WELCOME TO THE NEW SEASON

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

I would like to welcome everyone to the 75th running of the Sutton and District Table Tennis League. This season has seen significant changes to the committee with the retiring of John Prince as chair, Alan Clatworthy as vice chair and general secretary, Tony Stephens as divisional secretary and Frank Ho as treasurer. All have been tremendous servants to the league and ensured that we have all been able to play over many years, despite numerous challenges. Personally, I am extremely grateful for their diligent work and I’m sure many others are too.

Fortunately, a new committee has been able to be formed and we are lucky to have both Steve Sharp and Michelle McGovern continue in their roles, and Steve has taken on further responsibility as treasurer.

This has brought some continuity which has greatly assisted in the setting up of the new season. In addition, we have Des Coke taking on the role of general secretary and Steve Parris taking on the role of divisional secretary. We thank Tony for helping with the transition and the setting up of the fixtures on the TTE website, but also for his continued work on the SDTTL website.

Prior to the AGM I was not expecting to be chair, so it was a bit of a shock when John asked me, although I had previously expressed an interest. I hope I can live up to the standards set by my predecessors.

Many of you will know me, but for those that don’t, other than going away to university, I have always lived in the London borough of Sutton. I first played in the league 20 years ago for Collingwood before leaving for university. When I returned, I started playing for Carshalton Lawn Tennis and have done ever since. Outside of table tennis I have a wife and two young children, have a keen interest in old video games and computers, and work as a scientist.

For the league, I would love to get more people playing again and that everyone has a good time doing so, I did not want it to fold after such a rich history. There were four divisions when I returned to Carshalton LTC and now, we are down to just two. If we can get to three next season, we will be doing well. Table tennis is very much a sport for all, and I’d like to continue to improve the great existing diversity within the league, I definitely think we can do better on gender balance for example. Something I think we also can do better is promoting the league outside of the existing channels. I hope we can build a bit of a social media presence. I will share more details of this once the season starts, but if anyone is interested in this space (i.e. budding photographers or videographers) then just reach out.

Last season, we did have some challenges with the submission of results and the communication of postponed matches with the committee. This season, as per the rules, the home team should submit the results to the TTE website within 24 hours of the match being played, and then let the away team know so that they can approve or correct the result within the following 24 hours. Regarding postponements, these need to be shared with and approved by the divisional secretary and/or chairman along with a legitimate reason. Rearranged dates should be shared with the committee within 2 weeks of the postponement, and postponements are limited to one per half season (before/after Christmas).

Finally, it is with great sadness that I report the passing of Derek Wedge. I have fond memories of playing against Derek and I’m sure many of you do too. He was also a great servant to the league and Rosehill table tennis club.

I wish all the teams an enjoyable season.

Lewis Vidler

Chairman

Cover Photo - Jeremy Wu - Eldon Phab - Photo courtesy of Michael Loveder.