Over the course of every season there are some phenomenal individual and team performances but this week we honour the most valuable players across the length and breadth of the season in the Burnham & District Table Tennis League.  All of the stats for every player in the league have been fed into the Editors ZX Spectrum and we can now reveal the worthy winner for each division.  To be eligible players must have played at least 50% of the team matches.

Division 1 (Peter Ballard Cup)  – Winner Liam Squirrell, Mapledene TTC (96%)

Liam Squirrell is the man to beat in the top Division, and this year he only lost a single match all season.  A fast, forceful and resilient player – he just keeps coming at you with power and precision.  This year Squirrell was pushed hardest by Dan Young of Woodham TTC, and Keith Adams of Fambridge.  Squirrell will be presented with the Peter Ballard Cup by the very same Peter Ballard at the upcoming Presentation Evening.

Division 2 (Brian Ellis Cup)  – Winner Lloyd Bennett-Smith, Maldon TTC (89%)

Until the final game of the season it looked like Maldon’s Colin Napper had the Brian Ellis Cup all wrapped up with a win rate of 82% across the season.  However by playing the final game Lloyd Bennett-Smith qualified for entry into the ZX Spectrum and with only 3 losses in this very competitive cohort after much whirring and chin rubbing he came out on top.  Next year Bennett-Smith will be back in the top flight where he belongs.  Not surprisingly the top 5 slots were held by players from the two promoted teams with Blackwater A’s Denis Balic and Neil Freeman coming in 3^rd and 4^th respectively, and Maldon’s talisman Hamish Innes taking 5^th place on 74% win rate.

Division 3 (Roy Davis Cup) – Winner Gary Smith, Blackwater TTC (94%)

At one point it looked like Gary Smith would go the whole season unbeaten – but then he had his own weekus horribilus at the end of January when he lost 3 games in two matches in quick succession.  After a few bouts of therapy he came back fighting and resumed his winning ways for the remainder of his phenomenal season.  Smith was the runaway leader all season but the battle to chase him down was fierce.  In the end the runner up was Woodham’s Simon Thomas who had a really good run in in his first season back for many a year.  Much more to come from him next season no doubt.  In 3^rd place was the 2024 winner of the Roy Ellis Cup Blackwater’s Peter Davenport.

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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer

Burnham & District Table Tennis League

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Pic 1 – Peter Ballard Cup Winner 2026, Liam Squirrell in full concentration mode

Pic 2 – Brian Ellis Cup Winner 2026, Lloyd Bennet-Smith in action at the Maldon TTC arena

Pic 3 – Roy Davis Cup Winner 2026, Gary Smith stretching to maintain his winning streak

The Southend League Junior Boys team have booked a place in the finals of the Carter Cup, part of the English Leagues Cup competition, after beating teams from Peterborough and Norwich. The finals will be held at the home of Drayton and Long Eaton TTC, Derbys on Sunday 5th July.

Playing at the home of Hockley TTC the Southend team were made up of 3 boys from Hockley and two from Stanford TTC. Elliot Brackenbury and James and William Evesham from Hockley TTC, and Vivaan Babbar and Josh Freeman from Stanford TTC. Mitchell Jones of Stanford was their coach.

The format for each match was four singles and one doubles and with a five man squad Mitchell was able to vary his side with all the boys getting at least one game. Southend got off to the perfect start whitewashing Peterborough 5-0 Brackenbury and Babbar winning both their singles whilst the Evesham brothers combined for the doubles.

The Norwich team then took on Peterborough and also won 5-0 albeit Peterborough’s best player, Adil THobani, picked up an injury during the match and had to withdraw thus conceding three matches.

The decisive match between Southend and Norwich turned out to be the closest as Norwich’s best player Finley Howes, ranked in the top 200 juniors in the UK, beat both William Evesham and Freeman in four sets whilst they, in turn, had no problem beating the Norwich number two Joseph English to leave the singles all square. The crucial match then turned out to be the doubles and coach Mitchell Jones made a key decision in pairing Brackenbury and Babbar against the Norwich pair. It turned out to be the right one as they won three sets to one and a 3-2 victory put them through to the finals.

A great performance by the boys and we wish them every success in the finals.

Report by Paul Strutt

Elliot Brackenbury, Vivaan Babbar, William Evesham, Mitchell Jones (Coach), James Evesham, Josh Freeman.

In a weekend of relatively few shocks, the top four seeds in the open singles all made their way through to the semi-finals of the Braintree Table Tennis League’s individual tournament

In the last four, to be played on finals night at Earls Colne Recreation Centre on Friday, eight-times champion Paul Davison, who had a tough five-game battle with Ashley Skeggs in the quarter final, will face Luke Burridge, who knocked him out at the quarter final stage last season.

In the final, he could face Scott Dowsett, who took away his unbeaten record in the final league match of the season – if Dowsett wins his semi-final against No.2 seed James Hicks, who he also beat in that match.

Davison and Hicks will face each other in the final of the veterans’ singles and team up against Skeggs and Dowsett in the men’s doubles final after beating Burridge and Sam Burrows in the semi-final.  Skeggs and Dowsett beat Colin Moss and Ian Shrubsole in the semi-final.

The junior boys’ singles did not run according to plan after Tom Verrier beat top seed Lucien Nolan-Bradford at the group stage.

That meant that Nolan-Bradford had to face No.2 seed and holder Ethan Collins in the semi-final rather than the final as anticipated – and it was Collins who emerged successful.

Verrier met his match in the other semi-final against Netts clubmate JJ Calisin, who will face Collins on finals night.

The restricted singles final unusually features a third division player, Peter Davenport, who will pit his wits against top seed David Fiddeman.

Davenport owes his place to his victory over Ben Southgate in the semi-final, while Fiddeman came through via a win over Aivars Taimins.

A number of events were decided at the weekend, as a result of which Hicks has already got his hands on two trophies. He won the over 50s singles with a victory in the final over Ian Whiteside and he and Davison took the veterans’ doubles, beating Garry Fryatt and Steve Noble in the final.

In the mixed doubles, Luke Burridge and Alesha Ellis-Austin took the title with Rev Matthews and Jacqueline Smith runners-up in a round robin.

Ethan Collins retained his cadets’ singles title with a win in the final over Tom Verrier, a repeat of last season’s final, while he and Alesha Ellis-Austin won the junior doubles with a victory over Verrier and James Howard in the final.

The under 11 singles was won by Max Chisnall. Albert Wickens was the runner-up for the second year running.

Report by Ron Fosker 

This season’s Team Handicap KO Cup Final will go down in the annals of Burnham & District Table Tennis League history – it was an upset to match the Ryder Cup Miracle of Medinah in 2012, or the Liverpool FC Miracle of Istanbul in 2005.  Woodham B somehow defeated the recently crowned Division 1 Champions and Handicap Cup specialists in a dramatic comeback last gasp victory. 

The Team Handicap Cup is Burnham’s only team cup competition and the handicapping is applied to players starting points depending on their perceived ranking in the league – the better players are penalised and the lower ranked players are given a headstart in an attempt to create a level playing field.  Cold Norton B are the renowned specialists in this discipline having won the trophy for the past 3 seasons without ever dropping an individual match – yes you read that correct not a single match lost in 3 years!  This year was going along in the same fashion as they won all their opening rounds 5-0, but then a crack appeared as they dropped two matches in semi-final where they ‘only’ won 5-2.  Hope for their opponents from Woodham B for sure.  Woodham B also had the services of the two finalists from this year’s Handicap Singles competition – so some good handicap pedigree there.  An upset was unlikely but not impossible!

In the best of 9 Final, Cold Norton got off to a flyer winning the opening doubles match, and then Ian Wall followed up with a very tight win over Peter Harverson but only 22-20 in the deciding leg for a 2-0 early lead for Cold Norton.  Graham Briggs used his positive handicap to great effect for Woodham when he upset the apple cart by beating Sam Lowman in straight sets.  Cold Norton’s Eric Green then had to fight tooth and nail to eventually get past the dogged defence of Eamonn Hall over 3 long and hard fought legs.  So Cold Norton took a commanding 3-1 lead.  Woodham duo Harverson and Brigges then took the next doubles despite having given away 4 match points at 20-16 up in the second leg.  Green was next up against young Harverson and another marathon ensued and yet again a deciding leg was required to separate the teams.  This time Green’s accuracy and determination saw him through for his brace of singles wins, and Cold Norton now only needed one more triumph to retain their crown once more.  Lowman and Hall have very different styles and this next match-up was a proper game of cat and mouse as Hall tried to control the play and keep Lowman pinned on his backhand, knowing full well any forehand loops would just go straight past him.  It certainly worked in the opening leg where Lowman was a bit uncharacteristically wayward with some of his attacking, and Hall was dogged with his cat and mouse approach. This changed in leg 2 when Lowman began to come around his backhand and attack with his forehand from the backhand side – brilliantly executed and he took leg 2, 21-18. In the deciding leg Hall got off to a much better start with a tweak or two to his tactics and found himself 10 points clear by the time Lowman had cleared his handicap. This buffer was enough for Hall to take a few more chances and despite Lowman still rattling multiple forehands passed him the gap was enough for Hall to take another unexpected point. 4-3 to Cold Norton and we were now very late into the evening.  The next match was a belter. Cold Norton’s Wall had a determined glint and was dealing with Briggs’ attacks much better than anyone else all evening. The first leg saw some tremendous rallies but Wall was always just that little bit more in control and he won out 21-18. The second leg saw Briggs a little bit more controlled and not lashing out at hopeful shots. It was mighty close again and Wall caught up at 18-18, but Briggs went all brave and hit a couple of stunning winners in the next few rallies to take the leg. The final leg was epic and both players went full hammer and tongs on us. Brilliant table tennis and brilliant drama. Wall was on fire and he was the first to hit his halfway point. Despite changing ends Wall was relentless and caught Briggs very early at 12-12. At this point the Woodham players started to pack up, and the venue caretakers were preparing to lock up – it looked done and dusted. But Briggs became inspired, something deep inside had been stirred and he matched Wall point for point as they made their way to the business end of the deciding leg.  Briggs had the first match point at 20-19, and the second at 21-20 – but Wall snubbed both of those. Then Wall had Championship Point at 22-21 but couldn’t get over the line and the fat lady had to extinguish her cigar. At 23-22 Briggs finished with a fine winner – a truly epic match that had everything. So somehow it was now the next day already, and the Final was all square at 4-4.  The final and deciding doubles featured Green and Wall versus Hall and Harverson with a 12 point handicap. Of all the matches this one was surprisingly uneventful as Hall and Harverson took the majority of chances that came their way, didn’t make too many mistakes, and the handicap gave them license to attack when they could. Both legs finished 21-17, and Woodham were not only back from the dead but had triumphed in the face of adversity.

Despite an excellent display by Eric Green for Cold Norton, Player of the Match was undoubtedly Graham Briggs – but in truth the spectacle was the real winner. What a Final. 5-4 to Woodham B, although Cold Norton B had Championship Point in Match 8, with 5 of the matches going to a decider, with 4 legs going to deuce, and the amazing accurate handicapping was brilliant all night.

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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer

Burnham & District Table Tennis League

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Pic 1 – Burnham Team Handicap KO Cup Champions 2026 – Woodham B Celebrating (Peter Harverson, Graham Briggs, & Eamonn Hall)

Pic 2 – Burnham Team Handicap KO Cup Champions 2026 – Woodham B (Peter Harverson, Graham Briggs, & Eamonn Hall)

Pic 3 – Player of the Final – Graham Briggs

Pic 4 – Action from the final point of the epic match between Graham Briggs and Ian Wall

Pic 5 – Eric Green in winning action in the Final for Cold Norton B

The Brotherhood Club has swept the board this season, with their teams winning all three Divisions of the League, only the second time in the League’s history that teams from one Club has won Divisions One, Two and Three in the same season.

In Division One, Brotherhood A completed their programme with a 10-0 victory over Windsor Buzzards, a win which sealed their position as the top team in the League. Many congratulations to Gracie Edwards, Kevin Gowlett, Daniel Young and Gary Young who thus provided the Brotherhood Club with their first Division One title since 2011.

Nomads Lions could field only two players against Walton B but hat-tricks from Jason Lloyd and Martyn Green still gave them the 6-4 win. Walton’s Clive Allenby and Graham Buxton shared a fine three-straight doubles victory against Lloyd and Green. The Lions have challenged hard all season and finish as worthy runners-up, a superb achievement for a talented squad of players.  

And so Nomads Panthers, who were without a match, will finish in third place, thus ending their long and proud reign as champions, having won the Division One title a record twelve years running.

Elsewhere, Walton A ended their season with a flourish, defeating Brotherhood C 7-3 with Mark Gale unbeaten, Derek Willis taking two and Mark Ratcliffe one. Martin Edwards picked up a couple for Brotherhood and John Cleasby one.

But it was a bad day at the office for Windsor Hawks who, in a match where both sides played with a reserve, crashed to a 10-0 defeat at the hands of Brotherhood B. Russell Hillier, Simon Smith-Daye and reserve Joe Sherwin took the Brotherhood points. 

Brotherhood G are the new champions of Division Two following their 7-3 success over Windsor Harriers, Mark Boyland and John Gallagher taking trebles. But the real hero of the night was Paul Metcalf – even though he didn’t win a point. Paul was summoned during the evening to replace a player who hadn’t turned up and, after making a 40-mile journey when he finished work, turned up to play to ensure his side wasn’t deducted points for fielding a short team. Credit, too, to the Harriers for not claiming the points.

Brotherhood F have pushed the ‘G’ team hard all season and they finish as well-deserved runners-up, only three points behind their Club-mates. This week, trebles for Mark Salter and Paul Alden, plus a couple from Tricia Salter, saw them end the season with a 9-1 victory over Windsor Kestrels. Windsor’s Peter Aumord had two close matches, beating Tricia Salter 11-7 in the decider but going down 11-8 in the decider to Mark Salter.

Brotherhood J drew with Windsor Penguins and finish in a highly-impressive third place. Kelvin Olano-Harper took his three for the Penguins, but only just, scraping past Ruby Gallagher 17-15 in the fifth in one of the tightest matches of the season. Gallagher and Tom Bryden each won two for Brotherhood, and Lucy Carvell one.

And to emphasise Brotherhood’s domination of Division Two, Brotherhood D are confirmed in fourth place. In their last match, they shared the spoils with Nomads Jaguars, although an unbeaten Chris Petrou was the player of the match for the Jaguars. Kevin Pryor took a couple for Brotherhood.

Nomads Tigers warmed up nicely for their forthcoming Cup Final appearance, producing a fine team performance to draw with the battle-hardened Lawford side. Tom Wilkin took two, and Alex Baldock and Sam Watling one each, with Wilkin and Watling taking the doubles 11-9 in the fifth against Ian Sherwood and Charlie Denholm, only a second doubles win of the season for the Tigers. Richard Spence recorded his first hat-trick of the season for Lawford, with Denholm winning two, defeating Watling 11-9 in the fifth but losing 11-8 in the fifth to Wilkin.

The two leading sides met in Division Three and Brotherhood H sealed their position as the top team with a hard-fought 6-4 victory over Holland Hurricanes. There were two each for Danny Still, Dan Grindrod and Owen Woollard, Woollard winning  five-setters against both Ian Gwillim and Gerry Widnell. Gary Stallwood maintained his 100% season record for the Hurricanes. In a nice touch of sportsmanship, the Hurricanes’ score-card was annotated with the comment, ‘Well deserved win for Brotherhood H, Holland Hurricanes congratulate Brotherhood H on winning the League and wish them the best of luck in Division Two’.

It was also even-stevens between third-placed Nomads Leopards and Holland Lancasters. Peter Evans stayed undefeated for the Lancasters, with Tony Aresti and Dave Wright each winning one. Anne Bonny and Dominic Joannou won a pair apiece for the ever-reliable Leopards’ team, also sharing a doubles success. 

Walton C, who will finish in a commendable fourth position, beat Holland Vulcans 7-3. Lynette Sparks took her maximum, while there were a pair apiece for Adrian Sexton and Maggie Earle. Bob Keefe won two for the Vulcans and combined with Derek Foxley for a doubles victory. Foxley came close to getting on the score-sheet but went down 11-9 in the decider to Sexton and 11-6 in the decider to Earle.

The Brotherhood E v Windsor Magpies fixture ended with honours even. Eleven-year-old Jack Hillier, the youngest player in the League, completed an excellent first season League table tennis with his seventh hat-trick. For the Magpies, John Plummer and Alan Rutledge both won two and Dave Sweetland one, but each was involved in matches which went the distance, Plummer beating Rodney Betts 11-7 in the fifth, Sweetland defeating the same player 11-9 in the fifth and Rutledge edging past Joe Hillier 13-11 in the fifth.

Windsor Falcons were 7-3 victors against Nomads Ocelots, who once again were playing with a guest. Mike Wellum made a welcome return after injury for the Ocelots in their final match and remained unbeaten, although it was a tight 11-9 in the fifth against Matt Thomas. There was a point each for Thomas, Nikki Hayes and Gary Barnes of the Falcons.

* An end-of-season word of praise must be given to the three teams which finished bottom in each of the Divisions, Windsor Buzzards, Windsor Kestrels and Nomads Ocelots. All three teams, for differing reasons, have had difficult seasons but all three have battled on and seen the season through. A massive pat on the back to the players of the Buzzards, Kestrels and Ocelots.  

And an honourable mention, also, to those players who went through the season winning only a handful of matches and, in a couple of cases, none at all. Players like these – players who turn up week in week out with little prospect of winning but still apply themselves to their task – are the lifeblood of our League and, to them, we say a special ‘Well done and thank you’.

* The Handicap Cup Final between Brotherhood A and Nomads Tigers is the last event of the League’s 2025/26 season. It takes place on Tuesday 21st April at the Brotherhood Hall with play starting at 7.30 pm. All players and friends of the League are encouraged to attend to support the finalists.

* A reminder that James Denyer, Martin Edwards and Daniel Young are among the nominations for the Harry Walker Trophy, awarded each year to the Essex County Player of the Year. Any League player who has played at least eight League matches is entitled to vote, with the closing date for voting 30th April.

* For the record, before the Brotherhood Club this season, the only other Club whose teams have won Divisions One, Two and Three in the same season is the Clacton Youth Centre who did it back in the 1964/65 season. The three teams involved were CYC Nomads, CYC Unpredictables and CYC Optimists. Among the players in the CYC Optimists’ squad which won Division Three that year was a certain Dave Martin, a player who can still be found plying his trade for Windsor Buzzards over 60 years later. The Optimists also lived up to their name that season by winning the KO Cup.

* Finally, this weeks’ report ends on a sad note as the League is sorry to have to report the death of Colin Webber, aged 71 years. Colin was a loyal member of the League and the Nomads Club for many years. A full tribute will appear later.

RESULTS

Division 1

Brotherhood C 3 Walton A 7;

Windsor Hawks 0 Brotherhood B 10;

Walton B 4 Nomads Lions 6;

Windsor Buzzards 0 Brotherhood A 10.

Division 2

Brotherhood D 5 Nomads Jaguars 5;

Brotherhood J 5 Windsor Penguins 5;

Nomads Tigers 5 Lawford 5;

Windsor Harriers 3 Brotherhood G 7;

Brotherhood F 9 Windsor Kestrels 1.

Division 3

Holland Hurricanes 4 Brotherhood H 6;

Windsor Falcons 7 Nomads Ocelots 3;

Brotherhood E 5 Windsor Magpies 5;

Walton C 7 Holland Vulcans 3;

Nomads Leopards  5 Holland Lancasters 5.

Report by Tony Oswick

Paul Davison is used to being the favourite for the Braintree Table Tennis League men’s singles title, but this season the odds on him adding to his eight wins are shorter than ever.

Nearly all of his challengers or conquerors of recent years will be absent this time.

Current champion Gary Young has not played in the league this year. Nor have Lee McHugh, winner in 2019, or Michael Andrews, the champion in 2022.

Paul Lucas, beaten by Davison in the 2023 final, has only just started playing again, as has Adam Buxton, winner over Davison in the 2019 semi-final.

One player who is in the draw is Luke Burridge, whose defeat of Davison was the major surprise of last season.

Can he do it again? A relatively modest league return of 73 per cent (and 47 per cent in Colchester) suggests not, but his average was only marginally higher last year before he rose to the occasion in the quarter final.

Seeded to face Davison in the final is his Netts A teammate James Hicks, ultra consistent in the league this year with 32 wins out of 33, the defeat coming at the hands of Burridge.

Burridge is seeded third alongside Scott Dowsett, beaten only twice in his 18 sets this season.

Davison and Hicks are top seeds in the men’s doubles with Burridge and Sam Burrows, or last year’s finalists Karl Baldwin and Ken Lewis the likely challengers.

Sadly there were not enough entries to run a ladies’ singles but the junior boys’ singles could throw up an intriguing contest.

Ethan Collins, at ten the youngest ever winner of the title last year, faces the fast-improving Lucien Nolan-Bradford, beaten only once in 39 sets in division three.

The preliminary rounds of the individual events, plus the finals of some minor events, will be held at the Earls Colne Recreation Centre this weekend, with finals night the following Friday.

A few t’s were crossed and i’s dotted in the final week of league fixtures.

Black Notley B needed to better Sudbury Wanderers’ result by five points to stave off relegation from division one but fell three short.

Notley’s A team did their bit to help by beating Wanderers 10-0, but wresting five points from Rayne B proved beyond the B team.  Adi Kamma was unbeaten in Rayne’s 8-2 win.

Sudbury Nomads had already secured the runners-up spot but had the satisfaction of beating the team immediately below them, Rayne A, in their final match.

Rayne’s Paul Lucas continued his comeback from injury by taking his three singles and the doubles with Steve Pennell in the 6-4 defeat.

In the second division, Sudbury Strollers at last leaped out of the pack into the runners-up spot.

They jumped up from sixth to second with a 6-4 win over Notley C followed by a defeat by the same score against Netts D.

David Fiddeman was unbeaten at Netts but against Notley C he met his match in Jamie Brooks, who repeated his win in the restricted cup the previous week, this time in straight games, compared with 12-10 in the fifth game in the cup.

Netts C and Rayne E, who drew with each other, can still overtake them but Strollers still have two matches left compared with their one.

In the other match in the division, Notley D confirmed they will finish last but they went out with a bang, a 6-4 win over Rayne D, with Graham Chinnery and Matt Stephenson unbeaten.

In division three, Notley E took the point they needed – and seven more – to clinch the title against their own F team.

There were three wins each for their mainstays, Peter Davenport (40 wins out of 44) and Dave Parker (38 from 43).

Finchingfield B ended their four-match winless run with an 8-2 win over Rayne F, a team they had lost 7-3 to the previous week with only one change in each line-up. Ray Bradford and Trevor Laird were unbeaten in the second match.

Netts F finished their programme with a comprehensive 10-0 win over their own E team to claim third spot.  Their top two James Howard and Tom Verrier were unbeaten in both.

Notley G beat Rayne G 8-2 with Steve Baines and Ben Southgate unbeaten, while Sudbury Drifters finished their season with a 6-4 win over Notley H

If the cap fits….  This past fortnight has seen the culmination of the top of the table battles in both Division 1 and Division 2 of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League.  Both Divisions went all the way to the final matches to finally separate the top two teams.

Division 1

In the top division last year’s champions Cold Norton B had a lightning opening half of the season where they went unbeaten and developed a very healthy lead over all their expected rivals.  Fambridge have a collection of table tennis Galacticos at their disposal and despite a slow start they began to rack up the wins as the season developed.  This excellent form shown by Fambridge coincided with a dip in performance from the Cold Norton squad and the two sides found themselves engaged in a pincer movement for the top spot.  In the end Fambridge ran out of games and in the final matches both teams recorded strong 10-0 whitewashes that showed their dominance in the league and this allowed Cold Norton to maintain their slender 2 point advantage to retain the cup they worked so hard for the year before.   Cold Norton fielded their best 3 players for the final match with Cold Norton C and it was no surprise that Sam Lowman, Eric Green, and Ian Wall all recorded final match hat-tricks.  Fambridge were up against the bottom team Stow Maries A but they still put out their best three players in John Poysden, Mark Stones and Keith Adams and as expected they too all finished the season with winning trebles.  An intriguing and very close season yet again.  Roll on next year!

Division 2

Blackwater A consist of a wonderful and eclectic collection of players across the age ranges and playing styles.  It is these attributes that allow them to ‘mess’ with their opposition and the mayhem they bring creates results.  In the second half of the season they have been on a proper roll and have been chipping away at the lead created by pre-season favourites Maldon A.  With just a couple of games to go the top two teams met in what was the defining match of the season.  Blackwater could still catch Maldon but would need a very strong showing in the face-off match.  It didn’t start well for Blackwater as Alan Scammell fell to Lloyd Bennett-Smith and then Colin Napper held his nerve to outlast Denis Balic in 5 long sets to put Maldon 2-0 up.  Neil Freeman then edged past the stoic resilience of Denis Crapnell to pull one back for Blackwater. Napper and Bennett-Smith won their next matches for a 4-1 lead and the match and title dreams were slipping away from Blackwater.  Balic got the better of his defensive nemesis Crapnell to make it 4-2 going into the break.  Maldon took the doubles and Crapnell out pimpled Scammell to secure the win – with Freeman and Balic taking notable consolation scalps of Napper and Bennett-Smith for an overall 6-4 and season confirming victory for Maldon A.  Never in Doubt!

These two victories sit alongside the much earlier crowned Division 3 Champions – Blackwater C.

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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer

Burnham & District Table Tennis League

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Pic 1 – Division 1 Champions 2026 – Cold Norton B (Eric Green, Dan Anderson, Sam Lowman, & Ian Wall)

Pic 2 – Division 2 Champions 2026 – Maldon A (Hamish Innes, Ross Kirby, Lloyd Bennett-Smith, & Colin Napper)

Pic 3 – Ian Wall in the final game for Cold Norton B securing the title

Pic 4 – Mark Stones taking his hat-trick for Fambridge

Pic 5 – Division 1 Table

The Southend League is ready for this year’s prestigious English Leagues Cup competition with their junior boys team commencing their campaign on Sunday 19th April at Plumberow Primary Academy the home of Hockley TTC. They take on teams from Norwich and Cambridge with the winners going through to the final to be held on Sunday 5th July at Draycott and Long Eaton TTC.

The English Leagues Cup competition dates back to 1935 when the Willmot Cup was the prize for senior mens teams. Four years later a senior ladies competition was started competing for the JM Rose Bowl and there was then a gap of 27 years before events were introduced for junior boys and girls teams. The Carter Cup for boys and Bromfield Trophy for girls.

It’s now 91 years since inception and over the years a whole plethora of top players have taken part, a real who’s who of the UK’s top players. Johnny Leach, Diana Rowe, Ann Hayden, Chester Barnes, Nicky Jarvis, Dennis Neale, John Hilton and Desmond Douglas all have their names inscribed here as winners.

So far as Essex teams are concerned there was success for the Romford senior ladies in 1966, Lesley Bell, Shelagh Hession and Linda Henwood. No further wins until the sole win for the Southend junior boys in 1992 Ryan Savill, Richard Lawrence and Chris Sladden. Chelmsford junior girls triumphed in 1995 with Sarah Davison, Karen Mason and Shelley Ruocco and they were followed by the Harlow junior girls in 2001 Grace Brown, Nicole Todd and Emma Weil.

The Southend team of three is made up of Elliot Brackenbury and William Evesham from Hockley TTC and Josh Freeman from Stanford TTC. Two reserves James Evesham (Hockley TTC) and Vivaan Babbar (StanfordTTC) are included in the squad with coach Mitchell Jones (Stanford TTC).

We wish them all the best and good luck in their endeavours.

Report by Paul Strutt

For the second year running Rayne A have denied Netts A a double success in the Braintree Table Tennis League by beating them in the semi-final of the team knockout cup.

It was achieved with an entirely different team from last year, when Maria Boulton, Adam Buxton and Paul Lucas took them through.

This time it was down to Victor Chan, Steve Pennell and reserve Matthew Brown, who won 5-4.

Paul Davison was missing from the Netts team but on paper a line-up of James Hicks, Andy Holmes and Joe Meleschko looks the stronger combination.

Hicks did his bit by taking his two singles, but two from Brown – able to play up from the C team under the new regulation that allows players who have already represented one team to play one match up – and one each from Chan and Pennell plus the Chan/Pennell doubles was enough to upset the forecasts.

Brown proved he could live in the first division with straight-game wins over Meleschko and Holmes, the latter probably the pivotal point of the match.

The other semi-final was also a repeat of last season, Sudbury Nomads beating Rayne B 5-2.

Karl Baldwin and Richard Fifield both won two out of two.

In the restricted cup, the Black Notley club narrowly failed to get two teams through to the final when their D team were beaten in the final doubles in their semi-final against Netts D.

Graham Chinnery was unbeaten for Notley D but crucially Netts D won all three doubles.

In the final they will face Notley’s C team, who beat Sudbury Drifters 5-3.  Jamie Brooks’ two singles and two doubles were instrumental in taking them through, notably his deuce-in-the-third win over David Fiddeman, beaten only once – by Matthew Brown – in the league this year.

Netts F will be aiming to make it five wins in a row for a Netts team in the handicap cup after their 5-1 win over Sudbury Drifters.

James Howard and Tom Verrier won two out of two while Terry Hunneybel’s win (off +3) over Reece Arundell was the only one to disturb the scoreline.

They will play Rayne E, who dealt with Sudbury Strollers 5-3, despite three wins from Ian Whipps.

In the league, Finchingfield B’s unhappy run in division three continued, Rayne C at last stretched their lead to an insurmountable gap in division two while in division one Netts A lost their unbeaten record, then got it back again as a result of an oversight by their opponents.

Taking the last one first, Notley A were congratulating themselves on beating Netts A 6-4 with three wins for Tom Hinds, including the first defeat of the season for Paul Davison. However, Hinds had not been registered and so 6-4 turned into 2-8.

Rayne C’s success in division two, which has looked nailed on for more than half the season, finally became reality last week with a 10-0 win over bottom team Notley D. 

Surprisingly it was their first 10-0 win of the season – and Notley D’s first defeat by that score.

In division three, one-time leaders Finchingfield B played twice but could not arrest their winless streak, now four in a row and seven out of nine.

They drew with Yeldham Whitlocks B and then lost 7-3 to Rayne F, where Alastair Brown’s late-season form surge continued with his first unbeaten evening of the season.

Elsewhere in division one, Liberal A turned out one of their strongest teams of the season – Scott Dowsett and Adam Cuthbert in tandem – to register an 8-2 win over Notley A that took them above Netts B, who were beaten 9-1 at Rayne A.

The Rayne team not only included a third appearance for Paul Lucas but a welcome return for Adam Buxton for his first match of the season.

At the other end of the table, a surprise 8-2 win for Notley B over Liberal B lifted them to within four points of Sudbury Wanderers, who drew with Rayne B, for whom Adi Kamma was unbeaten.

The concertina effect in the middle of division two has now squeezed down to just six points between second place and ninth.

Three teams, Netts C, Notley C and Rayne D, are level on points immediately behind the leaders.

Netts C unexpectedly tumbled 8-2 to Finchingfield A, where John Barrett and Peter Clark were unbeaten, while Rayne D were also on the wrong end of a scoreline, in their case 6-4 against Sudbury Strollers, who borrowed Graham Turner from the third division and were rewarded with his three singles.

In division three, Notley E need only one point to secure the title after their 9-1 win over Rayne G.

Netts F increased the likelihood of finishing third with a 6-4 win over Rayne F, the team just behind them, a position enhanced by one more point in rearranged matches when they beat Rayne G 8-2 while Rayne F dropped three points against Finchingfield B.

Yeldham B and Notley H shared the points while Notley F racked up their first 10-0 of the season with a win over Sudbury Drifters, an occasion also marked by Wendy Day’s first unbeaten evening in her first full season of competitive table tennis.

Report by Ron Fosker