Hot on the heels of a successful Tour de France, Barloworld brought a truly international flavour to the first company petanque event held on a sunny evening at the Onley Arms, Stisted.
Local club members hosted company employees from Spain, Colombia, the UK Northern office (Stone) and Jenway (Felsted).
Each team of three included a club member, a Barloworld employee and guest. Over four hours, each of the six teams played 3 games.
At the end of the evening the winners were team 5, comprising Derek Roughton (Onley Petanque), Andy Mooney (Stone) and Kevin Cottis (Felsted). They were the only team to win all three games.
In the very last game, team 1 (Trevor Blows, Paul Birchmore and Colombian, Carlos Uribe) just avoided a 13-0 ‘fanny’. How do you explain this to a Colombian playing for the first time – certainly not with sign language!!
Everyone had a chance to try the game and many surprised themselves with their natural ability. Others will need a little practice before their next visit to a terrain!!
There were a few scary moments when Dan Blows had to restrain the exuberant Jed Karrim in the circle. Fortunately, it has not left their partner Manuel Cayuela from Spain with any permanent damage and he was able to make it into the office the next day. However it is rumoured that he is taking a month off work to recover from the experience.
The hosts, Jim and Yvonne Whitwell, provided an excellent buffet and can be congratulated on their contribution to a ‘night to remember’.
Good beer, good food, fine weather, great company and lots of laughs on the night.
Trevor