Petanque

Anchorsholme Bowling and Social Club were the first club on the Fylde Coast to have a dedicated Petanque terrain.
Until November 2022 it was a narrow strip, as shown above which was soon found to be not big enough for the number of members wishing to play.

During November 2022 a small group of club members embarked on enlarging the Petanque terrain. It took three gruelling days to dig out the ground on each side of the existing terrain and fill it in with layers of aggregate. Each layers were compacted down to provide a more solid top surface than the original.
Prior to the 2024 season F. Parkinson, the Blackpool construction company kindly donated 10 tons of fine gravel to give the petanque terrian a final surface. This has improved the playing surface tremendously and we thank Parkinson for their generousity.

Petanque is played every Friday and Sunday afternoons starting at 2.00pm dependent on weather.
During the winter if the weather is bad players move indoors and take part in short mat bowls.

How do you play Petanque?
Petanque is an extremely simple and inexpensive game to play.
The equipment consists of metal bowls (Boules) and a small target ball (Jack).

The game is played by two teams, where each team consists of one, two, or three players. In the singles and doubles games, each player plays with three metal boules. In triples, each player uses only two.
A game can be played by having a number of ends or until a certain score is reached.
The first end is started by a player pitching the Jack onto the terrain. That player then pitches their first boule trying to get as close as possible to the Jack. A second player then pitches their first boule. If it lands closer to the Jack the next player takes their turn. Should this boule not be closer then they pitch a second boule. This continues until they have either got closer to the Jack or they have used all their boules.
A point is scored for each boule belonging to a player that is closest to the Jack.

What makes it such an appealing game is that a player can be way ahead scorewise for a while, yet lose ground very quickly. Nothing is decided until the last player has played the very last Boule.
Who can play? Everyone.
Age, size or fitness are not important as there is always a bit of luck involved.
A jovial atmosphere is always present and our mantra is “If you don’t win today you will win tomorrow”