A humid summer evening under the trees in Vauxhall’s Pleasure Gardens in South London saw over 100 people from 24 different Livery Companies (see list of participating teams, below) arrive to take part in what is now a firm fixture in the Livery events diary – the annual Inter-Livery Pétanque Competition.
Inter-Livery Pétanque 2024 Competitors
Distillers
Vintners
Spectacle Makers
Entrepreneurs
Furniture Makers
Horners
Framework Knitters
Cooks
Butchers
Glass Sellers
Needlemakers
Playing Card Makers
Dyers
Stationers
Architects
Coopers
Merchant Taylor’s
Actuaries
Fletchers
Tobacco & Pipe-Makers
Tax Advisors
Plaisterers
Conceived 3 years ago by the Worshipful Company of Distillers and the Worshipful Company of Coopers, teams pit their boules skills and guile against each other. It’s friendly competition, tinged with an edge of brutality as the scoring and tension mounts during games, the going gets tough as crucial points are closely contested – from friendly competition to dog eat dog!
Under the watchful and expert eye of our hosts and referees from the London Pétanque Club (LPC), the opening games were a frantic frenzy of activity as 32 teams sought to attain the magical 7-point total to get through to the next round.
And so it went, through 4 rounds, from 32 teams, to 16, to 8, to 4 to just two for the final – the Framework Knitters and the Spectacle Makers.
Congratulations then to this year’s Pétanque Champions, Bob Ranger, Henry Ranger, and David Parkins from the Spectacle Makers who just managed to pip the team of Framework Knitters, their Master, Matthew Ellis, Tony Jarvis, and Nettie Ellis to the coveted Coopers’ Cask Trophy. This was kindly donated by the Coopers in 2022 for presentation at the pétanque competition, as are 3 bottles of Master’s Cask Royal Brackla 15yo single malt whisky, donated by the Distillers to the winning team members, presented by Master Distiller, Lorne MacKillop.
Special thanks must go to Mark Hadsell and his daughter Zoe and everyone from the LPC for managing the event so well, keeping us all in order and keeping control of the draw.
Huge thanks also to Maison Mirabeau, producer of exquisite Provencal rose, who most generously donated bottles of their wonderful wines and canned rose gin and tonics for us all to enjoy throughout the evening. Thank you to, Mirabeau, Ian Harris, and the Vintners Company whose connection made this possible.
Thank you to the Distiller’s Clerk, James Bryan, and his team for manning the bar area to keep everyone refreshed and emboldened throughout the evening.
The event was not only great fun, but its serious side is to raise funds for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. The exact amount raised last night will be circulated shortly, but, as an idea, last year’s event raised £1,000.
A fabulous evening, played in the best spirit of Livery friendship and for a great cause.
Thank you to everyone who took part and made it all possible – here’s to next year!
Chris Porter
Past Master Distiller 2021-2022
