Time to introduce two new members. Aileen and Rick Hebblethwaite. The Monkey thinks their origins may go way back to when the Vikings invaded England. After subduing the locals they renamed all the villages so now many end in -thwaite. 'thwaite' comes from an old Norse word meaning paddock. So Rick's family probably came from a Viking village built near 'Hebble's paddock' up North.
But there's more. 'thwaite' comes from the Norse word 'pveist'. Doesn't that sound very like piste to you? So here we have a load of Vikings with nothing happening between battles. They're bored, so what do they do? They live near a pveist and they all have a flail, a nasty weapon with a steel ball on the end of a chain. Unhook your ball, walk down to your pveist and start a game. Boredom solved. There is recent support for this theory, Rick and Aileen have undoubtedly inherited those ancient genes, they are both exceptionally good Petanque players, surely can't be by accident!
So how did they end up in Australia? Classic story - starts with Rick and 3 mates, old clapped out car, overland all the way, travellers cheques stolen, car breaks down, hitch hike the rest of the way. England was really swinging then but apparently Melbourne in 1972 looked quite attractive so he decided to stay! Rick must have the gift of the gab because he phones Aileen back in England, who he was then 'courting', next minute she buys a one way ticket, jumps on a plane, and, just about out of cash, flies to Melbourne. The story ends happily ever after. A few months from now will be 50 years since they first met.
Back to Petanque. What made them take it up? Another story. Rick has 'French connections'. Not what you think – his background is furniture restoring which includes french polishing. He meets a piano tuner, David Walker, now a member of Smythesdale, and from time to time they restore and tune a piano together. David gets Rick playing Petanque and ....he's hooked. Meanwhile Aileen is playing competitive netball and as a 50th birthday treat is given a set of boules.
Barely three months later her team end up in the Consolante of the famous 2001 Nationals at Victor harbour S.A.! Rick and Aileen are lovely people but they are a;lso rather good at petanque. Aileen is currently the Victorian Singles Ladies Champion and Rick and Ken Field came first in the recent Nationals men's over 60 doubles. If they wore the medals from all their wins, they'd look like a two person Anzac parade. Add to that Aileen is President of the VCPI (Victorian Petanque Clubs Inc) so she probably knows the rules. Aileen and Rick have been members of a couple of other clubs and are moving to CPC as it's a much shorter commute from home.
But not everything in this fairytale is perfect. Your Monkey, along with Baard and Rick also teamed up in those famous 2001 Nationals. In our case the three of us were knocked out pretty much in the first round and spent the next two days relaxing on the soft grass enjoying the "occasional" glass of tasty red between long lunches. Meanwhile Aileen and her team were fighting hard to win, as were Mary, Barbi and Leslie who also did surprisingly well. All goes to show women will end up running the world, which, if the grass is soft and the red is tasty, is not a bad outcome.
Time to introduce two new members. Aileen and Rick Hebblethwaite. The Monkey thinks their origins may go way back to when the Vikings invaded England. After subduing the locals they renamed all the villages so now many end in -thwaite. 'thwaite' comes from an old Norse word meaning paddock. So Rick's family probably came from a Viking village built near 'Hebble's paddock' up North.
But there's more. 'thwaite' comes from the Norse word 'pveist'. Doesn't that sound very like piste to you? So here we have a load of Vikings with nothing happening between battles. They're bored, so what do they do? They live near a pveist and they all have a flail, a nasty weapon with a steel ball on the end of a chain. Unhook your ball, walk down to your pveist and start a game. Boredom solved. There is recent support for this theory, Rick and Aileen have undoubtedly inherited those ancient genes, they are both exceptionally good Petanque players, surely can't be by accident!
So how did they end up in Australia? Classic story - starts with Rick and 3 mates, old clapped out car, overland all the way, travellers cheques stolen, car breaks down, hitch hike the rest of the way. England was really swinging then but apparently Melbourne in 1972 looked quite attractive so he decided to stay! Rick must have the gift of the gab because he phones Aileen back in England, who he was then 'courting', next minute she buys a one way ticket, jumps on a plane, and, just about out of cash, flies to Melbourne. The story ends happily ever after. A few months from now will be 50 years since they first met.
Back to Petanque. What made them take it up? Another story. Rick has 'French connections'. Not what you think – his background is furniture restoring which includes french polishing. He meets a piano tuner, David Walker, now a member of Smythesdale, and from time to time they restore and tune a piano together. David gets Rick playing Petanque and ....he's hooked. Meanwhile Aileen is playing competitive netball and as a 50th birthday treat is given a set of boules.
Barely three months later her team end up in the Consolante of the famous 2001 Nationals at Victor harbour S.A.! Rick and Aileen are lovely people but they are a;lso rather good at petanque. Aileen is currently the Victorian Singles Ladies Champion and Rick and Ken Field came first in the recent Nationals men's over 60 doubles. If they wore the medals from all their wins, they'd look like a two person Anzac parade. Add to that Aileen is President of the VCPI (Victorian Petanque Clubs Inc) so she probably knows the rules. Aileen and Rick have been members of a couple of other clubs and are moving to CPC as it's a much shorter commute from home.
But not everything in this fairytale is perfect. Your Monkey, along with Baard and Rick also teamed up in those famous 2001 Nationals. In our case the three of us were knocked out pretty much in the first round and spent the next two days relaxing on the soft grass enjoying the "occasional" glass of tasty red between long lunches. Meanwhile Aileen and her team were fighting hard to win, as were Mary, Barbi and Leslie who also did surprisingly well. All goes to show women will end up running the world, which, if the grass is soft and the red is tasty, is not a bad outcome.
Welcome Aileen, Welcome Rick