My Community Series: The weekly Pétanque games keeping Guernsey pensioners active

• The close-knit group meet regularly in Guernsey and I joined them for a game of pétanque

Wednesday morning. 10am. It's pétanque wars... but not really!

Come rain or shine you'll find a group of retirees larking about at the North Beach gravel pitches in Guernsey.

Regular players had a lot to say about the game which is organised by u3a, a network aimed at bringing older people together to share skills and interests in a friendly environment for a small membership fee.

One member told me: "It's good fun, it's something different and being active. We've become a great group of friends, going for coffee after. We do other things too, some of us have even been on holiday together from this.

"Every day we look at the weather on a Wednesday and hope it's fine but there are very few Wednesdays that we're not allowed to play because of the weather."

Another said: "I recommend anybody advancing pension to join u3a and come and do things like this with us."

Pétanque is a variation on the French game of boules and everybody attempts to throw their balls nearest the jack, pairing up with someone different each week.

Bob Cherry, organiser of the weekly games explained: "Everybody gets on well, nobody cheats.

"Some are competitive, I just come here to turn up and check the register and have a bit of fun."

After an hour's session, everyone piles into a local café for some much needed lubrication after all that chatter.

Proof that life after work goes on and friendships can be forged whatever your age.

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