This week saw Lentern take over top spot in Division 1 thanks to a 6 – 3 home win over the previous leaders Rawreth Megazone C. It was an unfortunate slip by the visitors, as they were only able to field two players and so fall to second place. Veteran John Tendler was again POM for Lentern. Ian Cranstone and Wayne Farmer completed their team. For Rawreth, Gary Hartgrove won two and Colin Clements one.

Stanford A are now in joint second place. They handed out an 8 -1 hiding to visiting Hockley C. POM Peter Weatherall and Derrick Pearson both had an unbeaten evening, whilst Dave Hancock had one slip-up, losing to Hockley’s Brian Bissenden.

Invicta A slipped down the table courtesy of a heavy 7 – 2 defeat away to Brand Identity B. Adam Jackman excelled to take the POM award with a maximum, with Jenny Harrison and Barrie Delf adding two wins each. Steve Marr got both Invicta’s wins. There is a school of thought that says the banana cake and gingerbread with apple, kindly provided by the home side during a tea break, may be Brand’s most effect weapon yet!

Rawreth Megazone D recorded an excellent 7 – 2 away win at RESSC. Mike Hayes was undefeated and colleagues Jake Nelson and Charlie Kauders Boothby recorded two wins each. Bob Skews played a skipper’s innings for the home side, taking both their victories.

After the first six rubbers of the match between Hadleigh Forum B and Mapledene, it looked like a runaway victory for Mapledene – they were winning 5 – 1. However, Forum rallied and took all the remaining ties to go down by the narrowest of margins, 5 – 4. No single player was unbeaten. There were two wins each for Mapledene’s Mike Johnston and Andy Seaman, and for Forum’s Paul Fawell. Forum’s Mick Tappenden and Tony Jacks won one each as did Anthon Ranjit-Singh on his return to his former club.

Canvey A’s Ray Wilson turned in a POM performance in his side’s 6 – 3 home win over Hadleigh Forum C. Ray was assisted with two wins from Peter Cray, and one from Lee McGonagle. Two of Forum’s wins came from Satwant Gill and the other from Mark Everard.

After just four weeks there is a huge 24 point gap between top of the table Basildon A in Division 2 and bottom of the table Basildon B. Basildon A, Matchpoint A and Wakering are all unbeaten whilst Basildon B, Rawreth Megazone E and Hockley D are yet to record their first win.

Basildon A took advantage of the fact that rivals Matchpoint were without a game and demolished their clubmates in the B team 8-1 to take over at the top. It was fairly straight forward for the A team of Arun Joy, Szymon Jarka and Stephen Walters, the only downside being Jenne Seibolt’s defeat of Stephen to prevent the whitewash.

Matchpoint B failed to close the gap on the leaders as they fell to a narrow 5-4 home defeat to Stanford B despite a Player of the Match performance by young Alex Deacon. The first five games were closely contested with three games going the distance, the other two games going to four sets and it left Stanford 3-2 ahead. The remaining games were shared two apiece Rob Salvage and Chris Crooks recording braces and John Handscombe providing the other point. Ben Murray got Matchpoint’s fourth.

Wakering stay in fourth place after a 6-3 win against Hockley D. Callum Turner completed a perfect hat trick, not dropping a set, and he was supported by a brace from Zac England and one from Paul England. Only three matches went beyond three sets and all those involved Paul who lost in four to Ben Cook and Tony Molisso but beat Paul Strutt in five despite surrendering a two set lead. Hockley’s other point came from a slightly surprising straight sets win for Paul Strutt against Zac.

It must have been a late night at Rawreth Megazone as their match featured four five set matches and a further two four set matches. Runnymede stormed the first four started by Andrew Humphris five set defeat of Richard Kidd and eventually ran out 6-3 winners. Andrew completed his hat trick and was supported by Tina Hutchinson with two wins and one for Anne Adlington. Richard got two wins for Rawreth and there was one for Amar Al-Soufi.

Canvey B recorded their first win of the season edging out Invicta B 5-4 despite a hat trick for Invicta’s Barbara Chabior. The Islanders quickly recorded a winning 5-2 lead before losing the last two games. Two wins each for Kevin Walsingham and Des Duffield and a single for Tony Westwell did the damage for Canvey whilst Sarah Ball got Invicta’s other point.

Team of the Week – Canvey B

Player of the Week – Callum Turner

In Division 3 a good team performance from Hockley E saw them edge a close match against Stanford C. Two wins each for John George and Gary Beck plus one for Hannah Harbour ensured a 5-4 win for their side. For Stanford there were two wins apiece for Randy Santiago and Player of the Match Mark Farley, but a blank night for Karen Kempster on her debut.

Trevor Hayes maintained his unbeaten start to the season in this division with a maximum as Canvey beat Rawreth Megazone F. Teammates John Saunders and Peter Parker chipped in with a win each and the result was a 5-4 win. For Rawreth there were two, hard earned five set wins for Ethan Nunn and a brace for Jan Thorpe.

After three successive 9-0 victories Matchpoint C came down to earth with a bump when they took on an experienced Stanford D side. Hat tricks from Andrew Jessop and Player of the Match Vaughan Chambers plus two wins for Peter Moxham meant a comfortable 8-1 success for the away side. Matchpoint’s only success came from Max Mayo’s win against Peter.

With a 9-0 win over Evolve, Invicta C have taken over at the top of the table. The experience of Trish Winter, Jon Gould and Keith Baxter proved too much for the young Evolve side who are finding it tough going at the moment but will surely improve as the season unfolds. Keith took the Player of the Match award as he continued his 100% unbeaten record.

BROTHERHOOD D SET OUT THEIR STALL

There was no doubt about the result of the week as the 2023/24 Clacton League season got under way, Brotherhood D putting down an early marker for Division Two honours with a shock 9-1 win over pre-season favourites Brotherhood B.

Thirteen-year-old Joe Plummer won his three, as did Simon Smith-Daye on his return to League table tennis, with Sam Plummer winning two – an impressive team performance from the new-look ‘D’ side against established players Mark Salter, Paul Alden and Barry Allen.

The ‘B’ team’s sole success was Alden’s 11-5 in the decider win over Sam Plummer, while Alden took Smith-Daye close before losing 11-8 in the decider.

Elsewhere, Brotherhood C beat Windsor Penguins, Mark Boyland winning three, Mark Beckham two, John Gallagher one, with Boyland and Gallagher combining to take the doubles. For the Penguins, Scott Campbell won two on his table tennis return and Neil Chegwidden one, Sharon Gowlett just failing to get on the score-sheet after going down 11-8 in the decider to Beckham.

Despite three of the matches going the distance, Lawford ran out comfortable 9-1 victors against Windsor Kestrels. John Colvin and Ian Sherwood stayed unbeaten, but Charlie Denholm was denied his maximum by Kestrels skipper Graham Bunce.   

In Division Three Walton E and Brotherhood F enjoyed a good scrap but experience eventually got the better of youth, Walton edging it 6-4, Lynette Sparks unbeaten. There were a couple for Maggie Earle, although it was a tight 11-9 in the fifth against Tom Bryden and an even tighter 12-10 in the fifth against JJ Barry. Joe Sherwin won two for Brotherhood.

Experience got the better of youth once again in the all-Brotherhood clash between the ‘E’ and ‘G’ teams, Brotherhood E winning 8-2, with Tony Edmonds and Fred Gallone taking trebles. Dan Grindrod and Danny Still picked up a point each for the losers.

Dominic Joannou began his season with a maximum for Nomads Leopards in his side’s 8-2 success against Nomads Lynx. There were two each for Stu Wilkinson and Chris Wilmotte, with Dave Wright picking up the two points for the Lynx.

It was also 8-2 in another all-Nomads’ clash, the Ocelots defeating a Bobcats’ side fielding a guest, with Arthur Wells-Garrett emerging as the only unbeaten player on the night. Bobcats’ new signing Jack Riddleston enjoyed an 11-8 in the decider debut win over Hazel Blanche, but went down in three to James Horsler, whilst Alex Baldock, another player making his League debut, beat Horsler but went down to Blanche.

In Division One, defending champions Nomads Panthers got off to a winning start, James Denyer unbeaten in the 8-2 success against Walton C. John Hatley and reserve Denes Somodi took two each. Mark Ratcliffe, with a good win over John Hatley, and Jason Gale took the Walton points.

An all-Windsor battle saw the Hawks take the honours against the Eagles, winning 8-2. Daniel Young won three in his first match for his new team, with Andy Vincent and Felipe Rodriguez each winning twice. Mel Rampton and John Pattrick were the Eagles’ point-scorers, Pattrick recording a close 11-8 in the decider win against Vincent to deny the Hawks’ player his treble.

Three for Adam Cuthbert, two for Adam Wilkin and one for Jason Lloyd was enough to give Nomads Lions an opening 6-4 win against Walton B, the crucial match proving Wilkin’s 11-5 in the fifth win against Graham Buxton. Gavin Price won two for Walton, John Marshall one, with Marshall and Buxton winning a close doubles 11-9 in the decider against Cuthbert and Wilkin.  

But it was a baptism of fire for newly-promoted Windsor Buzzards in their first match at this level, the wily old hands of Walton A proving too good, Kevin James, Colin Dearman and Derek Willis all recording trebles in the 10-0 victory.

RESULTS

Division 1

Windsor Eagles 2 Windsor Hawks 8;

Walton B 4 Nomads Lions 6;

Walton A 10 Windsor Buzzards 0.

Division 2

Windsor Penguins 3 Brotherhood C 7;

Windsor Kestrels 1 Lawford 9;

Brotherhood B 1 Brotherhood D 9.

Division 3

Nomads Bobcats 2 Nomads Ocelots 8;

Brotherhood F 4 Walton E 6;

Nomads Leopards 8 Nomads Lynx 2;

Brotherhood E 8 Brotherhood G 2.

Mapledene A have taken the Burnham & District Table Tennis League by storm these last few weeks setting out a stall that has installed them as title favourites at all the local bookmakers.  This week was their best yet as they blew away the opposition from Stow Maries with a comprehensive 10-0 turnover.  Not overly surprising though given the trio of Reece Seddon, George Reeves and Babul Mcleod.  Woodham A racked up an impressive 6-4 victory over Cold Norton A to maintain their unbeaten season so far.  Fielding new signing Chris Penrose certainly helped the cause as he recorded a very straightforward debut hat-trick and then combined with captain Dan Piglet for a tight doubles point.  These 4 Penrose points and Piglets brace of wins was enough to get the revitalised Woodham A over the winning line.  Not so much luck for the Woodham B side who travelled to Champions Fambridge with a depleted side following a very late withdrawal.  Fambridge were just far too strong and won all 7 matches to add to the forfeited singles for a comprehensive 10-0 win that helps them on their march towards a championship showdown.  The evening started ok for Woodham as David Penrose took Paul Sayer to deuce in the opening leg of the first match – but that was about as good as it got for the Woodham duo.  Hard-hitting Gurj Bhambra was the evening’s player of the match on countback – but well deserved for his all-round attacking masterclass.   Mapledene B were surprisingly held to a draw against Cold Norton C.  Simon Jacob took all his singles for Mapledene, whereas his wingmen Colin Chatfield and Keith Willett couldn’t quite display the form of last season as they could only chip in with a single win each.  Perhaps Jacob should have been allowed to play in the doubles as his non-selection seems to have been an expensive oversight as the Cold Norton pairing of Kim Shead and Arron Chadler won that one very comprehensively to effectively secure the draw.  Shead was the best of the Cold Norton boys with two excellent wins over Willett and Chatfield.

Maldon B’s ascent to the pinnacle of Division 2 was thwarted this week by their very own C team as the teams played out a tight 5-5 draw where half the matches went to 5 sets.  This one went to the very last games in which the C team’s talisman Steve Aspland beat Ciaran Whelan in 4 sets to take a 5-4 lead going into the final match.  In the ‘Battle of the Colins’’, the B team’s Colin Napper took a decisive 2-0 lead against the C team’s Colin Barrell.  But fortune favours the brave and Barrell came out fighting for the next two legs to even up the match and silence the B team’s travelling supporters.  In what should have been a tense deciding leg Napper rolled over the Barrell for a quick 11-2 leg and squared the overall match.  Aspland’s victory gave him his second hat-trick on the bounce as he plays his way back to last season’s incredible form.  This stumble allowed the rejuvenated Woodham C to take the hot seat as they overcame the challenge of Maldon D to record an 8-2 victory.  The returnees were out in force as both Graham Briggs and Chris Hancox laid down relatively unchallenged hat-tricks to set up the win.  For Maldon both Chris Ravenhill and Shirley Carroll came away with the prized scalp of Adi Kamma for their two points.  Cold Norton D were looking to bounce back from last week’s whitewash defeat but it looks like the memo only reached Dave Hancox – perhaps he forgot to pass it on – as Dave racked up all 4 of his teams points on the night with the help of Terry Hylands in the doubles.  Stow Maries C relied on teamwork for their 6-4 victory as each of their players was able to record 2 singles wins with only the bubbly Rod Maclennan getting close to hard-hitting Hancox as he took their match to a deciding 5^th leg.  In the final Division 2 match of the week Woodham D scored a surprise win over podium hopefuls Blackwater A.  New recruit Mal Henstock provided a debut hat-trick to help lead the team to a Dusty Bin 3-2-1 victory, with Gus Heath winning 2, and Alex Wilson chipping in with a fine singles triumph over the very tricky Merv Perriman.

St Lawrence kept up their charge for the Division 3 title with a tight 6-4 win over nearest rivals Woodham E.  St Lawrence’s Steve King maintained his fine form to see his team over the line with his third hat-trick of the season.  King’s unbeaten run leaves him the only player in Division 3 on a 100% win rate.   For Woodham E it was the sartorially elegant Chris Crooks that caused most problems with 2 good singles wins, and there was a welcome return to competitive sport for the Dark Horse that is Mitch Davies.  Davies got off to a flying start but faltered at the second match and then tailed off towards the end of the evening as the pace got too much for him.  Blackwater D showed great bouncebackability after a crushing opening week defeat.  Teamwork was the key as their trio of Jacqui Treacy, Chris Rolison and David Smith all won 2 singles apiece, and Rolison and Treacy combined for the doubles for a 7-3 triumph in the match versus Maldon E.

Pic 1 – Fambridge’s hard-hitting Gurj Bhambra in action this week

Pic 2 – Maldon C’s talisman Steve Aspland

Pic 3 – Mapledene’s George Reeves

Pic 4 – Paul Sayer (Fambridge) versus David Penrose (Woodham B)

Pic 5 – Cold Norton’s Charles Sweeney versus Woodham’s hat trick hero Chris Penrose

Mapledene A have stormed into an early lead in the top division of the Burnham & District Table Tennis League and this is largely down to the form of Steve Muth – only recently awarded the moniker of ‘The Muthinator’ – who destroyed allcomers this week in the Mapledene derby to maintain his 100% record for the season.  Muth was ably supported by Gary and Daniel Young in the 8-2 win, with each notching a brace of wins on their welcome return to the Burnham League.  David Jacobs’ straight sets victory over Daniel Young being the pick of the Mapledene B points.  Maldon A breathed some life into their campaign with a decent 7-3 win over Cold Norton C.  For Maldon Derek Balding was the star turn winning all his matches on the night including the doubles and only dropping a single set along the way. In the other Derby, honours were more evenly spread as Cold Norton’s A and B sides took to the Latchingdon battlefield to see out a 5-5 draw.  Star of this show was Ian Wall with 3 singles wins all in 4 sets, including a notable victory over Finals Night perennial Kevin Read.

There is an early two horse race in Division 2 as both Maldon B and Woodham C have hit the ground running both taking 19 points out of a possible 20.  It looks like these two thoroughbreds will be neck and neck all the way to the winning post.  Maldon B ran out 10-0 winners against Cold Norton D with Cold Norton’s Dave Hancox putting up the most resistance with two 5-set defeats.  But hat-tricks all round for the Maldon trio of Colin Napper, Hamish Innes & Ciaran Whelan.  So as not to be outdone Woodham C matched that scoreline against 2 man Stow B with welcome returnee Graham Briggs getting player of the match for his undefeated evening.  Woodham D kicked off their season with an impressive 7-3 win over Maldon D as League Chairman Alan Dadswell showed his form with a hat-trick, and young Alex Wilson proved his worth with 2 wins as he moves up to this higher division.  The remaining matches were all tight affairs as Blackwater A and Mapledene C, and Stow D and Stow C locked horns in 5-all draws with no player dominant in either match.  The most notable victory was Jean Chasmer’s 5 set marathon against Tim Pulham, although Pulham hadn’t helped himself with two previous 5 setters in the first half of proceedings.  In the final match Maldon C’s talisman Steve Aspland was back to his best knocking out his first hat-trick of the season in his teams tight 6-4 victory over Blackwater B.  As is often the case the victory came down to the doubles dance and the Maldon duo of Aspland and Colin Barrell are masters of this discipline and rattled out a very comfortable bonus point win to secure the victory.

Not surprisingly it is St Lawrence A that have taken the early headlines and lead in Division 3. Another 8-2 victory this week, and another hat-trick for Steve King, against the plucky Blackwater C.  Ron Tam was on dynamic form for his Blackwater E side as he took a trio of wins in the 6-4 encounter with Woodham E.  The final match of the week saw the much anticipated Maldon Derby as F took on E in the bragging rights play-off.  It was a tight affair throughout as alternate blows were traded.  It was all square at the break and as the teams entered the final singles Jude Mayet of the E team evened the match at 4-4.  The final two matches were both rollercoaster epics, both going to 5 sets.  John Leavett squeezed passed James Raymond for his hat-trick, and in the final showdown the wily Roger Warren came from behind to edge out Ross Wheeler 11-9 in the deciding set to secure the 6-4 victory for Maldon F.

Pic 1 – Steve Muth – currently unbeaten in Division 1

Pic 2 – Maldon C’s talisman Steve Aspland

Pic 3 – St Lawrence A’s Steve King

Pic 4 – Stow C’s Jean Chasmer

Hockley TTC 2023 Annual Championships – Saturday 23rd September

With the inaugural Ladies Final already completed and Alwine Jarvis incorporated as champion the remaining five finals took place bright and early on Saturday morning. Matt Stringer was featuring in two finals and looking to become our Singles Champion for a fourth time.

First up was the doubles final between Gary Beck and Ollie George against Graham Gregory and perennial winner Matt Stringer. Gary, Ollie and Matt all had a second final to look forward to after this. With Matt’s record in these championships he and Graham would probably have been considered to have been the slight favourites for this match but in a tight first set it was Graham and Ollie who edged it 12/10. Another close set followed but this time it was the turn of Matt and Graham to level the scores with another 12/10 scoreline. It was apparent at this stage that the serves of Ollie and Matt were proving more effective against Gary and Graham respectively and this was repeated in sets three and four as first Gary and Ollie romped home 11/4 before Graham and Matt edged the fourth set 11/9. All down to the final set then and there was nothing in it all the way to 9-9 before Gary and Ollie took the honours. A good, close, exciting match to start the finals.

Gary Beck & Ollie George beat Graham Gregory & Matt Stringer

12/10 10/12 11/4 9/11 11/9

Next up was the Junior Plate which saw last year’s Junior Champion Kris Chankov take on Perry Lazell, who has only been with the club for a few months. After the first set which went easily to Kris 11/5 this turned into quite a battle and quite a contrast in styles. Kris looking to attack and bring his strong backhand into play whilst Perry, really keen to attack with his forehand, but also displaying some strong defensive qualities returning the ball from well behind the table at times to keep himself in the rally. Kris took the second set just, 12/10, but all credit to Perry who eventually got himself back in the match winning a marathon  third set 18/16. The fourth set was just as close and just when it looked a fifth set was inevitable Kris took the match 12/10.

Kris Chankov beat Perry Lazell

11/5 12/10 16/18 12/10

The Junior final could well have been billed as David v Goliath as young William Evesham stepped up to take on the, by comparison, very experienced Ollie George, a league player for some time now despite his own young age. Unfortunately for William he couldn’t find his own version of David’s sling shot to damage Ollie and went down in straight sets 11/6, 11/2, 11/6. Nevertheless William did enough to suggest that he can be as successful as Ollie has become displaying good movement around the table, good serves, and good attacking shots. One to watch for the future.

Ollie George beat William Evesham

11/6 11/2 11/6

The Singles Plate between Gary Beck and Roger Sherman turned out to be probably the closest and most exciting match of the day. A great contrast again in styles with Roger looking to bring in his big forehand smash at every opportunity whilst Gary was more defensive, resolute even, waiting patiently for an opportunity to attack. This was Gary’s second final, having already won the doubles with Ollie, so not a bad achievement for someone in his first season with the club,and he got off to the best start coming back from behind to edge the first set 15/13. Fortunes swung back and forth over the next two sets with Roger levelling 11/5 only to lose the third set by the same score. Roger managed to up his game again in set four and levelled again 11/7 and if we were looking for a nailbiting fifth set to decide the winner then we certainly got it! In this set Gary brilliantly demonstrated his ability to return Roger’s big attacking shots and although Roger got off to a great start leading 5-1 and then 10-7 the errors began to creep in and Gary drew level 10-10. During this run he managed to produce probably the shot of the day returning one of Roger’s smashes from well behind the right hand side of the table, looping it back high and diagonally, landing it just over the net before bouncing far away from Roger’s right hand side and out of reach to give Gary the point. At this point the excitement still hadn’t finished with match points being gained and lost in quick succession, together with some fortunate nets and edges before Gary scraped home 18/16. A great match and a great way for Gary to win his second final.

Gary Beck beat Roger Sherman

15/13 5/11 11/5 7/11 18/16

This brought us to the main event the Singles final between Matt Stringer and Dan Patynski. Already a three times winner Matt got off to a strong start against Dan who never really got going in this set losing 11/3. The second set was a complete contrast as Dan stormed back to level the match with an 11/6 win. At this stage Matt probably realised he needed to up his game and he did that in the third winning 11/6. The fourth set was close all the way up to 8-8 and just when we were looking forward to a fifth set Matt went 9-8 up, and a fortuitous net and then an edge gave him the match 11/8. Well done to our four times Champion!

Matt Stringer beat Dan Patynski

11/3 6/11 11/6 11/8

All in all  a great Finals day and well done to all those who took part, our volunteer umpires and everyone who came to watch. See you all again next year!

Paul Strutt

Chairman

Hockley TTC

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