Bury St Edmunds

Welcome to the latest newsletter and to a new table tennis season. I hope those of you who have taken a summer break have enjoyed it and are now raring to go. For those of us who have carried on during the summer I hope we have the strength left for another demanding season.

SENIOR LEAGUE TEAMS
With the opening of the Culford venue we will now be running 9 teams from both the County school and Culford.

From the County we have in the First Division the Vikings (Mick Palmer, David Unwin. Dominic Melero, John Waters) and the Romans (Alan Brafield, Roy Pettitt, Phil Bryant, Graham Pettitt) In the Second Division we have the Saxons (Steve Cuthbertson, Luke Cuthbertson, Paul Seabrook) and in the Third Division the Normans (Neil Talbot, Trevor Cornwell, Michael Hatcher, Jane Palmer).

From Culford we have in the First Division the Crusaders (Steve Blackman, Peter Fordham, Terry Thompson, Janet Scoulding) and in the Third Division the Conquerers (Ray Stapleton, David Stapleton) the Commandoes, the Conquerers and the Cavaliers. For the last 3 teams we need players, at least two for each team but hopefully some reserves, some of these will come from Culford pupils but at the moment they are scattered all over the world on their summer holidays and we cannot finalise these teams until their return. However anybody who would like to play please contact Peter Fordham.

All of our teams both at County and Culford will have a home night on a Tuesday and the first games should be towards the end of September, we are waiting for the League fixtures to come through. Three teams from the Rougham Club will also be playing at Culford. Before the season starts we will issue advice notes to the team captains about match procedure etc.

Last season the Vikings finished 4th in a very competitive First Division. The Saxons finished 8th in the Second Division and the Normans and Romans finished 2nd and 3rd in the Third Division. In the League tournament David Unwin reached the semi finals of the men's singles where the eventual winner Martin Gray of Felsham beat him. Dominic Melero lost to Kevin Holland (Stow) in the restricted singles final. The star of the day though was Nathan Blunden who won both the Handicap singles and the Third Division title, well done. There were also several members who took part in the County tournaments.

SENIOR PRACTICE NIGHTS
These are still well attended though we had to take a break in June whilst school exams were on. Also for 3 weeks in August whilst the County School floor was being replenished we had to transfer to Culford. However we are back at the County every Friday from 6th September (7.00-9.00).

JUNIOR LEAGUE TEAMS
We will be entering teams in the Suffolk and Cambs. Border Junior League, entries for this will be made in late September and any juniors wishing to play should speak to one of the coaches. This competition is ideal for beginners as the standard is not too hard and gives valuable experience to the up and coming player. Matches are played on about 12 Tuesday evenings between October and April and a match lasts about an hour and a half.
Last season The Sparrowhawks (David Merriam, Robert Dunne, Edward Spencer) were 5th in the First Division and the Kestrels (Clark Turner, Jonathan Wood) were joint winners of the Second Division. Well done everyone.

Last year for the first time we entered a team in the National Junior League, this is a very high standard and we had to use two players from other clubs to keep up the standard. They finished 4th in the second division, which was very good for their first year. The players were Luke and Mat Cuthbertson, Nick Taverner (all from our club), Josh Taylor from Gazeley and James Manvers from Felsham. We hopefully will be entering another team this year.
Good luck to all these teams in the coming season.

In May we hosted the Bury league Junior Ranking Tournament and Club members were ranked as follows: - No.2 Luke Cuthbertson, No.8 Jordan Dowle, No.11 Kenneth Lau, No.12 Sam Larn.

This coming November we should be holding the inter club tournament between Stowmarket, Trimley and Bury.

JUNIOR PRACTICE NIGHTS
These recommence on Tuesday 3rd September at Culford School Sports Centre (7.30 -9.30) and then every Tuesday. We welcome back our existing members and look forward to seeing some new faces. We shall be arranging a full coaching programme with robot practice and some fun games. In these sessions we welcome beginners whatever their age, come along as a family.

CLUB KIT
To promote the club and to keep our good reputation we would like all players playing in any of the leagues to look smart and wear the Club colours. All players should wear shorts (preferably black) and trainers. The shirts should be red but as we come in so many different shapes and sizes it would be impractical for the club to buy shirts in bulk so we will leave individuals to buy their own (Matalan have some polo shirts at £5 each, but hurry they may run out). The Club will get some iron on badges to go with the shirts.

MEMBERSHIP FEES
Can those who have not yet paid their membership fees please do so. League fees are also now due for those playing in the Bury League, these are £12 per adult 3-person teams, £10 for 2-person teams, £7.50 for Juniors(including Culford students). Cheques should be made payable to "Bury St. Edmunds Table Tennis Club", we also take cash.

PREMIER CLUB
The club having been awarded a certificate of merit last year for development work, did even better this year by becoming runner up in the Eastern Region of The English Table Tennis Association. On the 6th 7th and 8th of September Maurice Fearn, John Waters and myself will be going to a coaches conference at Lilleshall. We are still without the services of a Regional Development Officer following the death of Mike Watts last year, and it seems that due to money restraints that we are unlikely to get one in the near future.

CLUB COMPETITION
There was a good turn out for the club competitions this year and the results are as follows:

WESTLEY SCHOOL
From last January we ran courses at Westley school and had as many as 24 on each course, this proved very successful and we found some new talent, though whether any of these will become members of the club we will have to wait and see. We intend to run further courses in the coming year. Many thanks to Maurice Fearn, John Horner and Nathan Blunden who helped me with these sessions.

TABLE TENNIS FOR PLAYERS WITH DISABILITIES
Peter and Maurice have been helping out at Stowmarket where a 4-week course was held to encourage people with a range of disabilities to play table tennis.
There was also a one-day event at the Disability Resource Centre in Bury for wheelchair users who thoroughly enjoyed using the robot. It is hoped to hold similar events in the future.

TOP 16 TOURNAMENT
To mark the opening in January of the new venue at Culford we hosted a tournament between the best players in the Bury League. Club members taking part were Mick Palmer, David Unwin, Peter Fordham and Dominic Melero. There was some excellent table tennis and the winner was the Cambridge number one Martin Gray who beat the Suffolk number three Andy Dosher. We hope to hold a similar event this year.

NEW RULES
There are two major changes to the rules this year: -

AWARDS FOR ALL
We have been successful in getting a further lottery grant of £3461, and with this we have bought new tables and table surrounds for Culford along with various other items of equipment. Part of it will also be used for training courses and coaching fees.

CONGRATULATIONS
To Alan Brafield who has recently got married and to Nathan Blunden who is shortly going to College in Oxford.

SPONSORSHIP
We are very grateful to West Anglian Insulation Ltd. who has kindly extended their sponsorship of £250 a year for a further 3 years.

VOLUNTEERS
Can you help us out, we need new people on the committee, to bring new ideas and to help spread the workload. I guarantee you will enjoy it. Any little help would be appreciated even if you do not want to be on the committee.

Finally enjoy your table tennis and remember to let your committee know of any concerns or any way we can improve YOUR club.

Peter Fordham
(Chairman)