Inter Livery Petanque competition
1st August 2024Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
This year we entered a Pipe Makers' team into the Inter-Livery Petanque Competition, comprising Past Master Charles Miller, Liveryman Mark Johnson-Hill and myself, along with 31 other teams, so the competition places were completely filled.
Organised by the Distillers and held in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, we had a most enjoyable evening, with the weather very warm, despite the occasional thunder and lightning (or was it a tube train going past?). After opening drinks supplied by the sponsors, we won our first game against the Glass Sellers, but were knocked out of the competition by the Fletchers. However, a further win in the repechage against the Distillers meant that we ended up a very creditable 15th place out of 32.
Between rounds we consumed our picnic and some very fine wines, particularly the Château Méaume, which is a fantastic red produced by Mark in his vineyard in Bordeaux and stocked at Majestic. Despite this sustenance, it was very clear that we were never going to match the capabilities of the eventual competition winners, the Spectacle Makers, who had clearly been practicing hard all year!
As always, our Livery caps were the talk of the evening, and as can be seen from the photos, PM Charles Miller showed the normal Pipe Maker's athletic dexterity, being able to hold a ball in one hand and his glass of wine in the other, whilst smoking a pipe and standing in a small ring ...
This is an evening well worth taking part in and should definitely be in our sporting calendar each year.
However, more practice is needed if we are to win first prize!