a 13-3 win over Jim & Malcolm. This left it all up to Jimmy & Lewis, who held the upperhand for the majority of the game and eventually turned in a 13-6 result, giving the Seasiders the two league points and again defeating Playford by a 3-1 scoreline.

Whilst Playford remain top, Aldeburgh are now just two points behind with 2 matches in hand, the first of which is in two weeks time, away at the Pettistree Greyhound team.

Fixture changes for Aldeburgh

Our next scheduled Deben Division match was due to be on Sunday 26th July, away at Pettistree Greyhound. Due to holidays, this has been re-arranged to Sunday 23rd August.

Therefore our next match is in 3 weeks time, on Sunday 9th August, when we play host to our old friends from Playford, Suivre Les Boules.

This will be our last but one home match at the 'Moot Arena' so I'm sure the team would dearly love some local support as they push towards an end-of-season play-off position.

Expected start time would be 10.30am.

Finding the right combination

In our 4 league matches so far this year, we have won 10 games and lost 6.

Below is a comparison of how successful each pairing is so far in 2009;

Simon & Lewis Won 4 out of 4
Lewis & Jimmy Won 2 out of 4
Simon & Tina Won 1 out of 2
Jimmy & Tina Won 1 out of 4
Simon & Caron Won 1 out of 1
Simon & Michael Won 1 out of 1

Bealings hoodoo strikes again!!

It was always going to be a tight match on the now well-bedded in piste at the Lord Belstead Playing Field at bealings.

Last year we lost 3-1 in both matches against The Exiles and this proved to be the difference in us not making last years play-offs. Surely things couldn't go the same way again.........

Lewis and Simon, fresh from their international tournament in Belgium over the weekend, managed to pull away from their opponents and take the first game 13-5, however Jimmy and Tina in the meantime had lost by the same scoreline.

So 1-1 at half-time and another tough decision for captain Jimmy to make regarding his next sets of pairings. In the end he stuck with the established pairings of Simon & Tina and Jimmy & Lewis. Meanwhile The Exiles team had greater flexibility in their pairings as they had 7 players on duty as opposed to our 4.

Tina & Simon never really got into their stride in their game eventually losing 7-13. All therefore came down to the remaining game and despite some good boules from the Aldeburgh pair, there was no rub of the green and The Exiles moved into a match winning position with a 13-8 triumph.

So once again ABC go down 3-1 to the Bealings team and didn't really play as well as we can but lets hope that this victory doesn't prove to be decisive in the long run.

Next up for Aldeburgh is the return fixture with the Greyhound Inn Pettistree.

Date change for Bealings crunch match

Due to sad team news from The Exiles Bealings team, our scheduled match for Sunday June 21st has now been repectfully put back till the evening of Tuesday 30th June 2009.

As a team, we offer our deepest condolences to the remaining members of The Exiles team on their sad loss.

Home draw sees Aldeburgh move to top of Deben Division

In a drizzle-affected match earlier today, Aldeburgh Boules Club welcomed league newcomers and 'local derby' rivals, the Golden Key Snape, to the Moot Arena for each teams third match of the league campaign.

Whilst Lewis & Simon secured a 13-10 victory, Jimmy & Tina went down by a scoreline of 8-13, leaving the match poised at 1-1 at the halfway stage. With the piste getting damper by the minute and therefore changing how the boule rolled or held up, the pairings for the second half of the match was going to be a cruicial decision.

Aldeburgh skipper Jimmy took the decision to pair himself up with Lewis whilst Simon partnered debutant Michael in the other double. With two left handers taking advantage of clear lines to the coch, Simon and Michael took the third game by 13-7 putting Aldeburgh into a 2-1 lead overall and everything hinging on the last game.

Jimmy & Lewis were not having the best of luck and found themselves 9-0 down within a few ends but a displaced coch for 5 and then a subsequent 5 on the next end suddenly brought them to a 10-9 lead. However a 3 on the next end for the visitors and then another displaced coch saw Snape claim the win 13-10 and earn the Snape team a very creditable 2-2 draw.

Shot for the shot, the match was almost the 'perfect draw' as Aldeburgh scored 44 and Snape 43, demonstrating how close the match was in its entirety.

This point each was enough to see Aldeburgh move ahead of Bealings at the top of the table, whilst Snapes first league point sees them move off bottom spot, ahead of Pettistree.

Next up for Aldeburgh is the all-important away trip to The Exiles Bealings in two weeks time.

Youngest Member Shines In Away Day Triumph

In what is always a difficult fixture, the Aldeburgh team ventured to Playford, home of Suivre Les Boules for their first away meeting of the season earlier this morning, in the Deben Division of the Coastal League.

Our intrepid 4 split into their usual pairings, with Jimmy and Tina suffering a 13-6 whilst Lewis pointed superbly to carry his partner (& father) through to a 13-5 win.

With the match delicately poised at 1-1, Jimmy and vice-captain Simon discussed whether they bank on a pairing that would hopefully get a 2-2 draw or did we go for the kill and attempt to gain the overall win.

Fortunately the gamble paid off as Simon & Tina ran out 13-5 winners in their match whilst Jimmy & Lewis came from 8-7 down to end victorious on 13-8 and therefore secure the match at 3-1.

This is one of those matches which will go a long way to deciding who finishes where in the Deben Division and although theres still many matches to play, Aldeburgh have already taken a small step towards being there or thereabouts come the final shake-up.

No time to rest on our laurels, as its straight on with league action next week with a home match at the Moot Arena, when newcomers the Golden Key Snape are welcomed, in what is building up to be an interesting local 'derby'.

Dennis and the staff at The Mill Inn are providing the after-match refreshments and it would be nice to see some home support as Aldeburgh look to continue their good start to the season.

First Away Trip Of The Season

Aldeburgh play their first away match of the 2009 season on Sunday 31st May, with a visit to Suivre Les Boules Playford, for what will be an interesting tussle in the Deben Division.

Last year Aldeburgh won 3-1 at the Moot Arena whilst a 2-2 draw was the outcome in the return fixture.

The team should be the 'usual 4' but also may be bolstered by our newest members Michael and Lynn from Leiston.

Visit back here on Sunday evening for the official match report.

One Down...........Seven To Go!!

Aldeburgh made their first appearance of the season on Sunday May 3rd in the Deben Division of the 2009 Suffolk Coastal League, by welcoming league newcomers Pettistree Greyhound to the 'Moot Hall Arena'.

In excellent playing conditions, the Aldeburgh team consisted of the 'usual 4' of Jimmy, Tina, Simon & Lewis with new signings Michael and Lynn unavailable for this match. The team was however bolstered by the addition of Caron, an existing Aldeburgh member but making her first league appearance.

The team split with the usual family pairings and both the Robinsons and the Fletchers recorded 13-4 victories putting the side 2-0 up at half-time and ensuring at least a draw. The important decision of how to divide the pairs for the second half fell to skipper Jimmy and Simon paired off with Caron whilst Jimmy doubled up with the teams youngest member Lewis.

With a mixture of good pointing and shooting both pairs earnt 13-4 and 13-6 wins to complete a 4-0 win over the enthusiastic visitors. Whilst this may have been Pettistrees first ever match, they can look forward to a season where they will definitely go on from here and perhaps with their own special 'home advantage' may spring a surprise or two.

For Aldeburgh, next up is an away trip to Playford in 3 weeks time to face our old friends Suivre Les Boules who will prove to be difficult opponents once again on their home piste.

2009 Fixture List Announced

Following the Suffolk Coastal Petanque Leagues' Registration Night, the Aldeburgh team find themselves in the Deben Division for the 2009 season.

May 3rd Home to Pettistree Greyhound
May 24th Away to Suivre Les Boules Playford
June 7th Home to Golden Key Snape
June 21st Away to The Exiles Bealings
July 26th Away to Pettistree Greyhound
August 9th Home to Suivre Les Boules Playford
August 30th Away to Golden Key Snape
September 13th Home to The Exiles Bealings
September 27th League Grand Final or 3rd/4th Place Play-Off??

Aldeburgh Boules Club will again be entering the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League in the forthcoming 2009 season, with home matches still to be played at the Moot Hall piste, opposite the White Lion Hotel.

It remains to be seen which area division the team will be allotted into but with the league expecting a large increase in teams the team are looking forward to playing new teams and visiting new venues.

Welcome To....

We, at the Aldeburgh Boules Club, would like to welcome Michael and Lynn Bonning to our ranks as new members and they will be a part of the team we enter for the 2009 Coastal League season.

They recently moved into the area, based in Leiston, and have had previous playing experience when they lived in Norfolk.

We hope they enjoy themselves as being part of our set-up and wish them good luck along with the rest of the team in the 2009 campaign.

2009 Team

Please let Jimmy or Simon know of your availability to play at any time this year in the 2009 Suffolk Coastal Petanque League.

We have away games as well as home games and would expect around 5 of each, spaced between April and September.