Latest News from the BSE&DTTL

01/02/2012, played at British Sugar Sports and Social Club.
British Sugar beat Bury Crusaders 7-3.
This Division 1 match in the Bury St Edmunds & District Table Tennis League started with an encounter between Phil Sinclair and Alan Brafield who attacked strongly from the start and took the first leg 11-6. However he was then forced into errors which enabled Sinclair to fight back and win the next two legs 11-8, 11-6. When Sinclair then took an 8-4 lead in the fourth leg it looked all over but Brafield then rediscovered both his attacking and defending consistency to win the next seven points and then the deciding leg 11-8 to give Crusaders first blood. Crusaders' new signing, Bob Harman, then took the first two legs against Dominic Melero 12-10, 11-8, before Melero settled down and used his forehand and backhand looping shots to take the next two legs 11-7, 11-6. In the fifth game both players had chances but could not make them count until Melero eventually won through 16-14 to square the match. At this stage it looked as if a late finish was likely but only one of the remaining seven singles went to a fourth leg. Harman won two of them for Crusaders but the Sugar team took the remainder and a 6-3 match lead. In the Doubles Melero and Mark James lost the first leg 6-11 against Brafield and Harman but fought back 11-5 in the next. The remaining legs were much more competitive but James and Melero took them both 12-10 to give Sugar a 7-3 match win and leave Crusaders adrift at the bottom of the league table."

24/01/2012, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Crusaders lost to Stowmarket Jaguars 2-8.
Stowmarket Jaguars came to Bury to play Crusaders. The home team got off to a good start Terry Thompson beating Carol Clarke over 4 legs,Carol struggling against Terry's spin and unable to get into her natural play. This was repeated in her 2nd game against Peter Fordham but she settled down against the more aggressive Alan Brafield to beat him over 4 legs. Sandra Balaam had epic struggles against both Fordham and Brafield but won through over 5 legs and beat Thompson in 3. Lee Balaam had less difficulty and dropped only 1 set against Brafield in his 3 games. The Balaams then teamed up to beat Fordham and Thompson in 3 legs. to end an enjoyable evening & a final score of 2-8

RATTS fielded a new pairing in Paul Hurst and Mike Troughton against the experienced Mick Beale and Peter Branfield at Thurston New Green Centre on 23/01/12.                                                                                                                Thurston Thurston ran out comfortable winners 5-0 without dropping a set in any of the matches.The singles matches all followed a similar pattern with the RATTS pair putting up some reasonable resistance until the latter stages of each set when the extra quality of the Arrows enabled them to put in a quality serve or shot to win points at the crucial times.                                                                    The Doubles also followed a similar vein, however after losing the first set 11-5 the RATTS did worry the Arrows a little in the following sets with some excellent exchanges taking place before losing out 12-10 and 13-11 The games were played in a great spirit and superbly umpired by Alan Baxter.

04/01/2012, played at Lawshall Village Hall.
Lawshall lost to Bury Vikings 4-6.
Vikings had inflicted Lawshall`s only defeat this season so far in the first meeting & with Tony West & David Unwin together this second meeting was always going to be tough for Lawshall to get a result. The first game saw Dennis Morgan take on Unwin & with a clever mixture of attack & defence push David to the limit before running out of steam in the fifth leg. Steve Annison proved too strong for John Waters as did Tony West against Clive Grimwood. Annison then levelled the score at 2-2 with a fine 3 set to one victory over Unwin. Morgan was unable to trouble West & lost in three straight sets. Grimwood had a close game with Waters, winning the first two sets only to lose the next two before clinching the fifth 11-8. Annison took the first set from West with some excellent attacking play but the latter gradually took command & the next three sets. Morgan had a good three set win over Waters to leave the score 4-5 going into the doubles but Unwin & West proved too strong for Morgan & Annison to leave Vikings the winners 4-6.

05/12/2011, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Arrows lost to Stowmarket Pumas 2-3.
This was the second time in a week these two teams had played each other, as this was a rearranged game from week seven. Both teams fielded different players, Stow giving a new young player a chance Ruben Santos.Santos played the first match against the experienced Lynn Green, after some long rallies in each game Green came out the 3-1 winner. Next Alan Baxter played the very experienced Keith George, and although the latter was in a lot of pain all night, and despite Baxter getting a lot of net shots, George won 1-3.Baxter then had to play Santos & after some good rallies the former took the match 3-0.George then beat Green 3-0 to level the match. The doubles was a much closer game than the 0-3 scoreline suggests, but Stow took it to win the night 2-3.

06/12/2011, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Vikings drew with Bury Conquerors 5-5.
Jack Anthony was very impressive, proving much too aggressive & athletic for David Unwin, who also lost out in 5 sets to Andy Dosher. Tony West showed why he is still the man to beat with three straight sets victories, all with seemingly effortless control, and then paired up with Unwin to secure the doubles and a 5-5 result.

Will take place on Sunday 29th.January 2012 @ Stowupland Table Tennis Centre, Stowupland High School.
 
Closing date for entries : 22nd.January 2012.
 
ONLY COMPLETED ENTRY FORMS WITH FEES RECEIVED BY THE CLOSING DATE WILL BE ACCEPTED - STRICTLY NO TELEPHONE OR LATE ENTRIES.
 
Entry forms can also be obtained from Britannia Dome or downloaded from www.suffolktabletennis.net or www.britanniatabletennisclub.co.uk
 
This tournament is open to ALL Suffolk based players and if supported sufficiently by Lowestoft and Beccles players it is intended that the 2012/13 championships be held more local to those districts. 

With this game on 21st November being the start of the second round of matches both teams were looking to improve on their 5-5 draw on the opening week of the season. Lee Balaam (Jaguars) was in fine form winning all 3 games fairly comfortably. Terry Betts (Jaguars) had some good competitive games but was unable to add to his teams score. His best was against Paul Evans (Spitfires) narrowly losing 9-11,11-6,12-10, 12-14 & 11-9. John Leith (Jaguars) went two up against both Mark Cracknell & Colin Baxter (Spitfires) only for them both to produce fantastic comebacks to win their games. Leith lost to Cracknell 11-4,11-6, 11-13,5-11 & 6-11 & had two match points against Baxter begfore losing to him 13-11,11-7,3-11,11-13 & 9-11. Leith went on to beat Evans & then teamed up with Balaam in the doubles overcoming Cracknell & Baxter to level the scores & yet another 5-5 draw.

Played on 29/11/11 this encounter opened with David Unwin facing Gordon Meadows, Unwin had no trouble overcoming Meadows in three, with no more than six points against him in any game. Meadows defensive open style unable to keep up with Unwins attack. Sean Gridley then played John Waters, this was also over in three games but a much tighter affair. Waters in impressive form taking the ball early and blocking Gridley's attack very effectively and although Waters led clearly in all three games he was beaten by a tenacious and sometimes lucky Gridley. Andy Janes then took on George Kizis, Kizis opened his account early winning the first two games with room to spare, only to lose concentration and concede the third to a confident Janes. The fourth game was a tighter affair as Janes fed on his confidence, only for Kizis to regain his composure and secure the win. A similar game was then played by Gridley and Unwin. Unwin winning the first two comfortably only for his application to slip and lose the third to three, he soon made amends to win the fourth in a comfortable style. The midpoint of the singles matches saw Meadows play Kizis, again Meadows was immediately under pressure from Kizis' fast attack but Meadows was able to defend with aplomb and start the contest one game all, but Kizis kept to his game plan to win in four. Janes then played Waters who started impressively again to win the first game. Janes then fought back to take the next two games with a deceptive backhand drive that Waters consistently mis-controlled, Waters rallied well in the fourth game to put himself back in contention. The fifth game saw Janes in the lead at the change of ends, and then keep up the pressure and with real grit secure the win. The next contest was the longest of the night, Gridley starting off winning the first game to deuce, only for Kizis to use an impressive backhand to take the next two games with no real contest from Gridley. Kizis then seemed to lose concentration again to succumb easily in the fourth, the fifth game was a nervous affair from both players, great shots balanced by simple mistakes but Kizis managed to keep his composure to win 16 - 14. Janes then played and Unwin, and bouyed by his impressive win against Waters managed to produce close games with Unwin, only to lose at deuce in the third. Waters was then ready to score a point for the team against Meadows, it was a close contest with two deuce games again but Waters' fast early hitting and acute angles proved too much for the hard working Meadows, for Waters to win in three. The doubles was between Janes/Gridley and Unwin/Kizis. The Thurston pair made the most of their understanding, but were unable to keep the attacking Vikings at bay for too long to lose in three. Final score 2-8.

01/11/2011, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Crusaders lost to Thurston Spitfires 0-10.
Spitfires - Colin Baxter, Mark Cracknell and Paul Evans outplayed Crusaders - Peter Fordham, Alan Brafield and Terry Thompson to win 0 - 10 but this does not reflect the closeness of some of the games. Cracknell played his steady game to win his 3 comparatively easily compared to Evans who went to 5 legs against Fordham - who put in one of his best performances of the year with a steady defence with occasional attacking shots, but the former`s persistence paid off. Evans also had to work hard against Thompson with 2 legs being decided on deuce points, it was Terry's serve which let him down in the 3rd leg where his last 2 serves before deuce failed to cross the net. The best game of the night was between Baxter and Brafield, fortunes swinging both ways as the Spitfires player was often forced back from the table, by the home player`s smashes, returning high spinning lobs to eventually wear Alan down and win. This reinforces Crusader's supporting role at the bottom of the Division 1 league table.

24/11/2011, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Vikings beat Rougham Lions 7-3.
John Waters maintained his recent good form winning two out of three singles, only succumbing to Will Hall in four sets. Hall also accounted for George Kizis over four sets, but found David Unwin too strong, going down 3-0. Unwin completed three straight sets victories, to put Vikings in a commanding position, and a win for Kizis over Will Woods in five sets sealed the match. Max Boulter recovered from losing the 3rd set to Kizis 11-2 to complete a four sets win. Unwin & Waters were convincing doubles winners over Hall & Boulter, giving a final match score of 7-3 to Vikings. A good evening of competitive table tennis, enjoyed by all.

On November 15th the Bury Conquerors team of Jack Anthony, Andy Dosher and Joe Easdown hosted the Thurston Spitfires team of Mark Cracknell, Colin Baxter and Nick Anthony. An on-form Jack Anthony comfortably won his 3 matches beating Cracknell and Nick Anthony in 3 sets while in the match against Baxter, he needed 4 sets to seal victory. Andy Dosher won all his matches for Conquerors 3 sets to1 , while Cracknell, Anthony & Baxter for Spitfires all beat an out of form Joe Easdown.The best match of the evening was kept for the doubles. An epic encounter saw the Conquerors partnership of Anthony & Dosher overcome Cracknell & Baxter 3 games to 2. The Conquerors pair squeezing home 12 points to 10 in the final leg.     Overall result was a 7 - 3 victory for Conquerors.

09/11/2011, played at Stowupland High School.
Stowmarket Jaguars beat Bury Crusaders 6-4.
Bury Crusaders gave themselves a difficult task turning up at Stowupland with a player short. Lee Balaam,Jaguars added to their woes taking Terry Thompson 11-7, 11-3, 11-6 in the first match, but with dogged determination Crusaders stormed back to take the next two ties. In a tight five setter Alan Brafield, Crusaders edged home 10-12 in the final leg against Terry Betts, then in what turned out to be a marathon five set tussle, including three deuce games, Terry Thompson clinched victory with a 12-14 scoreline against Martin Chamberlain, Jaguars. Lee Balaam ensured a draw for the Jaguars with a straight sets win over Alan Brafield 11-7, 11-3, 11-5, before Crusaders clawed back two more victories, with two tense struggles. Terry Betts and Terry Thompson shared alternate games to take the match into a decider and for the second time of the evening Terry Betts lost out to a 10-12 score. Then in the final singles match of the evening nothing would go right for Martin Chamberlain as he was edged out by Alan Brafield in four sets, the final leg again going to a deuce finish. The Jaguars Lee Balaam and Terry Betts comfortably took the doubles in four sets to secure a hard fought victory 6-4, but the Crusaders left more satisfied than the hosts.

Played at Stowupland Sports Centre the evening got off to a good start for Stowmarket with Carol Clarke beating Graham Self. Stags Calum McIntyre was a man in a hurry and played all his games back to back which took the score to 3-1 in Leopards favour. Adam Coombes from Rougham finally got to the table and was too good for Ray Perry.
The only 5-setter of the evening was between Ian Bridgeman and Graham Self which Self narrowly won. Clarke maintained a 100 % record by beating Coombes, before Ray Perry ensured no one went home without a win by defeating Self; the final singles was between Bridgeman and Coombes which the latter won with room to spare.

Clarke and Bridgeman finished off the evening by beating Self and Coombes in the doubles to give the Leopards a 6-4 victory on the night.

British Sugar were searching for their first win of the season when they entertained Bury Conquerors, one of the early season pace-setters in Division 1. They took an early 2-0 lead when Mark James and Dominic Melero enjoyed three leg wins over Joe and Matt Easdown respectively. Andy Dosher then posted the first success for the Conquerors after starting tentatively against Phil Sinclair before gaining confidence and movement to win 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3. Melero and Joe Easdown then fought out a fluctuating attacking battle which Melero finally won 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7.  James and Dosher then produced some quality play in a match of long rallies. After James inched ahead 11-5, 8-11, 11-9 Dosher put himself in a winning position by taking the next 11-5 and building a 5-1 lead in the decider. However James showed great intent to claw back the deficit and eventually won through 12-10. Sinclair then rode his luck to post a victory over Matt Easdown and put Sugar 5-1 ahead. Dosher then had another battle against Melero but this time managed to hold on to his final game lead to win 6-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-13, 11-7 to pull back the match score to 2-5. Joe Easdown was then involved in another tight encounter against Sinclair during which he interspersed periods of strong attacking play with others in which he was unable to find the right shot. At 2 legs each and serving at 9-9 in the decider he was unable to close out the match and followed an unplayable service return from Sinclair with a serve off the table to end frustratingly. James then enjoyed an 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 win over Matt Easdown to end the evening unbeaten and followed that up with an 11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 11-4 doubles win in partnership with Melero to give British Sugar an 8-2 match win.

This match saw 2 debutants: Megan Bollen (13) for the Tigers and Mike Troughton (considerably more than 13) for the RATTS.

The first match saw Matt Ager and Mike Hazell produce the best match of the night. Mike went 0 – 1 up only for Matt to put back. Mike surged ahead but again Matt came back to make it 2 – 2. The 5^th was a classic! Matt got ahead 9 – 5 and Tigers were just waiting for the fat lady to sing, when Mike staged a comeback with some excellent defence to pinch it 11 – 13.

The second match was between the 2 debutants Troughton prevailed 0 – 3. The 3^rd game saw Bollen playing Mike Hazell and although Mike won 0 – 3, Megan found her feet and played a good attacking game. The 4^th game saw Ager play with much more control and he ran out the winner 3 – 0 against Mike T.

The doubles provided some good entertainment with RATTS winning it in 3.

The final result 1 – 4 to RATTS.

Thurston Spitfires hosted British Sugar on 26/09/11 in what is always a closely fought encounter.Paul Evans put Spitfires into the lead with an impressive performance over Terry Scott. Mark James (Sugar) then levelled things up by beating Mark Cracknell who had just returned from a two week holiday & while feeling refreshed from the break was very short of match practice.This showed against his other two opponents Scott & Phil Sinclair who were too strong for him on the night. Evans continued his good form against Sinclair taking a 2-0 lead but the latter fought back strongly & started to dictate the game levelling the score before taking the decider 7-11.James looked very sharp throughout the evening with some aggressive, clinical forehands & won comfortably over Evans. Colin Baxter (Spitfires) had a good evening & kept his team in touch by beating Sinclair & Scott without losing a game. James managed to take the first game off him but Baxter came back strongly to win 3 sets to 1. This meant Sugar were 4-5 up going into the doubles but Captain, Baxter then tactically chose the rusty Cracknell rather than the more in-form Evans as his partner & the tactic paid off with the two performing well together winning a hotly contested game 11-6 in the decider to draw the match 5-5.                                                        

The first game of the season saw Thurston Arrows take on Bury Commandoes.
Bury captain Jack Unwin played the experienced Lynn Green in the first match and took a 2 game lead 11-9 11-8, Green started to get into her stride in the 3rd and leveling the match 11-3 11-9 so all down to the 5th, after some tense rallies Green came out on top, just winning 11-9. Next it was a newcomer to the league for Bury, Dan Wallis against Alan Baxter.  Wallis had some great shots and played a sound game to beat Baxter 3-0 with scores of 11-6, 12-10, 11-9. The 3rd rubber was between Baxter and Unwin, again this was a 5 setter the home player taking the lead, Unwin coming back to go in front Baxter leveling and again Unwin lost the 5th 11-9. Green then played Wallis, this also went to 5. First Wallis in the lead, Green levelled, Wallis back in the lead, Green levelled again with Wallis losing 12-10 in the 5th. The doubles went 3-0 to Arrows meaning they won 4-1. A good enjoyable night to start the season.

The Bury Free Press Table Tennis Handicap Shield competition again proved to be the ideal format for enabling improving young players to test their ability against higher ranked players and have a realistic chance of winning a trophy.  Although the Division 1 teams competed hard the draw and handicap difference worked against them and none reached the last eight. In this round Rougham Stags beat their clubmates and Division 2 champions Rougham Lions 8-4. They were joined in the semi-finals by British Sugar Defenders who beat Bury Normans 8-1, Riddlesworth Hall who squeezed past RATTS 8-7 and Bury Cavaliers who beat Thurston Hawks 8-4.

The first semi-final provided the closest finish of the entire competition. After the first two singles Rougham Stags held a 4-2 lead and maintained the margin to lead 7-5 going into the final doubles. The Riddlesworth Hall pairing of Trevor Cottee and Peter Evans then dug deep and drew level at 7-7 by taking the first two legs 21-18, 21-19. When they overcame the starting handicap deficit of 11-14 to  lead 18-16 in the decider they looked favourites for the first time in the match but a combination of their mistakes and increased resolve shown by Simon Green and Graham Self enabled the Stags pairing to take the next five points to win the leg 21-18 and the match 8-7.

The other semi-final between Harvey Dinkele and Ronan Campbell of Bury Cavaliers and Tom Reeve and Kevin Pryke of British Sugar Defenders reached the same 7-5 score in favour of Cavaliers after the four singles. However there was to be no repeat of the previous match as the Cavaliers won the first leg of the doubles 21-17 to book their place in the final by 8-5. The final fluctuated with Graham Self giving the Stags a 2-1 lead. Harvey Dinkele then turned the match by following a win over Green 21-19, 21-18, 22-20 with another over Self 23-21, 21-15, 19-21 to give the Cavaliers a 6-3 lead. This was reduced to the now familiar 7-5 scoreline after the final singles. When the Stags took the first leg 21-15 they had reduced the match deficit to 6-7 but Dinkele and Campbell then took the next 21-18 to win the match and the Bury Free Press Shield 8-6.

One half of the Saffrons Shield consolation competition was disrupted by walkovers to the extent that the father and son pairing of Peter and Matthew Branfield (Thurston Jets) reached the final without playing a match. The more experienced pairing of Terry Betts and Carol Clarke (Stowmarket Jaguars) had a much harder task in beating Bury Crusaders 8-6 and Thurston Spitfires 8-7 to book their place in the final. Here Clarke took her singles 5-1 to give Jaguars a 7-5 lead before the doubles. The match then became much more tense as the Jets levelled the score at 7-7 by winning the first two legs 21-19, 21-15. The Jaguars pairing then regrouped and clawed back the 8-14 handicap start to win the final end 21-19 and clinch the match 8-7 to gain a well-earned trophy.

The first match of the season for both teams started brightly for Vulcans. Gordon Meadows getting an unlikely win over Bury Championship men`s runner-up Jack Anthony. Meadows played his usual open game, falling prey to Anthony's fast driving down both wings but the former never one to give up on a point started to return with confidence and upset the away player`s rhythm to finally win in five. The next game in Thurston`s favour was Sean Gridley taking on Joe Easdown, the 3 - 0 scoreline flattering Sean against an improved J.Easdown, with an improved serve. Gridley managed to do just enough against JE`s fast attack to win some points, and although he showed a lot of patience with Gridley's chop he couldn't quite match his luck in the final game! Andy Janes then took on Matt Easdown, who looked very sharp from the outset. Janes took a set from Easdown Senior and was confident with his short backhand topspin , only for the Conqueror`s player excellent blocking making points look easy to win in four. Gridley then played Anthony, despite a promising start for SG with JA making too many mistakes in the first game, JA rallied to take the next three winning the fourth game 19-17, with a great display of patience and fast attack. ME then played his bogey opponent - GM. ME played his usual blocking and early hitting game, not allowing GM to build on his defence with it's floated returns and customary consistency to win with aplomb in three. As previously mentioned JE`s much improved service game was too strong for AJ, and his fast attack constantly keeping AJ on the back foot to run away the winner in three straight. True to earlier form ME showed real confidence to attack everything SG did. SG trying too hard and made too many mistakes and his opponent making hardly any to win with ease in three. AJ took on JA, and JA, now thoroughly warmed up was just too sharp and fast for him, AJ often finding himself nowhere near the ball, JA winning in three. GM was now in a position to get some consolation for a well beaten Thurston, but his open game was too easy for JE to master and he powered past GM`s defence with ease to win in three. The doubles was contested between SG & AJ for Vulcans and JE and ME for Conquerors. The family partnership showed great understanding, which allowed the Thurston partnership to show their philanthropic side and let The Easdown`s win with ease in three.

A new fixture lists has been generated following last minute changes to Division Two and the Two Player Division.  Please check the new fixtures carefully.

Interested in playing table tennis during the summer. Contact Sean Gridley 01728 860378 e.mail seangridley@hotmail.com for details & an entry form.               Closing date for entries 21/05- league starts w/c 30/05

Thurston Vulcans lost to Bury Vikings 2-8.

Due to a mix up at the venue this match had to played in the bar of the community centre, which unfortunately wasn't open! Tony West started the evening off against Chris Meadows, Tony was sporting a plaster to his non-playing wrist but this didn't seem to hinder his game. A slow start from Tony still saw him win his first game 11-9, then his tempo increased to win 11-0 with some stunning attacking shots and impossible angles, this trend continued with Chris trying to crash through, but Tony counter hitted more acute angles to frustrate Chris 11-6 in the third. Sean Gridley then played David Unwin, this game went to four, with Sean stealing the second but David's superior power and finesse was too much for Sean who was unable to get more than six points in any of the other sets. Gordon Meadows played George Kizis in a very exciting five game match, George seemed to be cruising to victory and won the first two games easily his topspin drive proving to fast and accurate for Gordon, but Gordon rallied in the third and managed to get some control over Georges attack and his tenacity secured the next two games at deuce, Gordon stayed cool to frustrate George and go on to win comfortably in the fifth. Tony then played Sean, and continued his impressive form of earlier, winning in three as Sean's attack wasn't good enough to get past Tony's wall like returns, and Tony's attack again proved too much for the Vulcans player. Chris then took on George, and Chris was on blistering form attacking on the third ball before George could get his own attack going for Chris to win in three straight sets. Sean then took on George with their last encounter going all Sean's way, it was George who had all the advantage taking the ball early and powering through Sean's blocks winning with relative ease in four. Tony then seemed to have his most challenging game of the evening, Gordon hitting the ball early and retrieving well to keep Tony on his toes, only for Tony to still come through as the victor in three. Chris then played David and after his impressive display against George he started impressively hitting through David to win the first. David then came back to form and his consistency shone through to beat Chris in four. The doubles saw the untested pairing of Gordon and Sean take on Tony and David, in an entertaining match the visitors proved too strong to beat the home pairing in four.

The Division 1 leaders, Thurston Spitfires, visited third placed  British Sugar in their final match needing a 7-3 victory to be sure of taking the title.  They got off to a flying start after agreeing to allow Usman Tanveer to play his three matches for British Sugar straight off. Although Tanveer won the second leg against Colin Baxter he could not maintain the required composure to build on this. Baxter duly wrapped up the victory which Mark Cracknell built on with a comfortable three leg win. However, Tanveer’s final match against Paul Evans was a much closer affair and twice he recovered from a leg down to level at 7-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-8. The fifth leg was very tense but steady defending by Evans induced further errors at crucial times from Tanveer who succumbed 9-11 giving Spitfires a 3-0 match lead.

Fifteen year-old Jack Anthony (Bury Conquerors) had a day to remember at the Bury St. Edmunds & District Table Tennis League individual tournament. From an unseeded position in the Mens’ Singles he shocked number 2 seed Colin Baxter (Thurston Spitfires) at the Group stage by outpowering him 11-8, 7-11, 11-4, 11-9. This defeat moved Baxter into the top half of the draw where he met number one seed David Unwin (Bury Vikings) in the semi-final after just pipping Matt Easdown (Bury Conquerors) 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7 in the previous round. Unwin had suffered few scares en route and continued in this vein by disposing of Baxter 11-5, 11-8, 11-9. Meanwhile Anthony had produced two more four-game victories to reach a semi-final against number three seed Aaron Self (Bury Crusaders). With both players in good form a close attacking contest was anticipated. However Anthony employed his penhold style with ruthless effect and despite a scare in the third leg won convincingly 11-8, 11-3, 10-12, 11-8. He carried this through into his final against Unwin and won the first leg 11-7. However, Unwin then regrouped and took control of the match to close it out 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 and regain the title after an absence of a few years.

Anthony then turned his attention to the Restricted Singles but could not retain his consistency and was beaten in the second round by Will Woods (Rougham Lions) who won the last two legs to triumph 4-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8. However, Anthony reverted to winning ways in the Junior Singles in which he was the number two seed. There was an upset in the first round when Gabriel Storey (Bury Romans) overcame number one seed George Kizis (Bury Vikings) in a see-saw match 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7. Storey could not repeat this feat in the semi-final which was won by his opponent Will Hall (Rougham Lions) 11-7, 11-9, 11-7. Meanwhile Anthony had his revenge over Woods to seal his final place 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7. In the final Anthony’s superior speed and athleticism enabled him to win fairly comfortably against Hall 11-5, 11-5, 11-9. Meanwhile in the Restricted Singles Woods was unable to repeat his success and lost to his team-mate Hall who reached the semi-final in a very tight match by 7-11, 13-11, 11-6, 9-11, 12-10. However, the experience of Matt Easdown was too much for Hall who was beaten comfortably 11-4, 11-4, 11-8. In the other half of the draw Thurston Vulcans’ team-mates Sean Gridley and Chris Meadows met in a close semi-final which Meadows edged 13-11, 11-9, 13-11. He was then too consistent for Easdown in the final and took the title 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6.

With only three entrants the Cadets’ Singles was held on a group basis. As expected Will Hall proved too good for the others with comfortable wins and Adam Reeve (RATTS) finished a creditable runner-up. The Division 3 Singles had the same format and was eventually won by James Otterson (Thurston Hawks) who pushed Reeve into another second place with an 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 score in the crucial match. There was an improved entry in the Division 2 Singles in which Hanif Jetha (Rougham Stags) survived a second round scare against Trevor Cottee (Riddlesworth Hall) when after losing the first two legs 5-11, 6-11, he somehow managed to turn it around and take the next three 11-6, 11-9, 11-7. In the semi-final he met Cottee’s team-mate Nigel Bowen and again overcame an early deficit to win 5-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9. He could not however repeat this feat in the final where Will Hall picked up another trophy with an 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 victory. Bowen’s setback had been softened by his earlier victory in the Handicap Singles which attracted a large entry as the early morning loosening up event. In the final he made light of a 10-14 starting deficit to defeat Andrew Baxter (Thurston Victors) by 21-17.

The Mens’ Doubles favourites Self & Unwin had a comfortable passage to the final where they met the British Sugar pairing of Mark James and Phil Sinclair whose greater experience and consistency had enabled them to hold off the youthful challenge of Jack Anthony and George Kizis by 10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7. James and Sinclair then held early advantage in the final and won the first leg 12-10. However despite having chances they then relinquished the second 11-13 which proved pivotal as Self and Unwin also took the next two legs to win 11-4, 12-10. In the final event of the afternoon Unwin reached the Veterans’ Singles final in untroubled fashion. However number two seed Colin Baxter had a much harder time in edging through to the semi-final by beating Sean Gridley 6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 to set up an encounter with Sinclair. This was a match of fluctuating fortunes with many rallies featuring Baxter defending well away from the table against Sinclair’s aggressive attack. Although Baxter led 6-0 in the first leg he somehow managed to lose it 9-11 before taking the second 11-4. The next two legs were shared but Sinclair took an early lead in the fifth and was finally able to win through 11-7. He was however unable to repeat the feat in the final which Unwin deservedly won 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 to complete a clean sweep of three trophies and round off an enjoyable day for players and spectators alike.

Played on the 22nd of March, Bury Conquerors vs Stowmarket Jaguars was a closely fought contest. The match saw the less than on form Joe Easdown lose all three of his matches to Terry Betts, Andy Bennett and Lee Balaam in 3 sets. Matt Easdown beat both Betts & Bennett, losing to Balaam whilst Jack Anthony-on phenomenal form- succeeded in winning all 3 of his matches. Most notably against Balaam, in 5 intense sets. Balaam and Betts overcame Anthony and M. Easdown in the doubles bringing the final result to 5-5.

21/03/2011, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Victors lost to Rougham Lions 2-8.
A very strong Rougham Lions team played with energy & intelligence throughout to record a well deserved 2-8 victory.Ian Freeman, Victors managed to edge out Will Hall in a closely contested five sets with all the other individual matches going the way of the visitors.The doubles went Thurston`s way after some very tactical play from both sides.

Thurston Jets Clinch the 2 Player Division 3 Title

After checking the website before play started Jets knew that 2 points would be enough to give them the Championship.Alan Baxter opened for Jets,and after taking the 1st. set soon found himself 2-1 down to Andy Marshall, a good fight back brought it back to 2-2, Alan then won the 5th. Next up was Matthew Branfield against Jono Robinson, Matt took the 1st. Jono leveled it at 1-1 Matt then took control and won 3-1. Matt went straight into the next match against Andy, who was still upset from losing the 1st. match Matthew won 3-0. Jono then played Alan
At 1-0 there was a great game with both players unable to get 2 points clear until Jono won 17-15 to level the match. Alan then won the next 2, for a 3-1 win. Matt  and Alan then won the doubles 3-0 for a overal 5-0 match win and the Championship.

Played on 17th March 2011 at Rougham Sports Hall. Ratts 3 Panthers 2

Lions Roar Ahead in Division 2 Title Race

With Colin Fordham out for the rest of the season due to injury and Will (Ringo) Woods performing in his school show, Rougham brought David Hall out of semi-retirement to play with the other two Young Lions Will Hall and Max Boulter.        The Lions quickly went into a four game lead with convincing wins by both Will Hall and Max Boulter.  David Hall met with stiffer opposition in his games with Tony Mooney, Chris Porter and Colin Belcher. All games produced some excellent table tennis with D.Hall eventually winning 3-2, 3-2 and 3-0 respectively.The remaining games again produced some excellent match play with Will Hall and Boulter winning their games and Rougham racing to a 9-0 lead.                                                 In the final game of the night, the doubles, Max Boulter and Will Hall were paired against Tony Mooney and Chris Porter. The first set was a closely fought encounter again producing some top play, eventually won by Boulter and Hall. In the remaining sets the Young Lions upped their game winning  the doubles 3-0 and with it the match 10-0.

01/03/2011, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Vikings beat British Sugar 8-2.
Bury Vikings entertained Sugar in a 1st versus 3rd top of the table clash. Vikings were at full strength, with Tony West, David Unwin & George Kizis, whilst Sugar, missing the injured Steve Annison, fielded Mark James, Phil Sinclair & Usman Tanveer. West was rarely troubled in winning his three singles, all 3-0, his variety of serves and general all-round play proving too strong for the opposition. James managed to get to deuce in one leg, but that was as close as anyone came to upsetting the form book. Unwin also won his three singles, albeit in a closer fashion, both Tanveer and Sinclair taking the games into a fourth set. Indeed Sinclair was unlucky not to take a 2-0 lead, having won the first set, and leading in the second, attacking aggressively on both wings and using the mixed rubbers effectively. Fortunately for Unwin, he edged the second set 11-9 and built on that success to take the next two sets 11-3, 11-7. The closest games of the evening involved Kizis, who opened against Tanveer, with the first two sets being shared, 12-10, 13-15. Tanveer then nicked the third 9-11, only to see Kizis dominate the fourth 11-4, gaining the upper hand and perhaps sensing victory. It was not to be, as Tanveer came back strongly in the final set, clinching victory 8-11. A similar close game followed when Kizis played Sinclair, the young Vikings player starting well, winning two close sets 12-10, 11-9 and seeming very much on top. Sinclair then used his experience and variety of stroke play to triumph handsomely in the third 4-11, briskly following up with the fourth 6-11, to set up another fifth set decider. Again, victory could have gone to either player, but it was Sinclair who dug in and secured an 8-11 win, completing an impressively determined fightback from two sets down. The doubles was a more one sided affair, West & Unwin proving too strong for Sinclair & Tanveer, to wrap up an 8-2 victory for Vikings. An evening of good table tennis, notable for Tony’s repertoire of unreturnable serves, Phil’s vigorous attacking, and Mark getting cramp in his big toe!

23/02/2011, played at British Sugar Sports and Social Club.
British Sugar beat Thurston Vulcans 7-3.
Mark James' (British Sugar) first match win over Sean Gridley (Thurston Vulcans) in 3 legs was a prelude to an evening of very tight attacking contests in this Bury St Edmunds & District Table Tennis League Division 1 encounter. After Phil Sinclair's 12-10, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10 win over Gordon Meadows and Usman Tanveer's by 11-7, 3-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6 against Chris Meadows the British Sugar team held a 3-0 match lead. Despite strong resistance from Gridley this was stretched to 4-0 by Sinclair who enjoyed the luck at crucial times to win through 11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 15-13. Having shared the first two legs with James 13-11, 8-11, Chris Meadows then rescued the third 13-11 by overturning a 4-10 deficit with some explosive attacking play. A 12-10 win for him in the fourth put the first point on the board for Vulcans. Gordon Meadows then strengthened the comeback by edging through 14-12, 3-11, 5-11, 11-4, 12-10 against Tanveer. Sinclair then steadied the ship for Sugar with a 4 leg win over Chris Meadows but Gridley pulled it back again after surrendering an 8-4 lead in the final game against Tanveer only to recover the advantage and win 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-8. At 3-5 down the Vulcans sensed the chance to gain a draw but despite losing a 10-7 lead in the third leg James overcame Gordon Meadows 12-10, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8 to ensure an overall win for British Sugar. In the final doubles Chris Meadows and Gridley fought back after losing the first two legs to James and Sinclair and forced a deciding leg. However the Sugar pair held on to an early lead to win 11-8 and seal a 7-3 match victory to maintain their outside chance of challenging the top two in the division.

The Leopards got off to a good start with Ian Bridgeman defeating Colin Fordham but after that it was a good night for the young Lions with Will Woods and Max Boulter remaining undefeated. Alan Print also beat Fordham but then teamed up with Bridgeman to lose the doubles against Boulter and Woods in the only match of the night that lasted more than 3 sets. It all made for an early finish which was appreciated in some quarters! Rougham Lions are now clear at the top of Division 2 after a good run of results.

Having seen the lofty heights of top spot for what seemed like an eternity (okay maybe it was only the allotted 15-Minutes of fame), Riddlesworth Hall appear to be on a continual downward spiral following the latest loss, a 10-0 defeat to the crown pretenders from Rougham Lions. Whilst most of the games were relatively close even if the set scores were 3-0, there is a clear indication that Lions have improved considerably in the last year and they should quite rightly gain promotion to the top tier.

Played on 08/02/11 @ King Edward School

Both of these teams consist of junior players who have put their respective teams into the top half of the 2 Player this season.This match started with the crunch game between Harvey Dinkele and Bradley Troughton. Both have won over 50% of their games this season so it promised to be close and competitive. Dinkele won the first two games, Troughton the next two. In the final rubber Dinkele showed his big match temperament winning a close set 11-8.In the next two games the improving Elliot Pearson, Cavaliers wasn’t his usual self and lost to Jono Robinson and Bradley Troughton. In the next game Dinkele won the second point for Bury Cavaliers levelling the game at 2-2 with a convincing win against Robinson.In the doubles Dinkele & Pearson won 3-1 against the two Rougham players leaving Bury Cavaliers 3-2 winners in a close match.

7/2/11, played at New Green Community Centre.

Thurston Vulcans 3 Stowmarket Jaguars 7

A re-decorated and rather bright community centre saw a promising start for the Vulcans, with Gordon Meadows fast out of the blocks to beat Andy Bennett in 3, Meadows playing a 3 ball kill style that didn't allow Bennett time to block or react and set up a decisive win for Vulcans. Following a return from injury after 5 weeks, Andy Janes took on Lee Balaam, this was a fairly one sided affair as Balaam's tricky service and heavy topspin attack quickly overwhelmed Jane's excellent blocking for Lee to win in 3. The next pairing was Sean Gridley and Carol Clarke who used her consistent attack to good effect but struggled to control Gridley's serve and topspin attack for Gridley to win in 3. The next four games went the way of the Jaguars, starting with Janes v Bennett in a close fought 4 set match that could have gone either way with honours even after the first two rubbers, Bennett grew in confidence to win the last two sets. Meadows then played Clarke, the Vulcans player scraped the first rubber at deuce, but Clarke rallied and confidently took on Meadows low spin defence to win the next three rubbers with relative ease. Gridley was the next Jaguars victim going down in three to a confident and strong Lee Balaam with the home player hardly getting started. Janes return from injury didn't help him against Clarke whose confidence was high from beating Meadows and although it was a closely fought 5 setter, Jane`s lack of mobility and Clarke's fast and varied attack proved too much. Vulcans managed their last win of the night as Gridley improved on his game against Balaam to overwhelm Bennett with heavy topspin and the occasional fast block. Meadows produced some impressive attacking and blocking to lose a close first rubber against Balaam, only for the latter to turn up the volume to easily win the next two. The mostly untested pairing of Meadows/Gridley clawed back from two sets down to take the doubles to a decider against Balaam/Bennett only to make too many mistakes, for Jaguars to take the doubles.

17/01/2011, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Jets beat R.A.T.T.S 4-1.
The match was between two father and son teams, Branfields for Thurston & Hursts for RATTS. Young Mathew Branfield took on the more senior Paul Hurst, and after a few lucky net shots Branfield came out a 3-0 winner. Rolls were reversed in the next game when again the younger player, this time Sam Hurst beat Peter Branfield 0-3. With the scores level at 1-1 it was the turn of the dads to play with Peter coming out on top 3-0. The next game was the best of the night with some great rallies from both players, Mathew just managing to win the vital points against Sam to win 3-0. The doubles saw the Hurst's take a 0-1 lead, but after some very good rallies the Branfields came out on top 3-1. Final score was 4-1 to Thurston, another good night of fun.

06/01/2011, played at Rougham Sports Centre.
Rougham Panthers beat R.A.T.T.S 3-2.
This second third division Rougham derby between Panthers and RATTS turned out to be a closer affair than the first encounter which Panthers won 5 - 0.Panthers were represented by Bradley Troughton and Andy Marshall,Matt Baldry and Adam Reeve turned out for RATTS. Highlights of the matches were some exciting counterhitting and the lows were serving into the net and missing "sitters"! Reeve got RATTS off to a great start with a 3 sets to nil win over Marshall in the first game.Troughton then beat Baldry by a similar margin to square the match at one game each.Reeve continued his good form with a 3 games to one win over Troughton to put RATTS in front 2 - 1.Panthers then levelled the match when Marshall beat Baldry by 3 sets to one in the fourth. The match result hinged on the doubles and went all the way to the fifth set which Panthers won thus winning the match by three games to two.

On the 14/12/10, Bury Conquerors hosted BuryCrusaders, for a local derby match, played at King Edward VI school. Due to Conquerors having to play 2 fixtures simultaneously, the order of play was much disrupted. Conquerors’ Joe Easdown, lost all 3 of his matches, despite an exceptional performance against Aaron Self, losing in 5 sets after having a number of match points in the fourth leg. David Buller had to dramatically change his style, after picking up a shoulder injury which prevented him from attacking. Succeeding in beating both Aaron, and Terry Thompson in 5, he eventually succumbed to Peter Fordham’s tricky use of pimples. Jack Anthony and Peter Fordham had, perhaps, the most entertaining match of the evening, an entertaining competition, going to 5 sets, saw Anthony reversing the previous score between the two, and taking the final leg 11-9. An exhausted Joe Easdown and Jack Anthony posed no threat in the doubles to Crusader’s Terry Thompson and Peter Fordham, who comfortably won 7-11,8-11, 7-11, to win the match 4-6.

Played on 06/12/10 @ New Green Community Centre. 

Both David Buller & Joe Easdown, Bury Conquerors put up good spirited performances against the experienced Thurston trio with the latter taking a leg off Baxter, but all six games ending going Spitfires way.                                                                                                                                                                   The most exciting games of the evening all involved Jack Anthony, Conquerors. Against Evans he had a substantial lead in the first two legs only to be clawed back in both & each player taking a set. It eventually went to a fifth & deciding leg where Evans found himself 9-6 up but this time Anthony came back to win 9-11. Next up for Anthony was Baxter whose attacking game on the evening was well below par, the former took advantage of this with some very impressive consistent attacking play of his own & won 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11. The most incredible game of the night was Cracknell, Spitfires v Anthony with the Conquerors player starting well with a score of 10-12 in the first but then Cracknell getting into his game to win the next two 11-7,11-7. The away player fought back to take the fourth 9-11 & stormed into a 6-10 lead in the decider & it looked like he was going to end up with a memorable treble only for Cracknell to rally. The set seemed to go on forever with each player trading blows and Anthony having around 13 match points & Cracknell 7 until finally the home player sealed it with a scoreline of 29-27. Is this a record for the Bury League since it started to play games up to 11?. The evening got back to normality when Cracknell & Evans beat Easdown & Anthony in straight sets to give the home side an 8-2 victory putting them top of Division 1 at the halfway stage.

29/11/2010, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Hawks beat R.A.T.T.S 5-0.
The first game was between Katie Meadows, Hawks and Paul Hurst,it went 2 sets each but in the fifth Katie finally won 11-7. The next was between James Otterson and Steve Coombes,Otterson took this 3-0 which was followed by another 3-0 win against Hurst. The last singles was Meadows v Coombes,which the former won quickly 3-0. Taking a 4-0 lead into the doubles the home team made it 5-0 in three straight games 11-5, 11-5, 11-3.

01/12/2010, played at Stowupland High School. 
On a cold winters night at Stowupland Stow Leopards beat Rougham Stags 7-3. All the Stags points were won by Paul McGerty who won a close 5 set match against Alan Print and had 4 set victories against Granville Sutton and Mel Redit. The other matches were 3-0 wins for the home players except for the doubles in which McGerty and Self took a game from Sutton and Redit.

22/11/2010, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Victors lost to Bury Romans 4-6.
Romans had a good start to this match with Gabriel Storey beating Andrew Baxter in three sets. They went further ahead when Rhys Davies fought back from two sets to one down to beat Stewart Blakey. Victors hit back with two wins from Ian Freeman & Blakey beating Ross Slade & Storey both in 3 straight sets. Baxter & Slade followed with a close game the latter winning in 4 sets. Freeman & Davies at one set all played out a very close third & fourth set with Davies taking them both 12-14. A close 5 setter between Blakey & Slade saw the latter go two sets up only for Blakey to win the next three 10,8 & 9. This was the last singles game to be won by Victors despite another very close five setter involving Freeman & Storey with the latter edging home 10-12 in the fifth. A long but very enjoyable match ended with Victors taking the doubles.

17/11/2010, played at British Sugar Sports and Social Club.
British Sugar drew with Bury Conquerors 5-5.
British Sugar could only field two players at home to Bury Conquerors and so started the match 0-3 down. The deficit worsened when Jack Anthony edged out Usman Tanveer in an attacking contest of fluctuating fortunes 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 4-11, 11-8. Phil Sinclair then put a point on the board for Sugar by holding off the challenge of Joe Easdown 8-11, 11-2, 13-11, 11-9. Tanveer then further cut the deficit to 2-4 by playing a tighter match against David Buller and coming out on top 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7. Anthony was then involved in a further 5 game thriller when he pitted his penhold style against Sinclair's combination bat play. The player who seized the early initiative tended to win each game and in the end Sinclair's experience enabled him to win through 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-6. Crusaders then went into a 5-3 lead when Easdown overcame Tanveer 10-12, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6 in a match in which both players played some great attacking shots but also made elementary mistakes. Sinclair's 11-9, 11-3, 11-5 victory over Buller left the Sugar pair needing to win the Doubles against Anthony and Easdown to snatch a match draw. Despite strong resistance Sinclair and Tanveer came out on top 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6 and the match ended 5-5.

Sadly due to long term injuries to two regular players Clive Grimwood & Dennis Morgan & replacement players not being available on a regular basis, Lawshall have taken the decision to withdraw from Division 1. Therefore results of all matches so far played by Lawshall will be null and void. 

04/11/2010, played at Rougham Sports Centre. Rougham Panthers beat Walsham-Le-Willows 4-1. Adam Coombes and Bradley Troughton played for Panthers and Oliver Jackson and Joe Shaw turned out for Walsham. Walsham got off to a flying start when Jackson beat Troughton in three straight games. Coombes then won by the same margin against Shaw to leave the match score at 1-1. Coombes stayed at the table to play Jackson in the best singles of the evening, the latter won the first two sets and then Coombes fought his way back by taking the next two, the final rubber was in contrast to the previous four with Coombes winning 11-4. The doubles turned out to be another game with five sets with Panthers clawing back a 0-2 set deficit to win the game 3-2 and the match 4-1."

01/11/2010, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Vulcans beat Bury Conquerors 7-3.
The night started with a comfortable victory for Gordon Meadows over Matt Easdown with a confident and steady display of pushing and the occasional flat hit. Then came Sean Gridley and Jack Anthony, with honours even after the first two rubbers Sean just scraped the win by keeping Anthony`s topspin attack in check. Joe Easdown showed he has real promise, attacking down both wings to beat a rather startled Chris Meadows in straight sets. Gridley and Matt Easdown shared the first four sets forcing a fifth in which Matt changed styles and countered everything Sean produced reducing his confidence to win the last rubber. In the fifth match of the night Joe took full advantage of Gordons defensive and low spin style to blast shots past him at every opportunity, becoming over-confident in the third rubber to lose 11-3, he then regained his composure to win 11-13 in the fourth. After losing three games in a row Vulcans needed to recover, Chris Meadows turned provider by using his topspin attack before Jack could utilise his own, to win in three straight sets. Gridley continued Vulcans resurgence by frustrating Joe Easdown`s attack with heavy chop winning with relative ease in three. Chris Meadows started the 8th match of the night strongly taking the first two rubbbers, only for Matt Easdown to use his superior touch and blocking game to level at two each, Chris managed to re-group using a tricky service to set himself up for some winning smashes to take the fifth. The last singles of the night saw Gordon Meadows counter-hitting and defending his way to victory against Anthony`s topspin attack in three. Sean and Chris consolidated Vulcans win beating Matt and Joe in five with the change in receiver really showing the weakness in each pairing, but the Vulcans pair managed to take the initiative before the change of ends in the fifth to come away winners.

25/10/2010, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Spitfires beat Stowmarket Jaguars 8-2.
With Jaguars only turning up with two players Spitfires started off with a 3-0 lead. Paul Evans returned for Spitfires after missing the last couple of matches & picked up where he left off in good form beating Sandra Balaam 6,-5, 7 & 9. Three out of the six singles games played were won in straight sets with Lee Balaam, Jaguars in an aggressive attacking mood overcoming both Evans & Mark Cracknell. Cracknell got revenge by beating S. Balaam 6, 8 & 7. Colin Baxter, Spitfires was involved in two very entertaining five set games. S. Balaam took him right to the wire in a topsy turvy tense game before he clinched victory 14-12 in the final set. Baxter dominated the first set against L. Balaam 11-2 & when the latter started to get his game together in the 2nd Baxter did well to shrug off the challenge 11-9. Ballaam with all guns blazing won the next two sets 7-11, 3-11. Baxter then drew on all his reserves keeping a cool head & with good control of shots contained the explosive play of his opponent & with some good attacking play of his own won the decider 11-6. These two victories took him to 13 games unbeaten in the league a new personal record after thirty years of playing in Division 1. Spitfires finished 8-2 winners with Cracknell & Baxter beating the Balaams in straight sets.

At King Edward School, Bury Conquerors hosted Bury Vikings in a local derby. A closely fought match, with Conquerors taking 4 wins and Vikings 6. Representing Conquerors, Joe Easdown, Jack Anthony and Rhys Davies, who was playing up a division. Joe Easdown won one closely fought match against John Waters where all but 1 game only had a 2 point margin. Rhys Davies also had a closely fought match against Waters and triumphed to gain his first division 1 win. Jack Anthony, in exceptional form, won 2 matches for Conquerors, losing only to David Unwin who succeeded in comfortably winning all 3 of his matches. Overall a very enjoyable evening, with Unwin and Kizis beating Anthony and Easdown in the doubles to claim a 4-6 win.

A keenly contested derby match ended all square. In the early matches Lions were often on the back foot after conceding the first legs a little easily. Only Max Boulter was able to recover the deficit and by half way Stags held a strong 4-1 lead with Graham Self's backhand winners, Paul McGerty's serves and Calum Macintyre's defence being the main features of Stags play. After Paul McGerty won his final singles match to cap a good display, Stags had chances to take the win but were unable to overcome the Lions youngsters in the remaining singles. In the deciding doubles Stags again made a strong start but by now Will Hall and Max Boulter had got their attacking games together and were comfortable winners to even the contest.

Played on 12/10/10 @ King Edward School                                                          A close fought match overall, 6 games went to 5 legs and 2 went to 4.       Crusaders lost 4-6 despite an impressive 3 wins for Peter Fordham, all his singles and the doubles, which he played with Steve Blackman were over 5 legs. The closest of these was against Matt Easdown where 3 legs went to deuce. The first leg Peter came back from 6 - 10 down to win 15 -13. Jack Anthony won 2 for Conquerors, David Buller won 1. Terry Thompson,Crusaders lost all 3 with ease.

07/10/2010, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Arrows lost to Walsham-Le-Willows 2-3.
This re-arranged match was played on 07/10/10. It was very closely fought with all players creating some excellent shots.Redmond Smith for Arrows played well to beat Joe Shaw after only losing his first game against Liam Bryant on the last two points of the final set.It came down to the doubles to decide the outcome with Walsham taking the final two sets to clinch a 2-3 win on the night.

British Sugar Blades were home to British Sugar Defenders in a local derby match. Only Nik Key for Defenders was able to trouble the Blades A & B players losing to Colin Davies 11,-7,-6,&-7, Davies angled forehand & backhand drives taking more points on the night against Key`s predominantly forehand attack & push . Against Martin Haines who was content to push & hit occasional forehand winners he had the upper hand winning -6,-7,10, -4. Davies & Haines accounted for James Cutler & young Tom Reeve making his debut in the league in straight sets, the latter occasionally hitting some strong forehand & backhand drive winners. Richard Cox, Blades beat Reeve 6,7,3 but lost to Key & Cutler 0-3. The doubles pairing of Haines & Cox were too strong for Cutler/Reeve winning 3-0. Match result 7-3 to Blades.

Many congratulations go to Peter who last evening picked up the prestigious and coveted Lifetime Achievement Award at the Abbeycroft  St. Edmundsbury Sports Awards.

Peter started playing table tennis just over 50 years ago in the Berwick on Tweed League before moving down to East Anglia where he turned out for the RAF in the Cambridge League. For some reason which he can`t explain he opted for the penholder grip which a lot of the Asian players use, so feels “tongue in cheek” he should get some credit for introducing this to the Chinese who with a few exceptions, sweep all before them .                       

Once he settled in Bury St. Edmunds he played locally for the Civil Service, the Home Guard Club, British Sugar and finally with Bury Club which he represents today                                                                                                                  

   He has made an immense contribution to the sport.

  In 1977 he joined the committee of the Bury St. Edmunds and District Table Tennis League serving as Vice Chairman, Match Secretary, Chairman, Coaching Secretary and then and now County Representative over a twenty two year period.                     

After he qualified as an ETTA Level 2 Coach in 1984 he got involved in coaching at primary, middle and senior schools including Beyton, County Upper, Culford, Ixworth, King Edward, Rougham and Westley.                                                                       

In 1977 he joined the committee of the Bury St. Edmunds and District Table Tennis League serving as Vice Chairman, Match Secretary, Chairman, Coaching Secretary and County Representative over a 22 year period, the latter he still does today.                                                                                                              

In 1998 he set up Bury TTC and held the position of Chairman for 10 years before becoming  Membership Secretary. Recognising there was a shortage of youngsters coming into the game he used his coaching skills to good effect and is largely responsible for some of these achieving U13, U15 and U18 titles at County Level. In 2000 Bury Club was also awarded Premier Club Status by the ETTA and the following year was runners up in the East of England Premier Club Awards.

Not content with that in 2001 Peter joined the committee of the Suffolk Table Tennis Association and became County Secretary two years later, a position he holds today. That year he started and still runs and maintains thewebsite.                                                                                                                               

The story goes on. In the same year he started the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Border Junior League and is Organiser, Secretary and Treasurer. It covers the area Newmarket to Stowmarket and caters for 8 to 18 year old boys and girls. The idea is to introduce young players to competitive play. Some two hundred players have participated over the nine years it has been in existence and nearly all the top county juniors have come through this league.

He became a National Councillor of the English Table Tennis Association in 2004 and has been on the East Regional Committee for the last two years.

In 2005 he showed table tennis as a demonstration sport for the Suffolk Youth Games and it was adopted in 2008.

Peter modestly says he has never achieved great things as a player but nobody can doubt what he has given back to the game. Never one to seek the limelight or publicity he has quietly and efficiently gone about his business and table tennis players locally and across the county owe him an enormous debt of gratitude.

This match was played between two completely new teams to the league.            Katie Meadows, Hawks played the opening game against Harry Abbot, Tigers & despite losing the first set 10-12 went on to take the next three 4,6 & 6. James Otterson, Hawks then beat Matthew Ager 7,4 & 1 & secured another win for his side by beating Abbot in a closer encounter 7,11 & 6. Meadows took the last singles 3 sets to 1. The doubles went to the home side 3 sets to 1 to ensure a great start to the season for Hawks.

Leopards were the hosts for the first match of the season between the
Stowmarket 'Big Cats' in Div 2, aside from the local derby aspect, there
were several other areas of interest. Veterans Peter Avenell and Alan
Print were making a return to League Table Tennis after a break of
several years, Chris Porter and Harry Hughes were making their first
appearances in the 3-player league, having played in the 2-aside last
year, Ian Bridgeman was playing against his old team. Which left only
the Leopards former captain Keith George in a familiar situation.
On the night, experience reigned with Peter Avenell undefeated in
singles and doubles, however, the old hands of the Leopards proved too
strong for his younger team mates - their time will come.
Final Score Leopards 6 Pumas 4

A warm welcome back to the website. The BSE&DTTL 2010/11 Season starts in two weeks time.

You are reminded that you must register individually either direct with the ETTA or through your Club with the ETTA and not with the League as in previous seasons.  Please go to  www.englishtabletennis.org.uk & click on “become a member ETTA connect” to do so.

Your racket coverings must be on the valid list, please go to    www.ittf.com    & click on equipment, then on racket coverings for a list of all suppliers to check they are accepted.  

The Bury St. Edmunds & District Table Tennis League Championships were this year held at the Dome at King Edward’s School which provided competitors and spectators alike with improved conditions.

The event started with the Handicap Singles competition which was run on a “one leg up to 21 points” basis and gave players the chance to warm up their games. The Mens Singles number one seed, Steve Annison (Lawshall) , was an early casualty of the draw and handicapping system which saw him having to start at 5-17 against Gabriel Storey (Bury Saxons). A strong start by Storey enabled him to win quickly by 21-6. This gave him the confidence to reach the semi-final where he met David Unwin (Bury Vikings) who had himself won three very close matches. Despite starting at 6-17 Unwin had settled into the competition and kept the ball in play without making mistakes to edge into the final 21-19. In the other half of the draw Robin Wallis (Gazeley Giants) had an impressive 21-14 win over Matt Easdown (Bury Conquerors) and moved into a semi-final against Joe Easdown (Bury Conquerors) who had impressively won the last two points of his previous match after Tony Reardon (Lawshall) had overcome a 10-16 starting deficit to reach 20-20. Easdown restored family honour by beating Wallis 21-15 and started the final with a 16-10 lead against Unwin who emulated Reardon in levelling the scores at 20-20. The intensity then continued until Unwin was eventually relieved to win 24-22.

In the Junior Singles George Kizis (Bury Vikings) had a very tough semi-final against Rhys Davies (Bury Commandoes) which he eventually won 10-12, 11-6, 8-11, 11-2, 11-6 to set up a meeting with Joe Easdown who had beaten Will Hall (Rougham Lions) 11-6, 11-8, 12-14, 11-5 in his semi-final. Although Kizis took the first two legs of the final 11-4, 11-5 Easdown then dug deeper to win the title by taking the remaining legs 11-3, 11-8, 11-7.

In the Cadets Singles Will Hall reached the final by beating his team-mate William Woods 12-10, 11-6, 11-5 to set up a meeting with Rhys Davies who had overcome Jack Anthony (Bury Cavaliers) in a fluctuating match 9-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9. After a 9-11 reverse Davies won the second leg 11-3 but Hall then settled down to win the remaining legs 11-6, 11-7.

At the other end of the age scale David Unwin did not drop a leg on his way to the Veterans final where he met Andy Dosher (Bury Crusaders) who had overcome a first leg setback against Colin Baxter (Thurston Spitfires) to win his semi-final 2-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7. The final followed a similar pattern with Unwin taking the first leg 11-7 before Dosher settled into his consistent spin and return game to take the next legs and the title 11-6, 11-5, 11-6.

In the Ladies Singles final Sandra Balaam met her Stowmarket Jaguars team-mate Carol Clarke and won through 11-7, 11-5, 11-9. Balaam then took her second title when she teamed up with Steve Annison in the Mixed Doubles and beat Carol Clarke and Martin Chamberlain (Stowmarket Eagles) 11-4, 14-12, 11-6.

Robin Wallis reached the final of the Division 2 Singles by beating Carol Clarke 11-5, 11-4, 11-7 to set up another meeting with Matt Easdown who had beaten Joe Easdown 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4 to take the unofficial family title and followed this up with an epic 13-15, 16-14, 11-7, 11-6 win over Sandra Balaam in the semi-final. In the final it looked as if Matt Easdown had learned from his earlier Handicap Singles reverse as he prevailed over Wallis 12-10, 11-5, 12-10.

In the Division 3 Singles Ross Slade (Bury Commandoes) had to work hard in beating Andrew Baxter (Thurston Jets) 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7 and then Bradley Redmond-Smith (Thurston Arrows) 11-7, 11-8, 12-14, 11-8 to reach a final meeting with Paul McGerty (Rougham Panthers) whose progress had been relatively untroubled. This pattern continued in the final when McGerty made his greater experience tell to win 11-3, 11-3, 11-6.

In the Mens Doubles the top seeds Steve Annison and Tony Reardon dropped only one leg on their way to the final where they met Andy Dosher and his team-mate Aaron Self who had an impressive 13-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 win over David Unwin and Elson Costa (Bury Vikings) in their semi-final. Despite losing an attritional third leg Annison and Reardon won through 11-9, 11-6, 16-18, 11-4.

The Restricted Singles event excluded the top twelve ranked players and recent winners and attracted a large entry. This gave Sandra Balaam the opportunity of testing her game and stamina over several more matches. She rose to the occasion by winning three matches before disposing of Kin Choi Chan (Gazeley Giants) 11-2, 11-7, 11-5 to set up a final meeting with Mark James (British Sugar) who had reached that stage without dropping a leg. However, this lack of competition seemed to tell against James and Balaam continued her previous dominance to win her third title of the day 11-5, 11-4, 11-5.

The Mens Singles competition produced some of the closest and most exciting matches of the day. The seeded players won their groups as expected but in the quarter-finals Steve Annison had to overcome early uncertainty before beating Mark James 12-10, 11-13, 11-5, 11-2. Two other matches followed very similar patterns when Andy Dosher’s 11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10 win over Tony Reardon was followed by an almost identical 12-10,11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 12-10 victory for David Unwin over Aaron Self. In the first semi-final Annison had too much attacking power for Dosher and won through 11-8, 11-8, 11-6. The other was more closely contested with Elson Costa using his penhold style to good effect and fighting back from early deficits to beat Unwin 8-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-3, 11-6. The final between the two top seeds lived up to its billing with fortunes fluctuating as the two attack-minded players sought to exert dominance. Costa took the first leg 11-6 but was pegged back when Annison edged the next 13-11. When Annison lost the next 10-12 after surrendering a 9-4 lead and was trailing 6-9 in the fourth it looked as if Costa had the title in the bag. However, he then surrendered the initiative by making mistakes at crucial times which enabled Annison to reverse the third leg score and win 12-10. The deciding leg did not produce the same fluctuations. Annison erased the memory of his injury problems of the last few seasons by winning it 11-7 and regaining a title which he had last won in 2001. In doing so he also like Balaam won his third event of the day.

Special thanks go to Phil Sinclair, The Chairman of The League who superbly organised what was a highly competitive and enjoyable day.

Held on 06/03/10 @ Stowupland BSE&DTTL Juniors again put in top performances

Well done to all these boys many of whom have come through the coaching systems at Bury & Rougham Clubs.

1/3/10 played at New Green Communty Centre.
Thurston Vulcans lost to Lawshall 2-8.
 Sean Gridley and Dennis Morgan got play under way with a comfortable win of the first rubber to Gridley - a promising start, only for Morgan to produce a solid display of accurate shots, which comfortably won the next three rubbers. Next up was Chris Meadows and Steve Annison, Meadows again started strongly only for Annison to get into his stride with superior touch and speed to win in three. Andy Janes then played Clive Grimwood, Clives resolute and error free defence with an occasional excellent backhand attack proved too much for Andy who was beaten in three. The first five set game of the night saw Morgan win the first two rubbers easily, only to then produce some mistakes and let Meadows take the third, a marathon fourth saw many mistakes from both players only for Meadows to win 18-16, then easily take the fifth for Thurston's first point of the night. Another five set match saw Gridley make amends after going two behind, to produce some consistency and overcome Grimwoods tenacious defence with a mixture of strong push shot combined with the occasional attack, the final Thurston point of the night. Andy Janes had fun and produced some impressive blocks to occasionaly test Annison, but Annison's strong attack prevailed to win convincingly in three. In a game with a lot of good natured banter, Meadows trounced Grimwood in the first rubber, only for Grimwood to change tactics forcing Meadows onto the backfoot to win with room to spare in four. In the next game an uncertain start from Janes saw Morgan take a 0-2 lead only for Janes to re-group and come back strongly to 1-2, Morgan then had to work very hard to pip the fourth 9-11. In the final singles game of the night Annison brushed Gridley aside with ease to win in three. The doubles was a similar affair that saw Annison and Morgan beat Gridley and Meadows without trouble.

22/02/2010, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Jets lost to Bury Cavaliers 0-5.
This fixture was a rematch of week 3 of the season with Kieran Dibley & Matthew Branfield, Thurston Jets up against Peter Brawn & Will Nunn, Bury Cavaliers & it produced the same result a 0-5 win to Cavaliers.A close game saw Brawn beat Branfield -9,-8,-8 & then Dibley in 3 sets.Branfield put up a bit of a fight in the 3rd set against Nunn before going down 1-3.Dibley started well against Nunn but after losing the first set 14-16 faded losing -4 & -7 in the next two.The doubles was an easy win for Cavaliers.

08/02/2010, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Spitfires beat Bury Romans 10-0.
Spitfires had another convincing win over Romans with the same 10-0 scoreline as the first match of the season. Romans took only 2 sets off Spitfires in the entire evening with Blackman taking a leg off Cracknell & Pettit a leg off Baxter before each losing 3-1. All the other games were comfortable 3-0 wins to the Spitfire`s boys with Evans in very good form. Seabrook for Romans teamed up with Blackman for the doubles & started to threaten at one stage but this was quickly extinguished by Cracknell/Evans & the 10-0 victory was sealed.

03/02/2010, played at British Sugar Sports and Social Club.
British Sugar lost to Bury Vikings 1-9.
Following the addition of Elson Costa to their team Bury Vikings are continuing to move closer to Bury St. Edmunds & District Table Tennis League Division 1 leaders, Lawshall. Vikings visited British Sugar for whom only Mark James showed more than token resistance. His mixture of attacking and close to the table blocking proved too strong for George Kizis and gave him an 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 victory. James then took the first leg 12-10 against David Unwin but the latter's greater use of spin enabled him to take the next three 5-11,9-11,6-11. Aside from those the Sugar team only managed to pick up two more legs in the evening as Vikings recorded a comfortable 1-9 victory.

01/02/2010, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Arrows lost to Bury Saxons 2-3.
This was a close fought match with some good rallies & excellent shots from the young players. Jack Langley & Bradley Redmond Smith for Thurston both played well & took a game each.Nick Garrad for Saxons proved the strongest player with his pen holder grip & spin returns. He paired up with Nick Strachan in the doubles with this result deciding the match, however a disputed wrong side serve which would have been in the home teams favour was played as a let.Saxons took the next two points & the next two sets to win the match 2-3. Arrows as newcomers are still looking for their first win & have nine matches to achieve this.

This event will be held @ Stowupland High School on Saturday 6th March 2010. Under 18, Under 15 & Under 13 Singles will be played for both Girls & Boys as will Doubles which is open to both sexes.                                                                              Entry forms can be obtained from the website www.suffolktabletennis.co.uk or for paper copies pls ask Peter Fordham, his details are in The Handbook under League Committee.             

20/01/2010, played at British Sugar Sports and Social Club.
British Sugar Blades beat Bury Romans 10-0.
British Sugar Blades recorded their first 10-0 win of the season, mainly thanks to the evergreen Colin Davies who rolled back the years to play some scintillating table tennis to record his first hat trick of the season.Davies had a nail-biting battle with Paul Seabrook that went all the way to 5 legs before battling to victory. Davies was ably supported by the gazelle like Julian Hall whose control & power of shots proved too strong for the Romans whilst the inconsistent Phil Watson also chipped in with solid display to bring the score to 9-0. Thereafter Watson & Hall joined forces to win an entertaining doubles match to ensure Blades took maximum points.

16/12/2009, played at Lawshall Village Hall.
Lawshall beat Thurston Vulcans 10-0.
Lawshall returned to winning ways with an emphatic 10-0 win over Vulcans who were unable to find a weakness in a solid allround performance from the home team. Steve Annison`s performances this season have been rewarded with being selected to represent Cambridgeshire at a County Tournament @ Newcastle where he returned with a very creditable five wins from fourteen matches against opposition from the top two hundred and fifty players in the Country. Chris Meadows,Vulcans managed to take a set against both Dennis Morgan & Clive Grimwood but he was unable to maintain any consistency with his attacking game against some resolute defensive play from the home team.Gordon Meadows also found it difficult to make any headway although he did achieve a notable second leg win over Clive Grimwood coming back from 6-0 down to win 9-11, however Grimwood took the next two legs. Sean Gridley found the going tough & was unable to win a set.

Stowmarket Pumas lost to Bury Cavaliers 2-3.
Played on Wednesday 16th December 2009 at St Peter’s Hall, Stowmarket. This match was played at the Stowmarket Club’s second venue, St Peter’s Hall Stowmarket, which is used for its daytime sessions. It was a match that had originally been scheduled for early November. The first match up was between Tony Mooney and Jack Anthony with Anthony winning in three straight as Mooney struggled to cope with the penholder grip with the great speed typical of this style of play as well as the spin serves. Ian Bridgeman for Pumas then played Peter Brawn and Anthony losing to both, although he did manage to take a game off each of them. They were just too consistent for him. This left the match position as 1-3 to Cavaliers with the doubles assuming great importance to Pumas given their league position as every point counts. This was a very close five setter with the Pumas pair just coming out on top 11-6 in the fifth game. The match result was 2-3 to Cavaliers but the two points won by Pumas was sufficient to take them to the top of the division.

08/12/2009, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Cavaliers beat Thurston Jets 3-2.
The Cavaliers and Jets latest encounter resulted in a close fought match. First up was Ben Snape for the Cavaliers against Matthew Branfield. In an exciting game Branfield won 1-3 against the ever improving Snape.Second to play was Jack Anthony for the Cavaliers against Andrew Baxter – Anthony used his new bat and rubbers to good effect taking the match 3-0. Anthony won the third match 3-0 against Branfield while Baxter took the fourth match 1-3 against Snape. With the match even at the end of the singles the players in both teams huddled in tactical discussion before preparing for the doubles decider. Anthony and Snape prevailed in a match closer than the score indicated winning an exciting game 3-0 to take the match for the Cavaliers.

KEGS was the venue for this encounter between Bury Vikings and the Division 1 champions from last season, each team featuring players making their Bury League debut, Elson Costa for Vikings, and Nick Anthony for Spitfires.

Proceedings got under way with David Unwin facing Colin Baxter, two closely contested sets were played out before Unwin got the upper hand, winning -12,10,4,3. This was followed by Costa against Mark Cracknell, an interesting contest of Costa’s attacking penhold style against the big loop and backhand pimples of Cracknell. Each set could have gone either way, and Cracknell could consider himself unlucky not to have taken at least one, eventually succumbing -11,-11,-9.

George Kizis was then pitched against Nick Anthony, a regular in the Ipswich League. Anthony started well, his greater consistency giving him the first two sets, before Kizis found his range with his forehand loops, and levelled the game at two all. Kizis seemed to be heading for victory at the midway point in the fifth, but once again Anthony produced some impressive returns and occasional backhand winners to edge the decider and take the game 9,4,-5,-9,9.

Costa and Unwin then beat Baxter and Anthony respectively, both games in straight sets to make the match score 4-1 at the halfway stage.Kizis versus Cracknell started with 3 very close games, Cracknell’s experience proving to be the deciding factor as he pulled ahead in the fourth to win 11,9,-10,4. This was followed by Costa overpowering Anthony, his varied serve and big forehand attack rounding off a successful evening, winning all 3 games without dropping a set.

Kizis and Baxter then played out the match of the evening, a 25 minute game that was in the balance until the last point. Once again the first two sets were close, and shared, then Baxter stormed through set three to take the advantage. To his credit Kizis fought back, levelling at 2-2, and with some impressive attacking on both wings managed to edge the game -11,9,-3,6,8.This was swiftly followed by Unwin defeating Cracknell 5,10,2 to give Vikings a 7-2 lead, which ultimately became 7-3 as the doubles was conceded due to the match already overrunning the 10:00 deadline.

30/11/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Victors lost to Bury Conquerors 1-9.
Thurston Victors fielded what we thought was a reasonably strong team of Stewart Blakey, Ian Moffat & Luke Hardwick, against the Bury Conquerors team of Matt & Joe Easdown strongly supported by Tom Wright. The opening match saw Easdown take on the very experienced left hander Stewart Blakey which turned out to be a fast and furious match with the visiting player taking the honours 1-3. This set the trend for the rest of the Match, with J.Easdown going on to win his matches against Moffat and Hardwick by 1-3 & 0-3 respectively Next up was Matt Easdown who casually beat Ian Moffat 0-3 even after going behind in the second set 6-0 finally coming back to win 9-11. He also went on to win all his other Matches without dropping a leg. Tom Wright had a more difficult time of it against Stewart Blakey and although winning the first game 8-11 lost the next 3 games as Stewart changed tactics to win 11-2,11-2 & 11-7 coming out overall winner 3-1 and Thurston`s only winning match of the night. Wright`s next match was against the veteran Ian Moffat which turned out to be a very closely fought with Wright eventually winning 8-11, 11-7, 10-12 & 10-12 to give a 3-1 victory----Ian you`ll have to close the game better!!! Luke Hardwick Thurston`s recently promoted 2 Div junior player struggled valiantly against a team of this quality losing all his matches but he is slowly improving and will get the results sooner rather than later. Well done to Bury Conquerors Team of the Easdowns & Wright.

30/11/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Spitfires beat Bury Crusaders 10-0.
Spitfires had a convincing win over Crusaders with 8 of the 10 games being won in straight sets.For Crusaders, Peter Fordham put up a good display taking both Mark Cracknell & Paul Evans to a deciding 5th leg.The closest against Cracknell proved to be the best game of the evening, Fordham taking the first leg 9-11,Cracknell taking the next two 4 & 7 when it looked to be all over but Fordham having other ideas with some good stoic defensive play to take the 4th set 9-11 & going on to have 3 match points in the decider.Cracknell on the brink of defeat came out with his big shots just when he needed them most to win 16-14.Evans overcame Fordham in five winning 11-5 in the decider. Terry Thompson & Alan Brafield for Crusaders battled well throughout without picking up any games although Brafield did have some set points but failed to convert them. Spitfires other player Colin Baxter had a good evening winning all his 3 games in straight sets mixing up his shots well to overcome his opponents.He then partnered Cracknell in the doubles against Brafield/Fordham winning the first 11-5 but their opponents had good leads & many set points but failed to capitalise eventually going down 10 & 10.

30/11/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Jets lost to Bury Commandoes 0-5.
Thurston Jets( Kieran Dibley, Matthew Branfield) took on high flying Bury Commandoes (Ross Slade, Rhys Davies). In the 1st.game Branfield took on Slade, after a steady start Slade won all 3 games. Next Dibley played Davies after some very good rallies in the 1st.game Rhys came out on top 8-11, then went on to win 0-3. Match 3 was Dibley against Slade, again a good 1st game saw Slade win 10-12 and go on to win 0-3. Davies beat Branfield 0-3 to keep his 100% record going. Bury won the Doubles to record a 0-5 win.

23/11/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Vulcans lost to Stowmarket Eagles 1-9.
Eagles easily outplayed Vulcans on a night when only one game went to five sets.Ian Brown, Eagles beat Gordon Meadows,Vulcans 0-3.The only win for Vulcans was from Sean Gridley who determined to avoid a whitewash battled hard to beat David Aldous in four.Lee Balaam was in form brushing aside Ian Freeman 3,4 & 5. The doubles was both entertaining & light hearted,Gridley & Freeman playing an attacking game & catching the top of the net and edges too often to keep apologising & Brown & Balaam enjoying the challenge to win 9-11 in the fourth.

23/11/2009, played at Riddlesworth Hall Prep School.
Riddlesworth Hall beat Thurston Victors 7-3.
Riddlesworth beat Victors 7-3. John Bryant opened the match with a 3-1 sets win against Ian Moffat. Stewart Blakey opened the account for Victors beating Pete Evans 0-3, 14-16 in the 3rd game. Blakey also won against Trevor Cottee 0-3, but lost out 3-1 to lucky John Bryant who often found the net cord or the table edge. Cottee lost the 1st game to Moffat but came back to win the next 3 games. Luke Hardwick,Victors had some good games but was beaten by spin serves. The doubles was played by Bryant & Cottee for Riddlesworth against Moffat & Blakey for Victors, the 1st 4 games were shared; in the 5th Riddlesworth opened out a 9-1 lead, but some how the Victors clawed there way back to win 9-11. The evening was competitive & enjoyed by all players.

17/11/2009, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Commandoes beat Rougham Panthers 5-0.
Rhys Davies,Commandoes opened with a straight 3 love win over Bradley Troughton.After losing the first leg against Ryan Courtier,Panthers before getting his timing right,Ross Slade went on to take the rubber 3-1.Playing some sharp table tennis Rhys and Ross won their respective 2nd singles by straight 3-0 victories and then went on to take the doubles 3-1 after dropping the 1st leg,giving Commandoes a 5-0 victory.

17/11/2009, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Romans lost to Thurston Vulcans 3-7.
The match got under way with Romans' Groves serging into a 2 game lead over Meadows with a fine display of attacking play;however Meadows showed dogged resilience and pulled back from behind to take the 3rd game then went on with typical tenacity to take the next two games and win 3-2.Vulcans' Gridley beat Pettit with a controlled performance, picking his time to attack Pettits defensive style.Romans, Blackman and Vulcans, Freeman fought out a close encounter with the spoils swinging from Blackman back to Freeman then back to Blackman, who finally clinched victory 14-12 in a tense 5th leg.Meadows then took his second game of the night by beating Pettit in 4, and Groves reversed his fortunes by coming from behind against Freeman to clinch victory in the 5th. Thurston then picked up 3 games in a row with Gridley clinching his second win of the night by another controlled game against Blackman, Freeman picking up his first win by beating Pettit and Meadows securing his 3rd win by edging past Blackman.Bury's Groves then completed the singles with an aggressive attacking performance against Gridley, then joined Blackman in the doubles to contest a tightly fought match against Meadows and Gridley. Having pulled back from 2-0 down to 2-2, Romans then just lost out in the final game.

11/11/2009, played at Stowupland High School.
Stowmarket Eagles drew with Bury Vikings 5-5.
6th place Eagles took on 3rd place Vikings in what turned out to be a hard fought and close match. Dave Unwin (Vikings) started with a convincing win over David Aldous. Lee Balaam promptly levelled the score with an equally convincing win against John Walters. The fast improving George Kizis (Vikings) then proved too strong for Martin Chamberlain with the latter struggling to cope with the attacking play of Kizis. Next on was the battle of the two number ones (Balaam and Unwin) and what a battle it turned out to be! The open style of these two attacking players produced some exciting rallies involving a combination of strong serving and heavy topspin attack on both wings. The games were traded until the 5th game when at 5 points each it appeared as though the match was going to the wire. Not so! Balaam suddenly upped his game to overpower Unwin without losing another point. The match continued with neither team being able to establish a strong lead and with the match score standing at 4-5 to the Vikings and Balaam and Aldous facing the formidable pairing of Unwin and Kizis it seemed certain that Vikings would snatch victory. However, in what can only be described as a strange encounter Aldous and Balaam eventually won in five to level the score.

11/11/2009, played at Lawshall Village Hall.
Lawshall beat Bury Romans 8-2.
Romans made a good start with Peter Groves just getting the better of Dennis Morgan 12-14 in the fifth set & then Steve Blackman recovering from 10-7 in the fourth set to win 10-12 & take the game from a rusty Clive Grimwood playing his first game of the season.Thereafter Lawshall regained control & ran out 8-2 winners.Steve Blackman played well to take a set off Steve Annison 12-14 but was unable to sustain the same consistent level.

03/11/2009, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Vikings beat Thurston Vulcans 8-2.
Bury Vikings entertained newly promoted Thurston Vulcans in this division 1 encounter held at KEGS.The first match of the evening was also the closest, with John Waters facing Gordon Meadows. Waters started well, taking the first leg 11-6, before Meadows got into his stride in the second leg, winning 11-8 to level at 1-1.Waters then appeared to have the upper hand, winning the third leg 11-9 and then leading the fourth 7-4. At this point Meadows upped his game to take 7 consecutive points and the leg to send it into a decider. Once again Waters forged ahead to lead 5-1 at change of ends, Meadows regained some ground but could not pull back the deficit as Waters went on to take the final leg 11-5. Next on for Vulcans was newcomer to the Bury League, Sean Gridley, facing Vikings David Unwin. An open entertaining match ensued, with Unwin ultimately proving too strong, winning in straight sets.Vikings newest team member, George Kizis then took on Chris Meadows in match three. This was a close fought affair, both players attacking at every opportunity, Meadows often with blistering pace on both wings. Kizis’ greater consistency paid dividends in the end, as he ran out the winner 11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7. The next three matches were all won in straight sets, first Unwin beating Gordon Meadows, followed by Chris Meadows registering the first Vulcans win of the night, with an impressive victory over Waters. Kizis then continued his good form with a comfortable win against Gridley, to give Vikings a 5-1 lead. Match seven pitched Unwin & Chris Meadows together, Unwin taking the first leg, but then being forced back by Meadows’ aggressive attacking play as the match was levelled at 1-1. Unwin then fought back to take the next two legs 11-5, 11-4, extending Vikings lead. This lead was enhanced further as George Kizis showed consistent attacking flair to defeat Gordon Meadows in three legs, which brought the match to its final singles, Waters versus Gridley. The Vulcans player proved to steady for Waters, his mix of defence and attack gradually giving him the edge as he ran out the winner in straight sets.The concluding doubles was the second five setter of the night, Unwin & Kizis winning two close legs, 11-9, 12-10, before Gridley & Meadows shaded the third 11-9, and then followed up with a comprehensive fourth leg, 11-3, to level at 2-2. The deciding leg swung back in favour of Vikings, who ran out 11-4 victors to complete the match.The final score 8-2 in favour of the home team, in what was a jovial evening of table tennis.

04/11/2009, played at Lawshall Village Hall.
Lawshall beat British Sugar Blades 8-2 in a re-arranged match
This was local league table tennis at it`s very best with four games going to five sets & three going to four sets.For Lawshall, Steve Annison easily accounted for Phil Watson and despite losing the first set 11-13 to Jason Evans, won the next three comfortably.The game of the evening matched Annison with Julian Hall with Hall blocking Annison`s attack to good effect with angled returns & the home player overhitting so that he lost the first two sets -12,-8. To his credit he stormed back to take the next three 8,6,& 6.Tony Reardon in fine form only had trouble against Watson down 10-12,10-12 before his all out attack paid dividends 5,8, & 4.He also beat Hall in four & Evans in three. Dennis Morgan showing his usual tenacity lost to Hall in four and Evans in five but beat Watson.The doubles was another classic with Annison & Reardon getting the better of Hall & Evans 12-10 in the fifth after a see-saw first four sets.

28/10/2009, played at Lawshall Village Hall.
Lawshall beat British Sugar 9-1.
This fixture normally produces a close result but with Clive Grimwood still out injured, the team of Morgan, Reardon & Annison proved too strong for Sugar and Lawshall recorded their third successive 9-1 score. Mark James, Sugar got their only win with an impressive three set victory over Dennis Morgan in the first match of the evening. After that Steve Annison who has now recovered from his major injury and is playing better than ever & Tony Reardon gave Sugar few chances with only James and Janet Scoulding able to take one set off Reardon. A special mention for Dennis Morgan who, despite giving Phil Sinclair a two leg start, fought back from match points in the third to secure an impressive five set win.

28/10/2009, played at Walsham Le Willows Sports Pavilion.
Walsham-Le-Willows lost to Bury Cavaliers 2-3.
This was an excellent competitive match dominated by the powerful all round play of Jack Anthony,Cavaliers who accounted for both Mick Jones & Oliver Jackson in straight sets.Both Jackson & Jones, Walsham beat Ben Snape with the latter taking two sets off Jones. Anthony then proved his worth in the doubles encouraging Snape in their 1-3 sets win to take the match 2-3.

26/10/2009, played at British Sugar Sports and Social Club.
British Sugar Blades beat Bury Vikings 6-4.
Dave Unwin was in magnificent form for Vikings forcing his opponents on the back foot with hard hitting attacks on both wings; winning all his singles 0-3 & only letting slip a maximum 8 points in one game against Phil Watson, Blades. Fortunately for the home team Colin Davies,Julian Hall & Watson had the measure of John Waters & George Kizis although the latter took two sets off Davies & one off Hall & Waters a set off Watson & Davies.Unwin & Waters also produced the goods in the doubles against Hall & Watson winning in four sets.However Blades consistency in the singles won a close match.

Played on 26/10/09 @ British Sugar Sports & Social Club. British Sugar Defenders continued their unbeaten run with another convincing 5-0 win, against the Walsham team. First to play were Nik Key (Defenders) and Oliver Jackson (Walsham). After narrowly winning the first leg and losing the second, Nik eventually went onto to beat Oliver 3-1. The second match between James Cutler (Defenders) and Joe Shaw (Walsham) was far tighter with the James winning the first comfortably but then losing the second and third to Joe. James again found form with two 11-6 legs to win 3-2. James remained at the table to meet Oliver Jackson. A hard fought match followed with James eventually winning 3-1. The final singles match between Nik Key and Joe Shaw was completed swiftly by Nik who won 3-0. Similarly the doubles match concluded at 3-0 to Defenders. It must be said that this match was far from the one-way street that the scorecard suggests with great play from all four players during the course of the match.
 

22/10/2009, played at Rougham Sports Centre.
Rougham Panthers beat R.A.T.T.S 4-1.
This was the first Rougham division 3 local derby match . Max Boulter and Bradley Troughton playing for Rougham Panthers and Paul Hurst and Andy Marshall for RATTS (now Rougham Allcomers Table Tennis Sessions) - Andy was making his League debut. Max won his two singles 3 - 0, and Paul used his experience and back spin to overcome Bradley 3 - 1.Andy lost both his sets against Max and Bradley 0 - 3 but played well and his game should progress when he has more match experience. The doubles went to four games, with Panthers taking the sets 3 - 1 resulting in a match score of Panthers 4 - RATTS 1. An enjoyable evening with the three juniors showing how much their game has improved in recent months.

20/10/2009, played at King Edward VI School Lower Hall.
Bury Conquerors beat Rougham Lions 7-3.
The Conquerors team of Matt Easdown, Tim Jolly & Joe Easdown took on the Lions team of Will Woods, Will Hall & Colin Fordham in a rearranged fixture at King Edward School with The Conquerors emerging 7 - 3 victors in an entertaining & competitive match. Joe Easdown for Conquerors overcame his exhaustion to win his 3 games despite having to play 2 matches on the same evening. Matt Easdown also won his 3 games . Tim Jolly narrowly lost his 3 matches with 2 of the 3 being decided in the fifth set. For Lions, Will Woods, Will Hall & Colin Fordham all won a match each & their performance suggests that more victories will come their way as the season progresses. Matt & Tim paired up in the doubles & their attacking & adventurous style ensured they went on to win a close 5 setter against the two Wills. All in all a very enjoyable evening which showcased the ever improving talents of the 3 juniors who took part in the match.

05/10/2009, played at Gazeley Village Hall.
Gazeley Giants lost to Gazeley GGs 4-6.
The G.G.`s were victorious 4-6 with a good allround team performance.Kin Choi for the Giants won 3 but only a single win from Bela Szabo supported him.The G.G.`s Ray Thompson is a little rusty but showed signs of enjoying his return with 2 wins. Phil Halliwell also won 2, Sam Banks 1 and Thompson & Halliwell won the doubles.A close contest,both teams should have good seasons.

30/09/2009, played at Stowupland High School.
Stowmarket Leopards beat Rougham Stags 8-2.
Keith George, Leopards opened against Simon Green, Stags & despite losing the first game 10-12 went on to win 3-1.He won his two other games on the night.Green turned the fortunes round for Rougham beating Colin Belcher 1-3 and Mel Redit & Graham Self had their usual close game with Redit victorious in the fifth.Belcher/Redit lost the doubles 1-3 to Green/Self but the final score was 8-2 to Leopards.

28/09/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Vulcans drew with British Sugar 5-5.
Newly promoted Vulcans put on a dramatic & determined display in a bid to make their mark in Division 1.In the opening game between Gordon Meadows, Vulcans and Mark James,Sugar the home player just edged his opponent in the fifth.Chris Meadows then played Janet Scoulding with the away player gaining a 4-10 lead only for Meadows playing with grit & determination to win it 14-12.Scoulding then took the second and Meadows the 3rd whilst in the 4th Meadows with a 10-8 lead only for Scoulding to take this game & the fifth with strong play.Sean Gridley tried to take back the lead playing Terry Scott but the latter`s top spin on both wings proved the winning formula.C.Meadows beat James in four,Scott beat G.Meadows also in four before C.Meadows pulled one back against Scott taking the 3rd set 12-10 and the fourth 13-11.Gridley brought the scores back to 4-4 beating James 3-0. G.Meadows then lost to Scoulding in four before in a dramatic doubles match which went one way & then the other Thurston salvaged a draw 3-11,11-8,6-11,11-2,11-9.

Many congratulations go to Maurice Fearn, Head Coach @ Rougham TTC, Honorary Life Member & Coaching Secretary of the BSE&DTTL,who yesterday won the Coach of the Year Award for 2009 @ The St. Edmundsbury Sports Awards organised by Abbeycroft Leisure. A fitting tribute to a man who has devoted a lot of his spare time & energy in encouraging young and old alike to take up or return to the game.

21/09/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Jets lost to Bury Saxons 2-3.
The opening match of the new season saw Andrew Baxter,Jets open against Nick Garrad,Saxons and after a very close first game 12-10 he came out on top 3 sets to 0.Kieran Dibley lost to Gabriel Storey 0-3 and 1-3 to Garrad despite a good fightback in the 2nd set.Pressure was on Baxter to level the match but after a close first game 11-13 Storey went on to win 0-3.In the doubles Jets came from behind to win 3 sets to 2. Final score 2-3 to Saxons.

Held 21/09/09 at New Green Community Centre

Victors took on League 2 newcomers Riddlesworth Hall from deepest Norfolk or is it Suffolk? With the Thurston team promoting two junior players from the 2 Player Division-Katie Meadows & Luke Hardwick ably supported by Stewart Blakey, it turned out to be a difficult night. Riddlesworth an unknown quantity fielded a fairly mature and strong team who proved that the juniors will need to improve, although the visitors struggled against Blakey. Both Meadows & Hardwick put up a spirited fight but succumbed to the experience of their opponents 0-3 in each game.The more experienced senior player Blakey won his 3 matches but was made to work very hard for victory. In the end Victors lost 3-7 but it was a good baptism of fire for the new players and Div.2 teams should note they need to be on the ball when facing Riddlesworth

21/09/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Spitfires beat Bury Romans 10-0.
Last year`s champions Spitfires started the defence of their title against Romans with a convincing 10-0 win, losing only 3 legs of the 33 played. For Romans Paul Seabrook looked sharp and played really well to take a set off Mark Cracknell and Colin Baxter only to lose to both 11-6 in the 4th.Goran Gelevski playing up from Div.2 gave a good account of himself with his enthusiastic and never give up approach & Roy Pettit should also be commended for his cavalier efforts despite being hospitalised recently. Paul Evans, Spitfires was in good form and won all 3 of his games without losing a set. The closest game was the doubles where Seabrook & Gelevski took a leg off Cracknell & Evans before losing 4,8,-8,8

Welcome back to the Bury St Edmunds League Website.

The fixture list for the 2009-2010 season is now online and we are pleased to welcome some new teams to the league from Gazeley,Riddlesworth Hall,Rougham and Stowmarket. 

The Bury St Edmunds & District Table Tennis League held its team handicap competitions over the last 3 weeks at King Edwards Upper School. The handicap system generally tends to favour the improving younger players but veterans Colin Baxter and Mark Cracknell of First Division Thurston Spitfires did their best to disprove the rule by reaching the semi-final of the Bury Free Press Shield after following up comprehensive victories over R.A.T.T.S and Thurston Victors with an 8-7 win over Jack Anthony and Chen Guan of Bury Crusaders which was only confirmed in the second leg of the final doubles.  There they met Simon Green and Graham Self of Rougham Stags who similarly had overcome Bury Conquerors 8-7 after rather easier wins over Bury Commandoes and Bury Vikings. The Stags raced into a 5-1 lead in the semi-final but were pegged back to 5-4 before resuming their dominance and reaching the final 11-4.

In the opposite half of the draw James Cutler and Brian Roberts of British Sugar Defenders beat their First Division clubmates British Sugar Blades 8-6 before getting the better of Katie Meadows and Andrew Baxter of Thurston Arrows 8-7 by winning the final leg of the doubles after the Thurston pair had won the first two to draw level. Meanwhile youngsters Will Hall and Will Woods of Rougham Lions disposed of First Division teams British Sugar and Lawshall to set up their semi-final clash against the Defenders. This proved to be a one-sided affair with the Lions racing into the final 13-2. In the final Will Hall got the Lions off to flying start with a 3-0 victory in the first singles. Simon Green then pegged back the score to 4-2 but when Hall again took the next 3-0 the Lions were only one set away from victory. Will Woods duly took this to enable Rougham Lions to win the Bury Free Press Shield with an 8-4 victory.

The first round losers in the Bury Free Press Shield were given a second chance of glory in the Saffrons Shield competition. This was dominated by the more mature players with Terry Scott and Mark James of British Sugar reaching the final by beating Bury Crusaders 8-7 and Bury Romans 11-4. There they met Goran Gelevski and John Milczarek of Bury Normans who had beaten R.A.T.T.S 8-4 and the 2008 Bury Free Press Shield winners Stowmarket Jaguars 8-7. In the final the Sugar pair were unable to overcome 9-17 and 10-16 starting deficits in the first two singles and quickly found themselves 0-6 down in the match. They were then unable to find a way back into the match and Bury Normans won the Saffrons Shield with a comfortable 13-2 victory.

^{Held on 16/03/09 @ The New Green Community Centre.There was always going to be some friendly rivalry in this local derby particularly as this was, for both teams, the last match of the season. It opened with a real battle between the youthful energetic style of Craig Shand for the Victors taking on the mature, cunning and guile of the experienced Vulcan Ian freeman. Ian stole the first game but Craig responded with a blistering attack to win the second. Ian dug in and took the third but again succumbed to the power of Craig’s forehand kill to lose the fourth. The final leg was a real battle of shear nerves and determination with Ian the "victor" for the Vulcans winning 13 – 11. Andy Janes won the next game taking all three in a close fought match with the on-form Ian Moffatt. Sean Gridley in only his third outing for the Vulcans then beat Gerald Harwood in a tough four-leg match, where Sean’s consistency and tenacity proved too much for the flamboyant style of a very determined Gerald. Andy Janes went on to beat Craig Shand and Gerald Harwood with three-straight leg wins, Sean won his two remaining legs beating Ian Moffatt and Craig Shand and Ian Freeman defeated Gerald Harwood and, after a five set tussle, Ian Moffatt. With the match reaching score nine - nil to the Vulcans the fighting spirit of the Victors came through with the combination of Ian Moffatt/Craig Shand beating Andy Janes/Sean Gridley in a nail biting five set game. Final match score Vulcans 9-Victors 1.}

Already assured of promotion to Division 1, Vulcans opened the scoring with a 3-1 win for Ian Freeman over David Brinkley. Sean Gridley beat Graham Self 3-0 & Andy Janes accounted for Will Hall by the same score. The Thurston team then only dropped 1 more set all night when Janes beat Brinkley 3-1. Young Will Hall,Stags put up a good fight against Gridley before losing 15-13 in the 3rd. Match score 10-0

09/03/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Arrows lost to Rougham Lions 1-4.
Rougham Lions proved too strong winning the four singles with Andrew Baxter, Arrows having the best chance before losing to William Woods in 5. The doubles was close all the way with Katie Meadows/Baxter coming out on top 12-10 in the fifth against Woods and David Hall.

Held on 08/03/09 at King Edward School, Bury St. Edmunds.The entry for the 2008 Bury St Edmunds & District Table Tennis League's individual tournament was encouragingly high at 42 and prompted a last minute change to the format of the Handicap competition to ensure that the event finished at a reasonable time. This was played over one leg only instead of the best of three which should have favoured the higher handicapped players. It proved to be the case with only Colin Baxter of the 1st Division entrants reaching the semi-final where he found the handicap of conceding a 9 points start too much and was beaten by John Milczarek. In the other half of the draw the recently improved Joe Easdown reached the final by beating Lynn Green. With both finalists playing off the same handicap the game started at 10-10 and their predominantly attacking styles produced an exciting and close finish with Easdown coming out on top 21-19 to gain his first title.

The remaining competitions were played over the usual "up to 11 points, best of 5 legs" format. The Division 2 Singles defending champion, Ray Stapleton, reached the final again with a good victory over George Kizis 11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9 where he met Matt Easdown who had beaten Graham Self 11-7, 11-3, 11-5. With both players basically defensive a war of attrition and resultant falling behind schedule was unkindly predicted by some. However these fears proved to be pessimistic as Easdown triumphed 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 to complete a father and son double. The Division 3 Singles produced a father and son semi-final in which father David ensured that he would not concede bragging rights by beating son David 11-7, 11-3, 15-13. In the final he met Lynn Green who had overcome her club colleague Andrew Baxter 11-4, 14-16, 11-5, 11-9. However, she could not carry this form into the final and David Hall came through 11-3. 11-5, 11-3.

In the previous year's tournament another father and son, Tony and Martin West, had won 4 titles between them. Their efforts to better this total started when Martin reached the Junior Singles Final by beating Will Vale 6-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7 where he met George Kizis who had beaten Joe Easdown 11-7, 5-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8. The final proved to be almost as close until West produced some big shots to win 11-5, 8-11, 15-13, 11-6. Kizis then gained some consolation by taking the Cadets Singles title with another victory over Joe Easdown, this time by 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10. With Hannah Temple having joined the league this season it was possible to hold the Ladies events again. She made the most of this by taking the Singles title with a 11-1, 11-5, 11-2 win over Lynn Green and followed up by partnering Tony West to an 11-4, 11-8, 11-9 Mixed Doubles win over Colin Baxter and Lynn Green.

The remaining events were dominated by the West family with Tony easing his way into the Veterans Singles final by beating Terry Scott 11-4, 11-8, 11-2 where he met Martin Chamberlain who had beaten Matt Easdown 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 11-9. West continued his good form in the final which he won comfortably 11-3, 11-4, 11-2. The semi-finals of the Restricted Singles competition were closely contested with Matt Easdown overcoming Terry Scott 6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 12-10 and Martin West beating Mark James 11-5, 5-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-7. The final proved to be just as exciting with West losing the first two legs 6-11, 10-12 but then getting his game together to triumph by winning the next three 11-5, 11-6, 11-8.

The Mens Doubles saw the Wests trying to prove on their previous year's runners-up position. They duly reached the final by beating David Aldous and Martin Chamberlain 11-5, 13-11, 11-6 and met Julian Hall and Ray Stapleton who had beaten Colin Baxter and William Woods 11-7, 11-7, 11-8. Although the final was closely contested the Wests were able to maintain their consistency when it mattered and won 11-9, 12-10, 11-9. The Mens Singles was the last event to finish and in the top half the number one seed Tony West was untroubled and reached the final with a 11-3, 11-3, 11-3 win over George Kizis who had excelled in reaching that stage. In the other half the unseeded Martin West had accounted for two seeds in Julian Hall by 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9 and Phil Sinclair 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 to set up a family final. This produced some good rallies but Tony's greater experience always made him the favourite and he eventually retained his title 11-4, 13-15, 11-5, 11-9 to take the family trophy win tally to six out of the seven events they had entered between them. This only left them with the problems of carrying the trophies home and attempting to persuade Mrs West to release some space to display them!

04/03/2009, played at British Sugar Sports and Social Club.
British Sugar drew with Stowmarket Eagles 5-5.
After their recent difficulties Stowmarket Eagles travelled to British Sugar with a full side including the evergreen John Leith who opened the evening against Terry Scott. Scott was in the ascendancy early on and his attacking play enabled him to edge the first two games 14-12, 13-11. However Leith then employed his combination game of anti-loop and backand attack to greater effect to turn around the deficit and take the next three games 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 to put Eagles one up. Janet Scoulding and Mark James then had confortable wins over David Aldous and Mark Cook respectively to give Sugar a 2-1 match lead but Leith then levelled the match with a closely-fought 11-7, 12-10, 11-8 win over Scoulding. Scott took on Cook and after winning the first leg 11-8 was surprised by Cook's ensuing hitting which enabled him to take the next two games 11-5, 11-4. Scott then brought more steadiness into his game and edged a tense fourth leg 13-11 before going on to take the decider 11-8. James recovered from an early setback against Cook to win 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 which was followed by an 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 victory for Scoulding over Aldous to put Sugar 5-2 ahead. Leith then began a fightback with an 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 win over James bringing Scott to the table against Aldous. After losing the first leg 8-11, Aldous then found some inspiration and found his attacking game much more consistently. Scott had no answers and Aldous took the next three legs 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 to pull back the match score to 5-4. By then the impetus was very much with Eagles and Leith and Aldous took the doubles against James and Scott 11-7. 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 to pull off a creditable match draw. This result leaves Sugar looking nervously over their shoulders as they attempt to retain their Division 1 title. Their final two matches will both be difficult to win with the second being against their main rivals British Sugar Blades.

George Kizis the new Suffolk Under15 Champion took revenge on his earlier in the season defeat by Ray Stapleton, Defenders with a confident display of attacking shots on both wings to win 3-1.He also accounted for James Cutler & Kevin Pryke without dropping a set. Jo Easdown, runner up to Kizis in the County Tournament found Stapleton`s heavy spin service & defence difficult to handle and went down 0-3 but defeated Cutler in four including an 18-20 third set win to the visitor and also Pryke.Tim Jolly lost to all three Defender`s players.In the doubles Kizis/Easdown proved too strong for Stapleton/Pryke winning in four.Match Result 6-4.

A reminder, if you have an R against your home match please make an effort to submit a match report to The Match Secretary for inclusion on the website & possibly The Bury Free Press. Despite asking for an increase in these earlier in the season two divisions have achieved less than 25% so far this campaign. We want to help publicise the game in the local community & raise it`s profile.

In the Suffolk County Junior Championships held on 14/02/09 @ Stowupland juniors playing in all three Divisions of our League delivered some excellent performances. Martin West, Bury Crusaders lost 0-3 in the final of the Under 18`s but his opponent was several years older so this was a magnificent effort & he should be well placed next year. George Kizis, Bury Conquerors won the under 15 title coming back from 1-2 down to beat Joe Easdown also Conquerors 8-11,11-6,12-14,11-3,11-8 in a match in which attacking play dominated. Will Hall, Rougham Lions won the Under 13 Event 3-1 with two close final sets 12-10,12-10. Congratulations to all of these lads.

26/01/2009, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Spitfires beat British Sugar 8-2.
With both teams winning 6-4 against the other in their previous two encounters this season, it was always going to be a hard one to predict. The first game was one of the best of the evening with Paul Evans (Thurston) taking the first leg 11-8 with some steady play against Phil Sinclair (British Sugar).However, by the time they got to the deciding leg it was Sinclair who was choosing the right shots and went on to win 11-5 in the fifth. The next game also went right down to the wire with Mark Cracknell (Thurston) beating Terry Scott 11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8. Colin Baxter then took Thurston into a 2-1 lead by overcoming Mark James in four legs. Cracknell got his attacking game going well to beat Sinclair 11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 11-4. James put his previous game behind him to enjoy a comfortable victory over Evans making the score 3-2 to Thurston. It was looking like another 6-4 score line but then Thurston had a mad rush of blood to the head to take the last five games. Baxter beat Scott and Cracknell beat James, both in convincing fashion to make it 5-2 to Thurston. The eighth game of the evening saw Baxter up against Sinclair, both players had played in the Suffolk Vets Championships the previous day and were Bury's only representatives, partnering each other in the doubles. With both a bit stiff from their exertions against the county's elite, they managed to put on another entertaining and tactical game. It was Baxter who took the game 9-11, 11-5, 13-11, 12-10 against his long-time nemesis. Evans tasted victory when he overcame Scott in four legs, getting revenge from their previous encounter. Cracknell and Baxter beat Sinclair and James 11-4, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 to clinch an 8-2 victory.

Staged on 14/01/09, this match was played in a good spirit. For the home side Julian Hall despite some discomfort due to damaged ribs was too powerful for Spitfires winning his three & only dropping one set to Mark Cracknell. Phil Watson won two but sometimes overhit against Paul Evans who also managed to combat his top spin forehand & backhand to win their game in four. Gordon Meadows playing up managed to win a thrilling match in four against Colin Davies after winning the first set 16-18 but the latter got the better of Evans using attack on both flanks to good effect. Cracknell playing well, his flat hitting causing concern for all players beat Davies in four. The doubles proved close with Hall/Watson edging Cracknell/Evans in the fifth 11-9. Final score 7-3.

Defenders picked up their first point of the season with a maximum from Ray Stapleton and Nick Raworth`s first win in the campaign & James Cutler also contributing a victory both over Tim Jolly. George Kizis & Tom Wright won their two singles against Raworth & Cutler and then combined in the best match of the night to beat Cutler & Stapleton in the doubles 2 games to 3. Final score 5-5.

26/11/2008, played at Stowupland High School.
Stowmarket Jaguars beat Bury Normans 6-4.
A good spirited and competitive evening saw two keenly fought 5 enders, with both points being won by Bury Normans.The first was between Tony Mooney and Goran Gelevski - each winning alternate ends before Goran took the decider 8-11.More noteable was game 8 where John Milczarek battled back from 2-1 down to clinch the point from Ray Zhu.Andy Bennett claimed his maximum in game 9 before losing the doubles with Tony Mooney in three straight.

In the Rougham Arena the Bury Cavaliers belied their lowly league position with a stirring performance and the final result did not justify the quality of their play. The first match saw the rapidly improving Jack Anthony give Bury Cavaliers the advantage. Jack, with his pen holder grip and his quick feet, set up many cross table forehands to defeat Paul Hurst 11-8 in the fifth set of an enthralling encounter.  Rougham Ratts,Peter Wilcox first brought the Ratts level defeating Chen Guan 3-1, Peter then put the Ratts in front defeating Jack Anthony 3-0. The first set was the crucial one which Peter shaded 12-10 and gave him the confidence to finish the job. Paul Hurst defeated Chen Guan 3-1 in the fourth match again the first set proving pivotal with Paul edging home 14-12. In the fourth set Paul was grateful for a few service errors by Chen to see him home.The best match of the evening saw a cracking doubles match with the Cavaliers storming into a 2-0 nil lead, the Ratts regrouped winning the 3^rd and levelled things up in the fourth to set up a 5^th set which the Ratts won 11-7, Peter Wilcox’s never say die attitude proving decisive on several occasions.The small crowd (Jacks dad) were treated to a wonderfully entertaining table tennis match which was enjoyed by all

Matches between Thurston Spitfires & Lawshall are always close affairs & this was no different with the expectation of Martin Gray turning up for Lawshall, Thurston knew they would have their work cut out to get a victory. The first game was probably the best of the evening with Dennis Morgan, Lawshall  in confident mood going two legs up on Mark Cracknell but then the latter got his game together & outwitted Morgan to win the rubber 3-2. Paul Evans, Spitfires then had a convincing win over Clive Grimwood 11-8, 11-5, 11-7. With no sign of Gray it was looking like Thurston would get a good win under their belts. But 8.30 pm arrived & so did Gray which put a totally different complexion on the match as he went on to win his three games with relative ease. Colin Baxter,Thurston had fairly comfortable 3-0 wins over Morgan & Grimwood & the “come back king” Cracknell beat Grimwood 3-2 after again being 0-2 down. Morgan lost the first leg to Evans 11-8 but went on to win 5-11, 9-11, 8-11. In a closely fought doubles Gray & Morgan got the better of Cracknell  & Baxter 3-11,11-8,7-11,10-12 to draw the match 5-5.

Luke Hardwick & Matthew Branfield playing for Thurston Jets achieved a convincing win over clubmates Katie & Clare Meadows representing Thurston Arrows on 17.11.08

In the first game Luke dominated with fast determined attacking play giving Katie no time to settle to win 11-6. A complete turnaround followed with Katie taking the second 4-11 to level. A good battle ensued with each player taking a rubber before in the final game Luke found his top form to win 11-4.

Matthew playing in his first season in the league made a nervous start losing the first 6-11 to Clare but with solid defending went on to win the next three despite Clare`s lethal unpredictable backhand producing an abundance of points. Katie then beat Matthew her experience and fast top spin serves proving too strong in a good match to watch , attack v defence with many exciting rallies.

Luke`s 3-0 win over Clare clinched the match for the Jets & a doubles win for the home side put the icing on the cake. Sweet revenge for being shot down by the Arrows earlier this season.

In the top of the table clash Mark Cracknell`s mix of attacking and defensive shots gave him a comfortable victory over Mark James giving Thurston a good start away to British Sugar 5-11,9-11,7-11. Controlled and consistent returns from Colin Baxter increased Thurston Spitfires lead with a straight leg victory over Janet Scoulding 9-11 5-11 6-11. Terry Scotts hard fought win over Paul Evans brought Sugar back into the match with a 6-11 11-8 11-6 11-3 victory. In the game of the night Cracknell came back from 2 legs down to beat Scoulding.  The first two legs went to the home player through controlled top spin loops and excellent counter blocking, however Cracknell raised his game to win 11-9 11-9 8-11 10-12 3-11, though strong attacking shots which proved too much for Scoulding. James attacking shots produced a tight three leg victory over Evans 11-2 11-9 11-8.  Scott continued the Sugar revival with a straight legs win over Baxter, Scott changed from his normal offensive game to win 11-7 11-8 12–10 with controlled loops and good placement of the ball. Scoulding beat Evans 11-8 11-3 11-8 to giver Sugar the lead 4-3 for the first time in the match.This was short lived with Cracknell defeating Scott 7-11 9-11 7-11 and Baxter defeating James 2-11 16-14 3-11 8-11 to give a 5-4 score in favour of Thurston with the doubles to play.The more experienced pairing of Cracknell and Baxter clinched victory for the away team with a hard fought win over Scott and James 11-13 11-6 9-11 8-11 giving Spitfires a deserved 4-6 victory.

Unbeaten Sugar visited Lawshall & after a tough match containing some excellent table tennis came away with a 4-6 win.

Sugar raced into a 0-1 lead with Mark James playing a good steady retrieving game getting the better of Dennis Morgan by 1 set to 3. Next on Clive Grimwood against Phil Sinclair proved to be a closer game than usual with Grimwood taking the first set only for Sinclair proving his consistency taking the next three with a 10-12 score in the fourth. Lawshall`s Andy Maguire making his home debut found the so far unbeaten in the League Janet Scoulding too good despite taking the first 11-5 & subsequently lost in four sets. A marathon five setter followed between Grimwood & James lasting over half an hour resulting in a 6-11 win in the fifth for James. Lawshall finally registered a win with Morgan beating Scoulding 3-1 in a game which had some excellent defending from Morgan & good attacking play from Scoulding. Sinclair got the better of Maguire before Grimwood registered Lawshall`s second point with a fine 3 sets to 2 win over Scoulding with a 12-10 final set victory. Maguire then recorded his first victory in the League for the home side beating James in five after coming from 1-2 down & winning 11-5 in the fifth. A draw was still possible going into the last singles which saw a close fought 5 set match between Morgan & Sinclair, the latter coming from 2-1 down to win the fifth 5-11.

The doubles saw Morgan/Grimwood take the first set against Sinclair/James then go 1-2 down before clinching the fourth 12-10 & raising their game after being 1-4 down to take the decider 11-5.

03/11/2008, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Arrows lost to Rougham Lions 1-4.
Katie Meadows,Arrows played with true grit in the opening rubber against David Hall to come back from two games down.The remaining games saw Lions too strong for Arrows with William Woods winning his two singles without dropping a set against Katie & Clare Meadows & the doubles going 1-3 to the away side.

03/11/2008, played at New Green Community Centre.
Thurston Vulcans beat Rougham Stags 8-2.
Gordon Meadows & Ian Freeman,Vulcans both had straight set victories over David Brinkley & Graham Self. Young Will Hall,Rougham playing up from the 2 player division showed skill & determination in defeating Stuart Duncombe 8-11 in the fifth.The rest of the match passed without drama with Brinkley beating Duncombe in straight sets to give his team their second game on the night.

02/10/2008, played at Rougham Sports Centre.
Rougham Lions beat Bury Saxons 5-0.
The father & son team of David & Will Hall proved too strong for a young Saxon`s side that put up a spirited performance.The match result of 5-0 to Rougham was achieved without losing a game.

20/10/2008, played at Gazeley Village Hall.
Gazeley Giants lost to Rougham Stags 4-6.
It was Gazeley`s Kin Choi Chan`s turn to sit out this match so Annette Ginn played with the home team`s Magyar players. The first two games took nearly an hour to complete they were so close.Lee Taylor, Stags just edged Bela Szabo 12-14 in the fifth & David Brinkley had a very close game with Tibor Schmitt before also winning in the fifth 7-11.Annette Ginn got the home side back on track with a win over Graham Self. The rest of the match was played in a very competitive but excellent spirit with Lee Taylor winning his three,the star man for Rougham. A deserved 4-6 victory for Stags but very close.

On 01/10 Vikings were away to newly promoted British Sugar Blades, formerly WEHG Volunteers. Blades had already won their first match in the higher division away to Bury Crusaders but were expecting a tough encounter with the former champions. Anticipating this they fielded new signing Phil Watson, a former Hampshire County Junior & National League Division 1 player. Unfortunately due to the late withdrawal of Dominic Melero, Vikings were forced to play with only two players with Will Vale, current Suffolk Under 19 Champion alongside David Unwin.

One of the best games of the night was Julian Hall against Unwin ,two old adversaries from the 1980`s. Hall himself a former Suffolk County Junior aggressively attacking his opponent at every opportunity won the first set 13-11 & the second very convincingly 11-4. To his credit Unwin then went on the offensive forcing Hall back & took the match 8-11, 6-11, 5-11.

Phil Watson by his own admission a little rusty after only one practice session following years out of the game gave Unwin an even closer tussle. Particularly strong on the forehand with acute angled drives the final score was 10-12, 11-6,11-8,9-11,10-12 with good counter hitting evident from both players but Unwin`s better preparation & fitness perhaps just tilting the score his way.

Blades, Colin Davies succumbed to Unwin in 3 sets & in a tense tussle with Vale went down 2 games to 3. The latter then showed how he has improved over the last two seasons with a closer than expected encounter with Watson before losing 9-11,12-10,13-11, 11-7. Earlier in the evening he had not been at his best with a 3-0 sets loss against Hall.

The doubles pairing of Hall/Watson made short shift of Unwin/Vale 4, 6 & 3 to give Blades a 6-4 victory. Melero`s presence would have surely reversed the scores.

The return match in December is eagerly awaited.

Week 1 of the BSE Table Tennis League threw up a potentially close encounter between Vikings and Lawshall, two teams who have in past years vied for top spot in Division 1.

The opening match saw David Unwin defeat Dennis Morgan three sets to nil, Unwin starting strongly and managing to maintain the advantage as Morgan began finding his range in the third set.

Lawshall then bounced straight back in the next match to level the score, with Kevin Gray defeating Dominic Melero. The aggressive backspin game of Gray was to remain dominant for the entire evening, and Melero succumbed in straight sets.

The next two matches were much closer affairs, first John Waters and Clive Grimwood fought out a titanic struggle over 5 sets. Waters taking the first two sets, and looking like he was heading for a 3-0 victory, only for Grimwood to fight back to take the third set 13-11, and then follow up by taking the fourth 11-4. The deciding set was in the balance until the last few points where Waters held his nerve to take it 11-8.

Melero and Morgan then returned to the table and an even closer battle ensued. This time Morgan took the first two sets, before Melero wound up his attacking forehand topspin to win sets three and four, levelling the match at 2-2. The final set seemed to be heading to Morgan, who built up a good lead, but again Melero came back to set up a tense string of deuces, finally emerging victorious 15-13.

The following 5 matches were all decided in straight sets, Unwin first overcoming Grimwood, and then Gray proving to wily for Waters. Grimwood was then back to the table to take on Melero, a good contest of attack and defence with Melero running out the winner over three close games.

Morgan, who had been getting stronger all evening, used a mixture of attack and control to defeat Waters, and then Gray, once again, had too many tricks up his sleeve for Unwin.

This left the overall match score at 5-4 to Vikings, with the doubles to come. Melero and Unwin paired up against Gray and Morgan, who went into an initial lead taking the first set 11-9. The Vikings duo fought back taking the second set 11-6, and grew in confidence to complete the victory 11-8, 11-9.

The final score was a hard fought 6-4 win for Vikings, in a close encounter played in good spirit, which ultimately could have gone either way.

10 WEEK SESSIONS WILL TAKE PLACE AT KING EDWARD VI SCHOOL STARTING ON THURSDAY 11th SEPTEMBER 2008.

SESSIONS
3.30-4.45 King Edward School & Upper Schools Pupils
4.45-5.45 Middle School Boys, years 5,6,7&8
5.45-6.45 Girls & Women
7.00-9.00 Club Members

Coaching Sessions will be headed by Natalie Green, English Table Tennis Association Coach and International Player.

The cost of a 10 week session is £10 and all equipment is supplied. You can download the flyer here and also download an application form from the website or phone Peter Fordham on 07949330139 for details.

Due to the unavailability of King Edward VI school during week 9 fixtures commencing 17th November please note these matches will be played instead week commencing 8th December.

We have added a gallery page to the website. We have a few shots of the 2008 league tournament taken by James Cutler and more will be added soon.

If you have any pictures you would like to add to the site please let us know.

As we begin the 2008 2009 season we currently have three vacant committee positions:

• Vice Chairman
• Press Correspondent
• Tournament Secretary

Volunteers would be welcomed and any interest - please contact Phil Sinclair or Ray Stapleton via the website contact page.

We have added an archives page with honours lists from previous seasons. If you have any old handbooks then please let us know and we can compile a back catalogue for loading onto the site.

The new fixture lists for the 2008/2009 season are now available to view online. 

Please Note: The change of dates for WEEK 9 where the Bury Club Venue is unavailable.  These matches are instead being played on the 9th December.

Many congratulations go to Martin West the second winner of this trophy which goes to the young player of the season. Martin playing for the first time in the league in Division 2 won 33 matches and only lost 4 to two much more experienced & senior opponents. He was presented with the cup which he will keep for 12 months at the AGM in May and with it a small replica which he retains.

To all you junior players out there something to aim for when the new season commences.

The League closed its season with the Bury Free Press and Saffrons Shields handicap competitions which were held over three consecutive weeks at King Edward V1 High School.

All teams are entered into the Bury Free Press competition with first round losers
getting another chance via the Saffrons Shield. With the handicapping system favouring lower ranked players the format generally produces a mixture of very close and less close finishes and the 2008 competitions continued this pattern.With tables fairly closely packed together in the early stages to accommodate the large entry, round 1 of the Bury Free Press Shield produced some tight encounters. The improving youngsters of second division Bury Conquerors, Martin West and Tom Wright, met the much more experienced Clive Grimwood and Dennis Morgan of first division Lawshall and received starts averaging four points per game. They used these to good effect and after the four singles had established a 7-5 match lead. This left the Lawshall
needing to win all three ends of the doubles to progress and their 12-10 first leg win kept their hopes alive. Their greater resolve then saw them take the next two ends 11-7, 11-6 to seal an 8-7 match victory.
 
The starting handicap difference between Thurston Jets and Bury Crusaders was much more severe at an average of seven points. This necessitated playing up to 21 points per game with Ben Branfield (Jets) starting from 17-8 ahead against Peter Fordham. Although he managed to win 1 game Fordham eventually lost 16-21, 22-20, 16-21 however he and Terry Thompson then fought back and held a 7-5 lead going into the doubles. This time the higher handicapped pair came out on top with Ben and his father, Peter, winning 21-15, 21-13,21-19 for another 8-7 match result.

In the next round Lawshall met second division Stowmarket Jaguars who included Andy Bennett who was completing his first season in the league. It became apparent that his early season results did not reflect his current form and his handicap began to look a little generous. With Bennett winning his singles 6-0 the Lawshall pair were left with too much ground to make up and eventually lost the match 11-4. In the following rounds Bennett's initial partner, Colin Belcher, was replaced by Granville Sutton whose steady play contributed to victories of 13-2 over Bury Saxons, 8-1 over 2007 winners Thurston Vulcans and another 13-2 over Bury Commandoes to take the
Jaguars into the final.
 
Unfortunately there were late withdrawals which unbalanced the bottom half of the draw and benefitted second division West End Home Guard Defenders in particular. They fielded Trevor O'Sullivan and James Cutler who enjoyed starts of 17-8 and 17-9
against British Sugar's Mark James and Terry Scott. Although the Sugar pair held on in the singles to be 5-7 behind they were well beaten 21-16, 21-14, 21-11 in the doubles to lose the match 5-10. In the semi-final the Defenders met Thurston Jets who had also beaten R.A.T.T.S 9-6 along the way. Despite the closeness of the
handicaps this match proved to be rather one-sided with the Defenders reaching the final with a 10-2 victory. This was where their luck ran out as Stowmarket Jaguars cruised to a 14-1 victory to win the trophy. The handicappers will have noted that Bennett won all of his singles in the competition 3-0 which will ensure that he will start on a less generous footing in the 2009 competition.

Although there were fewer matches in the Saffrons Shield consolation competition most of them produced much closer finishes. After a 12-3 victory over their clubmates, Bury Saxons, Bury Conquerors met the newcomers Oliver Jackson and Max Boulton of Walsham-le-Willows and had to concede game starts of between six and nine points. West and Wright started strongly with similar 23-21, 21-19, 21-17 and 21-17, 21-19, 23-21 victories to move into a6-0 match lead. Although they then relaxed slightly they held a match-winning 8-4 lead after the singles leaving the Walsham pair the consolation of taking the doubles 3-0. The match between first division Bury Vikings and the father and daughter pairing of Gordon and Katie Meadows of Thurston Arrows produced diverse handicap starts which ranged between two and eleven points. This resulted in the most even match of the entirecompetitions so far with the score standing at 6-6 after the singles. The Arrows pair took the first leg of the doubles 21-15 from a 15-10 start but the Vikings held their nerve to win the next two legs 21-17,21-17 and the match by an 8-7 scoreline. The Vikings then met their clubmates the Conquerors and found themselves in the same 6-6 match position after the next singles. However they were unable to cope with a 0-4 start in the doubles which the Conquerors won 11-2, 13-11, 11-6 to reach the final in which they met Bury Crusaders who had overcome West End Home Guard
Volunteers 9-5 in their semi-final. With handicaps fairly evenly matched the Conquerors held a 7-5 lead after the singles but could not repeat their success of the previous round in the doubles which the Crusaders took 11-9,11-6, 11-9 to win through 8-7 overall.

Played on 10/03/08 Sugar powered on in their bid for the Division 1 title.Phil Sinclair opened for Sugar beating Stuart Duncombe in 4 games with the first two very tight at 11-9,9-11 before Sinclair found his form to take the next two 4-11,3-11.Terry Scott & Mark James won 0-3 over Andy Janes & Ian Freeman. Freeman battled well only to lose 8-11 to Scott in the fifth and 5-11 to Sinclair in the fifth but by the end Sugar proved why they are top of the league.

Held at the County Table Tennis Centre @ Stowupland High School on 02/02/08 local league players at junior level coached at Bury and Rougham Clubs performed extremely well to win 3 titles and take 2 runners up positions. So many congratulations to Will Vale, Bury Conquerors winner of the U19 title with James Downes, Bury Saxons the runner-up.Martin West, Bury Conquerors the U16 champion with George Kizis, Bury Commandoes, the runner-up. Will Hall, Rougham Lions the new U13 champion. Mention should also be made of Becky Macintyre, who has played for Rougham Stags,for the Under 16 girls title although she was unopposed on the day and Rachel West who I am sure will play in our league in seasons to come,the U11 winner.

Held 17th-20th August 2008 at Wellingborough`s own purpose built table tennis hall with 15 tables @ Weavers Leisure Centre. Coaches include Desmond Douglas,Andrew Rushton, Tim Yarnall,Joanna Parker & Frank Regenhart. Book early to avoid disappointment. Please ask your Match Secretary, Ray Stapleton for further information if you are interested.

Played on 14/11/07 @ Summer Road. Bury Commandoes having set the pace so far this season went into the match full of confidence but with respect for their opponents and it was played in a competitive spirit and good camaraderie. The more experienced Bury pair took the honours with Andrew Cross showing some steely defence when needed against Oliver Jackson and George Kizis revealing impressive flashes of a much improved backhand. The Walsham players can take heart from their performance and once they gain more confidence can look forward to closer scorelines.

Played on 29/10/07 new to Division 2 WEHG Defenders visited seasoned campaigners Thurston Victors. The first two games went to the home side with Craig Shand beating James Cutler 3-0 and Gerald Harwood accounting for Nick Raworth 3-1. In the 3rd game Kevin Pryke, Defenders gave Ian Moffat a scare taking the 2nd and 4th games 11-13 before succumbing 11-5 in the fifth. From thereon the superior experience of the Thurston trio who have been playing in this division for some years proved too much for Defenders who only managed two more sets all evening.Match score 10-0.

Played on 18/10/07. The young Walsham players put up a good fight but found their considerably more senior opponents too experienced on the night. Graham Self`s heavy chopped serves and looping forehands accounted for George Shaw and Oliver Jackson in straight games but Paul Hurst struggled to beat Jackson only edging through with desperate defence 12-10 in the fifth after being behind. Shaw also took a set off Hurst.Big hitting in the doubles secured the first set for Walsham but they could not sustain this and lost the match 5-0.

Played on 04/10/07. In form George Kizis and Steven Ensinger, Bury Commandoes were too strong for Graham Self and Paul Hurst although Self managed to gain some self respect in defeating Ensinger 3-1. Kizis despite rarely reaching full potential was untroubled throughout.

Making his debut for Stags and returning to the game after a break before which he played for Felsham, penholder Mark Cocksedge accounted for Colin Davies in four sets and took Ray Stapleton to five before losing in the fifth 10-12. Neither he nor his team mates Calum Macintyre and Simon Green were able to trouble Julian Hall who will be surely more at home in Division 1. Match result 1-9.

The opening night of the new season at Bury Club saw reigning Div. 1 champions Bury Vikings take on newly promoted Thurston Vulcans. With Dominic Melero unavailable Vikings called on Suffolk Under 13 Champion George Kizis to test his skills in Div.1.

A close encounter ensued with David Unwin winning all three singles and John Waters two, only Gordon Meadows,Vulcans testing Unwin taking the first set 12-14 and then defeating Waters 1-3. Kizis fought well all evening taking 2 sets from Stuart Duncombe and 1 from Meadows before losing to Andy Janes in three.

Unwin and Waters secured victory in the doubles to give a match score of 6-4 to the home side. 

Many congratulations to George Kizis of Bury Commandoes who was awarded The Nigel Jepson Memorial Trophy for the Young Player of the Season at the League`s AGM last monday.George received the trophy from Judy Jepson and was the unanimous choice of the committee. He became the Suffolk Under 13 Champion earlier in the year.

The Bury St. Edmunds & District Table Tennis League held its annual Bury Free Press Handicap competition over three evenings at King Edward VI School. As ever, the younger and lower-ranked players were keen to take on their Division 1 counterparts on a more even footing and the handicapping system helped to produce some very close results all through the competition. The highlight of the early rounds was the clash of Division 1 champions Bury Vikings (Aaron Self & David Unwin) against clubmates and juniors George Kizis and Steven Ensinger of Bury Commandoes. After the first three singles Commandoes held a 6-3 match lead and with their 17-5 starting lead they looked firm favourites to clinch the additional two legs they needed for victory. However, a strong 21-17, 22-20, 23-21 victory by Self tied the scores going into the deciding doubles. In this the Vikings took the first two legs 21-19, 21=19 to complete the turnaround and clinch an 8-6 match victory. Similar 8-6 wins were achieved by Thurston Spitfires, Bury Romans and Gazeley over West End Home Guard B, West End Home Guard A and Stowmarket Jaguars respectively. Division 2 Thurston Victors (the youthful Craig Shand and slightly older
Gerald Harwood) used their mid-range handicaps to good effect and reached the semi-final stage by beating RATTS 9-6, Lawshall 9-6 and clubmates Thurston Spitfires 10-5, all in relatively untroubled fashion. Their 2 Player Division compatriots, Thurston Jets (Lynn Green and Peter Duncombe),had higher handicaps and also benefitted from a bye in the first round. They also reached the semi-final with wins over Thurston Vulcans 12-3 and British Sugar 8-5. In the penultimate round they found themselves up against Bury Vikings who were conceding starts of 7-17 and 5-17. Despite this the Vikings led 6-3 and then 7-5 going into the deciding doubles which they started at 6-17. This produced the most thrilling conclusion of the whole tournament with the Jets winning the first two legs 21-16, 21-19 to square the match.In the deciding leg the Vikings again pulled back to 19-20 with some consistently powerful play and looked favourites to clinch the match.However, at that stage a fortunate clipping of the top of the net led to a high Vikings' return which Green smashed away gleefully to put the Jets into the final with an 8-7 victory. There they faced the Victors who had overwhelmed their higher-ranked Division 2 opponents Bury Romans 9-3 in their semi-final. With a minimal rest period between semi-final and final the Jets were unable to maintain their momentum with reduced 13-10 and 15-10 starts. Harwood and Shand each won both of their singles 2-1 to complete an 8-4 match victory and the Bury Free Press Trophy for Thurston Victors.

First match losers in the Bury Free Press competition received a second chance by being entered into the Saffrons Shield consolation trophy which was run under the same format. This opportunity was gratefully seized upon by James Cutler and Trevor O'Sullivan of West End Home Guard B who reached the final by beating Walsham-le Willows 13-2, Rougham Lions 9-6 and Stowmarket Jaguars 10-5. In the other half of the draw Bury Commandoes had a first round bye but then marched to 11-4 victories over both Bury Conquerors and Thurston Vulcans. The final produced one of the best matches in both competitions with the even handicaps producing either 11-10 or 12-10 starts. Kizis and Ensinger initially gained the upper hand for Commandoes by taking the first three singles 2-1 to produce a 6-3 match lead. O'Sullivan then produced his performance of the tournament to win the final singles 3-0 and tie the match 6-6 going into the doubles. The Commandoes took the first leg 21-18 and followed up by winning the nail-biting second 22-20 to win the
trophy 8-6.

The Bury St. Edmunds & District Table Tennis League individual tournament was held at King Edward V1 Upper School on 04/02/07 and attracted a healthy entry.

The Handicap competition was designed to give the less experienced players a chance to take on the more experienced on at least an equal footing with matches starting at up to 17-5 playing up to 21 points. This did not deter the veteran Ian Brown (Stowmarket) whose steady method enabled him to overcome several high starting deficits on his way to a semi-final meeting against 12 year old George Kizis (Bury) who had himself beaten last year's Mens Singles champion Aaron Self (Bury). Despite a 5-17 deficit Brown took the first leg 21-19 but Kizis levelled by winning the next 21-9. However Brown then dug in even further and reached the final by taking the decider 21-17.The same pattern repeated itself in the other half of the draw where the experienced Colin Baxter (Thurston) three times overcame large starting deficits on his way to a semi-final meeting with 15 year old Will Vale (Bury) who had used a mixture of youthful exuberance and attacking style to good effect. Starting at 17-10 Vale continued to go for his shots and reached the final 21-14, 21-18. In the final Vale had a similar 17-9 start against Brown and using the same game plan he kept his nerve to take the title in relatively untroubled fashion with a 21-16, 21-16 victory.

The Junior Singles preliminary round comprised of 3 groups which produced the expected winners of Aaron Self, Lok Wong (Bury) and Will Vale who then played off for the title in the final group. Both Self and Wong proved too strong for the younger Vale. In the decider Self made the most of his greater experience in coming back from an early reverse to beat Wong and retain his title by 10-12, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7.

The Ladies Singles also comprised of a final group of Carol Clarke (Stowmarket), Lynn Green (Thurston) and a junior, Katie Meadows (Thurston) whose turn to win will come in future years. In the decider Clarke took the title for the first time by defeating Green 11-4, 11-6, 11-5.

The top half of the Restricted Singles draw produced several close matches before Gordon Meadows (Thurston) eventually reached the final by defeating Ray Stapleton (West End Home Guard) 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5. In the bottom half Mark Cracknell (Thurston) used his combination bat to good effect and booked a final appearance against his club-mate when beating Martin Chamberlain (Stowmarket) 11-4, 11-4, 11-3. The final proved to be an evenly matched and tense affair early on but after Cracknell was made to struggle to win the first two legs 13-11, 12-10 he took control in the third and won through by 11-5.

The semi-finals of the Division 2 Singles both featured Bury v Thurston players. In the first Gordon Meadows beat Justin Pettitt (Bury) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 but in the second Paul Seabrook (Bury) evened up the club score when beating Ian Freeman 11-7, 11-6, 11-5. Meadows maintained the edge throughout the final to win 11-7, 11-5, 12-10.

In the 2 Player Division Singles the juniors Will Vale and James Swanson (Bury) were not unduly stretched inreaching the final where Vale added another title by winning 11-8, 11-6, 12-10.

The Mixed Doubles was also played on a group basis and in the deciding match Thurston's Colin Baxter and Lynn Green triumphed over the Stowmarket pairing of Jon Batchford and Carol Clarke 14-12, 11-5, 12-10.

Clive Grimwood and Dennis Morgan (Lawshall) had few problems in winningthrough the top half of the Mens Doubles but the Bury pairing of DominicMelero and Aaron Self had to work harder before beating David Aldous and Jon Batchford (Stowmarket) 2-11, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10 in their semi-final. In the final Grimwood and Morgan caused an upset by defending doggedly and took the title for the first time 11-8, 11-4, 11-13, 11-9.

The later stages of the Mens and Veterans (over 40's) Singles events saw Colin Baxter heavily involved by playing both Ian Brown and David Unwin (Bury) twice and achieving one victory and one reversal against each. In the veterans Singles semi-final he upset the defending champion and number1 seed Brown 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 and followed this up with a very closely fought Mens Singles quarter-final win 11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10 over number 2 seed Unwin to set up another meeting with Brown. However Baxter's exertions then began to catch up on him and Brown gained revenge and a final place 11-8, 11-1, 11-8. In the other half of the Mens Singles Dominic Melero rescued himself from a losing position in the quarter-final when taking the last five points to beat Lok Wong 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10 and set up a semi-final meeting against defending champion Aaron Self. This proved to be a close match between two attacking players and produced a bit of an upset with Melero eventually winning 11-9, 11-5, 18-16.The Men's final produced three very competitive legs which followed a similar pattern with Melero's attack enabling him to build early leads.However Brown stuck to his game plan and his steady defending enabled him to claw his way back on each occasion and take the title 11-9, 13-11, 12-10.

Meanwhile David Unwin reached the Veteran's final by beating Phil Sinclair(British Sugar) 11-5, 12-10, 11-9 to set up another meeting with Baxter who was unable to summon the energy to repeat his previous performance. This time Unwin's all-out attacking style paid dividends and he won home 11-5,11-6, 11-9.

The fixture lists for the new season are now available to view online.  The list can be filtered by week number or team name by clicking in the display table so it is possible to print your team's fixture list directly from the website.

Also available online are the home team's venue details together with an interactive online map.  The map can be resized and the view can be zoomed in or scrolled around to see neighbouring areas.

We hope you like the new functionality and find it useful - as always feedback is appreciated.