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History of the League |
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Croston is twinned with the French town of Azay le Rideau, just south
west of Tours, France.
Our Boules members have enjoyed many visits and have another
trip planned this year.
Learn more about Azay le Rideau here:
1996 - 2017 Croston
is twinned with the French town of Azay le Rideau, just south
west of Tours, France.
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our
founding members |
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Charlie Holt |
Graham White |
Russell Davis |
John Twinn |
Peter Briggs |
During their exchanges with Azay-le-Rideau in the lovely Loire valley, members of the Twinning Association were given the opportunity to play boules (or petanque) on several occasions
In
1992 it was decided that it would be good fun, and also give
the opportunity to promote the Twinning Asociation, if there
was a pitch (or piste) in Croston. The landlord at the Black
Horse agreed to allocate a section of land suitable to construct
a piste, and after a considerable number of man hours, the first
piste was introduced.
The association organised several events known as 'boules breakfast'
which were usually held on Sunday mornings and consisted of
coffee and croissants whilst playing boules.
a Boules Breakfast (Twinning Assoc)
Charlie and John first Winners - 1992(pre-league)
The introduction of the first competition in 1993, the Black Horse Trophy, (donated by the landlord and still played for in 2016), generated a great deal of interest and led to several other locations wanting to construct a piste. The provision of pistes at different locations created an opportunity to enhance the playing of boules throughout Croston and the surrounding area.
In the autumn of 1996, a sub-committee of the Association was
formed with the purpose of creating a competitive boules competition
which incorporated the different venues, whilst ensuring that
the rules and team format allowed the matches to be played for
fun.
The boules league was formed in 1997 with six teams playing
at five different venues and the first matches were played in
April 1997.
In 2006, the boules league split from the Twinning Association
and became known as the Croston and District Boules League.
In 2008, the league was given a lottery grant of £2,545
which enabled it to bring all the pistes up to present day standard.
The current league consists of twelve teams playing at five
locations on Tuesday evenings.