Press Report

The highlight of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Annual General Meeting was the presentation of the Rosebery/Pope & Smith Award (the League's Service to Sport Award) to Brian Cook, the fifth time that a person has been awarded the Trophy for a second time. In addition to his long-standing duties as the League's Treasurer Brian assisted hugely by taking on the role of Acting General Secretary half way through the season in what was a tricky year from an administrative view-point. Further good news followed at the AGM with Dave Moles agreeing to take over as League General Secretary next season and with Matthew Brown agreeing to take on the position of Registrations Officer. Vacancies now exist on the Committee for two general Committee members and also for a new League Press Officer after Steve Kerns had announced that he would be standing down following a 15 year stint. Steve was rewarded for his efforts by being made a Life Member of the League. Anyone interested in getting involved should contact the League Chairman who will be pleased to discuss the roles.

The League's Charlie Wheeler Memorial Award (which rewards the best and most unexpected performance by a Junior player at the Closed Championships) was presented to James Stapley (Old Chelmsfordians Association) who in his second year of competition surpassed all expectations people had of him. His best result was his fine win over David Gatherall in the 6-Down Singles Semi-Final.

Rule changes for next season include the fact that the League's Mens Knock-Out Cup has been replaced by a Knock-out Cup that is open to all players of both sexes whilst the rule that sets out how points will be allocated in League matches where teams are short of players (under the new 10 point a match scoring system) has been further defined following complaints at the 2005-6 AGM.

With School Exams approaching Chelmsford's Junior Girls team travelled to Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton for the second round of Junior British League matches without their full strength squad. Also without Laura Pyman who had just had an operation, Chelmsford in fact did surprisingly well and managed to beat Team Peniel B 4-2 in their second match on the Saturday. Chelmsford's top player Holly Stubbings won both of her singles in this match whilst Lorna Staff also picked up two excellent wins. Hannah Pitt was unable to pick up a victory in this match but she had excelled in the team's first game against St. Andrews B (Sussex) where she got the better of the higher -ranked Alison Beckingham 3-0.

Hannah also excelled on the Sunday morning when she scored an even better 11-13, 5-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-9 win over Lindsay Armstrong (Slough's Cippenham B) ranked a massive 820 points above her on the ETTA National Ranking List. This was arguably the best win achieved by a Chelmsford player all season. Without Holly who was having to prepare for a 9.00 o'clock examination on the Monday morning there was little surprise that the team eventually lost 5-1. The team were well beaten 6-0 by a very strong Club Mid-Cheshire side who were further bolstered by the inclusion of outstanding 12 year-old prospect, the Guernsey-based Alice Loveridge. Hannah gave Alice a real run for her money only succumbing 4-11, 9-11, 10 -12 although Alice showed her class as she beat Lorna 11- 5, 11-2, 11-6 in her second singles. Claire Austin gamely made her debut at this level and as her confidence improved so did the scores she achieved. She battled away bravely against such established players as Rebecca Yip and Rachel Baker (Club Mid-Cheshire) before losing 3-11, 3-11, 8-11 and 5-11, 8-11, 2-11 respectively.