Petanque was first played in our region at the University of East Anglia but the first affiliated club to be formed was the ‘Gin Trap’ based on an ancient hostelry, situated, strangely in a picturesque but remote village in the north-west of the County of Norfolk. A chance meeting by the then landlord, Jim Eastwood and a member of the ‘Nene Petanque Club’ in 1977 saw the start of the ‘Gin Trap’ club, sadly the club is no longer in existence but it did start the interest in the sport locally that we all love to play today.

Early in 1979, the Norwich Corporation’s Amenities Division enlisted the help of officers of the Eastern Region of the British Petanque Association, and with the help of their demonstrations and instruction, sowed the seeds from which there developed a county association, set up by a few enthusiasts on 27th April 1979. A rough area of old allotment land at the Norman Centre was cleared by the players, and prepared as a playing area during the summer, and members were soon going out into the county, introducing the game to others. By the end of the summer there was another club at ‘The Goat’ Strumpshaw.

Recruiting went on throughout the 1980 season, which was crowned in September by the staging of the Eastern Counties Regional Championships at the University. This gave the local players their first sight of some of the country’s leading players, and helped to raise the playing standards of local players.

Towards the end of 1981 application was made to the British Petanque Association for regional autonomy for Norfolk, together with the county of Suffolk, which at the time had no clubs. This was granted and the inaugural meeting of the ’East Anglia Region’ took place on 6th December 1981 at ’The Cottage, Norwich. There were 39 members representing 6 clubs at the meeting.

The new region was now on the ’map’ and in 1983 it hosted the ’Piat North Sea Trophy’ at Sprowston Hall Hotel.

At the annual general meeting on 27th March 1988 it was proposed that the name be changed from ‘East Anglia’ to ’Anglia’ region. This proposal was made by the BPA in view of the confusion caused by the number of regions with ’Eastern’ in their titles. The proposition was passed and so began the ’Anglia Region’ of the BPA

Over the years clubs were formed and clubs closed. A start was made with clubs in Suffolk, notably the two which are still going today, British Sugar Sports and Social, Bury St. Edmunds and the Exning Petanque Club.

In 2004 the BPA took the decision to devolve into the three national bodies, England, Scotland and Wales under the British Petanque Federation. We in the ‘Anglia Region’ took the decision to re-name ourselves ’The Anglia Petanque Association’ as part of the English Petanque Association (EPA).

In Feb 2018 The EPA changed its name to Petanque England and we are now one of the 19 Regions that make up Petanque England.