Cousland Petanque
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Villagers in Cousland have been playing pétanque (or boules as it is sometimes known) since before 1996. The pétanque piste is located in what was the old playing field just off Hadfast Road. The playing field was renamed Cousland Village Park and signposted by Midlothian Council in 2023.
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In 1996 Cousland Village Hall Association (CVHA) was awarded a grant of £500 from the National Lottery and £250 from the National Playing Fields Association to extend, further develop and enhance the pétanque piste. The grants were awarded to Gordon Smith as Chairman of the CVHA and the work was co-ordinated by Robin Donald supported by the generous assistance of other villagers. As a result of the financial assistance the piste was slightly extended to 8.7m by 12.6m and retained by 2nd hand railway sleepers.
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Over the years since then the piste has been further developed and extended. In
2014 it had its latest upgrade and the piste is now around 25m by 20m. The 2014 extension work was also co-ordinated by Robin Donald. |
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In this same year and in order to encourage as many people as possible to volunteer and get involved and play the game of pétanque, we applied for and received an Active Nation grant from the Big Lottery Fund of £700. This grant enabled us to buy equipment
to help those new to the game to become involved.
to help those new to the game to become involved.
Today in 2025, there is one singles knock-out competition and a pairs league. We play the competitions from mid-April until the day before the village Gala Day in August. This year we have 16 pairs teams (32 players) who play 15 games against the other teams. We also have 16 players in the singles knock-out competition. Pétanque is a most enjoyable and social game in which to be involved and to encourage team players to play as many of their games as possible we organise what we call ‘Super Saturdays’ or ‘Super Sundays’ where we get together for an afternoon of pétanque.
Like most sports some of us can be very competitive and we have prizes to award each year to the winners of both competitions. However, most of us involved just enjoy the very social side of the game and have many days of pleasure as well as playing pétanque.
Although we are not affiliated to the Scottish Pétanque Association we are keen to play other teams at our piste or at their piste. Indeed, for a good number of years we have played home and away games with Tweed Valley Pétanque Club. The July game was cancelled due to the weather and we played our games with Peebles on the 31st August but we lost this year.
Contact via [email protected]