Another commanding heavy win this week for Cold Norton B sees their grip tighten on the championship in the top Division of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League. 

Something has changed since the recent nuptials of Cold Norton B’s Sam Lowman – he is more centred, more zen, and more devastatingly accurate on the ping pong table – a changed man for sure.    In the last two rounds of the league he has won all six of his matches dropping just a single set, and this week he was in thrilling form taking a nine dart treble without a hint of trouble from his Woodham opponents who simply had no answer to the power and accuracy of the Lowman phenomenon.   Team Supremo Dan Anderson joined the treble action but had a more difficult time of it – needing to come from 0-2 down against Eamonn Hall in his opening game, and then holding his nerve to thwart a comeback from Sanjay Saptarshi to win that one in 4 sets.  Saptarshi had briefly rattled the Cold Norton steam train when he took the opening match against Eric Green, but that was just a stumble as the coals were soon fired up and the results just came flying in.  Fambridge had seemed the most likely challengers to Cold Norton but they stumbled again this week losing out 3-7 to an unexpectedly very strong Cold Norton A trio featuring Duncan Taylor and Kevin Read.  Read hit an impressive hat-trick and Taylor took 2 wins, losing out in straight sets to England’s John Poysden, with the mercurial Matt Stringer taking a point against the all-or-nothing Bruce Kettle.  To complete the victory streak for the Cold Norton Club the C team travelled the short distance to Stow Maries A and came away with an 8-2 scoreline in their favour.  Kim Shead was the star player out-foxing all of his opponents, with able support from Martin Archie and Tim Cramphorn who both bagged a brace of points.  Stow’s Gary Brignall taking the only points for the home team.

In Division 2 Maldon A put paid to the growing sense of optimism in the Woodham C camp with a soul destroying 8-2 victory this week.  Maldon stalwarts Hamish Innes and Colin Napper both hit hat-tricks whilst newly promoted Ross Kirby bagged 2 wins just losing out in 5 sets to Tim Pulham.  Maldon did win all 3 of the other 5 setters tho’ – that’s championship form for you!  Top dogs Mapledene C carried on their impressive form with the same 8-2 scoreline as nearest rivals Maldon A and so maintained their slender lead – for now.  Andy Seaman came out on top with 3 good wins, with team-mates Pat White and Dennis Squirrell winning 2 a piece – all this against a very good Norton trio where Tony Fortser suffered a nasty self-inflicted facial injury, and the usually dominant Neil Want went home empty handed.  Not a great evening for the away team.  However the following day Want represented the E team and scored a hat-trick – something to do with the number of Weetabix (other breakfast cereals are available) he had had that morning!  Yes indeed the Cold Norton E team recorded a 7-3 triumph over Stow Maries B with both Want and the self-mutilating Forster coming out with trebles – what a difference a day makes.  In the remaining mid-table matches, Marty Englander was back to his best leading the Maldon C team to a 6-4 turnover of Blackwater A, and it was teamwork for Blackwater B in their 6-4 victory over Maldon B as all three players scored singles points and Louis Gunn and Merv Perriman paired up for the crucial doubles win.  Steve Aspland, so often the main points scorer for his Maldon outfit, has hit full form at last with a hat-trick in this one and many more now predicted.

Blackwater C are cruising along at present, and have the only 100% record left in the third division with 4 wins on the bounce.  This week they rudely threw their own D team under the Blackwater bus with a crushing 9-1 defeat.  It was left to Jacqui Treacy to stop the whitewash with a last gap victory over Andrea Alleyne in the only 5 setter of the whole match.  Relatively straight forward hat-tricks for the C teams Gary Smith and Neil Thompson.  Woodham D had their best performance of the season so far with am emphatic 9-1 win over Blackwater F with Jean Chasmer and Reece Arundell going unbeaten all evening.  Peter Hughes taking the sole point for Blackwater against Diane King.  Dave Bateman was the class act for the St Lawrence baysiders this week with an undefeated trio of wins as he led his team to a 6-4 tight victory over Maldon E.  The final match saw the nights two unbeaten protagonists take to the octagon – Bateman versus John Leavett, a heavyweight contest scheduled for up to 5 rounds.  With everyone else itching to get home and happy to take the draw, Bateman had other ideas and strung out that first leg to 20-18, that was enough for Leavett and he capitulated and allowed everyone to get home before midnight!  Maldon D came out 7-3 winners in the Friday Night showcase against Blackwater E – hat-tricks for both Shirley Carroll and James Raymond. Third player Luca Riedling was unlucky not to register in his match with Phil West where he had several opportunities to close out the contest in the 4^th and 5^th set but sometimes that’s just how it goes in the Wild West shootouts – as the final legs went 15-17, and then 11-13 to the fastest draw in Blackwater.

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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer

Burnham & District Table Tennis League

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Pic 1 – Sam Lowman in his honeymoon period

Pic 2 – Cold Norton’s Dan Anderson with his first treble this season

Pic 3 –Alan Dadswell succumbing to the charms of Maldon’s Hamish Innes

Pic 4 – Kim Shead in treble action for Cold Norton C this week

Pic 5 – Maldon D’s Shirley Carroll unbeaten in her match this week

Pic 6 – Tony Forster and the Flying Paddle Mystery

The new-look Netts A team – a mix of last year’s A and B teams – have wasted no time in establishing their credentials in the Braintree Table Tennis League. 

They followed their first-week 8-2 win with another by the same score when they faced Black Notley B.

Andy Holmes and James Hicks were unbeaten while Notley’s former men’s singles champion Steve Kerns – out of action for some time before and after a hip operation – got his comeback under way with a win over Joe Meleschko.

Sudbury Nomads, expected to be in the mix at the end of the season, got off to a solid start with a 7-3 win over Liberal B, where Richard Fifield, who joined the club halfway through last season, outscored Nomads regulars Karl Baldwin and Ken Lewis, who both lost to David Razzell.

Rayne A, effectively last year’s B team, introduced newcomer Pandus Ademakinwa, who won two singles in their draw with Notley A. 

Steve Pennell also notched up two, including a win over last season’s men’s singles finalist Luke Burridge.

James Mullane started his season with an unbeaten evening in Liberal A’s draw with Sudbury Wanderers.

Rayne C lead division two after a 9-1 win over their own E team took their points tally to 17 out of 20.  Matthew Brown and Paul Wellington were unbeaten.

Netts D, who had started the season with a 10-0 win, could not repeat the dose against Notley D, who beat them 6-4.

Matt Stephenson was unbeaten, unusually outscoring Graham Chinnery, who won twice.

Equally unusual was the appearance of Ken Lewis back in division two where his three wins helped Sudbury Strollers to a 6-4 win over Yeldham Whitlocks A.  New signing John Colvin added two more.

Charles Calisin’s three singles led Netts C to a 6-4 win over Rayne D.

Finchingfield B lead division three after two big wins. They went one better than last week’s 8-2 by beating Netts E 9-1.  Peter Dacey and Trevor Laird were unbeaten.

Rayne F hava also won both their matches, Dave Whiting leading them to a 7-3 win over Rayne G.

Netts F followed their first-week draw with a 7-3 win over Notley F where James Howard was unbeaten.

Notley G have started the season with matches against their own club’s F and H teams.  After a 6-4 defeat against the F team, they reversed the result in their next match but not before Wayne Wilson had repeated last week’s hat-trick.

New team Sudbury Drifters opened their account with a draw against Yeldham B.  Steve Willis was unbeaten for Yeldham.

Report by Ron Fosker

New – or newish – players were to the fore in the first week of the new Braintree Table Tennis League season.

Champions Netts A got off to a winning start with an 8-2 win over promoted Sudbury Wanderers.

There were expected three wins for Paul Davison and James Hicks but Richard Fifield and David Hitchen, both new to the league last season, got the better of Joe Meleschko.

Alesha Ellis-Austin, also in her second season and promoted this year to division one, joined her Black Notley A teammates in remaining unbeaten against the club’s B team.

There’s nothing new about Chris Parr, Sean Clift and Adam Clift, but they are appearing in Netts B’s colours this season after their move from Black Notley, and opened their account with a 9-1 win over Liberal B.

Paul Lombardi’s time in the league goes back a long way but he can scarcely have played better than his performance for Rayne B against last season’s runners-up Rayne A.  He won his three singles and joined Keith Martin to win the doubles in the 5-5 draw.

In division two, Netts D’s new signing Christopher Gibbons made an unbeaten start to his Braintree career in the 10-0 win over newly promoted Sudbury Strollers. He was joined by JJ Calisin, up a division from last season, and dad Jimmy Calisin.

The other Calisin, Charles, moved up to division two last season and showed his continuing improvement with excellent wins over Dave Marsh and Adi Kamma in Netts C’s 8-2 defeat by potential title challengers Rayne C.

Matthew Brown carried on where he left off last season and was the only one to overcome Calisin.

Last year’s division three champions Finchingfield A got off to an unfortunate start when Peter Clark injured his back and had to pull out after one set of their match against Rayne D.

He had lost at 11-8 in the fifth game against Richard Whiteside, who went on to win his other two singles in the 6-4 win.

Former Liberal player Trevor Laird has joined Finchingfield B in division three and was unbeaten in their 8-2 win over Yeldham Whitlocks B.  Lucien Nolan-Bradford’s evening was similarly unblemished.

Notley H’s new signing Wayne Wilson took his three singles against the club’s E team.  That included a win at 11-9 in the fifth game against Peter Davenport, who lost only nine out of 47 last season.

Karl Bowden started his Braintree League career with three wins for Rayne G in the draw with Netts F.

Aivars Taimins and Jonathan Acharya, both products of Notley’s casual club, made their league debuts for Notley E in the 6-4 win against Notley G.  Taimins won two and Acharya one.

Peter Foster, back in action after a two-year absence through injury, also won twice but none of them could get past Ben Southgate

There were six more familiar names in Rayne F’s 8-2 win over Netts E, two of whom, Conrad Gomes and Dave Whiting, remained unbeaten.

Report by Ron Fosker

A week of very tight results in the Southend Premier division with three of the games going to the wire and ending in a 5-4 scoreline. The first came as Rawreth A inflicted the first defeat of the season on Brand Identity A.  Kevin Read led the way with 3 wins backed up by 2 wins on his Southend debut for Daniel Bronziet, his hatrick denied by Simon Jacob who has started the 25/26 season very well indeed.

The second tight match came as Rawreth B beat Hadleigh Forum A 5-4 despite the player of the match and three wins going to Forum’s Neil Barker. Rawreth’s Debby Auvache, Kim Shead and Andrew Halling all contributing to the win. The final 5-4 result went the way of Hockley A against two man Thorpe Bay B. Notable wins on the sight for Sanjay Saptarshi as he got the better of former Men’s singles champion Matt Spero and the ever reliable Keith Willett.

A 6-3 scoreline next but no less close as we saw 7 of the 9 matches on the night go the distance between Basildon A and Stanford A. Arun Joy proving the difference in this tight affair taking all of his three singles ably supported by Garry Hartgrove and Rob Burton. Martin Archie with two for the visitors.

Elsewhere, Rayleigh Mill continued their solid start to the season with a 6-3 win over Invicta A. Duncan Taylor, Colin Chatfield and Steve Maltby with three, two and one win respectively. A good win in this one for Invicta’s captain Tony Ayliffe over Chatfield.

In the final result of the week a slightly more one sided affair but I guess that was expected as current champions Thorpe Bay A saw off the challenge of Premier Division newcomers Matchpoint  A. Ian Wall, John Poysden and Chris Ballad with three wins a piece.

Report by Duncan Taylor

Hockley B consolidated their position at the top of Division 1. Notwithstanding their 9 – 0 score at Wakering A, there were a couple of very close ties. Keith Abbott edged a victory over Wakering’s Martin Shaughnessy 12 – 10 in the final set. Then Mick Grout, debuting for his new club, took Keith to another five-setter, eventually succumbing 9 – 11. Keith’s team mate David Colwill took the player of the match prize, whilst Eamonn Hall was also unbeaten.
Hadleigh Forum C pushed visiting second-place Hockley C all the way, eventually yielding 4 – 5 in the final rubber of the evening. The visitors’ Stephanie Haddrell narrowly missed out on a hat trick, losing to veteran Graham Farmer 11 – 6 in the fifth. Team mate Will Evesham had no such trouble, taking the POM award for his maximum.
Stanford Le Hope B recorded their first win of the season, taking their match against visiting Basildon B 7 – 2. The home side’s Rob Salvage was unbeaten, whilst team mates Jake Nelson and Dave Hancox got two victories each. Basildon’s Dale Gutteridge and Tony Molisso had to fight hard for their single victories, each winning in their final set.
Rawreth C’s Adi Kamma maintained his unbeaten start to the season when his team visited Mapledene. Team mate David Gatheral’s two wins were his first of the season. Despite two wins from Mapledene’s Bill Smith and one each for Andy Seaman and Lin Roff, Rawreth took the match 5 – 4.

Report by David Barnes

Potential promotion candidates Matchpoint B and Wakering B met this week and it was Wakering who ran out convincing winners 7-2. Callum Turner led the way again with three wins dropping just one set all night with Michael Grout and Andy Deadman both weighing in with a brace each. Dennis Squirrell beat Deadman for one point and Colin Barham got the other for Matchpoint after a close five set battle with Grout clinching the decider 12/10.

While those two battled it out Canvey B  took the top spot with a 7-2 win against Invicta B. In truth the score could have been a lot closer four games going to five sets but all won by Canvey. The one player who wasn’t involved in a five set match was Canvey’s Terry Giddens who raced through his matches winning all three without dropping a set. Tony Westwell added two more and Des Duffield one before he had to concede his last match through injury. Andrew St. John claimed Invicta’s other point beating Duffield and he also took Westell to five sets losing 11/13 in the decider.

Stanford C picked up their first win of the season thrashing Basildon C 8-1. Mike Trendell took the POTM honours with a hat trick with Vaughan Chambers also winning three plus two more wins from Peter Moxham. Chambers had to fight hard for two of his wins going to five sets against Andy Roff and Victor Galben. Galben and teammate Michael Elemide are both making their debuts in the league this season and will need time to settle at this level. Elemide did have the satisfaction of getting Basildon’s consolation point beating Moxham in four sets.

Final game of the week turned out to be the closest and one in which everyone turned out to be a winner. Hockley E just got the edge on Matchpoint C 5-4 with every player getting at least one win. The scoreline could, in fact, easily have gone the other way as the two matches that went to five sets both went the way of Hockley. John George went two sets down to Zachary Samuels but stormed back to win the next three 11/9 12/10 15/13the closest encounter of the evening. That sequence was repeated when Amar Al-Soufi took on Roger Sherman also losing the first two sets before winning 11/9 11/8 12/10. George and Al-Soufi both added a second win and Neal Klyman gave Hockley their fifth point denying Ollie Milchard’s hat trick for Matchpoint. Sherman and Zachary Samuels got their other points.

Player of the Week – Terry Giddens

Team of the Week – Wakering B

Report by Paul Strutt

In Division 3 a young Evolve ‘B’ team took on a (considerably) older and more experienced Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ team. The evening started well for the juniors when Oliver Willson earned a three set win over Dean Johnston in the opening rubber.  Thereafter, however, it was one way traffic as Forum reeled off the remaining eight games with the loss of only two sets.

In the first of this week’s matches, Canvey ‘C’ visited Stanford ‘D’, but found their hosts in an uncompromising mood.  Despite some close 5-setters, a 9-0 home win was the outcome.  Hat-tricks for Andrew Jessop, David Arnett and Toby Cornelius, a youngster on his first league outing.

Both of the Evolve junior teams were in action this week.  To start with, Evolve ‘B’ travelled to Hockley to take on their ‘F’ team. It was a tough evening, though, for the youngsters who managed to win only one set against the Hockley trio of Ben Brown, Bob Garlick and Gary Beck.

The following night, another visit to Hockley, this time by the Evolve ‘A’ team.  On this occasion, however, a much better outcome for Evolve.  Their opponents, Hockley ‘G’, are another all junior team, but on the night they were no match for the Evolve trio of Sasha Syderenko, Zac Eighteen and the POTM, Miles Bygrave.  Hockley’s only point on the night came from Boris Kolev who overcame Zac in a close 4-setter.

At the end of the week, a much closer affair as Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ played host to Wakering ‘C’.  Things were going well for the home team as they lead 4-1, only for Wakering to claw their way back and a force a deciding game.  This saw the evergreen Douglas Brown up against Deepak Nanda, making his league debut.  Things started well for Douglas as he opened up a two set lead, but Deepak had other ideas, as he took the next two sets 15/13, 18/16 to force a fifth set. Whether he ran out of steam or Douglas’s experience came into play, I don’t know, but it was Douglas who  eventually came out on top with an 11/5 win, to secure a 5/4 win for his team.

Report by Dave Woolmer

Cold Norton B took an early grip on the top Division of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League this week as they recorded a sizeable win whilst their main rivals stumbled again. 

Cold Norton B rattled off a second 9-1 victory this week leaving them firmly on top of the Burnham pile in these early stages of the campaign.  This week’s victims were a strong Mapledene B side featuring the giant twins of Keith Willett and Glenn Johnson.  The contest itself was much closer than the scoreline suggests as Willett took a game off everyone and secured the Mapledene point in a rankings upsetting victory over the tricky Eric Green.  Green then went deep into Fergie time to finally secure a win over Johnson in a 13-11 final set extravaganza that saw Johnson take an early 2-0 lead before the Green gears were cranked up.  Hat-tricks for Cold Norton’s Ian Wall and Sam Lowman, who also partnered up for the doubles extra point. 

The only other top flight match this week saw the return of former singles champion Daniel Young as he ventured out for the first time with his new Woodham A crew.  Young was involved in all the excitement as he went all out against fierce rivals John Poysden and Keith Adams – in two extraordinary rollercoaster 5 set battles.  Young lost out to Adams 11-9 in the decider in his first key battle, but then used this disappointment to rally himself when facing the very competitive Poysden.  Poysden levelled the match at 2-2 but this must have just irked Young as he rattled off the final set in record time to secure the point.  In between these games Young and new partner Sanjay Saptarshi came from behind for a notable 5 set doubles bonus victory over Poysden and Adams.  Fambridge’s third player Gurj Bhambra had an off night losing out to Young and Chris Hancox before having to retire unwell.  So all of this led to an impressive hat-trick for Adams, a welcome return for Young the younger, and a stalemate draw that dampens Fambridge’s hopes of reclaiming the title.

In Division 2 the early pacesetters are Woodham C and Mapledene C who have already opened up a gap at the head of the table.   This week an all-firing Woodham C trio dispatched the usually very competitive full strength Maldon B side.  In a final 8-2 scoreline there were trebles for Tiny Tim Pulham and Peter Harverson (average age of 38), with Alan Dadswell notching a good win over Colin Barrell.  Pulham and Dadswell then did the unthinkable and won the doubles against the usually unbeatable Barrell/Steve Aspland combo.  For Maldon Garry Eames did well to overcome the Dadswell threat in a turbulent 5 setter.  Mapledene C were held to account by Blackwater A and their wide variety of styles and rubbers.  It all ended in an honourable draw with the forehand of Andy Seaman taking a treble for his Mapledene posse.  Maldon A dominated the Maldon derby against their C team, winning out 8-2 with a hat-trick for Lloyd Bennett-Smith that required some thinking about when he took on ex-team-mate Dawn Baldry and found himself at deuce in the fifth with his hard-hitting opponent.  Even at 13-13 it was hard to call, but Bennett-Smith just edged those last 2 points for the bragging rights.  Baldry won her other matches to keep the A-team in check!  In the mid-table clash between Stow Maries B and Cold Norton D it was the sparingly used Dave Moles who shone brightest as he poked and prodded his way to a season debut hat-trick for his Stow side as they secured a draw.  Perhaps they’ll call on him more frequently now.

Blackwater C and D are already basking in the Daylight between themselves and the rest of the Division 3 teams.  Both had in-house victories this week as the C team defeated F, and D team bettered the E team offering – all maintaining the alphabetical equilibrium.  The F team’s Jason Bush was the only thorn in the progress of the C team as he took his team’s 2 points, leaving Gary Smith as the only unbeaten player of the night – a straightforward and accomplished set of 3 set victories for the serving maestro.  The D team had Davids Sage and Benstead to thank for all their points as they beat the E team 7-3.   A lot of 5 setters in this derby that almost spilled over into the following morning.  Kath Little and Deb Ginn both took 5 sets to get the better of Jacqui Treacey, Benstead needed all 10 sets to get past Little and Phil West, and Sage came from behind against Ginn to take the final 2 sets 11-9 for a close fought win for his hat-trick.  St Lawrence’s David Bateman had a cracking night as his team took on Maldon D – he was the only one smiling in the Bay though as his hat-trick combined with all the other points from his team still only added up to 3.  The Maldon trio of Shirely Carroll, James Raymond, and Luca Riedling all recording 2 wins a-piece.

The Burnham League was saddened this week at the loss of one of its former stalwart players – Ralph Gibson – who passed away this week after a battle with illness.  Ralph most latterly played for the Mayland club and will be sorely missed by all his Clubmates and opponents alike.

Report by Eamonn Hall

Pic 1 – Eric Green Versus Glenn Johnson going into the fifth set

Pic 2 – Cold Norton’s Sam Lowman adding yet another treble to his record

Pic 3 – League Chairman Alan Dadswell in his win over Colin Barrell this week

Pic 4 – David Sage taking on the tricky Kath Little in the Blackwater Derby this week

Pic 5 – Ralph Gibson RIP playing in the Burnham League