Rayleigh Mill picked up another win in week 5 of the Southend Premier Division season with new signing Liam Squirrell again leading the way with three 3-0 wins against Brand Identity. Colin Chatfield had to work harder for his three wins, the closest of his matches ending 11-5 in the 5^th end with Richard Jackman. Jackman, Dave Jacob and Adam Jackman all managed to beat Steve Maltby giving us a 6-3 win to the Millers.

A clash between two of the bottom 4 clubs as the league stands in week 5 saw Invicta host Matchpoint. It was the home side who came out on top due in the main to a player of the match performance from Tony Ayliffe. His three wins along with two from Steve Marr and one from Malcolm Henstock saw Invicta win 6-3, Stephen Heard the strongest performer for Matchpoint with two wins, the other Matchpoint win coming from Alex Deacon.

Another 6-3 win but this time for away side as Hadleigh Forum visited Basildon A. Martin Turner in fine form with three wins for Forum ably supported by Neal Barker with two wins and Berti Makolli with a win over Charles Yeung.

Hockley A went down 8-1 to Rawreth B this week but the match was much closer than the scoreline suggests with Kim Shead coming out on the right side of two 11-9 in the 5^th matches against Dan Patynski and Sanjay Saptarshi and there was and even closer win for Dan Zeffie who in the last game of the night beat Tarun Goel 12-10 in the fifth end. Player of the match was Daniel Young who  stood out with 3 solid wins for Rawreth.

And finally this week, a routine win for Thorpe Bay A this week as they overcame Stanford A by a scoreline of 8-1. Hattricks for Kieran Skeggs and Ian Wall with the only blot on their copybook being a 5 set win for Josh Freeman over Chris Ballard.

Report by Duncan Taylor

What a difference a week can make! Last week Hockley B could only field one player and lost 9 – 0. This week they managed to find a full team and thumped struggling Hadleigh Forum C by the same score. Joe Odegbami took the player of the match award, but team mates Stuart Adshead and David Colwill were also unbeaten in a one-sided away win.
Hockley’s other team in this division, Hockley C, who took over top spot in the table last week, entertained Basildon B. Despite a few close contests, the hosts won comfortably 8 – 1. Stalwart Tim Pang was unbeaten, as was Stephanie Haddrell who overcame two of her opponents in the final set of their matches. Jenne Seibolt got the only victory for the visitors when he defeated James Evesham. The victory keeps Hockley C top.
Hadleigh Forum’s veteran Tony Jacks took the POM trophy for his hat trick in their 7 – 2 away win at Canvey A. Mind you, it was a hard fight, with tight wins in the fifth set of two of his three match-ups. Team mates David Woolmer and Anthon Ranjit-Singh both won two – David losing to Bob Skews and Anthon to Peter Cray.
Trevor Collin made his debut for Rawreth C when they visited Stanford Le Hope B. He was taken all the way in his matches against another debutant, the home side’s Mike Trendell, and by veteran Adrian Armstrong. Despite this, Trevor’s unbeaten performance gave him the POM prize. Team mates Gary McCarthy and Colin Clements took two wins each, whilst Adrian and Mike recorded one victory apiece for the home side, as Rawreth took the match 7 – 2.

Report by David Barnes

Wakering B made it four wins on the trot and sit top of the table after a 6-3 away win against Invicta B. Any team hoping for promotion must have strength in depth and although without their number one player this week, Callum Turner, they are fortunate to have the experienced Mick Grout in their squad, a more than adequate replacement. He won all his games albeit he was pushed all the way by Trisha Winter who won the first two sets before conceding 11/7 11/7 11/6. Paul England weighed in with two more wins for Wakering but fell in five sets to John Blackman. Andrew Deadman got Wakering’s other point beating Keith Baxter but lost in five to Winter to give Invicta their third point.

Stanford C chalked up their third win in succession as they moved past Invicta into third place after beating Hockley E 6-3. Vaughan Chambers is the man in form for Stanford recording his second maximum of the season and not dropping a set in the process. Randy Santiago got two wins including a hard fought five set win against Neal Klyman and Jake Santiago got the other point coming close to recording a double but losing in five sets to Richard Coulon. Amar Al-Soufi got two points for Hockley with wins against both Santiago’s.

A two man Basildon C lost their fifth successive match in succession losing 8-1 at home to Hockley D. Michael Elemide got their consolation point beating Howard Collins but Hockley’s Paul Ogden and Brian Bissenden were rarely troubled as they won both their games against Elemide and Victor Galben. Galben almost grabbed a second win but lost in five sets to Collins 11/9 in the decider.

Report by Paul Strutt

League leaders, Invicta ‘C’ kept up their unbeaten record with a 6/3 victory against Hadleigh Forum ‘D’.  Sarah Ball took the plaudits here with a fine maximum, and she received good support from teammates Steve Lennox, who notched a double and skipper Mike Keeble who added a single win.  Jan Thorpe was the best on the night for Forum with two wins.

Hockley ‘F’ have moved into second place after a resounding 8/1 win over Wakering ‘C’.  Hat-tricks here for Ross Collins and Gary Beck, and a brace for Graham Gregory.  The closest game of the match saw Nigel Strike earn Wakering’s only point, but he had to do it the hard way.  After losing the first two sets to Graham, he recovered well to take the next three 12/10, 11/9, 11/9.

Differing fortunes this week for the Evolve junior teams.  The ‘A’ team visited Matchpoint ‘D’ and emerged with a 7/2 win.  Teddy Kent was the deserved POTM with a quick fire maximum, but he received excellent support from teammates Harley Dowding and Sasha Syderenko, who both recorded two wins.  For Matchpoint, there was a win apiece for Cooper Hill and David McHattie.

It was the same scoreline in the match between Evolve ‘B’ and Canvey ‘C’, but it was the Islanders who came out on top on this occasion.  Chong Shing Lam and Che Martin went unbeaten on the night with David Coverley adding the extra.  Ehsan Khan and Jonah Omigie with a win each for Evolve.

Report by Dave Woolmer

What do you get if you cross a Squirrell with a Piglet?  A surprising outcome is the answer, as current player of the season Sam Lowman found out this week when he unexpectedly triumphed over the league’s top player Liam Squirrell and then disastrously fell to the left trotter of Dan Piglet for his first loss of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League season. 

It was a busy week for Lowman as he first led his Cold Norton C trio to a shock 6-4 win over Mapledene A with a hat-trick of wins including the now infamous 11-9 fifth set victory over the reigning Singles Champion Squirrell.  You have to venture back to February 2024 for the last time Squirrell lost a singles match in the Burnham League – he has been that dominant!  So all credit to the man of the moment and constant honeymooner Lowman.  Squirrell won his other 2 matches in straight sets and partnered up with Steve Muth for the doubles point.  For Cold Norton Dave Richardson opened his C team account with 2 good wins against Muth and Peter Barrett.  Later on in the week Lowman was out again – he gets out a lot for a recently married man – this time for the Cold Norton B team to whom he is now locked in.  The opening match saw another potential Singles Final showdown as Lowman took on the very dangerous Dan Young.  Another 5 setter where the momentum bounced around each leg until Lowman won out 11-6 in the decider.  At this point Lowman may have relaxed a bit too much thinking the hard work was done – he did beat Tony Bonnici in 3 legs, but in his final encounter came up against the hard-hitting leftie Dan Piglet (handedness not political leaning!).  Piglet took the opening set, and Lowman squared up at 1-1 but then Piglet blew him way with a huff and a puff for a quick fire finish.  As we remember from Jurassic Park docuseries – ‘nature finds a way’.  Young took impressive wins over Ian Wall and Eric Green, and Piglet completed his evening with a notable win over Green and a very close 5 set loss to Wall.  But that was all the points for Woodham as bookies favourites Cold Norton took the remaining spoils including the very important doubles Brucie bonus that gave them the win.  Mapledene B have surged up the table following their 10-0 whitewash victory over 2-man Stow Maries A.  It was all pretty straightforward for the Mapledeners with just one match going to a deciding set where Paul Brown, of Basildon fame, beat Gary Brignall to complete his unbeaten evening.  Mapledene duo Glenn Johnson and Keith Willett only dropped 1 set all evening – with these two playing regularly the Mapledene B side may be eyeing up a podium finish.

Division 2 is shaping up to be a proper bunfight with 5 teams fighting it out.  Maldon A look to have the strongest squad and continue to rack up the points and are now just behind leaders Mapledene C but crucially with a game in hand.  Mapledene unWantedly dropped points this week as they shared the spoils with a Neil Want inspired Cold Norton E.  Want hit a hard-earned treble including two 5-setters but was mistakenly dropped from doubles which probably cost his side the victory.  Norton’s Dick Wyman chipped in with 2 wins of his own but was unable to get passed the consistent play of Sue Body who was the best of the Mapledene crew.  Maldon displayed their ruthless side whilst dispatching a very good Blackwater B trio with an 8-2 victory.  Trebles for both Colin Napper and Hamish Innes but they failed to convert this dominance into a doubles point where they somehow fell to the Merv Perriman and Roger Slade pairing.  Perriman took the sole singles point for his Blackwater side with a 3 set success over Ross Kirby.  Woodham C showed no bouncebackability this week when they lost further ground as they fell to a 3-7 loss against the tricky Blackwater A trio.  For Blackwater Neil Freeman was central to the cause as he went undefeated in the singles – although Scott Perry took him well beyond deuce in the 5^th set and had his own match points but alas he flunked them and Freeman won out 16-14 and his sigh of relief was heard all across the Blackwater estuary.  As predicted Maldon B’s talisman Steve Aspland is now fully up and running and fired off his second treble of the campaign in his side’s 6-4 home victory over Cold Norton D.  With Aspland on song it was no surprise that he also won the doubles with regular partner Colin Barrell – its very probable that these two won’t lose again all season.  For Cold Norton Terry Hyland had good wins over both Barrell and Garry Eames.

Blackwater C enhanced their formidable status this week as they saw off the challenge of podium hopefuls Maldon D.  So in the last 2 rounds of play Blackwater C have trounced their 2 nearest rivals and opened up a considerable runaway lead.  They won’t be caught!  Gary Smith hit another hat-trick for Blackwater in their 7-3 win, albeit with a tricky 5-setter against the effervescent Tim Huxtable – that match was sure to have been a good 40mins long!  Huxtable won his other 2 encounters against Andrea Alleyne and Peter Davenport.  That was Davenport’s only loss though as he contributed 2 singles victories to the points haul and he and Alleyne combined for a comeback 5 set doubles bonus.  Second placed Blackwater D edged a tight 6-4 scoreline against Woodham D.  The wrist-twisting Roger Tiffin took the biscuit in this one with a very comfortable set of 3 victories.  Woodham’s debutant Simon Thomas got himself off to a good start with a brace of wins although he must have wondered what he had got himself in for in the opening leg of the fist match of the night that went all the way to 18-16 in his favour.  Luckily things sped up after that!  The lovable Blackwater E trio had a confidence-boosting 8-2 triumph this week as they saw off the challenge of St Lawrence.  Trebles for Deb Ginn and Phil West with Kath Little chipping in with 2 wins for the welcome points haul.  The final match of the week ended in stalemate as Maldon E and Blackwater F traded blows but a winner failed to emerge as Keith Thompson took the final point of the night against the until-then-unbeaten John Leavett to even up the scoreline.  In a repeat of last year’s encounter the plucky Brian Dixon came out on top against Mike Crumpton to register his first win of this season.  For Blackwater Keith Thompson hit another treble as he remains unbeaten this season.

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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer

Burnham & District Table Tennis League

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Pic 1 – Sam Lowman plying his trade at Woodham this week.

Pic 2 – Eric Green and Dan Young battle it out this week.

Pic 3 – A hat-trick for Basildon socialite Paul Brown

Pic 4 – Gary Smith stretching for his treble

Pic 5 – Blackwater D trio – Roger Tiffin, Jacqui Treacy & Dave Benstead

Finchingfield B and Rayne F have emerged as the front runners in division three of the Braintree Table Tennis League.

Both have recorded three wins in the first three weeks of the season.

Finchingfield B had to work hard for their 6-4 win over Sudbury Drifters, with Geoff Barrett and Ian Whipps in good form for the visitors.  But Lucien Nolan-Bradford’s three singles, plus the doubles with Peter Dacey, helped steer them home.

Rayne F, who started the week two points behind, drew level with Finchingfield after an 8-2 win over Black Notley F.

Conrad Gomes and Dave Whiting were undefeated.

After dropping down a division, Dave Parker made a successful division three debut by taking his three singles in Notley E’s 7-3 win over Yeldham Whitlocks B.  Ken Wilding did likewise.

Eighteen-year-old Frank Chapman was unbeaten in Netts F’s 6-4 win over Notley H, as were Tim Gowers and Ian Rubens in Rayne G’s 8-2 victory over Netts E.

Rayne C continue to set the pace in division two. 

Matthew Brown was unbeaten in their 7-3 win over Finchingfield A, but John Barrett can be pleased with the two wins he picked up for the losers.

Rayne’s other two teams in the division were on the same table where the D team comfortably beat an E team that included two reserves 9-1.

In division one, the clash between Netts A and Rayne A has been a title decider in recent years but with the abdication of Rayne’s 2024 title-winning trio, is likely to have less bearing on things this time, so much so that Netts felt able to include two of last year’s B team in their line-up and still ended up 7-3 victors.

Sudbury Nomads made it two wins out of two with a 9-1 victory over Netts’ B team.  The one that got away was the most notable of the evening, an excellent win for Charles Calisin over the much-travelled Ken Lewis.

James Mullane and Zach Harrington took all seven in Liberal A’s 7-3 win over Notley B while John Andrews, in his first match of the season, was unbeaten in Rayne B’s 6-4 win over Liberal B.

Report by Ron Fosker

Week 4 in the Premier Division saw last years’ title winners Thorpe Bay A come out on top over a determined Brand Identity side. The 7-2 scoreline doesn’t actually reflect how tight this game was with only 2 games being won 3-0 and no less than 5 matches going the distance. Chris Ballard was in good form winning his three for the Bay while there were two good wins for David Jacob over Ian Wall and Mark Stones in reply for the home side.

Rayleigh Mill continued there solid start to the season with an 8-1 win over newly promoted Matchpoint A. Liam Squirell and Colin Chafield went unbeaten while Harry Sawford recorded the consolation win for Matchpoint over Steve Sawyer. The final game of the week was even more one sided as Rawreth B took all nine matches against Invicta A. Gary Young, Dan Zeffie and Norbert Fullerton all too strong on the night as they delivered a comprehensive win for Paul Brown’s side and a similar score line as George Reeves, Kevin Read and Chris Penrose won all their games against Stanford A. Another 8-1 result saw Hockley A beat Hadleigh Forum, the lone win for Forum coming the way of Berti Makolli over Tarun Goel.

Report by Duncan Taylor

A cautionary tale to start this week’s Division 1 report. Modern table tennis players, committed to widening their experience as much as possible, will often seek to play in several local leagues. Any league captain will be familiar with the headaches this can lead to when trying to fulfil fixtures. So it was this week for top of the division Hockley B. Captain Stuart Adshead found himself two players short for their game against rivals Hockley C. Despite trying to recruit players from Hockley’s three other teams, his side’s commitments to other leagues meant he ended up with no choice other than to play the fixture with just himself; conceding six of the rubbers before even putting bat to ball. Stuart is to be praised for his dedication. However, to rub salt into the wound, he wasn’t able to overcome any of his C team opponents, meaning the leaders lost 9 – 0 and threw away their spot at the top of the league to their rivals.
In contrast, the match between Hadleigh Forum B and visitors Mapledene was a very enjoyable affair, with everyone familiar with their opponents through many years of completion on opposite sides of the net. No one came away without losing, but the away side edged it 5 – 4. There were four rubbers that went to the fifth set in a well fought competition that was a credit to the players involved and to our league. 
Wakering A continued their steady start to the campaign with a commendable 7 – 2 away win at Basildon B. This season Wakering have seen an influx of new players that other clubs would be envious of. On this occasion they were able to give a debut to Victor Xi Wei. However, it was team mate Barbara Chabior who took the player of the match award, dropping just one set in the whole match. Victor’s two wins included a very close 16 – 14 success in the fifth set against the home side’s Stephen Walters. Martin Shaughnessy added a brace for Wakering, whilst Kieran Wood collected both his side’s two points.
Rawreth C were too strong for visitors Canvey A, taking their match 7 – 2. Paul Brown took the POM award with a hat trick, with Gary McCarthy and Adi Kamma taking two wins each. Bob Skews was Canvey’s best player, responsible for both his team’s points, and stretched Paul before eventually succumbing.

Report by David Barnes

Canvey B kept their position at the top of Division 2 with a convincing 8-1 win against Hockley E this week. Apart from an extended first match of five sets between Terry Giddens and Richard Kidd won 11/5 by Giddens for the Islanders, the remaining games finished in double quick time six matches not going beyond three sets. Trevor Hayes took the match honours not dropping a set all night and Giddens also weighed in with three wins whilst Tony Westwell conceded one to Kidd for Hockley’s consolation point.

In second place just three points behind but with a game in hand lie Wakering B. Even without their talisman Callum Turner they put out a team strong enough to whitewash Basildon C 9-0. Michael Grout, Paul England and Stewart Mills lost just three sets all night Grout not losing one to take the POTM honours. Winless Basildon only looked likely of recording a point when Richard Reibold took on Mills and led 2-1 at one stage before falling dramatically apart in the last two sets 11/5 11/0.

Runnymede picked up their first win of the season beating Matchpoint C 6-3. Fielding their talisman Tony Millward for the first time this season he produced a POTM performance not dropping a set and was supported by two wins for Steve Wisbey and one for Andrew Humphris. Richard Sloman picked up two wins for Matchpoint beating Wisbey and Humphris in straight sets and Zach Samuels also beat Humphris.

Stanford C had what looked like a convincing 7-2 win against Invicta B but four games went to five sets in a closely contended match. Stanford made a flying start to the evening winning the first six games which included Peter Moxham winning in five against John Blackman and Chris Crooks doing the same against Trisha Winter. Invicta finally got the hang of winning in five sets as Keith Baxter recorded a splendid win against Mike Trendell, dropping the first two sets before winning the next three 11/9 12/10 11/9. Trisha Winter then repeated that win beating Moxham 11/9 in the decider for Invicta’s second point. Crooks was a hat trick hero for Stanford with two wins each for Trendell and Moxham.

One of the promotion favourites in this division Matchpoint B, came unstuck for the second week running as they went down 5-4 to Hockley D who recorded their first win of the season. Hockley, in fact, chalked up their win early racing from 2-1 down to a winning 5-2 lead and then saw a late fightback from Matchpoint. Hannah Harbour will feel aggrieved at finishing on the losing side as she recorded another three wins to maintain her unbeaten start to the season. She did drop sets for the first time though as she came back from 2-0 down against Paul Ogden before maintain her perfect win record. Colin Barham picked up Matchpoint’s other point whilst Hockley’s heroes were Brian Bissenden and Howard Collins with two wins each and one for Ogden.

Team of the Week – Canvey B

Player of the Week – Michael Grout

Report by Paul Strutt

The last two unbeaten teams in Division 3 met this week, in what was expected to be a tight contest.  The reality, however, was a one-sided affair as Stanford ‘D’ were only able to muster two players for their trip to Westcliff to take on the League leaders, Invicta ‘C’.  The outcome was a 9-0 scoreline in favour of the home side, with Mike Keeble taking the POTM honours, ably assisted by wingmen David Barlow and Steve Lennox.

Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ have climbed to 3^rd in the table following a 6/3 away victory over Canvey ‘C’.  Jan Thorpe, in his first outing of the season,  returned to the mainland with a maximum, Sineh Bali picked up his first wins this term with a double and skipper Jean Catley added the extra.  For the Islanders, newcomers Chong Shing Lam and Scott Giddens also got on the scoresheet.

Hockley ‘F’ occupy 4^th place, but their hopes of advancing further up the league took a blow after they fell to a 7/2 defeat at the hands of Evolve ‘A’.  Miles Bygrave led the way for Evolve with a straight sets hat-trick, backed up superbly by Edward Feeley and Nova Narayanan who both notched a double.  Bob Garlick with the points here for Hockley.

The junior, Hockley ‘G’ side enjoyed a good night as they entertained Matchpoint ‘D’ and emerged as 6/3 winners.  This was a fine team performance, with the trio of George Higgins, Perry Lazell and Anay Vatsa each picking up two wins, although none of them could get the better of Matchpoint’s David McHattie, who had an unbeaten evening.

Finally, Evolve ‘B’ were only able to field two players for their trip to play Wakering ‘C’, and a tough night followed for Oliver Willson and Zac Eighteen, who tried their best, but only managed to win one set as they went down 9/0.  Joanna Gaudini was the POTM here, well-supported by Jacek Bednarek and Deepak Nanda.

Report by David Woolmer

Nomads Lions set out their stall in the first week of the season in Division One of the Clacton League with a convincing 10-0 win over Walton A. There were hat-tricks for Paul Hume, Adam Cuthbert and Ethan Lloyd. The tightest match of the contest saw Cuthbert narrowly get the better of Mark Gale 13-11 in the fifth in the first match of the evening.

Reigning champions Nomads Panthers were 8-2 victors against    Brotherhood B, Greg Green starting as he finished last season with an unbeaten three. John Hatley and Denes Somodi each won two but both lost to Brotherhood’s new signing Patrick Cheung.

Kevin Gowlett and Daniel Young led the way with undefeated performances for Brotherhood A in their side’s 8-2 success over Windsor Hawks. The Hawks will, nevertheless, feel pleased to have sprung a couple of surprises, Andy Vincent and reserve Kelvin Olano-Harper taking the doubles in four against Young and Gracie Edwards, and Vincent taking match ten with an excellent 11-6 in the decider win over Edwards.

But there was an exact reverse of fortune for the Windsor and Brotherhood clubs in another fixture, the Eagles beating Brotherhood C by the same 8-2 score-line. Gavin Price, on debut for Windsor, and John Pattrick took trebles, although Pattrick had tough matches with both Dave Miller and Graham Playle, winning 11-7 in the fifth and 11-5 in the fifth respectively.

Walton B’s Graham Buxton remained unbeaten in his side’s match with promoted Windsor Buzzards but the Buzzards, determined to defy pre-season predictions of an early return to the Second Division, emerged unexpected 6-4 winners. There were two each for Dave Martin and Andy Cawley, one for Andy Foster, with Cawley and Foster combining to take a crucial doubles. Almost uniquely, all ten matches played were settled in four sets.

In Division Two, last year’s runners-up, Brotherhood G, were given a stern test by promoted Brotherhood J but finally emerged 7-3 victors. Mark Boyland took three, John Gallagher two – including a win over daughter Ruby in their first-ever League meeting – and Mark Beckham one, with Boyland and Gallagher winning the doubles. Joe Sherwin picked up a couple for the ‘J’ team and Ruby Gallagher one, while Tom Bryden only just failed to get on the score-sheet, going down 11-9 in the fifth to John Gallagher.

Every player picked up at least one point in the drawn match between Windsor Harriers and Lawford, the two teams sharing the four matches which went the distance. Windsor’s Barry Allen was the unbeaten star of the show, the closest of his three wins a 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 11-6 victory over Ian Sherwood. Charlie Denholm won a couple for Lawford and, with Sherwood, took a vital 11-7 in the fifth doubles against Allen and Isabel Barton.

Four matches also went to five in the Brotherhood D v Windsor Penguins fixture and, again, each side took two. But despite a treble from Windsor’s Kelvin Olano-Harper, Brotherhood took the honours 6-4. Fred Gallone and Kevin Pryor each won two for Brotherhood, while Lily Liu edged out Paul Stanton by a nail-biting 11-8, 10-12, 13-15, 11-9, 12-10.  

Brotherhood F defeated Nomads Tigers 7-3 thanks to a Paul Alden maximum, two from Mark Salter and one from Tricia Salter. All three Tigers’ points came from matches which went the distance, Tom Wilkin overcoming both Mark Salter and Tricia Salter 11-8 in the fifth, and Matt Sage defeating Tricia Salter by the same score.

Bob Jillins and newcomer Andy Hart remained unbeaten as Nomads Jaguars beat Windsor Kestrels 8-2. For the Jaguars, Jonathan Found had a good individual win over Chris Petrou, with Found, together with Graham Bunce who only played in the doubles, taking the second Kestrels’ point against Jillins and Petrou, 11-7 in the decider.  

In Division Three, Brotherhood H started their season in fine style with a 10-0 victory over Holland Lancasters, Owen Woollard, Danny Still and Gary Simpson all unbeaten. But the Lancasters didn’t go down without a fight, newcomer Peter Evans losing 11-6 in the fifth to Still, Dave Wright going down by an even closer 12-10 in the fifth to Woollard, while Evans and Wright were pipped 11-8 in the fifth in the doubles by Still and Simpson.

Three for John Plummer, two for Alan Rutledge and one for Dave Sweetland saw Windsor Magpies home 7-3 against Holland Hurricanes. Gerry Widnell won a couple for the Hurricanes and Ian Gwillim one, Gwillim narrowly losing 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10, 5-11 to Rutledge. 

Brotherhood E defeated a two-player Nomads Ocelots 6-4 but the returning Mike Wellum showed all his old class to stay undefeated for the Ocelots.  

Holland Vulcans defied the pundits’ pre-season pessimistic predictions with a fighting 6-4 victory in a highly-competitive encounter against Windsor Falcons. Bob Keefe, on League debut, won three for the Vulcans and Derek Foxley two. For the Falcons, there were a couple for Matt Thomas who did well to edge out Foxley 11-9 in the decider, while debutant Gary Barnes beat James Horsler 11-7 in the decider, and Nigel Rolph defeated the same player 11-6 in the fifth.

* The Nomads Pig Race Night takes place on Saturday 25th October at the Brotherhood Hall. For more details, contact either John Hatley on 07777 657495 or Gill Locke on 07765 405563.

RESULTS

Division 1

Windsor Buzzards 6 Walton B 4;

Windsor Hawks 2 Brotherhood A 8;

Walton A 0 Nomads Lions 10;

Brotherhood C 2 Windsor Eagles 8;

Nomads Panthers 8 Brotherhood B 2.

Division 2

Brotherhood J 3 Brotherhood G 7;

Windsor Harriers 5 Lawford 5;

Nomads Jaguars 8 Windsor Kestrels 2;

Brotherhood D 6 Windsor Penguins 4;

Nomads Tigers 3 Brotherhood F 7.

Division 3

Windsor Falcons 4 Holland Vulcans 6;

Brotherhood H 10 Holland Lancasters 0;

Brotherhood E 6 Nomads Ocelots 4;

Holland Hurricanes 3 Windsor Magpies 7.

Report by Tony Oswick

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