Cullompton Community Fields bouled over by new pétanque surface

The Cullompton Community Association Fields (CCA Fields) hopes to boule over residents by unveiling a new pétanque surface.

The new sports facility was unveiled on Saturday, April 13 in the car park alongside the CCA Fields.

The initiative was led by Iain Emmett, chair of the CCA Fields, who was approached by the University of the Third Age in Willand.

“The University of the Third Age in Willand came to me and asked if they could use part of our car park as a boules area because there are so many people playing the game now that they hadn’t got enough facilities in the Walronds,” Emmett said.

“So I looked at our car park, and it needed about £2,000 worth of repair to the edge. This was built for £1,250 with free labour.”

Emmett’s mother, who passed away last November, left a legacy for the charity spent on the pétanque arena.

“Since then, I have put in a grant bid for the town council, and they gave us half the money back, so we got £700 from them. I’ve then put some benches in, one of which says, ‘In memory of Margaret Emmett, without her Cullompton would be a much quieter place’.

The new pétanque surface is free for anyone to use. Emmett hopes that users will start teaching others how to play the game. He also mentioned that the project received support from Labdons, who supplied materials at an excellent price, and a local estate agent who supplied the flowers. A tree surgeon has also offered to provide some work in exchange for putting up a sign and bringing sponsorship for the project.

“Everybody is welcome to come down and play. The more people we have in here, the less likely there is of isolation and vandalism,” Emmett added.

Richard Taylor, a keen pétanque player, was present at the grand opening and explained that pétanque is the game of French boule and means ‘feet together’. Players stand with their feet together in a ring and throw their boule between six and ten meters to get close to the little cochonnet.

“We’ve launched on a fantastic day, which couldn’t be better. There’s no rain, the car park is clear of potholes, and we’re all here with the festive bunting.”

Taylor added, “Anybody can come and play here. If you want to know about the game, we will organise and do demonstration games. It’s a very low-cost sport because the boules don’t cost an awful lot, and we have spare boules for people to try their hand at it. It’s a very social game; it’s good for open-air exercise.”