The Sussex Petanque Regional Qualifiers continued on Sunday 20th May with the 2nd round taking place at Hastings White Rock terrain.All 15 teams competed again in a surprisingly cold overcast morning before the sun finally broke through for the rest of the day

Despite losing their first match today team KMR (Matt Shrimpton, Kris Smith & Rob Willison) continued their fine form to win the 2nd Round and top the table. The table and seedings are beginning to take shape and all positions are still up for grabs. It is very tight at the centre of the table with just 2 points separating 7th to 13th places.

Thanks to Paul Turner and his band of merry helpers for getting the terrains ready to play and for constructing a shelter and provisions for the organisation and paperwork.

Once again Steve Slade and our Juniors organised another great raffle. The monies raised will be confirmed by Lindsey (our Treasurer) in due course. 

The current standings after Round 2 can be found on the attached file.

Not long till our 3rd and final qualifier which will take place on Sunday 3rd June at Brighton & Hove PC’s Peace Statue Terrain.
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Sussex Petanque kicked off the 2018 season with their first of three Regional Qualifiers held at Crowborough Social Club on Sunday 15th April.

It was great to have 15 teams taking part this year including some new players participating in their first Sussex competition. The weather though kind in the morning turned to rain in the afternoon before sunshine again early evening!

Congratulations to team KMR (Matt Shrimpton, Kris Smith & Rob Willison) who were unbeaten on the day.
Thanks to the Social Club for getting the terrains ready to play, to Lindsey MacDonnell for sorting membership cards, Dawn Constable for sorting Hayling Island and to Alan constable for helping the organiser, Tony Mann, with the draw, the paperwork and scores.

Well done to our Juniors for organising another excellent raffle and we look forward to hearing how much was raised very soon. Congratulations to Herbie Edwards who won the amazing fruit basket! 

As usual we have some interesting and colourful team names although the organisers may restrict the number of characters allowed in team names next year to reduce the amount of writing the we  have to do during the day :-) !

The teams and current standings after round 1 can be found on the attached file below
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It was great to see everyone out and playing today and we look forward to seeing you all again in Hastings for the 2nd Round on Sunday 20 May

Sussex Management Committee (SXP MC)
Following our region's AGM last month a new Executive Committee was appointed as follows :-

• President – Tony Mann (2nd year) 
• Secretary – Dawn Constable (re-elected)
• Membership Secretary – Lindsey MacDonnell (re-elected)
• Treasurer – Lindsey MacDonnell (2nd year)
• Playing Officer – position vacant

Also on the SXP MC as our Youth Development Officer is Steve Slade
 
We also have vacant positions for the Appointed Officer positions of Regional Coach and Regional Umpire.
 
In the New Year we will be contacting clubs to nominate the 3 SXP MC Members to our committee in accordance with our constitution. Our current SXP MC Members are :-

• David Alfred - Brighton & Hove PC 
• Alan Constable - Crowborough Social Club
• Alex Hutchinson – Royal Albert PC (Hastings)

Vacant SXP MC Positions
We currently have vacancies for SXP Playing Officer, Regional Coach and Regional Umpire. Job descriptions for these roles are available on the SXP website document's page via this link http://www.sussexpetanque.org.uk/documents.html 
If anyone is interested in any of these roles or would like to find out more information about them then please do not hesitate to contact me or Dawn.

2018 Sussex Events
The SXP MC have to put together the playing calendar for Sussex competitions during 2018. There are a number of other clubs within Sussex but to host a Regional event we require venues to have at least 8 pistes available.
Each year the English Petanque Association (EPA) sets aside 5 dates in the calendar as Regional Days to help avoid clashes with other events. We have utilised each of these 5 dates (as far as we can) plus added further dates for the 8 Sussex competitions we currently hold.
Our Regional Qualifiers (for the EPA Inter-Regional, Challenge Tournament and Junior Championships held in September) get our season started. These take place early in the season to assist with necessary accommodation and kit arrangements. We start in Crowborough in April as the venue provides good facilities especially as there is also a lot of membership administration at our opening event. We then move on to Hastings in May and finally Brighton in June. All 3 of the main Sussex petanque areas host one of our qualifiers.

Sun 15 April - Regional Qualifier - Round 1 at Crowborough Social Club
Sun 20 May - Regional Qualifier - Round 2 at Hastings White Rock
Sun 3 June - Regional Qualifier - Round 3 at Brighton & Hove PC

We then hold our Doubles, Triples and Over 50s Doubles competitions as all these events provide potential Regional representatives for the EPA Champion of Champions later in the year.

Sun 24 June - Sussex Doubles  & Shooting at Crowborough Social Club
Sun 15 July - Sussex Triples & Shooting at Goldsmiths PC (Crowborough Leisure Centre)
Sun 29 July - Sussex Over 50s Doubles at Brighton & Hove PC 

Our 2 remaining competitions are as follows :-

Sun 19 August - Sussex Mixed Doubles at Goldsmiths PC (Crowborough Leisure Centre)
Sun 9 September - Sussex Singles at Hastings White Rock

In total 2 competitions are being held in Hastings, 2 in Brighton and 2 each at the Crowborough Social Club and Goldsmiths PC.

By clicking on this link SXP Playing Calendar 2018 you can open, download or print a PDF file of the Sussex and current EPA playing calendar. The EPA will add venues to the dates throughout the year and you should refer to the EPA website for up to date information (see link below).

We are also looking to host our first ever Regional Open competition next year with provisional dates of either 22 July or 12 August. More details to follow in due course.
So put these events in your diaries now!

Membership fees and renewals
Our membership fees to join Sussex will remain at only £6 for Adults and free to Juniors for 2018. These are combined with the fees for joining the EPA which remain at £20 for Adults and £5 to Juniors for 2018.
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​The EPA held their Inter-Regional Championships at Hayling Island over the weekend of 16 / 17 September and Sussex Petanque had a fantastic weekend, winning both the Juniors competition and the Challenge Div 2 title (gaining promotion to Div 1 in the process). The Championship squad narrowly missed out on promotion to Div 1.

​​The final standings for the Juniors, Challenge Div 2 and Championship Div 2 can be seen below. The full results can be viewed and downloaded from the EPA website http://www.englishpetanque.org.uk/InterRegionalResults.html 

Our Juniors, Morgan Pry, Callum Slade & Ella Slade along with their manager Steven Slade were set a target of finishing in the top 3 and they certainly did not disappoint as they became the 2017 Inter-Regional Junior Champions and deservedly so for their consistent dedication and commitment to the sport. What a year the SXP Juniors and their manager have had, and it's not over yet with Morgan representing England at the World Championships in China in November.
 
Our Challenge Squad in Division 2 were made up of four Hasting’s based teams and they were superbly managed and looked after by Claire Slade. The squad was set a target of gaining promotion but clearly the bar was not set high enough for them and they went on to top the division, with the team consisting of Lisa Turner, Mark Thomas, Paul Astell and & Dean Farthing finishing as the best performing team in their division. Congratulation to all the players/teams for a fantastic performance.

Our Championship Squad of 8 teams were once again managed by Dawn Constable. They were set a target of gaining promotion from Div 2 but narrowly missed out after finishing just 2 wins short of 2nd place. Although we didn’t get promoted there were great performances from all the teams and our number 3 seeded team of Alan Constable, Matt Shrimpton & Tony Mann were the 3rd best performing team in the division with 10 out of 12 wins.

Our Sussex Petanque President, Tony Mann, said "I am extremely proud of what our region achieved this weekend, by the standard of our play across all squads & teams, by our camaraderie and support of one another, the hard work of our managers, our fantastic banter and of course our ability to socialise and party. Thank you all for an amazing weekend."

The weekend was also deeply affected by the sad loss of a very popular player Chris Best from the Northern Region. This tragic event touched everyone including those in our region who had the privilege to have known Chris and those who attended to her on the day. Sussex Petanque sends our deepest condolences to Chris's family, friends and the Northern Region

Sussex Petanque held their 2017 Over 50s Doubles Championships on 6th August at Crowborough Social Club.

The day also saw the conclusion of the Sussex 2017 Shooting Championships with the runner-up being Matt Shrimpton and this year's winner Peter May. Peter will be invited to represent us in the EPA Shooting Championships which will be held at Hayling Island during the Inter-Regional Championships.

But back to the Over 50s . . . . after the first 3 rounds of the morning no one team remained undefeated and there was still everything to play for in the afternoon.

The 2017 Sussex Over 50s Doubles Champions are Herbie Edwards & Rob Willison 
The runners-up this year were last year's Champions, David Alfred & Rohan Bedford

Both teams will be invited to represent Sussex at the EPA Over 50s Champion of Champions on Sunday 24th Sept at the Gardens of Hanbury.

Thanks to everyone who helped set up the terrains today and to those who helped with the lunchtime shooting championship conclusion. 

Sussex Petanque held their 2017 Triples Championships @ Goldsmiths PC on Sunday 16th July. A total of 10 triples teams took part and these included 5 junior players (the most Sussex have had in an event before). 

8 teams went through to a rolling seeded knockout in the afternoon with the remaining 2 teams having a 3 match play-off in the plate. The Plate was won by Lindsey MacDonnell, Lynn Andrews & Kira Croft. In the semi-finals of the Main, Herbie Edwards, Mim (Marie) Christian & Nick Christian beat Brian Chegwidden, Lynn Chegwidden & Matt Wilkins 13-3. In the other semi Jacky Broad, Debbie Gillett & Graham Gillett went 9-0 up against Jeff Mitchell, Matt Shrimpton & Tony Mann and then 12-4 up before a gruelling fightback (1 point at a time) led to Jeff, Matt & Tony winning 13-12.

The final was another close affair with Herbie, Mim & Nick leading 12-4 before another gruelling fightback by Jeff, Matt & Tony securing a 13-12 win to become the Sussex 2017 Triples Champions. Special mention to Mim who's sensational pointing at times kept her team in the game.

Some other thanks and acknowledgements. Thanks to Herbie Edwards and everyone at Goldsmiths PC for their hospitality. To everyone who helped with the Triples and Shooting paperwork and officiating. A special mention to our newest and youngest member, Charlie Shrimpton (not yet 9), playing in his first ever SXP comp and having the courage to take part in the Shooting too. Also to Lynette Carey & Andy Carey for forming a team with Charlie and looking after him during the day.

The 2nd part of 2017 Sussex Shooting Championships also took place during the lunch break. 8 players had previously taken part at our Doubles and a further 14 players took part during the Triples. The early leader Peter May (21 points) has held onto his lead despite Matt Shrimpton also scoring 21 points. On count-back Peter has achieved a higher number of 5 point scores. There will be a final chance to take part in the Shooting at the Sussex Over 50s Doubles Championships on 6th August as the demand to take part has been much higher than anticipated!!

All in all it was a very long but very full day and thanks to everyone who took part and supported the event.