David Whiteside, one of the first Life Members of the League died on Thursday 20 February at the age of 83. David was awarded Life Membership to recognise the work he had put in when table tennis, and sport generally, was getting back to normal after the Second War. He, along with Percy MacDonald and Eric White, formed a troika who lead much of the expansion of the Chelmsford League in the late forties and fifties, and who established the reputation which the League still has today for being one of the best run in the country.

At various times, David was Match Secretary, Inter League Secretary, Competition Secretary and Press Officer, as well as playing for the then large Hoffman club. However he would never have claimed to be a threat to the League’s top players such as Charlie Wheeler, and so it is as an administrator and organiser that he will best be remembered.