New home for towns’ petanque players

The spirit of sportsmanship was vividly illustrated in Galashiels recently as one sporting organisation reached out to help another.
Melrose/Gala Petanque Club gratefully accepts a £100 cheque from Gala Rotary Club presented by Rotary sports convenor John Gray, right, to club president Peter Harrington.Melrose/Gala Petanque Club gratefully accepts a £100 cheque from Gala Rotary Club presented by Rotary sports convenor John Gray, right, to club president Peter Harrington.
Melrose/Gala Petanque Club gratefully accepts a £100 cheque from Gala Rotary Club presented by Rotary sports convenor John Gray, right, to club president Peter Harrington.

Gala RFC propped up Melrose/Gala Petanque Club with the offer of a new home, following an appeal highlighted by the Southern Reporter back in June.

The club’s Ron Anderson said: “Not only have we received a generous offer of a site within Gala Rugby Club’s grounds at Netherdale but also we have received a reduced grant from the National Lottery Community Fund for Southern Scotland of £4,568.

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“This will help pay for the construction of one playing area and the provision of a path for disabled access.

“We have also received a generous donation of £100 from Gala Rotary Club.”

Ron added: “In these difficult times, it is grand to receive such support, and we look forward to playing petanque once again in the spring of 2021 in our new venue.

“However, to allow us to remain in the South of Scotland League, we need a minimum of two pistes, so we are still pursuing more funding.”

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Finding a playing area of approximately 12 metres by six metres would also help the club continue to play league matches.

Petanque originated in France and is a two-team game similar to boules, where the aim is to toss or roll hollow steel balls as close as possible to the jack.

Last year, Melrose/Gala, previously based at the Kingsknowes Hotel in Galashiels, came top of the South of Scotland Petanque League, while in 2018, three of its members played in Jersey with the Scottish team at a home nations competition.

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