Thursday June 12th 2025
Midlothian Pétanque players with Jarnac's Mayor
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Dalkeith Petanque Club took a trip to Dalkeith’s twin town in France, Jarnac, on the 31st of May to build a new friendship with Jarnac Sports Petanque.
Patenque is a boules sport that is growing in popularity within Midlothian due to Dalkeith Petanque Club and the Roslin based, Rosslyn Rhino’s. Dalkeith’s club, with the help of Sandy Howden from Jarnac Twinning Group, have helped bring one of the fastest growing sports to Midlothian.
Being a sport of French origin, Dalkeith Petanque Club alongside two members from the Rosslyn Rhino’s took a trip to Dalkeith’s twin town in France, Jarnac, to spend a week with members of Jarnac’s petanque club.
Arriving on Saturday the 31st of May, 6 members of Dalkeith petanque, 2 members of the Rosslyn Rhino’s and a friend of one of Dalkeith’s players, met with Chairperson of the Dalkeith Petanque Club, Sandy Howden and his wife Margaret Howden in the French town, who had carried everyone’s boules by car from Bergerac airport alonsgide another member of Jarnac Twinning earlier on in the week. Sandy Howden and Margaret Howden are also loyal members of the Jarnac Twinning Group.
They were greeted with a welcoming reception in Jarnac’s Salle de Fetes Town Hall where they met the Jarnac Sports Petanque team alongside the clubs president, Pierre Treny.
The following day on Sunday morning, they were invited to go see the petanque stadium, Boulodrome at Saint-Yrieix-sur-Charente.
“It was an absolute aircraft hanger size alongside huge areas set out for petanque”, Sandy Howden explained, “Too many to count. We wandered the vast stadium then went outside for a game”.
Boulodrome stadium hosts all of the region’s big games alongside hosting international games.
Welcome reception in Jarnac's Salle de Fetes Town Hall
Dalkeith Petanque Club were given a guided tour by Jarnac’s mayor on the second day, alongside exchanging gifts. This was followed by a pennant commemorating their first game of the trip, played by a nice restaurant by the river and a park swimming pool.
During their trip, the club was given the opportunity to watch a local competition at the Jarnac Petanque grounds.
Sandy Howden explained, “We had been invited to watch a massive local competition. Jarnac Petanque is a gated club with 70 pistes and a large clubhouse. Most of the clubs in the region seem to have premises attached. Here we watched in amazement a local tournament with 240 players playing all at the same time. It was amazing to witness and see how skillful they all are. So many clubs with individual shirts showing their clubs names. Many from villages the twinning group are aware of over the years.”
On the 4th day of their visit, they attended a lunch alongside a few games of petanque, being invited along by Jarnac Sports Petanque and the Jarnac Twinning Group Committee. At the event they exchanged gifts with Presidant Pierre Treny with MSP Colin Beattie providing a bottle of parliamentary whisky and Provost Debbie McCall providing a small figure of a coal buggy, representing Midlothian’s rich coal mining history.
Sandy said, “We gave the President Pierre Treny a bottle of Scottish Parliament whisky given to us by our local MSP Colin Beattie. Also a small coal figure pushing a coal buggy representing Midlothian’s coal mining history, which came from Provost Debbi McCall.”
“Pierre emotionally connected with this right away saying everyone must respect the sacrifices that were made to keep us all warm. Dalkeith Petanque gave Pierre a pennant with both club crests on it commemorating the very first meeting with both clubs. These went down a storm.”
Following the end of their trip they had an opportunity to play with local teams, organsised by Tim Mawson, a member of Jarnac Twinning Group. Alongside playing with younger players, the youngest being 7 years old.
“Thursday we were invited out to Les Metairies Petanque Club just outside Jarnac to meet and play with the club players. This was arranged by Tim Mawson who is a member of Jarnac Rotary and also a member of Jarnac Twinning. Tim is now in contact with Dalkeith’s Esk Valley Rotary and hopefully connections and friendships can build up in that area.”
Their trip ended with a pub trip where they enjoyed a local pub’s 3 euro happy hour. With Sandy and his wife Margaret staying a few days longer to celebrate her birthday alonsgide the up-coming 65 year anniversary of Jarnac Twinning Group.
Sandy commented on the success of their trip to Jarnac, “We now have made connections with the petanque in Jarnac and met Bernard from Les Metairies who is going to write to me also. Now to build this new friendship into an exciting venture for the newest game in Dalkeith and get the town’s name out there amongst friends.”
“This visit brings the Dalkeith Jarnac connection even closer after 65 years of being twinned”
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