All posts by admin

News

Brian Parish

brian-parish

 

“The man with the funny shaped bat”         

On the 22nd December 2016 we heard the sad news that Brian had passed away following a short illness. He had celebrated his birthday two days earlier on the 20th.

Brian was a top class table tennis player who represented both Dagenham and Essex as well as running a highly rated table tennis club called Milestone, in the East End of London from which many players benefited and reached a high standard.

I personally first met Brian when I was eight years old when he used to take me to West Ham United along with his close friend Eddie Sawyer and he ensured I was passed down the front to see the match; something I will never forget.

In later years I played against him on a number of occasions in table tennis matches in the East London League and these were all very competitive particularly when I lost to him in the Milestone match room (called the art room) when I was at the peak of my playing days.

In later years Brian ran and helped organise the Dagenham FC Table Tennis Club in the British League and along with Jimmy Cleeves and Peter Cranmer made playing such a special occasion with coaches of supporters travelling to away matches throughout the country.

Brian was an avid supporter of Dagenham and Redbridge FC and attended weekly with his grandchildren and was subsequently made Vice Chairman for his services.

In closing how will I remember Brian? Yes, he was competitive, but along with that came a thoroughly special human being who would always have a smile and would help anyone who asked.

Brian you will be sadly missed by many, many people especially your wonderful family.

Rest in Peace

Stuart Gibbs
PRESIDENT OF ESSEX TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION

Essex Vice-President, Neil Brierley added:-

“Brian was a fine player, who represented the Dagenham League many times during its heyday in the 60s and 70s. The talent pool at the time was very deep and Bob Potton, Les Eadie, Kevin Caldon, Sky Andrew, Dave Randall and Brian Mailey (and countless more) were all competing for places. Brian had a warm and ready smile and friendly handshake and he was truly a gentleman and a very popular guy in the world of Table Tennis. In more recent years, he had moved to Clacton and played in the Local League.”

Brian’s Funeral is this Thursday,12th January – 13.20 at the South Essex Crematorium in Upminster. The address is – Ockendon Road, Corbets Tey, Upminster, RM14 2UY (Telephone Number 01708 434433)

Tournaments

Essex Closed – What a success

Ken Field and Jayne Johnson report on the Essex County Table Tennis Association 2016 Closed Championships held over the 27th_29th August 2016

After a gap of some 8 years, the ECTTA Annual Closed Championships for Seniors, Vets and U21s returned.  It was held at the Rayleigh Leisure Centre, in Rawreth, home of Southend’s Annual Closed Championships.

 A good Entry of 68 Players, combined to produce a very good Championships. Our thanks go to the Staff of the Rayleigh Leisure Centre for making us so welcome and always being on hand, should any problems arise. Thanks also to Jayne Johnson for producing the various Result and Match Sheets & for organising the Control Desk for the 3 days. Running the Desk for Saturday & Monday along with Jayne and Barrie Delf was Arthur Clark.  Jayne & Ken looked after the Desk on the Sunday which was the Vets O40’s day.  Our thanks to Anthon Ranjit-Singh for the helping setting up and taking down the Match Room and helping throughout the Tournament.  Finally a big thank you to all of the Players & their families who supported these Championships.

 On Saturday we enjoyed the Men’s, Ladies & Under 21 Events.

 In the Men’s Singles Semis, we saw two five setters, with both going to the wire. In the first, Tony Halling just edged out Lukasz Lewandowski -8, -6, 6, 4, 10, but not before he had a Match Point.  A similar story in the other Semi with Josh Dye just beating Ben Warner -7, 5, 9, -9, 6.  In the Final it again it went all the way with Josh just taking the Title from Tony –6, 8, 3, -9, 8.

halling-dye

In the Ladies Singles, we had a Round Robin, with Lin Roff, Gracie Edwards & Rebecca Lowman each winning two matches. In the count back the Title went to Lin who won 7 Sets, losing 3, with the Runner up position going to Gracie 7-4 and Rebecca 6-4.

The Men’s Doubles saw a good Final with Doubles specialists Gary Young & Glenn Johnson just losing out to Father and Son combination, Andrew and Tony Halling -9, 7, 5, -7, 3.

hallings

The Ladies Doubles was won by County Juniors Gracie Edwards & Rebecca Lowman, who beat Lin Roff & Tina Hutchinson 5, 5, 11.

lowman-edwards

The Mixed Doubles was also won by two of the County’s leading Juniors. Jack Stockdale and Gracie Edwards beating Norbert Fullerton & Lin Roff 8, 7, 6.

Next was the Under 21s, which saw Josh Dye repeat his victory in the Men’s Singles, beating County Junior, Sam Hume in the Final. He didn’t have it all his own way and a tight Final saw Josh just take the Title -5, 10, -5, 8, 6.

The final match on Saturday was the Level 2 Open Singles and this was won by John Cleasby, who beat Paul Pells 12, 8, -8, 7.

Day 2 of the Championships saw the Over 40s take centre stage and we enjoyed plenty of good matches.

In the Men’s Over 40s Singles, there were shocks as un-seeded Django Fung took the Title.  Django, who is more renowned as the Manager of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump, turned his attention to Table Tennis.  In the top half of the draw, No. 1 Seed Rik James lost a close five setter to Mark Wicker, only for Mark to lose in the Semi-Final to No. 4 seed, Gary Young.  In the bottom half of the draw, there was an early shock when No. 3 seed Kevin Read, lost in straight sets to unseeded Django Fung.  Django then beat Southend Premier Player, Babul McLeod, again in straight sets.  The Final was a very tight match poised at two sets all and 9 all in the decisive fifth Set, before Django took the Title 9, -12, -5, 6, 9. This was the shock of Championships, great effort by Django.

Is this a Yellow Card moment!!

Is this a Yellow Card moment!!

The Ladies Over 40s Singles title went to Jan Fuller who beat Tina Hutchinson 9, 6, 7.  Both players have returned to our sport after many years out:  having both been leading juniors in the County.

The Over 40s Doubles was played as an Open Event. Favourites Mark Wicker and Paul Davison justified their Seeding and took the Title, beating Gary Young and Glenn Johnson 8, 8, 6.

wicker-davison

Final Event of the day was the Level 2 Over 40s Open Singles, which saw Southend Premier Players Norbert Fullerton and Richard Brown face each other in the Final. It was a very good match with Norbert just edging it 5, 11, -3, 11.

norbert

On to Day 3 we enjoyed watching the Over 50s, Over 60s and Over 70s.

There were plenty of exciting tussles and it was a great demonstration of how Table Tennis is a sport for life. Each event was played as an Open event: with the Over 50s in Groups and the Over 60s and 70s as straight knockouts.

In the O50’s Alex Abbott and Rick James met in the Final and we enjoyed watching a close five setter, with Alex just beating his long term rival and friend Rik 9, -9, 9, -2, 6.

n the O60’s, after reaching both the Men’s and Over 40s Doubles Finals, but just losing out in each, Glenn Johnson went one better this time to take the Over 60s Title, beating Peter Cranmer in the Final 7, 8, 8.

In the O70’s Peter Cranmer made up for his disappointment in the Over 60s beating Bill Smith in the Final -6, 7, 4, 9. It was great to see these two stalwarts of our game still maintaining a high standard of play.

This concluded the 2016 Essex Closed Table Tennis Championships and several of us enjoyed a final beverage in the Canteen at the Rayleigh Leisure Centre, which had been a great meeting place the whole weekend. Throughout, the staff had been so helpful and accommodating. John Dennison of Topspin Sports arrived to collect the tables and equipment and those left helped load up the Van:  including the legendary Joe Kennedy who called in on Sunday.

There has been some good feedback about these Championships which will be fed back to the Essex Management Committee and it will be up to them to decide if this event can continue.  The running of this event has to receive funding from the County due to the cost of Venues and Equipment hire.  The funds of the County are a combination of our current Funds plus the Annual Team Fees of £9.00, paid by every Local League Team that plays in our County.  This means that every registered player in Essex contributed a small part towards the running of these Championships.  So our thanks go to every player, playing in the Local Leagues of the Essex County.

We enjoyed setting up these Championships and thank all of you in what ever way it was that helped make the return of these Championships such an enjoyable weekend.

Ken Field, Chairman & Jayne Johnson General Secretary
Essex County Table Tennis Association
Organisers of the 2016 Essex County Closed Championships

Tournaments

Essex Closed

To all Players who play in the Essex Local Affiliated Leagues and Clubs (players must qualify to represent Essex).
 Essex County Table Tennis Association is running an Essex Closed Senior & Veterans Table Tennis Championships 
over the August Bank Holiday period of 27th, 28th & 29th August 2016.

To enter, simply respond by email:-

Stating which Events you wish to enter and fill in the relevant information. Return email to both

kenfield@sdttl.info & Jayne.Johnson@sept.nhs.uk   

 You can download the attached Entry Form HERE (Excel Form) if you wish and return it to Ken Field, the address is shown on the Entry Form.

Closing Date for Entry is Friday, 29th July 2016 and Entries will be on a first come, first served basis, with a probable maximum of 120 players each day.

The Venue is the Rayleigh Leisure Centre, Priory Chase, Rawreth Lane, Essex, SS6 9NF. There is ample free Parking, nice clean Changing Rooms and a very pleasant large Cafe. There is a good playing area, where the Closed Championships of the Southend & District Table Tennis League have been held for the past 7 years, with an average Entry of 120 players.

Directions are:- A127 towards Southend. Leave at the A130 turnoff. Then take the A1245 towards Hullbridge & Rawreth. Turn right at the 2nd Junction, which is Rawreth Lane. The Venue is half a mile along Rawreth Lane on the right, immediately behind Asda

 Play will be over 10 Tables, supplied by Topspin Sports.

Play will be continuous from 9.00 am – 6 pm each day.

The Expected Playing Schedule is:-

Saturday 27th August:-

Men’s & Ladies Singles, Men’s & Ladies Doubles, Under 21 Men & Ladies Singles. Plus an Open Plate Event for those knocked out in their Groups, or Round 1, of the Men’s & Ladies Singles.

Sunday 28th August:-

Men’s Vets Over 40s Singles, Ladies Vets Over 40s Singles, Open Vets Over 40s Doubles and an Open Plate Event for those knocked out in their Groups, or Round 1, of the Vets Men’s & Vets Ladies Singles.

Monday 29th August:-

Open Over 50s Singles, Open Over 60s Singles and Open Over 70s Singles.

All matches will be played up to 11 points and best of 5 sets and all Events will be played in Groups of 3. The Plate Events will be played on a straight Knock out basis.

The Entry Fee for each Separate Event is £ 8.00 per Singles Event, £4.00 per person for Doubles Events, Plate Events free.

Trophies will be presented each day. Note, there will be no Table Tennis England Ranking points given for these Championships, nor Cash Prizes, the aim of this Event is to provide good Table Tennis, coupled with a good Social atmosphere, as a nice start to your 2016/7 Season in Essex.

Any player under the age of 18, on the 27th August 2016, wishing to enter the Closed Championships, must enter by Entry Form and their Entry Form must be signed by their Parent or Guardian and returned to Ken Field, address is on the Entry Form.

The Southend and District Table Tennis League is running this Event on behalf of the ECTTA and therefore BACS payments and Cheques should be made payable to the SDTTL Bank Account, with eventual Profit or Loss being passed on to the ECTTA.

Payment choice as follows:-

* Payment must be received by the Closing date of Entry of the 29th July 2016.

Payment, can be made either:-

a)      By BACS payment to the Bank Account of the Southend & District Table Tennis League

Sort Code 20-79-73
Account Number 60855529

b). Or by Cheque made payable to the Southend & District Table Tennis League and sent to Ken Field, 81 The Broadway, Thorpe Bay, Southend-on-Sea, Essex SS1 3HQ

Any questions do email Jayne and/or myself.

This is the first time the ECTTA have run this Event since 2010 and it is an experiment to gauge whether it’s economical to run such an Event or not. We hope you’ll give this your full support. Even if you’re not playing, do pop in and see us.

The Dates were chosen because the Venue was available and there is nothing else going on in the Table Tennis England Calendar over that weekend, although at the very last minute, Table Tennis England have included British League Senior Division on the Saturday.

We fully realise that it’s a risky move running this Event over a National Bank Holiday period, but we are giving it our best shot and our President, Stuart Gibbs, recalls it once being run at Clacton, during the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend, with a great turnout and atmosphere.

Looking forward to seeing plenty of you there.

Best wishes

Ken Field, Chairman & Jayne Johnson General Secretary
of the Essex County Table Tennis Association.

News

Lou Hopkins

 

Lou Hopkins wins the Over 70s in 2005 V2

 

We have now been advised of the funeral arrangements for Lou.

Friday 1st July – 11.20 at the Southend Crematorium – family flowers only please but donations would be welcome to the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Service.

There will be a reception at Rayleigh Lodge from 12.30.

It is with great sadness that we heard the news that Southend stalwart for so many years, Lou Hopkins, passed away peacefully last Thursday 2nd June. As soon as we know when the Funeral Service is and the details we will publish here. Our thoughts are with his Family and friends at this sad time.

Lou has been involved with local Southend Table Tennis for over 50 years. He played in local leagues, Southend, Basildon, Chelmsford, Burnham and Brentwood. Always happy, always looking to help out wherever he could.
In Southend, Lou has done several roles for the Committee; running the Summer League for many years, the RoseBowl Competition, Closed Championships and has always looked to help wherever he could. In more recent years, Lou looked after the League’s Finances and always produced immaculate Books.

In his early days, Lou played for ‘Inflight Cleaning’: who were based at Southend Airport, who he also worked for. Later the Club switched to Rawreth where he continued to play for many years, ending up with the RESSC Club.

Lou ran Junior Coaching classes at the Southend Leisure Centre for several years and coached at various schools.

In the 90’s, he, together with Stuart Gibbs, Roy Savill, Paul Reed and Bill Wall, set up Setts in the Basildon League area, which he ran for many years, right up to the more recent months, when ill health got the better of him.

Lou was always a mid Division player, always capable of good wins, never complaining if he lost and always congratulating his opponent if he lost.

Lou was liked wherever he went.

Lou will be much missed by all.

County Juniors

Redbridge (Essex) Through to London Youth Finals

 

LYG Boysteam

David Humble reports on Redbridge Table Tennis Teams, both boys and girls have made it through to the Finals of the London Youth Games to be held at Crystal Palace on the 3rd of July. Players based at the Mossford club run and supply the team, with the terrific addition this year of Joe Walker, a great player to boost the team.

All players and parents really bought fully into our team ethic, which sets us apart from most others which are individual influenced.

LYG Elise1

In qualifying,all matches were won either 5-0 or 4-1. The girls team fielded ages of 15, 10 and 8 over the 3 two person matches.  Sophie Chiang won all her matches, Maliha Baig (8) was 2 games down in one match but came back to win 11-9 in the fifth with fantastic forehand drive to finish the match.

LYG Joe1

The boys were no less impressive where we used 4 players in the squad.

The London Youth Games Finals at Crystal Palace is a great day out and everyone should make a date in their diary to attend, You would be energised for life !   Check out their website at this link – http://www.londonyouthgames.org/

LYG GirlsDbls

There is a multiplicity of sports involved very keenly contested by highly enthusiastic youngsters. In effect an Olympic Games for young Londoners is my best shot of describing it. I remember taking Alex Murdoch and his wife one year. They were gob smacked. My grandsons loved attending when they were young.

LYG Jaden1

County Juniors, Tournaments

ESSEX JUNIOR CLOSED 2016

Arthur Clark reports:-

The Essex Junior Closed was held at BATTS Harlow on Saturday 7 May 2016. At the Closing Date there were 34 entries and with the acceptance of late entries (I knew four were coming) the final entry figure was 40 as against last year’s 57. Last year’s event was held in early January so the start of exams may have been significant this year. Groups of three players in most events and even with this we overran by just over half an hour although most of this occurred in the last event.

The opening event was the Under 13 Boys but with only one Girl entering her event she was transferred to the Boys event. There were four groups (eight last year) and all entrants turned up to play. One seed failed to win his Group, Toby Deng (Col) losing to Diesel Harvey (Har) 3-0. Toughest Group was Group 1 and William Bettley (NETTS) needed five games to beat James Goddard (Sou) and come back from 5-9 down in the decider with Alana Mansfield (Har) to win the last six points. Hot favourite Jaden Aulakh (Mossford) only dropped one game on his route to the final, this to Alana in the quarter final. For William it was tougher, youngest brother James took a game of him and he needed three deuce games (10, 12, 10) to get in the final at expense of Diesel. In the final Jaden won 4, 8, 9.

U13B

There were 8 Groups in the U15 Boys event, just one less than last year, with every entrant arriving. Only Reece Harris-Griffiths (Sou) failing to win his Group, losing to the improving Diesel Harvey. Top seed Joe Walker wasted no time in progressing to the final winning all his matches 3-0. In his half number 4 seed William Bettley reached the semi the hard way, coming back from 2-0 down to beat Reece and saving a match point in the fourth game of his quarter final with Connor Payne (Che). In the semi he lost 5, 10, 9 to Joe. In the bottom half number 3 seed Syed Hussain (Eastbury) struggled to cope with Diesel, eventually winning 11, 10, -11, -8, 5 and beat number 2 seed Casey Mansfield 9, -8, 11, 6 in the semi. In the final he lost to Joe 6, 9, 10.

U15B

For the U18 Boys event there were six Groups, one up on last season, top seed Sam Hume having to withdraw overnight due to illness. Thus with the new top two seeds in the bottom half amendments were made to put these two players in opposite halves. After his exhausting matches in the previous events William Bettley withdrew just before the start of the Groups. The remaining seeds all won their Groups with Jared Chelski beating Max Plumridge in Sam’s Group. All the KO matches went with the seedings, Joe Walker defeating Justin Jeffery 3-0 in the top half semi while Jack Stockdale (Rom) beat Casey Mansfield 3-0 in the bottom half semi. In the quarter Casey had gained revenge for his U15 defeat by Syed by winning 5, -9, 9, 5. In the final a close match was won by Joe 8, 9, 10.

U18B

At the same time the U11 event was played as a round robin with three entrants, Alexander Bettley winning both his matches 3-0 against Cody Prentice (Har) and James Bettley (NETTS) with Cody taking the runners up position with a 3-1 win over James.

The last event of the day, and the most competitive, was the U18 Boys Restricted Singles, an event for those players who have never played for any of the Essex teams and no seeding. Six groups of three, against seven last year, but with a withdrawal and a player non appearance Jaz Harvey (Har) found herself the winner of Group 6 without having to play. Matthew Stringer (Sou), George Campbell (Har), Max Plumridge (Bra), Jared Chelski (Col) and Matthew Laws (Bra) the other Group winners. In the top half of the draw Jared progressed to the semi-final with a 3-0 win over Jaz where he met Dan Wills, the runner up to Matthew Stringer in their group and who had defeated Matthew Laws 3-1 in the quarter final, and defeated him 10, -8, 4, 7. In the bottom half Matthew Stringer progressed to the semi-final with a Q/F win over Max and was then engaged in a marathon semi with George Campbell which he eventually won 9, -20, 10, -7, 7. The final was another marathon going the full distance, and finally won by Matthew 6, 9, -9, -3, 5.

U18BR

I think a good day was enjoyed by all

My thanks to Umpire John Jennings for his stalwart duties and Alan Wood for obtaining such nice trophies and John Andrews for presenting the trophies. Unfortunately the actual trophies did not arrive in time to be presented on the day so a raid on Neil Brierley’s cabinet drawer provided a couple of unpresented trophies with Essex badges that were used for the presentations. I had hoped to post the trophies to the winners and runners up but they are so nice that I am wary that they could get damaged in the post so I will have to seek other ways to get the trophies to the winners.

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and Tournament Organiser.

General

Notice of AGM

The 2016 Annual General Meeting

 Of the

Essex County Table Tennis Association

will be held at

The Old Chelmsfordians Association Club House

Memorial Sports Ground, Lawford Lane, Roxwell Road, Chelmsford CM1 2NS

On

Tuesday 17th May 2016 Commencing at 19:45

 Please do your best to see that your League is represented at this year’s AGM so that your League’s views are catered for.

Please note that players who wish to collect their Inter-League Trophies at the AGM will be most welcome.

Inter League

ESSEX CADET AND JUNIOR INTER LEAGUE 1st NOVEMBER 2016

SONY DSC

The Essex Cadet and Junior Inter league competitions for Season 2015/2016 were held at BATTS Harlow on 2 April 2016. Four Essex Leagues took part in the Junior event, Clacton, Colchester, Harlow and Southend. Only two teams, Harlow and Southend took part in the Cadet event. Thus there were three rounds of matches to be played in the Junior event and just the one match in the Cadet event. All matches were played on two tables. The Junior format was four players with each player to play two singles and one doubles thus giving a ten match format whilst the Cadets format was three players, nine singles plus one doubles. Also at the same time the final three matches in the County Championship Division 1B took place and three players, Sam Hume Zoe Davies and Gracie Edwards played in this event and the Junior Inter League event.

CADETS

The one match between Southend and Harlow resulted in a Southend win 8-2. Diesel Harvey won the two matches for Harlow, -11, 5, 8, 12 against Daniel Zeffie, and 3-2 over Reece Harris-Griffiths, the umpire failing to put the game scores on the Match sheet for that match other than 11-8 for the deciding game, and a 3-0 loss to James Goddard. Lorcan Neville took a game off Reece and Southend won all the others 3-0. Harlow’s other player was Cody Prentice.

JUNIORS

In the opening matches Southend had a 10-0 win over Harlow. Justin Jeffery, Zoe Davies, Matthew Stringer and Matthew Nariel showing that they intended to be a serious challenger for the title. On the other two tables, the match between Clacton and Colchester was a much closer affair and indeed it ended as a draw. It was a match of two halves, Sam Hume and Gracie Edwards winning all the top half matches against Lewis Bardell and Cameron Simpson with Leon and Andy Huang reciprocating against Tom Wilkins and Harry Beezer for Colchester. Andy had the two closest matches, 12, -5, -11, 11, 9 over Tom and -7, 8, -8, 8 ,13 over Harry. The only game that went to five in the top half was Gracie’s match with Cameron, -5, 2, 7, -10, 6

Southend J

The second round of matches saw another whitewash by Southend, this time over Colchester. Zoe had the toughest time with her two five game wins over Lewis and Cameron and Leon just failed to take Matthew Stringer to a fourth game when losing 12-10. In the other match Clacton held the upper hand over Harlow, winning 8-2, Jaz Harvey claiming the scalps 9, 5, 9 over Harry and -8, 9, -7, 9, 6 against Tom and just failing to win the doubles with partner Ben Sivathanu when losing 11-8 in the fifth game.

In the final round of matches the top two teams, Southend and Clacton, met but Clacton had the herculean task of needing to win 9-1 if they were to deny Southend the Title. When Southend won the first two matches by the two Matthews, Nariel 3, -11, 7, -6, 8 over Tom and Springer 3-0 over Harry that was it. The Result Sheet states a 7-3 win to Southend but the match scores show it to be 6-4. Whichever is correct doesn’t really matter, Southend still win. On the other tables Colchester and Harlow were playing for the honour of the wooden spoon. Colchester’s two doubles wins and Lewis’s 11-8 in the fifth win over George Campbell were the clinchers at the mid stage of the match in their 6-4 win. Diesel had a good win over Cameron and sister Jaz won both her matches 3-1.

TABLE          
  P W D L Pts
Southend 3 3 0 0 27
Clacton 3 1 1 1 16
Colchester 3 1 1 1 11
Harlow 3 0 0 3 6

The winners trophies were presented on the day by Neil Brierley

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary

News

Brian Brumwell

BB1

Brian Brumwell
Essex & England
1928 – 2016

 

Brian Brumwell’s funeral will take place on Tuesday 26th April at 11.45, At St Mary’s Church, Overton Drive, Wanstead E11 2SW. Afterwards there will be refreshments next door at Wanstead Cricket Club .
Brian’s wife Sheila has suggested flowers or a donation to your favourite charity for those who wish to. Daniel Robinson in Loughton are the funeral directors.

 

A personal reflection from Stuart Gibbs.

I first recalled meeting Brian Brumwell as an 11 year old, when I was given a ticket to watch Essex County 1st team play against the great Middlesex side in 1958 and was fortunate to play with him in my 1st game for Essex which coincided with this being his last game for the county.

Brian was a remarkable sportsman who excelled at football and more notably at cricket, as Captain of the Wanstead Cricket Club, the premier side in Essex, where he won numerous trophies.

However, it is in his achievements and influence in Essex Table Tennis that I and many, many others will remember him for.

Brian played for England on a number of occasions and was ranked No.5 in the Country, not an easy feat when you had such great players to compete with, notably Johnny Leach, Richard Bergman, and Aubrey Simons, to name but a few.

During his time as a player, Brian was always ready to help and influence those youngsters making their way in the sport and he became Captain of the England Junior side in 1960. It was a year later that he insisted that the then ETTA include a precocious 14 year old in the England Junior Team to go to the European Junior Championships, as he had recognised the potential of this player. However, he was unable to persuade the powers that be and the request was not granted. As a result of that decision, on principle, Brian resigned from the captaincy. The following year, this young player became England No.1 senior at the age of 15. The player was Chester Barnes. This proved Brian’s uncanny ability to recognise natural talent when he saw it.

During his time coaching juniors Brian had considerable involvement in Ray Dorking becoming England No.1 junior, at the age of 15 and also helped establish the St Luke’s Table Tennis Club in an underprivileged area of East London, to such an extent that it was able to host England Junior International matches.

On his retirement from playing nationally, Brian became president of the Ilford and District Table Tennis League and was made a life member of Essex County Table Tennis Association.

In closing, how will we remember this great man?

He was ferociously competitive, a visionary that was responsible for the golden age of Essex table tennis, in the 1960’s, but more importantly, he was a true gentlemen, with a heart of gold.

May you rest in peace Brian and thank you so much for everything you have done.

Stuart Gibbs
President Essex Table Tennis Association

 

News

Hockley’s 24 hours of Action

The End!

Hockley TTC completed a first for the club on the 18-19 March, with a testing Sport Relief 24 hour Non Stop Table Tennis match. Hockley’s Chairman, Paul Strutt, said:-

The Event really worked well and came to a successful conclusion on Saturday night. At the time of writing the club have raised the fantastic sum of £1424 for Sport Relief.

Paul went on to say that considering this is the first time they have organised anything like this, coupled with being arranged at comparatively short notice, he and his club members are all very pleased with the result!

There were some amazing contributions in terms of money raised and hours spent at the Club and it involved all club Members – Juniors, Seniors, Social, Playing and U3A members.

Marathon1

In all, 38 Hockley Club Members played over the 24 hour period and they were supported by members from other Southend Clubs in the League:- Ken Field (Rawreth), Jayne Johnson (Hullbridge), Duncan Taylor (Rayleigh Mill), George Reeves (Rawreth), Craig Aukett (Canvey), Ro Brett (Warehouse), Bruce Kettle (Rawreth) and Tina Hutchinson (Warehouse).

Sincere thanks are also extended to those Hockley & Southend League Members who made Donations.

Now something for the nerds:-

we played 112 matches, 380 sets and 6725 points, with the final match result
IMPROBABLES 59 v HIGHLY UNLIKELYS 53

We certainly feel a great sense of achievement and will definitely do it again

Marathon2

About Hockley Table Tennis Club.

Hockley Table Tennis Club operate from a Primary School Hall with 7 days a week access. When in attendance they manage access to the hall which keeps their hires costs low and also means they have no time restraints within reason.

They have room for 4 Tables.

They have only been active for some 7 years and in that time have produced a Club with nearly 60 Members, 6 Teams in the Southend League and an active Junior Section led by coach Tim Pang.

They have been particularly successful in introducing a lot of Seniors into the game with some returning to the sport after many years. They have also formed a partnership with a local U3A Group.