Some copies are being emailed an the others will be at Essex Road and Queens club. Please take one/print one/whatever so your team sees it. Cheers….+ please put some comments on the green cards…(apart from you KG "D"!)…all info and tables as of Dec 1^st…..trust you are looking in the Monday Gazette or on our new website…(see later) for weekly results…remember if you see your name/picture in headlines in the newspaper you have to buy me a pint at The Vine after the next AGM or if you want your name in headlines that can be fixed at the cost of 3 pints!...fame doesn’t come cheap!

Introduction…and Essex Road

We are now well into the season and we will have all enjoyed success and failure , tiredness and exhilaration , frustration and elation , expectation and surprise , extreme good luck and incredible bad fortune and all the other feelings and emotions that compliment the fastest sport in the world.

Gone are the days when you had a fixture at the Essex Road Table Tennis Centre and the story went , I was tired after work , the room was freezing , the bins were overflowing , there was dust all over the place , I expected to win at least one but I was frustrated by the multiple Net’s ‘N Edges my jammy opponent got and I could not see that little white ball that moves ever sooo fast ….ooh and my old bat needs replacing…Now you have a great new looking Table Tennis Centre that puts all these thoughts out of your mind…it’s fresh , bright , clean ( as no bins) overall good conditions (great floor and colours) , 2 fan heaters AND you had chance to renew that old bat thanks to the recent night Dave MacDonald organised at the centre with Jarvis Sports.( I think 30-ish people enjoyed this successful event…) Nice one Dave . I played at the Essex Road TT Centre for the first time just the other day. I have been playing there since Dave Kimberley taught me as a little boy nearly over 25 years ago and I kinda got used to the "conditions". I knew the room had a makeover from attending the committee meetings …it should have been on one of those telly programmes DIY SOS or the like…because the result is fantastic ( better than Linda Barker could have done!). I opened the door and ( no I did not cry) and was amazed by the transformation. I know the lighting has not been altered but I and others think that it is fine with the new bright room. The applause should go to the people on the committee that made this happen , Barbara Evans for getting this rolling from a funding perspective, George White and George Hellans for the planning and to the main man Brian "Handy Andy "Wilde who did and controlled the actual doing of the job with his team of volunteers Terry "Laurence Llewellyn Bowen (or whatever his name is )" White for the fantastic colour scheme………….. great job everyone…

In fact here is our chairman’s thanks… "The names of Santa's little helpers on the Essex Road project whom the Chairman would  personally like to thank are;

Graham Quinn, Dave Macdonald, Terry White, George Hellans, Brian Wilde, Frank A'Court, Martyn Richards, Ron Powell, Roger Bielby, Pete Martin, Phil Ware, Alex Garlick

Mick( I spilt the paint) Buley, Mike Wood,.. I’m sure there were one or two others. If I've forgotten your names I haven't forgotten your contributions!""""

I really hope the use of the centre will go up…I know the Inter Town matches now play there and from the book that people sign when they play on an adhoc basis has lots of names in it for a start. All the room needs now is some hanging beads at the entrance with an Eagles claw on it…if you know what I mean…..????

George White also organised a quiz night at Hannington village hall with the help of Llew Hughes which was also an enjoyable night…..for those with a bit of general knowledge of which I seem to possess absolutely none…how do people get to hear of these facts…and remember them!!!…I think too many shandies over the years has killed off my general knowledge segment of my brain….Steve Murgatroyd you must start drinking more beer and stop looking at those girlie magazines!!

I trust everyone is enjoying the new season , seeing new and old faces and putting our skills on show.

So what are the hopes of trophies and fears of relegation so far….

Well , starting with Division One , at the top….really this is a 4 horse race and at the first canal turn St Peters "A" seem to have got off to a good start with Winklebury on their shoulder and Queens "A" and Cannons well in the race. There is also a fight at the foot of the table between the bottom 3 teams . Labour are still without a team win but have had some good individual victories , Ashford Hill have done the double on Labour …due to good team selection (and it is to be noted 10 different players have played in 7 matches!...the players under the control of Denise "Claudia Rannieri (from last season)" Weller

KG "A" have been boosted this season with the inclusion of Tony Amies but really it is too close to call at the foot of the table with predictions. I think though Hannington "A" will end up 5^th after sporting their new signing Rob Turnbull.

In Division 2 Time and Precision are looking favourites for the title and this has been a team effort so far , not just Alan Gustar and Dave Mills( good to see you again Dave!) but the other 3 all performing very well. There is not a team too close to T&P but they cannot afford to slip up as there are 3 other teams capable of mounting a challenge. Coaching Lions are at the foot but certainly NOT outclassed as can be seen from their results.

Roger Barnacle , Martyn Richards Tim Trebett are 3 names that I have picked out as looking to be having a great season with rookie Phil Cook (who I do not know) appearing to be a force in this Division

In Division 3 I have been put in my place stating that this is a 2 horse race…..I did say that Oakley "A" with Chaz Smith leading the way look favourites and the experienced Hannington "C" looking very strong….but hear come Coaching Tigers roaring up the table with Ian Short leading 2 great youngsters that are impressing all the time. Mark Swinscoe with 2 trebles already and looks a great talent and Jared Binner much improved over last season…. A great 3 way contest at the top then. Great to see lots of new names ….and 5 ladies in this Division…so with one in Div 2 and 2 in Div 1 that’s 7 in the Closed Tournament this year then….a great competition in store…

From where I am standing (or playing) I can see the season running well and people enjoying their Table Tennis in Basingstoke , the 3 Divisions with the "play each other 3 times" seems well established now and I think favourable . Many teams have a squad of 5 or more with so many people playing in other leagues. I know of people playing in the Reading League , Newbury, Southampton, Winchester, Maidenhead, Didcot and Aldershot leagues. Some people play twice or more a week. This seems to be the trend with a guarantee of one game a week somewhere and also helps fielding a team of 3 every week.

Most of us are now used to the up to 11 rule and have probably all worked out that getting a good start is imperative as there is not much time to catch up….every point is vital…that fault serve is a massive disappointment….the odd net or edge seems to be more significant than before. Going 2 games up seems a great cushion and psychologically appears a huge task to come back…..but surprisingly it has been done on many occasions ..which shows some peoples real desire …or someone’s complacency ..and then shear nervous panic..

Some teams I have noticed have used the 4^th player for the doubles rule…I have seen this at least twice…showing a good team spirit…

I see the odd person hanging up their bat over recent years and some of these players have "served" in Basingstoke for many many years and maybe one day it would be great to have a night out all together for a chat….

Great to see lots of new faces in the league this season…..so they all deserve a mention for putting their skills on display…some have returned after many years out…..tell me your brief story on the Green Card..18 new players than last year…

Rob Turnbull ( Hannington "A")

Stuart White (Queens "A"….after about 5 years out)

Sue Puriton (Ashford Hill)

Martin King (Ashford Hill)

P Murray (Ashford Hill)

Jim Waine (KG "C")

Andy Pipe (RAF Odiham)

Dave Mills ( Time and Precision….a former great after a long time away apart from a brief spell a few years back with Queens)

Bob Harris (Hannington B)

Phil Cook (Hannington B)

Chris Rogers (Coaching Lions.. after a couple of years out)

George Wilson (Hannington "C")

Ken Wyld (Hannington "C")

Terri Allison (Oakley "B")

(I think the above 3 have all featured …a while back in the league)

Mark Swinscoe (Coaching Tigers)

Paul Wallace (AWE)

Celia Hooker (Queens "D")

Bill Bannister (Oakley "C")

Mervyn Reeves (Oakley "C")

Many of you may have noticed that the Leagues website stopped running before the start of the season and I am sure people would have appreciated looking at the work Bob Garlick did for this. Anyway the good news is that a new look website is being developed by Time and Precision ace , Ashley Pither and his son Tom. It is already taking shape so you can take a look at www.basingstokett.co.uk

I know you get already see the weekly press reports and scores etc in there

Nice job Ashley and Tom…..looks like Basingstoke Table Tennis is back on the world map

For those of you not to up on computers all you have to do is activate the CPU by booting your personal computer ensuring that your modulator/demodulator is on and connected to your POTS line .Login to the operating system then launch your browser and establish a PPP connection with your ISP then cut and paste this url and wow you can see what the press officer thought of your teams performance last week…..got that!!!....any assistance with computers call Terry White

You can already see what sponsorship does to Table Tennis in Basingstoke , team shirts for the Juniors, new equipment for Coaching , the new look Essex Road etc. However lets not rest here , there is still loads and loads of renovation/rejuvenation/rewhatever (basically development) to be done. If any league member would like to sponsor any aspect of the league or works for a company who might be persuaded to offer sponsorship will they please contact the League Chairman George White on 01256 329060 in the first instance.

You could also run a marathon , hold a sponsored host your own "I am Table Tennis player, losing badly Get Me Out of Here" fund raising ever…whatever…

Once again I want to promote this as much as I can…

Steve Murgatroyd will be running another Closed championships this season/next year and after last seasons successful event I hope that this one will run as smoothly. I am not sure of the format yet but I know that the Senior and Junior events will be running on the same weekend at the same venue….so for one reason it would be good for the youngsters to see what standards they can aspire to (however looking at some peoples strokes it may not be a good idea to confuse their appreciation of the correct coaching manual with the way some people get that ball over the net…..like Richard Faulkner and Colin Turrells sidespin techniques for example…Richard when I was coached I was always told to point the bat in the direction that I want the ball to go when pushing or attacking??? And yes Richard did hit his hand on the roof when pushing the ball over the net…I saw it with my own eyes!...

I hope Steve can organise the finals night at Cannons again as this was a real success.

I was pleased to hear of a new event going on at the Brighton Hill School where Gill Larking is running a league for Juniors. I understand that it involves 10 teams with 2 children in each and is played on Mondays 4-6pm at Brighton Hill School….could we see a future Kevin Macken from this crop….good work Gill and Ron Powell and Mick Buley that are putting some good work in as well…

These are the ones I know about…..Alex Garlick Hants U-23 champion , Jonathan Evans wins Cirencester 1 star tournament and beat Ping Ho (who trains with the England U-11 squad)…(unfortunate name to be playing TT…good job his parents aren’t Mr and Mrs Pong..or run a successful golf equipment company )

Our senior mens and cadets are doing well in the Inter town competitions…so some hopes of silverware?

As usual all the gardening comments and Leeds jokes from the KG "D" side have been ignored…sometimes if you leave things too long or do not deal with things in good time then it can all go wrong appear to wilter.Just you wait until 2006. Leeds will be blooming!

Mark Swinscoe and Jared continue to improve and play well and I still believe we will be a force in the second half……….Ian not short of a few words on the Tigers optimistic future…..P.S change your name to a different wild animal next year as I used all the Tiger puns over the last few years…

Still following Leeds Shaun or have you now switched allegiance to Sheffield Wednesday….. ..comments from my favourite KG team…as expected…..I took enough off you last year ….never hit a man when he is down …..PS I was named after Connery…. Sean not Shaun.!

Good Max Dave Partridge ; George Hellans got revenge over Phil Ware …referring to Dave’ treble over Queens "C all in 4 sets and Georges’ 5 set win over Phil.

A hard fought game - no early finish this time. …….referring to a great battle between RAF Odiham and St Peters "B" in which half the matches went to 5 sets and Roger Barnacle showing his fine form this season…using his "Chinook" server top good effect.

The most confusing card ever…….this should have been a green card as well!!!! It was a yellow one!

And it came involved Oakley "A"…no change there then!. As if my job is hard enough as it is!

Best win since we’ve started , Mark making his league debut and played exceptionally well …referring to Tigers 7-3 win over Oakley B and Mark Swinscoe winning a game on his league debut

Ist treble for Andy Stephens in Basingstoke Division One……The lad from Purley does well against KG….see Andy pre season training in Germany pays off

Another enjoyable evening with plenty of time to spend in The Kestrel afterwards….all games over in 3 sets in T & P’s 7-3 win at St Peters. ….St Peters pray for a better time next time…or should that be prey?

Super Golding Hat Trick…Chairman Scalped….this is the sort of comments we want on the green card…applause from a great performance from John Golding versus Hannington A especially the 5 set win over slapper White…sorry.. Chairman George

A win for KG!! a bit early in the season for this……Well Done Tony Amies …good pair and not far short of a treble either!!!....... Dave Kimberley and crew pleased with a 6-4 win over Ashford Hill and Amies 2 points away from a treble….

Very enjoyable evening friendly opposition and we even had a tour of the redecorated TT centre……referring to the match between St Peters B and Queens B……and hosts Queens B not only provided refreshments

Good Max from Lorraine , but good teamwork from KG just saw them scrape home….comments from Phil Ware regarding KG’s 3 braces but all finding Lorraine Watkins too good. The final score was 6-4 to KG…..what does that remind me of Phil….6-4……thets take the 6 and 4 and analyse them. Leeds 6 !!! QPR 1 and Arsenal 5 Spurs 4!!!!. If you are going to bother scoring at least make sure it is worth it!

An excellent start by Coaching in Division 2……referring to the Lions team (same as last year) starting off life in Div 2 (promoted from 3 last year) with a 5-5 draw v KG "C".

An excellent struggle between Dave Partridge and Charlie Smith …referring to the 5 set thriller

And "titanic" struggle between Dave P and Bill Bannister …in which Dave P "went down" right at the end of his voyage to success , eventually "sinking" to his knees 14-12 in the final set.

Well played Jared….his best performance and certainly gave Lorraine quite a scare…I hope this was referring too Jared Binners 11-9 loss in the 5^th to Lorraine Watkins denying him of a great treble…..as this game came soon after Halloween.

Good first win for RAF Odiham..Entertaining..Good defense versus attack with attack winning out on the night..jus!. That said for the defensive team, Frank A’ Court’s flat hit was dynamic and was about 80% success ………statistical and analytical comments on the game against KG C in which Roger Barnacle fired on all cylinders . ….these are the sort of comments that I want on the green cards!!

No Complaints –Soundly thrashed…..St Peters B honest in their defeat by a Duncan Sibbick inspired KG B side.

All this talk of a 2 horse race in Division 3 could be premature…the lad are improving and I’m hoping for a big promotion push from now on…you have been warned…….Ian Short in "fighting talk" for the Tigers and confident in his words and so he should be with the youngsters doing very well…It was me who started on the 2 horse race bit….but then I did not see the 6-4 narrow loss to Oakley A before I made my predictions and the Tigers have a couple of outstanding games to play.

Table Tennis is all about winning (and taking part) …apologies if I got any of these wrong ……and if I have missed any out please make sure you write these on the green card …(when the opposition have signed it and gone)…or on a later card.

Div 1

George White beat Colin Wilkes

Dave Kimberley beat George White

Colin Turrell beat Dave Kimberley

Stuart White beat Rob Turnbull

Colin Wilkes beat Steve Murgatroyd

John Golding beat Rob Turnbull

Pete Martin beat Pete Matthews

Div2

Martyn Richards beat Brian Edwards

Roger Barnacle beat Dave Mills and Brian Wilde

Andy Pipe beat Steve Armstrong

Richard Faulkner beat Alan Gustar

Tim Trebett beat Rob Still

George Hellans beat Richard Faulkner

Sue Tompsett beat Duncan Sibbick

Graham Quinn beat George Freeman

Div3

George Wilson beat Ian Short

Sarah Whithorn beat John McLarty

Steve Jones beat Avril Waters and Dave Partridge

Mark Swinscoe beat Paul Rampton and Paul Wallace

This weekend is normally the Whitsun Bank Holiday in May and we will be going over the Channel for another weekend of Table Tennis and fun. Please call me if you are interested in this event . Any standard ….if you want to know what it is all about give me a call.

Merry Xmas

Sean Pickin

League tables for every result received by me 1^st December 2004

Outstanding matches

Div1

Winklebury V Cannons

A Hill v Queens

Div 2

RAF v KG B

RAF v LIONS

Hann B v T&P

LIONS v Queens B

Lions v KG C

Div 3

Queens C v Tigers

Tigers v KG D

KG D v Oak A