Bury St Edmunds

Hello Members,

Welcome to the latest newsletter, it has been some while since we had a newsletter and this will bring you up to date as to what is happening at the Club as well as the Table Tennis world generally. If there is anything else you want to know please ask me or another member of the committee.

VENUES

This time last year we came to an agreement with King Edward V1 School to form a partnership between the School and the Club. This will benefit the Club in a number of ways, firstly KES is a new Sports College and they will be setting up links with their feeder schools both middle and primary and Table Tennis is going to be an active sport on the curriculum. This hopefully will encourage pupils to come on to join the Club and indeed it has with Westley School from where we now have several junior club members.
The premises available are also promising, with room for practice tables of 12+ and for 8 league matches. There will also be showers available and various training aids associated with a Sports College.
The Junior section moved to KES last September and it was anticipated that the Senior section would move this September, however due to a delay in the building works and the burning down of the Leisure Centre the hall is not available for further evenings until after Christmas.
We shall therefore be staying at County Upper for Friday night practice and Tuesday League matches until Christmas. I will inform you of the actual date of moving in due course.

CLUBMARK

Sport England who control the finances available to sporting associations have now set standards that clubs must adhere to to enable them to benefit. This could be very important over the next few years as due to the 2012 Olympics more money will be available for Sport. We have I believe reached the standard required and our application with the necessary paperwork are now at the English Table Tennis Association for their approval and recommendation to Sport England.

MEMBERSHIP FEES

If you have not yet paid your membership fees can you now please pay these, also any League fees due can you please pay these promptly.

SENIOR LEAGUE TEAMS

For the coming season we have 2 teams in the First Division:-
The Vikings:- David Unwin, Aaron Self, Dominic Melero and John Waters.
The Crusaders:- Steve Blackman, Peter Fordham and Tony West.
The 2 teams in the Second Division are
The Romans:- Alan Brafield, Graham Pettitt, Roy Pettitt, Paul Seabrook and Steve Cuthbertson.
The Normans:- Mike Hatcher, Neil Talbot, Trevor Cornwell and Goran Gelevski.
In the Third Division are the
Conquerors :-Tim Jolly, John Coxon, Katie Cobb and Jane Palmer.
The Commandoes:- with Tom Wright, James Swanson and Bill Kilner.

Will all team captains please make sure that if they have to cancel a home game they MUST inform John Waters otherwise we may have to pay out more rent than we need to.

Those league players who do not yet have a Club shirt please try and buy one for this season, they are available from John Waters or Peter Fordham for £15.

JUNIOR LEAGUE TEAMS

This year the Suffolk & Cambs Border Junior League will be run on 4 Saturdays at KES. These dates are 22nd October, 17th December, 4th February and 18th March. We will select the teams when the Club restarts on 8th September. Congratulations to the Leopards team of Tom Wright and James Swanson who won the first division title last year. Please note the new address for the website is www.scjttl.co.uk.

JUNIOR COACHING

This will continue at KES on Thursday evenings (7.00-8.30). Last year this was rather disjointed due to running the Junior League at the same time. But we can now put into place a coaching programme for all our juniors and for any adult beginners.

COUNTY TRAINING

The County training squad has this year been split into 2 squads, the eastern area in Ipswich and the western area at KES on a Thursday under the supervision of Maurice Fearn. Juniors on the ranking list will be invited to these sessions which will be about once a month. It would be nice if some of our leading senior players could come to these sessions to act as practice partners.

CLUB TOURNAMENT 2005

Thanks to Maurice Fearn for running the tournament again. The results were:-

COUNTY TOURNAMENTS

The dates have been fixed for these. The Senior Tournament is on Sunday 23rd October 2005 and the Junior and Vetts on Saturday 21st January 2006. All County Tournaments will be held at Stowupland this year.
The Bury League Tournament is scheduled for Sunday 19th February 2006 at King Edward School.

VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers are the most important people in the Club, without them there would be no Club. Thanks to all those who have helped run the Club over the past year. Just a small contribution like getting out and putting away the tables, help collect the fees, help maintain the equipment, provide transport for our junior players or act as feeders in training sessions is always welcomed and takes some of the pressure off the Committee and the Coaches. If you feel you could help, even on an informal basis please speak to one of the committee.

FUND RAISING

We were sponsored in our first 6 years by West Anglian Insulations who over the 6 years put in £1500 into the Club funds. This sponsorship has now ceased and we have to raise funds in other ways. There are three possibilities:-
1) Find another sponsor, and if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
2) Increase membership fees, which nobody wants.
3) Run a fund raising event possibly with a charity involved. This I think is the best option and I am looking for 2 or 3 members to form a sub committee and organize such an event. Please come forward don't wait for somebody else to do it.

OLYMPIC GAMES 2012

As you are no doubt aware the games are coming to London and this should provide opportunities for us to promote and develop our sport. If we can get some high profile coverage this will give the sport a boost. England has 3 of the best juniors in the world, Paul Drinkhall, Darius Knight and Gavin Evans recently won the cadet team Gold medal in the European Youth Championships and Paul won the Gold in individual event beating Darius in the final. They also won medals in the doubles events. Paul went on to achieve 5th place in the World Youth Championships. Paul and Darius are both 15 and Gavin 13 and so by 2012 they should be nearing their peak and give us a real chance of taking some medals.

Finally I hope you all have an enjoyable and successful season and if you have any concerns or ideas please have a word with me.

Remember to serve legally.

Peter Fordham
(Chairman)