As a founder member of the Brighton and Hove Petanque Club and organiser of the recent junior petanque sessions, which were extremely popular, I would like to respond to some of the comments made by Shaun Steer (Letters, August 16).

The former mini-boating pool by the West Pier had long fallen into disuse - about 20 years ago if my memory serves me correctly - and had been an eyesore on a prime seafront location for many years.

Converting it into petanque terrain - as part of the council's ongoing seafront development initiative - has helped bring the area back into use. It is regularly used by players of all ages throughout the year and attracts crowds of spectators.

The former sunken gardens had similarly suffered years of neglect and have now been transformed into an attractively landscaped petanque arena.

The city should be proud to have one of the largest petanque facilities in the UK in an unrivalled location. Low-maintenance, yes, but surely this should be seen as an advantage?

Although originating from France, where it remains hugely popular, petanque has been played in the UK for at least 30 years, when the British (now English) Petanque Association was formed at Shedfield, Hampshire, where there is still a thriving club. It's well worth a visit.

Petanque is now played worldwide. It has been an Olympic demonstration sport, is played at the World Games and England hosted the annual World Championships in 1979 - why not Brighton in the future?

England sent a team to the recent world junior championships in Toronto - wouldn't it be wonderful to have a local youngster in a future World Championship?

Various boules games have been played for centuries. Francis Drake's game on Plymouth Hoe was played 200 years before the lawnmower was invented and it's far more likely they were played on a more uneven petanque surface than the immaculate bowls lawns we see nowadays.

Soldiers and sailors most likely played games with cannon balls - the basic terminology for petanque, pointer (to point) and tirer (to shoot) derive from French naval terms meaning "to aim" and "to fire" the cannons.

Why not come along for a game, Mr Steer, you might actually enjoy it - Allez-y!

-Ray Ager, Brighton, www.brighton.petanque.org