After 10 years in its town centre location, Harrogate Montpellier Petanque Club is set to expand to a new home this year.
The club has been based at the pierhead bouledrome close to Bettys since it was founded in 2012.
However, with a growth in membership and a change in the way people are playing, it has outgrown the site and has ambitions to develop further.
Club chairman Nigel Clay told the Stray Ferret:
“Petanque has been a life-saver for a lot of people during covid. It was something you could do which was relatively safe: it was sociable but at a distance.
“It has changed the pattern of play – it has been far more informal and become far easier. Rather than just the fixed times organised by the club, people have formed a WhatsApp group and are meeting up whenever they’re free.”
The sport – also known as boules – is closely associated with France. However, it has origins in ancient Greece and is widely played in south-east Asia.
The Harrogate club was set up by Nigel after he moved to Harrogate in 2009, having established petanque terrains near his previous home in Leeds.
The new location for the Harrogate Montpellier Petanque Club
With club membership now around 50 – just a small percentage of the number of people who have used the terrains over the years – a larger site is needed to add to its existing four pistes. Expecting to outgrow the pierhead, Nigel had already been researching potential locations before covid struck.
Now, over the coming weeks, 10 pistes will be built on the current car park at Pannal Ash Junior Football Club near Almsford Close in Harrogate. Not only will this provide more playing space, but the clubhouse facilities – including a kitchen and toilets – can also be shared by petanque club members.
The central terrain in Harrogate has proved a good way to drum up interest in the past, with passers-by often stopping to ask about the game, and Nigel hopes the new suburban location will continue the club’s growth in the coming months.
Surrounded by family homes and adjacent to a primary school, the terrain will welcome players of all ages – and the open surroundings will allow people to come and watch. Both he and the football club hope the site will become more vibrant over the coming years.
“They share our vision of providing a community resource for residents. It’s like the pierhead: if it’s standing there doing nothing, what is it?
“If people see us playing and ask questions and you say, ‘come and have a game’, it develops interest.”
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Nigel said as well as being accessible to people of all ages and levels of fitness, one of the most appealing aspects of petanque is its affordability. A set of boules costs around £20 and will last for many years.
For anyone wishing to join the club, membership costs a similar amount, and playing time is limited only by daylight and weather conditions.
And there is good news for the many people who have enjoyed seeing the town centre pistes in use: they will remain in situ for both club members and the public to use whenever they want.
