A NOTE AT THE END
OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THE BOOK
PART TWO begins here with the 1990’s continuing
Bob Goodman, whose idea it was of compiling a handbook for the League,
has done a marvellous job. Along with
the many helpers and informants he has spent a good number of hours researching
information to complete the years from 1932 when the League was founded to the
present time.
I hope the reader will find the book invaluable and interesting,
especially to those who have been members of the League for a number of years. Reading through the pages will no doubt
invoke memories and talking points over past glories. One item that came up with the research that
surprised me was that in Bury before the war there were two table tennis
leagues.
Also how times have changed from the hard bat era to the sandwich bat
and of course the many varying bat rubbers that can now be purchased as well as
the change from five to four players in a team down to the present three in a
team.
Many teams from the local churches have disappeared from the game; St
Johns, one of the founder members, Brunswick, Birtle,
Castlecroft, Heap Bridge Methodist, All Saints and Woolfold
St James to mention a few along with teams from the town's industry such as
Bury Felt, Wiggins Teape, John Wilds, Transparent
Paper, Hargreaves, General Engineering and most recently Beloit Walmsley and
Bonar Bibby & Baron.
The League grew steadily after the Second World War and at one stage a
ladies’ division was in being. Although
one or two hiccups were experienced the League grew during the 1960s and 1970s
to reach an
all-time high in 1979/80 with 155 teams competing in 13 divisions. This was around the time of the World
Championships in Birmingham.
Unfortunately table tennis has never reached the height on television of
some other sports and hence the popularity in Bury & District has not been
sustained, probably due to the lack of venues.
Having said
this, the League can still boast of the fact that it is the largest in
Lancashire and around fourteenth in the country.
In recent years ideas of change have been aired to boost the popularity
of the sport. For example, changing the
traditional green tables to blue, reducing the number of points in a game to 11
instead of 21 and a different colour of net.
Whether or not these ideas will come to fruition remains to be seen.
I trust the reader will enjoy the book and, if so, all the hard work put
into the publishing of it will have been worth while.
Brian Poytress
From
an idea put forward in April 1932, a meeting was held at the YMCA on Friday 11
November 1932, which constituted the foundation of the Bury & District
Table Tennis League. There were four
clubs who were the original applicants to join the league, these being Stand
All Saints, Heap Bridge Methodist Sunday School,
Bury
Junior Unionist Association and Bury YMCA.
Mr
J M Thompson and Mr W H Kerfoot agreed to be joint
honorary secretaries and the YMCA was to be the headquarters.
From
the initial meeting until the league started in January 1933, there were two
additional teams who joined, Bury St Johns and Bury Lads Club. The first results from matches played on
Tuesday 10 January 1933 were as follows: Heap Bridge beat Bury Juniors; Bury St
Johns beat Bury Lads Club and Stand All Saints beat YMCA. Despite the setback of losing the first match,
YMCA became the first champions of the league with Stand All Saints as
runners-up.
The league had grown to nine teams for
its second season with the format of each match being that a five person team
each played one game against each of the opposition, making each match the best
of 25 games.
Stand All Saints reversed the previous
season's final position when winning the title from YMCA, although winning fewer
games.
At the end of the season the champions
played the Rest and won 14-11, the teams being:
Stand: R Ashworth, J Briggs, F Binns,
G Orrell, A Raynor, reserve:
R Crook.
The Rest: W Howarth (YMCA), J Wright (Brunswick),
F Howarth (Heap Bridge), G Day (St Johns), K Butterworth (Bury Lads Club),
reserve: G Bridge (St Pauls).
|
|
P |
Pts |
Games
(F/A) |
|
Stand All Saints |
16 |
30 |
292 - 108 |
|
YMCA 'A' |
16 |
28 |
308 - 92 |
|
Brunswick
MC |
16 |
26 |
293
- 107 |
|
Heap
Bridge |
16 |
20 |
|
|
St
Johns 'A' |
16 |
14 |
|
|
St
Johns 'A' |
16 |
12 |
|
|
St Johns 'B' |
16 |
8 |
|
|
Bury Lads Club |
16 |
4 |
|
|
St
Pauls LC |
16 |
2 |
|
The first individual event also took
place at the end of the season in the form of a handicap tournament. After beating Briggs (Stand) in the
semi-final, Raynor (Stand) beat Dawson (YMCA) to
become the first Bury champion.
A second division was formed in the
league's third season due to the number of teams increasing to sixteen.
One of the new clubs, Buckley Wells,
distinguished themselves by winning both divisions. During the season, there was a casualty when
the Cobden Club withdrew from the first division. The better players in the first division were
Cunningham, Layton, Binns and Ward, with Oldroyd, Smith, Hardman and Piggott
being the pick of the second division.
The league also started to play
inter-league games in the Lancashire League, with a typical team being Oldroyd
(Buckley Wells), Layton (Buckley Wells), Binns (Stand All Saints), Howarth
(YMCA), G Holt (Johns) and reserve Yates (Heap Bridge).Wells).
The two divisions continued in year
four of the league, with Buckley Wells retaining their division one title but
losing out to St Pauls LC in the second division.
After a slight reduction of teams in
the previous year there were now 19 teams competing in two divisions, with new
clubs being such as Cellar Club, Derby Club, Bury Corporation Transport,
Holcombe Brook, Limefield and St Pauls.
The secretary at the time, Mr J R
Thompson, spoke at the AGM of the need for observance of the league rules as
there had been some laxity and that a league management committee should be set
up to deal with disciplinary matters.
The president at the time was Mr Sam
Taylor and the chairman Mr F MacDonald.
A new scoring system was adopted for
the season in that each team was to be handicapped with this being taken into
account at the end of each match when all 25 games had been completed. With this method being used, the new champions
were Stand All Saints and Heap Bridge in their respective divisions.
The end of season championships
attracted an entry of 130 players and Vernon Peatfield became the first person
to win the men’s senior and junior titles in the same year.
Two new national rules were brought
into force that was to change the game dramatically. The first was to reduce the net height from
6.75" to 6" and the second was to outlaw the use of spinning the ball
before contact was made with the bat.
During an inter-league game between
Bury and Bolton, the league president (Sam Taylor) received a cup from Mr F
MacDonald which was to be played for on a knock-out basis each year. Initially a handicapping system was to be used
but not the same figures as used in the league system. The first custodians of the trophy were Derby
Club of Division One who beat Heap Bridge of Division Two in the final.
A proposal that the Bury closed
championships should incorporate the Bury & District League, the Workshops
League and the Radcliffe League was passed resulting in an entry of over 200
for the championships.
W T (Bill) Barlow was to win his only
singles championships in the Bury league in this year because he was to die
serving in the RAF. He did, however, go
on to win many other championships elsewhere including being Yorkshire champion
in 1938/39.
Representative players of this year
included W T Barlow (Stand All Saints), H Olive (Derby Club); K Gardner (Stand
All Saints), T Marsh (Derby Club), W Yates (Heap Bridge) and Ron Clough (Heap
Bridge).
The handicapping of teams was abolished
for the season and the new system was that a team should have players' abilities
ranked from one to five. Each player was
to play two games (best of three sets) and each match result was out of ten
games.
Due to the increase of interest of
females in the sport, a ladies’ division was formed which had seven teams
competing and the first winners were St Johns.
The registration of players took place
for the first time and a handbook was given to each player.
The MacDonald Cup was to be played on
a scratch basis and it has remained that way ever since.
Notable players for each team were as
follows:
Stand All Saints had W T Barlow and P
K Wilson.
Heap Bridge had W Yates and J Piggott.
Derby TTC had A Newton, H Olive, T
Marsh, H Greenhalgh and G Leach.
St Johns had the Bostock brothers and
E Proctor.
YMCA had F Ward, K Gardner, R Clough,
W Kerfoot, T Cunningham and Lawrie
Butterworth.
The Bury & District League
arranged an exhibition by four of the world's best players at the Co-op Hall on
Tuesday 7 February. Those players were Vana, Bergmann, Barna and Bellak and unreserved seats were available at 6d and
reserved seats at 1s 3d or 2s 6d.
The end of season championships
brought the return of the men’s singles title to Vernon Peatfield who defeated
Bill Barlow in the final.
The outbreak of war meant that the
league had to be reorganised and it was decided that a team would
consist of four players and not five
as previously played. Also matches
should start at 7 pm and not 7.45 pm as before the war and that the ladies'
teams were to be given an advantage of one event over their opponents.
There was only one division of 12
teams which included newcomers Transparent Club and Squires Club.
The Stand All Saints premises were commandeered
for war services but W T Barlow came to their rescue and allowed them to play
their matches at his home under the name of Huntroyd
TTC.
At the end of the season a tournament
was arranged but because of circumstances a different format was used. Teams would be made up of three persons drawn
out of a hat who would play all the other teams of three, as in an American
tournament. The teams with the best
results would play off in a final.
As it worked out, the team of J Taylor
(Huntroyd), E Holt (YMCA) and Miss Wardle (YMCA) beat
E Proctor (St Johns), Miss Barnes (St Johns) and H Goldsmith (Transparent) in
the final.
Resuming after the war with one
division of 14 teams and playing the same format as previously (teams of five
players playing two sets each), the YMCA team went through the season unbeaten.
The ladies, whilst not having their
own league to play in, nevertheless had a competition in which Walmersley Road
beat St Johns in the final. The Bury
representative team played in the Lancashire League together with Altrincham,
Blackpool, Radcliffe, Bolton SS and Urmston and players included G Lonsdale
(YMCA), A Ridings (YMCA), A Barcroft (YMCA), R Holland (NFS) and V Peatfield.
Players from the Bury league made two
visits to the POW camp at Warth to play matches
arranged by F MacDonald (Chairman of the League).
|
|
P |
Pts |
|
|
P |
Pts |
|
YMCA
'A' |
26 |
52 |
|
Walmersley
Road |
26 |
25 |
|
St
Johns 'A' |
26 |
46 |
|
St
Pauls Social |
26 |
24 |
|
NFS |
26 |
45 |
|
Bolton
Road ‘B’ |
26 |
13 |
|
Ashmeadow |
26 |
33 |
|
YMCA
‘B’ |
26 |
13 |
|
Bolton
Road ‘A’ |
26 |
30 |
|
St
Johns ‘B’ |
26 |
10 |
|
Besses |
26 |
29 |
|
St
Pauls Lads |
26 |
7 |
|
Transparent |
26 |
29 |
|
St
Peters |
26 |
6 |
The league had grown to three senior
divisions (two men’s and one lady’s) and a junior division, as play became
popular once again as a means of recreation.
Bill Barlow, a Bury champion pre-war,
had died in August 1944 serving in the RAF and a cup was given by A (Vernon)
Peatfield in memory of a fellow competitor.
The league entered a junior team in
the Lancashire League and in the first match against Stockport was represented
by G Hedley (YMCA), N Wolstenholme (YMCA) and R Coope (Besses)
with reserve D McPherson (YMCA). Inter-league
matches were popular with as many as 100 spectators turning up to watch. A Bury FC footballer, Reg Halton,
played regularly for RAFA who had entered the league with both male and female
teams. Bury staged a County second team
match between Lancashire and Yorkshire at the Co-op Hall in January 1948 in
which Lancashire included Mrs Beryl Hardman and won 6-3. A Riding (soon to become Bury champion) beat Russel Algie of New Zealand when
competing in the North of England Championships. AIgie had not been
beaten in his own country for three years.
Individuals were chosen to represent
their clubs on a knock out basis for the MacDonald Cup which eventually led to
A Ridings (YMCA) beating P Ingham (Bolton Road) in the final.
There was an extraordinary league
meeting before the season started to discuss whether promotion and relegation
between the divisions should be introduced. It was decided that it was necessary and
settled for a two up two down system.
A ladies’ team was entered in the
Lancashire League and Bury were represented by C Moore (RAFA), K Dean (St Pauls)
and A Rostron (St Johns). Jim Freely
made his first appearance for the Bury junior team and during the course of the
season the league secretary (A Kenyon) became ill and was replaced by Dennis
Bostock.
The RAFA club had a particularly
successful second season in the league being runners-up in Division One,
runners-up in the MacDonald Cup, champions of Division Two and also ladies’
champions.
Tottington Methodists joined the
league and started by playing in Division Three.
Derek Hutchinson was to join Jim
Freely as a member of the Bury junior team with Irving Cordwell as reserve.
The ladies of the Bury league were
represented by L Dawson, C Moore and K Dean with the men’s first team normally
consisting of A Ridings, A Barcroft and H Ashworth.
At the AGM which took place at the end
of the season it was decided that instead of four players in a team, who had
each played two games and a doubles match making an event of nine games, the
format for the next season would be a three player team, each member playing
each other, together with the one doubles being retained. This now meant that a match would consist of
ten sets and a draw would be possible.
The Bury & District league were
asked to stage the zonal heats of the 'Evening Chronicle' Championships and
players from the areas of Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Burnley, Leigh, Heywood and
Darwen would play until the last four were left in the tournament. These would then go into a central play-off in
Manchester.
Bernard Dwyer (later to give a cup to
the league) was a member of the Bury junior league.
The Bury ladies’ team won promotion
and for the first time will play in Division One of the Lancashire &
Cheshire League.
In January 1951 the death occurred of
Mr F MacDonald, a previous chairman of the league who had been a life member in
recognition of his services to the league.
In a junior match against Oldham, a
certain Geoff Pullar was to give all the Bury players a beating. At the time he was in the running for junior
international table tennis honours, but as a career he later turned to cricket
and made many appearances for Lancashire and England.
Fines were introduced for
non-attendance of clubs at the monthly meetings and set at 1 shilling.
Holcombe Brook SC asked to play all
their games away and also changed their name to Athenian TTC.
John Reddy began playing for the junior
team.
At the end of the season, the leading
players in each of the divisions were as follows:
Division One: G Collier, E Siddall, H
Moore, D Hutchinson
Division Two: S Hilton, D Taylor, R
Pickering, R Standring
Division Three: R Johnson, C Steward, R
Haydock, W Gray
Ladies: C Moore, J Broughton, M Smith
The ladies who represented Bury for
most games during the season were Connie Moore, Sybil Threlfall and P Driver.
In an inter-league match against
Manchester in January 1953 the result was a draw and Sybil Threlfall won her
three games, including the scalp of Beryl Hardman who at that time was still
playing for Manchester.
The men’s team normally consisted of Derek
Hutchinson, E Siddall and J Mather.
Beryl Hardman started to play for Bury
ladies and became the mainstay of the team for many years.
There was a disappointing turnout at the
AGM in April 1954 when only five clubs attended. The meeting was adjourned until August and the
secretary, R Standring, wrote to all clubs asking them to attend.
The meeting which took place in August
was attended by only three clubs and there was talk of the league being
disbanded, but this was decided against as the league had outstanding debts
which had to be settled.
The "fees for each team were set
at: Division One - 17s 6d; Division Two - 15s 0d; Division Three - 12s 6d with
a registration fee of 2s 0d per person.
There would be three men’s divisions
and a ladies’ division which would be run in two halves - one to finish at
Christmas and one to begin after Christmas. If different clubs were to win the separate
competitions, there would be a play-off at the season's end.
The monthly meeting of clubs was
better attended in September when 12 clubs were present.
Prestwich Cricket Club announced that
they were to hold a table tennis match and exhibition on Friday 3 December 1954
at the Conservative Club in Prestwich when international and county players
would take part. With St Pauls winning
the first half of the ladies’ competition and St Johns the second, a play-off
was held which St Johns won.
The Lancashire Championships were held
in Bolton and Connie Moore of Bury lost in the ladies’ final to Adele Wood of
Manchester.
The men’s team who played in the
Lancashire League was chosen from N Wolstenholme (YMCA), A Barcroft (RAFA), Eddie
Siddall (LCFB), Derek Hutchinson (YMCA) and Jim Freely (YMCA) with the ladies’
having a stable team of Connie Moore (RAFA), Beryl Hardman (RAFA) and S
Threlfall (LCFB) and finishing runners-up to Manchester.
St Pauls 'C' team resigned from the
league due to players being called up for national service.
The YMCA 'B' team were injured when
returning from a match against Heyma in March 1956 when their car slid on an
icy road. Of the players involved, E
Sutherst was out injured for the rest of the season whilst Keith McPherson and
Tom Rothwell, although hurt, were able to continue playing.
The season began with the league
having £62 4s 7d in hand which was the largest ever amount with which they had
started a season.
It was decided that handbooks were to
be brought back, as against printed sheets used in the previous three seasons,
necessary due to the lack of funds.
Limefield Methodists (later to become
Seedfield Methodists) joined the league.
The ladies’ team struggled in the
Lancashire League due to Connie Moore and Sybil Threlfall not registering to
play.
Derek Hutchinson missed part of the
season with a fractured wrist but had sufficient time on returning to regain
form and retain his singles championship.
The ladies who played inter-league for
Bury were selected from B Hardman (RAFA), J Hopkinson (Transparent), J Nuttall
(St Johns) and M Salmon (Limefield).
When the Bury 'A' team went to play an
away match against Barrow in January 1958, a coach load of supporters went
along; included in the team was Brian Poytress (Limefield) who later became a
leading official of the league.
At the AGM in April 1958 it was
decided to hold an individual championship for players in the second and third
divisions in December of the following season (this was never to take place).
The men’s team who represented Bury at
inter-league level all came from the YMCA club, these being Derek Hutchinson,
Norman Wolstenholme and Jim Freely.
In January 1959 at the former Bay
Horse Hotel in Higher Lane, Whitefield a new table tennis club was formed. Gordon Lomax, the chairman of the Whitefield
Judo and Table Tennis Club, decided that insufficient facilities were available
to local youngsters and, together with helpers cleared the ground floor of the
old hotel in order for table tennis tables to be installed. An official opening took place on 23 January
when Lou Laza (Australia) and Ken Stanley (Lancashire & England) played an
exhibition match.
In July 1959 the International
Federation decided to follow the ETTA and banned the sponge bat and so brought
unity to the specification.
Vernon Peatfield (a former Bury
champion) corresponded with the league to say that, although living in
Northampton, he still followed the fortunes of the league. B Johnstone of St Johns was killed in a road
accident whilst serving in the forces and, as a mark of respect, the persons in
attendance at the AGM stood in silence.
At the October monthly meeting of club
representatives, the question of sponge bats was raised and it was reiterated
that they were illegal. The best two
teams in the league were YMCA 'A' and Tottington Methodist 'A' who were
represented by Derek Hutchinson, Norman Wolstenholme and Jim Freely for the
YMCA and Irving Cordwell, Sam Hilton and J Birtwistle
for Tottington Methodist.
There was a play-off to decide the
winner of Division Three where Walmer TC of Division 3B beat Hargreaves 'B' of Division
3A to be crowned champions.
Castlecroft asked to enter another
team in Division Three after the season had started.
A new division was created by putting
the top half of divisions 3A and 3B from the previous season together into Division
Three and the remainder into Division Four.
Wilf Ainscow, the editor of Bury
Times, was asked to present the trophies at the end of season championships.
Bob Hamilton regained the singles
title at the championships having won it 13 years previously.
A traumatic season for the league
administration in that several clubs withdrew after the season had started and
caused havoc with the fixtures and league tables. MacPhersons resigned three teams to affect Division
Two, Division Three and the ladies’ division, together with Tottington
Methodist withdrawing two teams and also St Pauls 'A' team also pulling out.
The YMCA 'A' team, having gone over
four years without being beaten, lost to Royal Insurance 'A' in October 1961.
At the end of season championships a
first round clash between the holder, Bob Hamilton, and a previous winner,
Derek Hutchinson, produced an exciting encounter which Hamilton won at 24-22 in
the third game.
He eventually lost to his team-mate,
Brian Rostron, in the final.
Having won the Bury junior title for
the previous two years, Terry Bickerdike was ranked at number six for the
county.
Jim Freely was injured and the YMCA
team was without his services for the season.
At Christmas, the leading players in
their respective divisions were as follows:
Division One - R Hamilton, A Jones
(YMCA), Derek Hutchinson and Terry Bickerdike
Division Two - J Forrest, Beryl Hardman,
T Rothwell and W Siddall
Division Three - H Fisher, J Nockels,
J Pearson and R Yates
Division Four - K Bennett, A Jones
(Christ Church), M Horrocks and Alan Wright
Terry Bickerdike reached the final of
the Cheshire Junior Open under15 tournament where he lost to G Birch of
Liverpool.
Terry Bickerdike was registered for
Lancashire juniors and also took part in the 'News of the World' finals which
were held annually at Bognor Regis. He
remained unbeaten in Division One until February 1964 when, in a match between
YMCA 'A' and YMCA 'B', he lost to Ted Foster.
The inter-league team for most of the
season consisted of the YMCA 'A' team of D Hutchinson, A Jones and Terry
Bickerdike, but later in the year A Jackson of Walmer also played.
Bernard Dwyer presented the league
with a cup he had inherited from a relative which was to be played for in
forthcoming seasons on a handicap knock-out basis.
Leading players at the end of the
season were:
Division One - Terry Bickerdike, Derek
Hutchinson, J Deakin (Royal Insurance) and A Jones
Division Two - J Forrest and A Blomley
(both St Pauls), B Dwyer (GEC) and A Wright (YMCA)
Division Three - B Johnson
(Limefield), N Oakes (Walmer), I Smith (Royal Insurance) and P Jones (Bury SC)
Prestwich TC joined the league in Division
Five.
The men’s inter-league team consisted
of J Reddy, E Foster and A Barcroft to start the season but several other
players were introduced as the season progressed.
The Dwyer Cup competition started with
the points span varying from a Division One team having a scratch handicap to a
Division Five team having a plus 14 point start in each game played. After semi-finals in which Prestwich TC beat
Seedfield Methodists 'A' and Bury & Masco beat White Eagle 'A', a scratch
final (both teams were in Division Five) ended in Prestwich TC winning by 7
sets to 2. The Prestwich club was
represented by Arthur Hibbert, Len Flew and Geoff Shaw.
The holders of the Macdonald Cup, YMCA ‘A’
suffered an upset in the third round of the cup, loosing
to the eventual winners, Greylands.
Sybil Williams (LCFB) was chosen to play for
Lancashire County, second team.
YMCA ‘A’ completed the double of the League
Championship and Macdonald Cup and only just missed the treble, when Gordon
Lomax beat Ted Foster in the deciding rubber of the Dwyer Cup final.
Beryl Hardman was selected to play for
Lancashire County, second team.
Bob Hamilton wins the Men’s Singles
Championship for the third time having won it 19 years previously.
YMCA ‘A’ again completed the double of the
League Championship and the Macdonald Cup.
The Dwyer Cup competition was played on a
team handicap basis dependant on the division played in and varying from
scratch for division one to 320 points’ start for division seven teams.
NALGO ‘A’ (division three) overcame a 100
point handicap to win the final of the Dwyer Cup against J.Wild
(division five)
The Bury and District League hosted a youth
International match between England and Federal Germany at Elton Secondary
Modern School on 4th January 1968. England were represented by Ian
Robertson (Northumberland), Tony Bosman (Lancashire),
Simon Heaps (Cheshire), Jennifer Cornock (Warwick)
and Christine Mann (Middlesex) but lost 5-3.
There was a problem with the venue for the
Bury Closed Championship but Bank Street Church Hall came to the rescue and
saved the event.
The League had grown to 104 teams making it
the third largest in Lancashire behind Manchester and
Liverpool Leagues.
The youth training scheme was started for
table tennis at Elton Youth Club in February 1970 with the services of Cliff
Booth being employed as official coach. Twenty players were chosen for coaching
in facilities where there were six tables.
The YMCA first team split up with Ted Foster
and Mike O’Regan leaving to start a new club at Little Lever Cricket Club.
A postal strike in early 1971 caused problems
but the league decided that all match cards were to be left at Bostock Footwear
shop in Bury, during the period of the strike.
Little Lever Cricket Club were suspended for
one season for late payment of subscriptions. Greenmount Youth Club in the form
of the Hoy family (Jim, Mike and Graham) joined the league and won the eighth
division.
In a league match between Greenmount CC and
YMCA ‘A’ Mike O’Regan eventually beat Harold Nixon by a score of 2-21, 21-19,
46-44!
Colin Barrett of Prestwich Tennis Club
(ranked sixth in the county) was called upon to make his debut and played for
Lancashire Juniors against Northumberland.
A new points system was used for the league
matches instead of the old two points for a win and one point for a draw. A
team winning 10-0, 9-1 or 8-2 received four points with the losers receiving
nil points. A 7-3 or 6-4 win gave the winners three points and the loser’s one
point and a 5-5 draw meant that there were two points for each team.
An exhibition table tennis match was played
at ELPM club in February 1973 in which England ranked players Alan Hydes and
Dennis Neale played together with Ted Foster, Graham Hoy and Alan Walkden of
the local clubs.
Michael Hoy (Greenbrook TTC) became the
second Bury and District player to be ranked in the county, when he appeared at
number four behind Donald Parker, Graham Young and Nigel Hallows.
Susan Thompstone of Bibby and Barons was
chosen to play for Lancashire second team against Northumberland seconds.
Little Lever CC ‘A’ won three major trophies,
beating Greenbrook ‘A’ in both cup competitions and in the process won every
single game in division one of the league.
Dennis Neale, the number one player in
England was appointed coach to the Bury Inter league players.
The ELPM club staged two county matches in
January 1974 in which Lancashire played Yorkshire at senior level and
Lancashire played Staffordshire at junior level.
The winter power crisis meant that clubs
could change their match nights whilst the problems continued.
The ELPM club had grown to twelve teams (a
record for the league) whilst the league had 118 teams, making it the second
largest in the county.
Dennis Neale signed on for Greenbrook ‘A’ who
also had Kevin Forshaw available if required together with the Hoy brothers and
Alan Walkden. They won the division one championship.
The League introduced two new inter division
competitions, based on the Macdonald Cup format for the divisions not playing
for this trophy. The sections were spilt by division’s three to six playing in
one event and divisions seven to ten in the other event.
The Bury team playing for the Norman Cook
Memorial Trophy in the Lancashire and Cheshire league beat Hyde 7-2 in the
final and were represented by Ted Foster, Graham Hoy and Sue Thompstone.
There were three Bury and District players
listed in the county rankings: Graham Hoy (5th in the seniors),
M.Shonick (10th in the juniors), and Carol Bladen (4th in
the junior girls).
For the first time over 500 players were
registered in the league with Robert McMinn of St. Francis being the 500th
registered.
The men’s first team playing in the
Lancashire and Cheshire leagues won promotion to start the next season playing
in division one for the first time. The team of Mike Hoy, Graham Hoy and Ted
Foster played in all inter league games during the season.
Graham Hoy playing for Greenbrook in division
one won all 66 sets played during the season.
The Bury and District closed championships
are to be sponsored by the Skipton Building Society for the first time.
With the World T.T Championships being played
at Birmingham in 1977 the National team of Israel played a match at the ELPM
club in which the host team assisted by other local players, Nigel Hallows and
Kevin Forshaw.
Graham Hoy was ranked three in the senior
county listing for Lancashire.
Ian McLoughlin of ELPM was chosen to play for
the Bury inter league junior second team to play at Rochdale although still
only 111 years old.
The Bury F.C manager Mr. Bob Stokoe agreed to
do the presentation at the end of the season championship.
The Bury and District league had grown to 142
teams playing in twelve divisions.
September 1978 marked the first win in only
her second appearance for Ramsbottom CC ‘D’ team of seven year old Andrea Holt.
By the end of the season she had managed a top ten appearance in division
twelve.
The county junior boys ranking had four Bury
players listed. Phil Hoy at three, Chris Freely at six, Howard Whitworth at
eight and Ian McLoughlin at nine. Helen Frost was ranked at five in the junior
girls list.
In a league match between Little Lever and
Gen Rad, Ron Durose beat Bob Freely at 39-37 in the third game.
The 1979/80 season saw the league reach 155
teams playing in thirteen divisions.
In the county ranking for juniors Bury
players represented were; Chris Freely and Ian McLoughlin for the boys with
Helen Frost and Beverley Hoyle for the girls. In the seniors list were Graham Hoy,
Nigel Hallows and Stephen Scowcroft.
At the end of season AGM the Chairman of the
league for the last fourteen years Mr. Gordon Lomax decided not to stand for re-election
and his place was taken by Mr. Brian Poytress.
After competing in the England junior trials
Ian McLoughlin was ranked at number four whilst Helen Frost and Beverley Hoyle
were placed in the ‘A’ list.
The men’s first team were relegated from the
first division of the Lancashire and Cheshire league.
The league responded to it being the Golden
Jubilee Season by holding a Dinner dance at Radcliffe Civic Hall on Friday 23rd
April 1982 with Canon J.R.Smith being the guest speaker.
The handicap points system as used in the
Dwyer Cup was introduced into the League Cup Competition, sections one to
three.
To celebrate the Jubilee Season an individual
divisional competition was held for each division.
A member of the Bury and District TT league
since the very early days, Mr. Jack Bostock was to present the prizes at the
end of season championship.
Andrea Holt, now eleven years old, was called
to play for Lancashire Juniors against Staffordshire in October 1982. She was
also given a ranking of twelve in her age group over the whole of England.
Warren Hegg of Marauders ‘D’ team who lost
the final of the League Cup section three was later to make a name for himself
as a Lancashire County Cricket player.
The
League Cup competition reverted back to a non-handicap after a two year
experiment with handicapping.
At
the AGM the league voted to stay affiliated to the ETTA although there had been
a dramatic increase in affiliation fees.
In
the Lancashire and Cheshire league the Bury junior first team won the division
one championship for the first time and were represented by Howard Leigh, Peter
Holt, Nigel Greenwood and Andrea Holt at various matches. Also in the same
season the Bury Junior third team won their respective division and were
represented by David Carse, Graham Jeffries and Rod Hamilton.
Bury FC joined the league with eight teams
which were mostly ex members from the ELPM club who still retained twelve teams
in the league.
The junior team retained their first division
title in the Lancashire and Cheshire league and those playing included David
Carse, Nigel Greenwood, Peter Holt and Rod Hamilton.
Martin Dobson the Bury FC manager was guest
of honour at the end of season championship.
John Hilton a former winner of the European
singles championship was playing for Sutherland High School in selected games
and was beaten by Steve McNicholas in a Sutherland HS vs. Bury FC fixture.
Skipton Building Society completed ten years
of sponsorship for the league closed championship.
The league decided to hold a new event, an
individual handicap open singles based on the Dwyer Cup rules and an entry of
128 was received for the January 1987 tournament. The first winner was Ben
Armstrong of Beloit who beat Andrew Leigh of AIR at 19 in the fifth, in the
final.
Trustees Savings Bank became the new sponsor
of the league closed championship.
The team from Red Hall Restaurant lost a
league match after going 45 games without a defeat. They joined the league for
season’s 1985/86 and went through their first two seasons without being beaten.
A drawn doubles event was to be included in
the handicap event which was inaugurated in the season 1986/87. The winner of
the singles was Steven Lomax who had beaten his brother Andrew and his father,
George along the route to the title.
Ramsbottom CC resigned from the league with
the season almost completed over a decision made by the League Management
Committee of which they disagreed.
Ted Foster was given a presentation to mark
his twenty five years loyal service to the league, especially his participation
in the inter league team over that period.
A firm of Bury based accountants; Peat
Marwick and McLintock were announced as being the new sponsors of the league
closed championships.
For the end of season championships a new
format was used in that the better players did not enter the competition until
the later stages so ensuring that players compete against their own standard in
the early stages of the event.
Tottington Methodists celebrated their
fortieth year in the league with Sam Hilton having played for them throughout
that period.
Robin Faulkner, following from a very
successful season in the Bury League, was also awarded the Stan Parr Trophy by
the Lancashire and Cheshire league as the most improved player in the league.
He also won the junior and senior
championship and was runner up in the first division top ten.
Ronnie Durose retained the first division top
ten.
Robin and Glynn Faulkner plus David Wheeldon
represented the Bury league in the junior inter league team.
Seedfield CC; Paul Ramlaul, Dave Smith and
Ian Boyle became the first team to win the Dwyer Cup in two successive seasons.
Whilst
gathering together the information that you will now have read, I have had many
long conversations with present and past players, discussing their
recollections of matches, of stars of the different eras and of how much
enjoyment and comradeship they all received from players in the League.
This is one of
the most endearing features I have found with very rarely a bad word said about
any individual, although we all know a few who take the word of ‘sportsmanship’
to the brink.
Several
persons whom I have contacted are no longer involved in the League, but once I
explained what I was attempting to do, they all wished me good luck with the
project and passed on any memorabilia which they still have.
I have also
had many helpers without which this book would not have become a reality and I
thank them for this. Those closely involved were John Henderson, Harry Hardman,
Steve Hathaway, Bob Hinchcliffe and Vinny Breslin.
A great deal
of thanks is also due to the advertisers and to the Bury Times who have printed
the League’s progress with weekly reports of results since its inception in
1932. Without this information taken from micro-fiche held at Bury Library, the
book would not have been possible.
As you will
probably gathered, it has been a pleasure collating all the information and
meeting old friends again as well as making some new ones.
I hope you
have enjoyed the read and who knows in another 58 years someone may decide to
update the results again. May you all get many more nets and edges as well as
satisfaction from having played or still playing this superb game of table
tennis.
Robert Goodman.
Andy Leigh won the first division top ten and
was undefeated in the first half of the season.
Ramsbottom A, Graham Hoy, Ian Mayall and
Steve McNicholas won the Macdonald Cup for the second year in succession. They
beat Little Lever, Ted Foster, Ronnie Durose and Phil Riley.
Seedfield CC, lost 1-8 in the final of the
Dwyer Cup for the first time since joining the league three seasons ago.
Ramsbottom ‘F’ comprising of Duncan and Derek Edwards plus Brian Hunter were
the winners.
Red Halls Lindsay Thornton was selected for
England against Scotland, Wales and Ireland in a British Primary Schools
Tournament.
Little Lever have won the Macdonald Cup 8
times and runner up 5 times up to the end of this season.
2 teams were undefeated all season. Seedfield
CC in the 5th division with 81 points.
Seedfield Methodists in the 8th
division shared 78 points with the winners ELPM ‘J’ but lost out on points with
177 for ELPM and 173 for Seedfield.
Peter Mears of Seedfield Methodists D in the
8th division only lost one set all season.
Derek Edwards of Ramsbottom F in the 7th
Division won 58 out of 60 to take the top ten medal.
In the 1st division Bury FC ‘A’
shared 78 points with Ramsbottom ‘A’ but won on sets with 167 against
Ramsbottom’s 163.
The Handicapped Singles was played by two
sixth division players. Ian Spencer of Seedfield CC beat Ian Huggin of Holmar at 16 in the fifth.
The Doubles went to Mark Hodgson of Seedfield
and Brian Shaw of Holcombe (who was runner up last year!) who beat Duncan Birch
of Nomads and Phil Wardle of Holmar.
Andrea Holt of Ramsbottom Town was selected
for the Barcelona Olympics playing in the doubles with Lisa Lomas. Andrea and
Lisa are ranked 1 and 2 in England.
Lindsay Thornton played in International
schools events throughout the season.
Seedfield CC won the Dwyer Cup in 1989, 1990,
runner up in 1991 and won again this season!
For the first time ever there was a play off
for the first division title between Ramsbottom ‘A’ and Nomads ‘A’. They were
tied on 66 points each and 149 sets each. Ramsbottom won the play off where
Andy Jackson won his three. Graham Hoy and Ian Mayall played with Andy and the
Nomads team was Steve McNicholas, Graham Jeffries and Howard Leigh.
Another play off for the third division top
ten between David Poytress and Mark Reading who both had 53 wins each. Mark won
-6, 19, 22.
In the Closed Championship Graham Hoy beat
Andy Jackson to win the singles title for the fifth time; the first being in
1975,
Ted Foster and Phil Riley won the doubles; a
title Ted last won in 1973 also with Phil.
Cliff Booth continued his coaching at the
Seedfield Community Centre on Tuesday and Friday evenings.
15 year old Glen Payne of Red Hall became the
youngest ever winner of the Individual Handicapped Singles event when he beat
Stuart Hough 13, 14, 18.
In the Closed Championships Andy and Howard
Leigh won the Open Doubles for the 7th time.
Carolyn Jones from the 7th
division Unsworth team was without a win all season until she finally beat
David Rawcliffe at 17 in the third in the season’s last match.
The Chairman’s Cup was played for the first
time and was won by Unsworth CC who beat ELPM F, 7-2. Betty Poytress, the wife
of Brian Poytress presented to Cup.
Cliff Booth’s coaching was moved to Bury
Church High School and was available every Tuesday. Phil Wardle was coaching
officer.
Seedfield Methodists ‘F’ team lost all 18
matches last season and played out their first draw at Holmar ‘D’. Andy Whelan,
Chris Abel and Stuart Telfer are all very young players.
In 1964 Bernard Dwyer who was a former player
in the league presented a cup which was to be played in his name. Prestwich TTC
were the first winners but haven’t won again since. They were finalists in
1987. 1964 was also the first season that Prestwich played in the league. This
is now the 30th seasons of playing for the cup and, so far 25
different clubs have won it.
The ruling International Table Tennis
Federation are considering a proposal that, if passed, will mean that games are
reduced to 11 up instead of 21. Serves are to alternate every three points.
In the Handicapped singles Andy Leigh
overcame giving a 17 point start to beat Vic Clough
(-)
11,19,19,20.
Andy Leigh then teamed up with Joe Walk in
the handicapped doubles but lost to Peter Mears and Ross Barton, 17, 21.
Unsworth CC who won the inaugural Chairman’s
Cup last season continued their good form this season by winning the Dwyer Cup.
Len Lott, Graham and Frank ward was the same team as last year.
Looking for a 100% win record this season
Ramsbottom ‘A’ was well on their way until the last match half way through the
season. They were held to a draw by their ‘B’. They finished the season
unbeaten but were held to one other draw.
Harold Nixon, one of the longest serving
players in the league collapsed and died whilst taking part in the Individual
Handicapped Tournament in January 1995. Harold played for Carlton Club and was
known by everyone as a tremendous character and will be sadly missed. As a mark
of respect the tournament was cancelled and will not be replayed.
Another long serving player and committee
member of the league died in March 1995. Brian Johnson was the league’s vice
chairman from 1980 to a 1987 and was a member of Seedfield Methodists.
Ronnie Durose of Little Lever won the first
division top ten for the fifth time. Phil Riley was second, seven wins behind
and Little Lever were also runners up to Ramsbottom ‘A’.
Andrea Holt won a silver medal at the English
Open and is top of the English rankings. Lisa Lomas is second and Alison Gordon
third. Matthew Syed heads the men’s and Chen Xiahua is second.
Julian Nuttall, Seedfield won a playoff for
the 5th division top ten, beating Trevor Candler of Holmar, 12, 11.
(Julian also won a play-off for the 3rd division in 2006-7 beating
Chris Sutcliffe)
Carlton Club ‘C’ won the Dwyer, League Cups
plus the 4th Division title.
The Woolwich Table Tennis League was formed
for players under the age of 17 and open to all beginners. Two players in a
team and matches to be played at St. Monica’s High School.
The end of season tournament for the juniors
was won by Jonathan Berens beating Steven Ross 15 and 19.
For 26 years Cliff Booth has been the
official coach to the League. Escalating costs and the lack of available
premises has forced Cliff into retirement. Cliff has been responsible for
coaching to local, National and International levels many top class players and
will be sadly missed.
Manchester hosts the World Table Tennis
championships. 105 countries have entered which makes it the largest entry for
any sporting event in this country since the 1948 Olympics.
Dave Newton, Acrebottom in the first division
wins the top ten and drops only 4 sets all season.
In the second season of the Woolwich league Matthew Kormonick beats Zara Chadowitz 19 and 24 in the end of season tournament.
Graham Jeffries beats Magnus Alexander 13 and
16 in the Handicapped singles Tournament where Magnus was giving a 9 point
start.
A Special General Meeting was called to make
a decision whether to start a Premier Division next season. It was decided by a
majority vote from the clubs attending. One amendment to the rule was that no
doubles were to be played and one point will be awarded for each set won. All
matches to be played at St. Monica’s on the same night and teams are invited to
take part. Any team not entering will be placed in the new first division. The
only rule not adopted was that the Premier teams did not play in the Cup
Competitions.
Mitchell Charlesworth sponsored the league
for the first time.
The League was stunned by the death of
Chairman Brian Poytress. He was 69. Brian had been chairman since 1980 and Vice
Chairman since 1970. He was still a playing member of Seedfield Methodists.
Brian had been on trip to Llandudno with the Seedfield Methodist Church. Brian
was a founder member of the North Bury Junior Football League
Manchester Maccabi achieved a treble in their
first season in the league. They won the Dwyer, and League Cups plus the third
division title.
Matthew Kormonick again won the Woolwich
junior Singles tournament beating Gary Freeman 12 and 18.
After 33 years as Match Secretary and also
Treasurer and League player for most of that time John Henderson decided to
retire. John’s contribution and meticulous attention to detail was well
renowned and his paper records that he left the League are a testament to that.
Every round of all of the Cup matches and Closed Championships have been
recorded and the production of this book would not have been possible without
these records. His organisational skills helped to keep the League one of the
strongest in Lancashire. John was subsequently made Honorary Life Member of the
League.
Marlene Faulkner took over as Match Secretary
for the League. Marlene also plays for ELPM.
George Lomax, President of the League from
this season is still in winning form when he helped his team to a 6-3 win in
the 2nd round of the Dwyer Cup beating Ramsbottom E.
The Woolwich Junior League started the season
with 10 teams. They were split into Group A & B. Group A had 4 teams
comprising of Maccabi A, Saint Gabs, Woodhey Whitesox and Cosmos. Group B was
Ballistics, St. Monica’s A, Bury Juniors, Ramsbottom, Maccabi B and St.
Monica’s B. Playing for Ramsbottom was Luke Phillipson, son of Les.
The Bury Inter League was represented all
season by Graham Jeffries, Phil Riley and Jim Chadwick. They ended the season
as champions of Division 2 North in the Lancashire and Cheshire League.
Michael Moir was representing Ramsbottom B
this season, not yet good enough for the A team!
In the Norman Cook Trophy Carol Mitchell
joined the regular Inter League team and played Liverpool but lost 4-5.
Division 1 winners, Acrebottom won 22 out of 22
matches and only dropped 6 points all season.
Jim Chadwick won the top ten with 60 wins out
of 63. The 5th Division top ten tied 51 each between Duncan Birch of
Nomads and Nick Metcalf of BGSOB but nick won because of fewer losses.
The Finals night was held at ELPM Social Club
and the Mayor of Bury attended with guest of honour, 7 times Men’s Singles
Champion, Derek Hutchinson.
The newly promoted Inter League team of Jim
Chadwick, Graham Jeffries and Mick Dore met tough opposition in their first
match when they lost to last year’s divisional winners Liverpool, 0-10. Phil
Riley also played during the season.
Jim Chadwick followed up last year with a
division 1 top ten medal winning 57 out of 60. Michael Moir won the Men’s Singles
Final for the first time when he beat team mate Mark Ramsbottom. Guest of
honour at the Finals Night awards was John Reddy who himself played in the
Mixed Doubles final between 1959 and 1967. John holds the record of 8 titles
all with Beryl Hardman. The Mayor of Bury also attended and it was held at the
ELPM Social Club.
The League was sponsored by Mitchell
Charlesworth.
Ramsbottom had 4 teams in the 1st
Division and their first clash saw the results go according to their ranking.
The A team beat the D team 10-0 and the B team beat the C team 8-2. The Inter
League players were again Graham Jeffries, Jim Chadwick, Phil Riley and Mick
Dore. They played Blackpool in their first match and won 8-2.
Andrea Holt, ex England International and
past number one ranked Ladies player was offering coaching for all players.
A familiar face a few years ago, Howard Leigh
signed to play for Ramsbottom. Andrea Holt also played the occasional match.
Ramsbottom A won all 22 matches in the 1st
Division. Michael Moir won 64 out of 66, 10 wins ahead of Phil Riley.
Joe Cross from Bolton Road won 58 out of 60
in the fifth Division.
The League was sponsored by Century Seal
Conservatories.
The Inter League was again represented by
Graham Jeffries, Jim Chadwick and Phil Riley. A second team was entered which
included Tim Ternent, Mick Dore, George Brennand and Andy Kaye.
Andy McCheyne returned to the League after a
few years absence playing again for ELPM A.
Andrea Holt, 31, former England International
is considering playing matches to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in
Manchester. The current England number one Lady Player is ranked outside the
top 100 in the world whereas Andrea was 40 or 50 in the world when she was
number one. Andrea got to the semi-finals of English National Championships
later in the year.
At the half way point in the season Michael
Moir had won 33 out of 33. In the other divisions Keith Cheyne of Carlton in
division 4 had won 23 out of 24. Division 5 saw Daniel Sheldon winning 26 out
of 27.
Reported in the Bury Times 50 years ago in
1952 were the following;
‘Bury B
lost 4-6 to Radcliffe at the YMCA. W.Crossley was in best form winning his 3
though twice forced to 3 against D.Farrar, 21-18/27-29/21-18 and R.Coope
19-21/21-14/21-19. His other victory was against R.H.Gordon 21-16/21-18.’
Ramsbottom A were again undefeated in
division 1 win 22 out 22 wins. Michael Moir equalled Graham Hoy’s 1975/6
seasons record of 66 individual wins out of 66.
The Finals night presentations were at ELPM
Social Club with guest of honour Ted Foster attending with the Mayor and
Mayoress of Bury.
This season the League was again sponsored by
Century Seal Conservatories. Howard Leigh in the first division was playing for
Little Lever. At the half way stage in the season Julian Nuttall of Seedfield,
division 4 and had a 100% record with 27 out of 27 wins. He only lost two sets
in the second half. One of Michael Moir’s few defeats in the first division
this season was against Colin Boardman of Carlton Club who won at 16 in the
third.
In the final Inter League matches of the
season the first team was represented by Phil Riley, Ronnie Durose and Graham
Jeffries. The second Inter League team missed out being promoted by just one
set. The team was Mick Dore, Dave Smith and Vinnie Croft.
Alan Ransome and Alex Murdoch are the two
candidates for the post of Chairman of the ETTA. They both made presentations
to local leagues at Hollingworth and South Conservative Club on Thursday 6th
March 2003. All players were invited to attend.
Despite giving 15 points start Ramsbottom A
(Michael Moir, Mark Ramsbottom and Andy Jackson) beat fifth division Prestwich
F (Bob Mottershead, Peadar McKinstry and Ross Barton) to win the Dwyer Cup 7-2.
The following night Ramsbottom A beat The Cricketers by the same score line in
the Macdonald Cup. Prestwich F featured in the League Cup section two final but
lost again 2-7 against Seedfield B, (Stephen Siddall, Julian Nuttall and Andy
Hamilton) from the forth division.
Amir Khan won the Bury Young Sportsman of the
year award!
First and Second in division two, Mosses B
and Seedfield A played each other where David Poytress of Seedfield beat Vinnie Croft 25-23, 32-30!
The top ten winners were as follows;
Division 1 Michael
Moir, Ramsbottom Town TTC won 63 out of 66
Division 2 Dennis
Buckley, Ramsbottom Town TTC won 51 out of 60
Division 3 Chris
Sutcliffe, Stand won 51 out of 54
Division 4 Julian
Nuttall, Seedfield won 52 out of 54
Division 5 Peadar
McKinstry, Prestwich won 54 out of 56
In the season ending Closed Championships
Mark Ramsbottom won the Men’s Singles, Veterans and the Doubles titles.
The season started with a change to the
scoring system from the best of three, twenty one up to the best of five,
eleven up. Each player now has two serves instead of five. The Cup Competitions
remain at twenty one up because of the handicapping system.
Paul Cichelli joined the League and played
for Mosses A and beat Michael Moir and Dave Newton in his first match of the
season.
A change also to the Inter League matches
where they played three matches on one day and some players found the going
‘tough’. The first team of Jim Chadwick, Graham Jeffries and Ronnie Durose lost
two and drew one. The second team of Andy Kaye, Mick Dore and Paul Cichelli
lost all three. In the second round of matches Jim Chadwick Graham Jeffries and
Paul Cichelli won two and lost one to stay in division one. Dave Kaye, Mick
Dore and Dave Smith played in the second round of matches and finished fourth
in division two.
Long-time player in the League John Reddy is
still playing for Seedfield in Division four. John still holds the record of
eight (seven in a row) mixed doubles titles partnered with Beryl Hardman
between 1959 and 1967.
The first division top ten wasn’t decided
until the last week of the season. Jim Chadwick and Michael Moir tied with 55
out of 60 wins. A play off was not arranged so they shared the top spot.
The top ten winners were as follows;
Division 1 Michael
Moir, Ramsbottom Town TTC & Jim Chadwick, Radcliffe CC won 55out of 60
Division 2 Dennis
Buckley, Ramsbottom Town TTC won 58 out of 66
Division 3 David
Hall, Elton Vale won 41 out of 56
Division 4 Alan
Crompton, YMCA Sports won 53 out of 60
Division 5 Trevor
Candler, Holmar won 61 out of 63
The end of season Finals night was held at
ELPM Social Club with earlier rounds played at the Hilton Centre.
The League was sponsored by Burning Desire
Fireplace Centre. A new format was tried in division 1 with only 8 teams but
playing each other three times. As expected in division 2 the early leaders
were the division 1 teams from the previous season which were Burning Desire B,
Hamer, St.Philips A and Ramsbottom D.
The Inter League teams were represented by
Paul Cichelli, Jim Chadwick and Steve McNicholas for the A team and won 2 and
lost 1 in their first round matches. The B team was Kim Barnard, Dave Smith,
Andy Kaye and Mick Dore who won 2 drew 1 and lost 1. A Veterans team was entered and was
represented by Dave Smith, Mick Dore and Andy Kaye and won all 6 matches to be
promoted to division 3. Shawfield
joined the League from Rochdale in divisions 3 and 5 with 3 teams. Shawfield B
won division 5 and also the Poytress cup in their first season in the League.
Ian McPherson won 64 out of 66 to win the division 4 top ten.
The end of season finals and presentation of trophies was at Ramsbottom Cricket
Club with Ben Armstrong of the League Sponsors, Burning Desire and President of
the League, George Lomax presenting the awards. Michael Moir/ Ramsbottom Town won
the Open Singles 4-2 against Graham Jeffries/Radcliffe. Mark Ramsbottom and
Michael Moir of Ramsbottom Town beat Ben Armstrong and Vinnie Croft of Burning
Desire 3-0. Kim Barnard/Burning Desire beat Dennis Collier/St.Philips in the
division 2/3 final. Father and son Frank and Alan Carse played in the division
4/5 final where Alan won 3-1. In the Veterans Mark Ramsbottom beat Ben
Armstrong 3-1.
The League was again sponsored by Burning
Desire Fireplace Centre. Division 1 was back to 11 teams. Newcomers to the
League were Milnrow in Division 2 and Wardle Conservative Club A in Division 2
and the B team in Division 5. Shawfield added the D team to Division 5. In an
early start to the season Ramsbottom Town A had four consecutive 10-0 wins in
their first matches. The Veterans Inter League were promoted to Division 1 this
year after their success last season. Dave Smith, Andy Kaye and Mick Dore
played in the matches. The A team was Graham Jeffries, Mick Dore, Paul Cichelli,
Kim Barnard and Charles Musa and retained their position in the Premier
Division. The B team was Dave Smith, Andy Kaye and Dennis Collier finished in
the top half of Division 1.
Lindsey Thornton made a welcome return to the
League playing for Burning Desire and won her three in her first match against
Little Lever.
Dave Watts won Division 5 top ten with 51/54.
Burning Desire Fireplace Centre continued
sponsoring the League. After 8 years as Match Secretary Marlene Faulkner
‘retired’ and the position was taken by Keith Warrington. It was his fourth and
last season as Chairman for David Poytress.
A website was created for the League and was
favourably received by the players who accessed it. There were on going difficulties with the
Bury Times in getting a regular write up published; one of the reasons given
being the number of available sports pages are dictated by the number of
adverts published.
A play off for the third division top ten
took place between Julian Nuttall of Seedfield Methodists and Chris Sutcliffe
of Stand. Julian won the play off.
The finals night and presentation of prizes
was held at Ramsbottom Cricket Club and the guest of honour was Jim Freely who
won the Junior Championship in 1949 and father of Bob Freely who won the Men’s
Singles in 1978. President of the League George Lomax also attended.
Burning Desire Fireplace Centre again
sponsored the League. The League was without a Chairman so Frank Sheldon
volunteered as ‘acting Chairman’.
The production of the League handbook was
brought ‘in house’ when Secretary Keith Butler obtained the handbook from the
printer and converted it to a ‘WORD’ document in Microsoft Office. Match
Secretary Keith Warrington assisted with the detail in the handbook which was
then emailed to the University Press in Manchester who photocopied the pages
and produced the handbooks for around £120. Printing previously cost £450.
Adam Bleakley joined Ramsbottom Town TTC
towards the end of the first half of the season. Adam, son of John Bleakley who
played in the League in the 70s and 80s was returning to playing after being
diagnosed with glandular fever and was ranked number 5 in England as a junior last season.
A play off was required to decide the
relegation place in Division 2 between Elton Vale and Maccabi A.
The finals night and presentation of prizes
was held at Ramsbottom Cricket Club where Ted Foster was guest of honour.
Michael Moir of Ramsbottom Town TTC lost the
chance to equal Derek Hutchinson’s tally of 7 Men’s Singles titles when he lost
2-4 to Graham Jeffries of Radcliffe. Derek won his seventh title in 1963.
Michael also eclipsed Ronnie Durose’s 6 top ten wins when he won his 7th
this season.
Burning Desire Fireplace Centre continued as
the sponsor for the League. No Chairman was appointed again this season so
Frank Sheldon of Maccabi kindly continued as acting Chairman for the League and
Committee meetings.
League President for the past 10 years George
Lomax died at the beginning of 2009. George had a long association with ELPM
and in the boom time of the League in the late 70’s and into the 80’s ELPM had
20 teams in the League. George was instrumental in bringing many juniors into
the League and he will be sadly missed.
Long-time player in the League Ellis Pressman
also sadly died this year.
Defending Champion Graham Jeffries of
Radcliffe CC retained his title when he beat fellow club mate Wayne Renton 2,
4, (-) 7,10,2. Graham did the double and took the Veterans Title as well when
he beat Dennis Collier 3, 7, 6.
Ramsbottom Table Tennis Academy was formed by
League Match Secretary Keith Warrington (Secretary) and Ramsbottom Town TTC
Secretary Bryan Edwards (Chairman). The Academy is a registered club in the
League though they haven’t entered a team. This gives them ETTA affiliation. Based
at Ramsbottom Civic Hall on Friday evenings the Academy built up a membership
of 24 with ages ranging from 7 to 16 years. They were successful in their
funding bid to the Awards for All Lottery Grant for new tables and other
equipment. Adam Bleakley was coach for
the year and obtained his UKCC level coaching certificate during the first
year. The Club was working towards ETTA PremierClub accreditation and was being
helped by the North West ETTA Development Officer Andrea Holt to obtain this
accreditation. Players in the League Michael Moir, Graham Young and Mandy
Winskill were volunteers in the club and also obtained their UKCC level
coaching certificates. The club is provided coaching and practice for
juniors in the Bury area – a long overdue facility.
After 5 years sponsoring the League, Ben
Armstrong of Burning Desire Fireplace Centre decided not to continue with his
sponsorship. Graham Jeffries of Radcliffe CC and current Bury Closed Champion
arranged for his employer Perrys to take over sponsorship of the League. Ken
Crimes of Prestwich TTC took over the vacant position of Chairman. Simon King
replaced David Ternent as Tournament Secretary after 11 years in this role.
David was also responsible for organising Finals Night and all the trophies and
a parting gift of some bottles of fine wine were presented to David at last season’s
finals night in appreciation of all the work he had done in the 11 years in this
role. Another new appointment to the League Committee was Mandy Winskill as
Coaching/Development Officers. Mandy is a coach at Ramsbottom Table Tennis
Academy and one of that clubs aims is to introduce more junior players into the
League.
Because there is not ‘criteria’ in the clubs
rules for appointing Vice Presidents it was decided at a League Committee
Meeting that no further appointments would be made for this position.
Ramsbottom Table Tennis Academy moved from
Ramsbottom Civic Hall to Castle Leisure Centre in Bury in June 2009. Tables
increased from 4 to 7. Several of the Academy young players registered to play
in the League for Ramsbottom Town TTC. The Academy also entered a team in the
ETTA National Cadet League. Players in
the League Michael Moir, Graham Young and Mandy Winskill took over as joint
coaches after Adam Bleakley returned to University. All three players are
taking the UKCC level 2 coaching certificate. Andy Jackson and Paul Wood from
Ramsbottom TTC plus one of the junior’s parents, David Allen are taking the
UKCC Level 1 coaching certificate.
In November 2009 the Club attained CLUBMARK
status after 12 months of the accreditation process. The Chairman of the club
and long-time club secretary of Ramsbottom TTC, Bryan Edwards was awarded
Development Officer of the Year by the ETTA.
After a number of seasons with the Cup
Competitions having a ‘team’ handicap it was decided to try an Individual
Handicap system based on the one used by the Oldham League. At last year’s AGM
it was agreed by all clubs attending that the Committee could get on with
creating an Individual Handicap system.
Oldham only use their system on a
‘divisional’ basis whereas the League wanted a system to cover across all 5
divisions. The new League Tournament Secretary, Simon King volunteered to do
the calculations which were time consuming and complex. Simon had assistance
from the League Chairman Ken Crimes. There were further refinements to the
system after each round to try and get the most accurate calculations possible.
Simon also took on another huge task of
improving the website and changed the look which has been well received by the
players. The history of the League from the book that Bob Goodman produced in
1990 was retyped by Match Secretary Keith Warrington and the content was
brought up to the current year. All the results from Championships and Cup
Competitions were retyped into Spread sheets and where possible Christian Names
were added to the winner’s names. A section was included for individual players
belonging to the League including all of Andrea Holt’s tournament wins.
The Table Tennis League and beyond mourned
the recent loss of BOB HAMILTON at
the age of 84. In his younger days he was a successful player with several
clubs including Greylands and ELPM. On three occasions in 1948, 1961 and 1967
he was the Bury League’s Closed Champion and in 1973, 1974 and 1976 was the
Veterans Champion. He represented the town team, Lancashire and had trials for
England. Bob was an all-round sportsman who captained Radcliffe Cricket Club
when both Frank Worrell and later Gary Sobers were club professionals. He was
also a founder member of Radcliffe Borough F.C and in later life was a
respected crown green bowler with Tottington. Bob was a perfect gentleman and a
popular team mate and opponent and will be missed by everyone who had the
pleasure of his company.
JIM FREELY, long
time player in the League died in January 2010 after a short battle with
cancer. Jim was one of only a few successful ‘father and son’ teams to play in
the League with Chris and Bobby. Listed below are Jim’s ‘achievements’ as a
player in the League and only stopped playing in 2002 after a long struggle
with his hip.
|
Junior
Final |
1949 |
Gordon
Hedley |
Jim
Freely |
|
Doubles
Final |
1950 |
G.Collier
& Bert Moore |
Alan
Barcroft & Jim Freely |
|
Men’s
Final |
1955 |
Eddie
Siddall |
Jim
Freely |
|
Doubles
Final |
1956 |
Jim
Freely
& Derek Hutchinson |
E.Hope
& J.Howarth |
|
Doubles
Final |
1957 |
Jim
Freely
& Derek Hutchinson |
H.Ashworth
& Alan Barcroft |
|
Doubles
Final |
1958 |
Jim
Freely
& Derek Hutchinson |
J.Rawson
& Norman Wolstenholme |
|
Doubles
Final |
1959 |
Jim
Freely
& Derek Hutchinson |
Irving
Cordwell & Sam Hilton |
|
Doubles
Final |
1960 |
Jim
Freely
& Derek Hutchinson |
Alan
Barcroft & E.Hope |
|
Doubles
Final |
1961 |
Jim
Freely
& Derek Hutchinson |
Bob
Hamilton & Bert Moore |
|
Veterans
Final |
1980 |
Peter
Kerr |
Jim
Freely |
The Closed Championships returned to Castle
Leisure Centre in Bury after an absence of 15 or more years. An excellent entry
of 86 League players entered the Men’s Singles, Handicapped singles, Doubles;
Over 40’s and over 60’s (previously one competition called the veterans) and
for the first time since 1996 a junior event.
The divisional
handicap events were played through to the final on the day and the remaining
competitions were played on ‘Finals Night’ on Tuesday 20th April at
Elton Vale Sports Club; a new venue for the event. Councillor Michael Hankey
presented the prizes.
Juniors
To attract a
good entry of junior’s players who attended the Ramsbottom Table Tennis Academy
were invited to play and a field of fourteen juniors in three groups played.
The winners of each group progressed to the semi-finals plus the ‘best loser’. Callum
Stott an Academy player played Dean Clyne of Maccabi who won in 4.
Over 40’s
The preliminary
round was in a group format with winners and runners up progressing to the
knockout stage. Mark Ramsbottom progressed through to the final and faced Mick
Dore of Radcliffe CC and Ramsbottom won the title for the fifth time.
Over 60’s
Players could
enter the over 40’s as well as the over 60’s if they qualified on age. Again
the preliminary round was in groups so players who had played in the over 40’s
as well will have got plenty of matches played on the day. Derek Watmough,
reigning champion won through to the final but lost to Tommy Ryan of Adelphi.
Doubles
This event was
a straight knock out and after some ‘reshuffling’ of pairs because a few
players didn’t turn up. Derek Watmough progressed through to another final
paired with Dennis Collier and faced Tony Bates and Tony Smith of BAE, a new
team entered this season from the Oldham League. Bates and Smith won the
doubles.
The Divisional Handicaps were played to a
conclusion on the day. They would be using the same handicaps that were used
for the first time this season in the cup competitions. Results are in HISTORY section on the website.
Open Singles.
The big event on
the day was on a group basis in the preliminary round to then progress to a
straight knockout to progress through to the semi-finals which will be played
on Finals Night. Gary Newton (Carlton Club) won his place in the semi-final for
the first time as did reigning champion Graham Jeffries of Radcliffe CC. Marek
Maraszkiewicz from the new club to the league in division two ‘Grubba Fans’ had an excellent day to
get to the semis and faced team mate Lukasz Serdiuk. Lukasz had an even better time
causing the upset of the day by beating Mark Ramsbottom in the second round. A
thrilling final which went to the seventh game. Lukasz appeared to have a
commanding 3-0 lead only to see the reigning champion claw his way back and to
win the vital seventh game to take the title for the third successive year.
The League sponsor for one season Perrys did
not wish to continue so the Treasurer Graham Wardle arranged with his son
Philip for his company Hands on Computer
Solutions Ltd to take over the sponsorship.
Simon King stood down as Tournament
Secretary/Website Development because of a new business venture.
62 teams entered for the new season which
made the division formatting difficult. Two new junior teams from Ramsbottom
Table Tennis Academy entered so division five became fourteen teams and
divisions one to four twelve.
At the last minute George Brennand Hilton
Bury withdrew their team from Division one because he was to become of family
commitments in becoming a father for the second time. David Poytress of
Seedfield A requested to stay in division one after being relegated last season
so division two has only eleven teams.
The Academy entered a squad of ten to cover
both new teams and included the father of two girls in the team. Two teams entered
from the Academy in the ETTA National Cadet League.
Though the Closed Championships at the Castle
Leisure Centre was a success it was too expensive to continue. The Radclyffe
School in Chadderton was sourced which is where the Oldham League have held
their championships and is only 11 miles from the centre of Bury.
The season saw a start of the ETTA Individual
Memberships and each player had to register direct with the ETTA rather than
through the League.
JOHN REDDY Vice
–President of the League died in January 2012 aged 74 years. John holds a
record in the Bury League that is unlikely to be beaten. John partnered Beryl
Hardman to no less than eight Mixed Doubles Championships between 1959 and
1967; seven on the trot. It would have been nine but for losing in the 1960
final. John continued playing for Seedfield Methodists until 10 or so years ago
and was a regular at the season end Finals Night and will be sadly missed.
Seedfield E has
kept mostly the same players and it was 5th February 2007 when they
last won a match; almost 5 years! It shows their resolve to have continued
playing despite the results which is a credit to them all.
The two bottom
teams in this division faced each other and the first four sets were very
close. Seedfield E is in bottom place so had a fifty one point advantage over
the junior team Shawfield G at the start of the match. All of the sets were
close and even drew set four but Seedfield were slowly increasing their lead.
Barry Simpson lost twenty nine forty four to James Aadahl of Shawfield and
Seedfield still led by forty two points. In a very strong set from Jim Murray
of Seedfield in beating Dean Walmsley forty six points to twenty five which put
the match out of Shawfield’s reach with a set to go. Andy Wood consolidated
Jims result and beat Sam Burgoyne of Shawfield by eight points to put the match
score 651 to Seedfield and 580 to Shawfield.
8 year old AMIR
HUSSAIN won his place through to the final of the junior singles. He faced 18
year old Dean Clyne who was back playing in division two after a year’s absence
through illness. Amir showed fantastic skills for someone so young and though
he took a game of Dean it was Dean who won on the night.
Michael Moir won
the Men’s Championship for the record equalling seventh time to match Derek
Hutchinson’s record that has stood since 1963. Derek was due to come to the
Finals Night presentation but a hospital appointment for a procedure on his eye
meant that he was unavailable.
Michael
represented the Bury and Bolton Leagues as Champion in a ‘Champions Challenge’
winner takes all (£100) event organised by Jim Bolton of the Wigan League. The
Keith’s Butler and Warrington represented the League at the Challenge held in a
fairly new sports facility in Hindley, just outside Wigan. There were six
League Champions who played in two groups of three and the winner from each
group played the final. Michael got to the final but it was Thomas?? from the
Liverpool League who won.
At the AGM Ken
Crimes stepped down after three years as Chairman to be replaced by FRANK GREEN
who plays for Elton Vale Sports Club. All other Officers and Committee Members
were re-elected.
The entries for
the League for the coming season resulted in twelve teams in Division 1, eleven
in Divisions 2 and 4 and ten teams in divisions 3 and 5.The League season will
run from Monday 3 September to Good Friday.
Based on the ETTA
Individual Membership database there were 293 players registered in the Bury
League for the season.
League Secretary
Keith Butler explained at the League meeting in July 2012 of the proposal made
by the ETTA to increase membership fees and their plans for using the additional
income. The consensus of the meeting was
to oppose the proposal and KB was requested to vote accordingly. KB noted that he would also communicate the
League’s concerns about some of the proposed uses of any additional fees.
The Individual Handicap
calculation automation was created by Treasurer Graham Wardle which was an
improved Excel spread sheet that should reduce the workload and calculations at
each round.
Chairman Frank Green
stated that the date for the change of the new style table tennis ball had been
put back again and is now July 2015 before it will be launched.
There were 73 entries for the closed
championships which were held at The Radclyffe School, Chadderton for the third
time. Sixteen tables were used which were set up including all surrounds,
electric score boards and all TT balls for the championship. They were provided
by the Oldham Table Tennis Club, Dave Griffiths, who have their club based at
this venue.
Finals
Night – Tuesday 16th April 2013 at Elton Vale Sports Club
Junior
Final
Having played each
other in the group stage of the championship eleven year old Daniel Olsberg
from Maccabi Table Tennis Club was looking to repeat his fine win over fifteen
year old Dominic Siddall from Ramsbottom Table Tennis Academy. Daniel fought
his way back from a two game deficit in the group match to beat Dominic, the
top ten winner this season for division five having lost just five matches all
season. Daniel and Dominic won through the group stage and their respective
semi-finals to prove that their numbers one and two seedings for the event were
correct.
It was clear that
Daniel was suffering some nerves as was to be expected for an eleven year old
playing in front of an audience for the first time. Dominic appeared a lot more
settled and was in to his attacking game straight away and soon had the first
game tied up, winning it eleven three.
Dominic continued his strategy of ‘getting in first’ in the second game
to take time away from Daniel who looked more settled and was playing better
table tennis with less errors. It was a close game but Dominic always had his
nose ahead and took the second eleven points to eight.
Daniel had it all
to do if he was to lift the junior title and he started the third game very
positively. He held a lead until part way through the game when Dominic played
a string of winning shots to just edge out Daniel to take the third game and
junior title for the first time by eleven points to nine.
Singles
Semi-Finals
Playing for
Prestwich Table Tennis Club and for the first time in the Bury League this
season current champion of the Oldham League Darren Lindley faced another new
comer to the League. Jeff Craighill who played this season for Ramsbottom Town
had a ‘flying start’ to his match in an error strewn first game for Darren.
This wasn’t to be unexpected after his long journey from Yorkshire. Darren was
delayed over an hour as a result of a road traffic accident en route to the
venue. Jeff raced away to the first game winning it eleven points to four.
Darren then found his game in the next taking it eleven points to five and
continued his strong attacking play to close out the match comfortably wining
the next two games eleven seven.
In the second
semi-final current champion Mick Moir from Ramsbottom Town faced another new
comer to the League, Paul King who plays in the same team as Darren at
Prestwich. In two up and down games Mick managed to just ease past Paul taking
them both eleven points to nine. Mick ‘lost his way’ in the next game when he
made several mistakes plus Paul was winning some impressive points to close out
the game eleven points to seven. Mick was always ahead in the fourth game and
crossed the winning line by eleven points to eight and a place in his tenth
final. This is one more than Graham Hoy managed in the 1970’s and 80’s.
Singles
Final
Played over the
best of seven games rather than the usual five the final promised to be the
best standard of table tennis in the area where reigning Bury Champion Mick
Moir was looking to break another record in winning his eight title. This would
put him one ahead of Derek Hutchinson who won his seven in the 1950’s and 60’s.
Mick’s opponent is the reigning Oldham Champion, Darren Lindley, a title that
he won just last month. Having got over the traffic delays that hampered his
semi-final match Darren got a fast start to his match taking the first game
eleven points to six. There were some spectacular shots from both players whose
attacking games sometime led to very short points. The longer points on both
the forehand and backhand sides, again by both players showed their tremendous
hitting skills off both wings. Mick kept his nose ahead in the second game,
winning eleven points to nine to draw level. An even closer third game went the
way of Mick twelve points to ten. Two one to Mick. Darren had plenty of chances
in the next game to draw level in the match but Mick won it seventeen points to
fifteen. Obviously annoyed at letting the last game slip Darren hit back and
comfortably won eleven points to five. Mick had a very fast start to the sixth
game and he could sense the winning line which he crossed comfortably eleven
points to three to be Bury Champion for the eighth time.
Over
50’s Final
The current over
50’s champion Mark Ramsbottom from Ramsbottom Town having won the title on six
occasions took on the 1996 and 2002 champion Phil Riley from Little Lever. Mark
had the quickest start to his match taking the first game eleven points to six
but Phil soon hit back by taking the second eleven seven. A very comfortable
third game went Mark’s way eleven points to three. Could Phil mount a challenge
again? It wasn’t to be and Mark rounded off the match by winning eleven seven
and the title for the seventh time.
Over
60’s Final
Dennis Collier from
Little Lever was able to reverse his result from last year’s final where he was
runner up to three time previous champion Tommy Ryan who surprisingly lost to
Dennis in the semi-final. Dennis took on the champion from 2009, Derek Watmough
who plays for Coburg. Derek was unable to get into his usual game because
Dennis, normally a defensive player went on the attack. Derek had trouble with
the speed and consistently was pushing the ball long to give Dennis easy
points. The match was over rather quickly when Dennis won four, four and three
to take the title.
Doubles
Final
Two new pairings
faced each other in the final. From Ramsbottom Town Mark Ramsbottom joined team
mate Jeff Craighill who had beaten another team mate, Mick Moir with his
partner Dave Cain in the semi-final. Darren Lindley and Ian McLean from
Prestwich Table Tennis Club beat 2010 and 2011 champions Tony Bates and Tony
Smith in their semi-final match. The first game was very close with either
pairing looking likely to win it and it was the Prestwich pair who just nicked
it twelve points to ten. With the first game under their belt Darren and Ian
seemed to flow a bit better and were always ahead in the next two games to take
them relatively comfortably six and eight to win the title for the first time.
Prize
Presentation
At the conclusion
of all of the finals the League Chairman, Frank Green was assisted by Guest of
Honour John Hilton, 1980 European Table Tennis Champion to present the prizes
and trophies.
