Cleveland County Vets

The reformed Cleveland County Vets team made the long journey to St Neots and came away with 2 wins and a draw.

British Premier League

Sam Maybe – Player Of the Match

Ormesby moved to the top of the British Table Tennis League on Friday evening with a 4-3 victory over the Northern Ireland team, Ormeau, in Belfast.

Ormesby’s 4 wins were scored by Sam Mabey and Ryan Jenkins who both won their two singles.  Mabey was nominated as Man of the Match after he beat Ashley Robinson 3-0 in his first singles and then beat Zack Wilson by the same score in this second match.  Jenkins had more difficulty.  In the opener he beat Wilson by 12-10 in the fourth game and was also taken to four games in his second set against James Skelton where Ryan won 11-8, 11-5 in the third and fourth games.

Ormeau’s three sets were recorded in the surprise doubles win when Wilson and Robinson beat Jenkins and Mabey in straight games.  Ormesby’s third player, Ben Piggott lost his two sets against Skelton and Robinson.

Ormesby are now top of the table with a maximum 9 points from the 3 matches played so far.  Ormeau are second with 7 points from 3.  Third is Archway Peterborough who have 6 points from 2 matches.  Ormesby entertain Archway in their next match on the 23^rd January 2022.

British Premier League

Thomas Rayner

Ormesby are amongst the leaders at the top of the Premier Division of the British Table Tennis League after their 5-2 victory against the Essex Club BATTS in Harlow on Saturday 30^th October.

The match was closer than the score line suggests.  Ormesby’s Sam Mabey was the most successful player winning both his singles and combining with Helshan Weerasinghe to win the doubles.  Thomas Rayner made his contribution with a 14-12 victory in his second singles over Jack Bennett who is ranked 28 places above Rayner in the England Senior Rankings List.

The match started with the first two singles when Bennett, against expectations, secured at 11-9 in the deciding game victory over Ormesby number 1, Helshan Weerasinghe.  Mabey won his first match 11-8 in the decider against Shayan Siraj.

With the score at 1-1, Weerasinghe and Mabey won comfortably in the doubles.

In the next two singles Ethan Walsh for BATTS beat Rayner in straight games and Weerasinghe won 11-7 in the fifth against Siraj.

This meant that Ormesby had to win one of the two remaining sets to clinch the victory but at one stage this looked in jeopardy as both Mabey and Rayner were 2 games to 1 down in their singles, but Mabey recovered to win the fourth at 11-7 against Walsh and the decider 11-4 whilst Rayner produced an excellent result to beat Bennett at 14-12 in the 5^th game.

This victory puts Ormesby in second place in the League table behind Archway Peterborough on sets difference as both teams have maximum of 6 points from the opening two fixtures.

Ormesby’s next fixture is away in Northern Ireland to Ormeau on the 26^th November.

Alan Ransome-Chairman

TT KIDZ at Ormesby TTC

British League Premier 2021/2022

Ryan Jenkins

The fixtures for the Premier Division of the British League have been announced this week.

This year playing for our First Team are Helshan Weerasinghe plus Ryan Jenkins, the former Welsh Champion who signed last year but there were no matches played, and Sam Mabey who is the current England no. 9.

We are also looking to include our top juniors in the team including Ben Piggott, Thomas Rayner, Josh Weatherby and David Gofton who are all in our Championship DivThe first away match of the new season for the Ormesby 1 team is away to Ormeau 1 in Ireland.ision team with Denis Neale as the non-playing Captain.

Ormesby’s first match of the new season is away to Ormeau in Ireland on Saturday 18 September.

Ormesby’s first home match in the 2021/2022 British League Premier season is on October 2 when they play North Ayrshire of Scotland at the Ormesby Club.

Ormesby at Ormesby Hall

National U10-U13’s

At the University of Warwick, on the 3rd and 4th of July the Mark Bates Ltd. U10-U13 National Championships take place and three young Ormesby players are really looking forward to the event.

Tom Wardell and Ella Pashley who are both 12 will be playing on Saturday and 11 year old Jack Hodgson will play on Sunday.

Visit from Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald

Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald visited Ormesby Table Tennis Club this morning during one of the club’s 50plus sessions.

With the club still being reduced to 9 tables instead of the usual 15 due to the current Covid restrictions, there was still a really good atmosphere.

Club Chairman with Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald

MP Andy enjoyed a few minutes on the robot leading to the suggestion that perhaps we should sign him up for one of the Ormesby Teams!!!!

Chairman’s Newsletter

Dear Members,

As I am sure most of you will be aware the announcement from Boris Johnson on Monday means a further delay in the Club being able to return to the normal programme after the pandemic.

We are, therefore, needing to keep the current arrangements in place until further notice from the Government which is expected towards the end of July.

Generally the Club sessions are going well, even with the restrictions and the majority of our objectives are being met.

One of the these is to help our top juniors to perform well in National competitions.  This weekend is the English National Cup and of the thirteen selected boys, no less than five have come through the Ormesby Club, Josh Weatherby, Thomas Rayner, Ben Piggott, David Gofton and Joe Cope.  Unfortunately, Thomas has had to withdraw due to an injury.  Their progress can be followed on the TTE Facebook page over the weekend.

We had a meeting of the Trustees on Sunday and we are planning to go ahead with two initiatives which are targeted at helping the Club’s finances.  We are launching a Sport England Crowdfunder project shortly which can result in a £10,000 automatic award from Sport England provided we meet our targets.  This is likely to be launched as soon as the full return is confirmed by the Government and all Club members assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.

Further details will be issued shortly.

Finally, by joining together Top Squad coaches including Denis Neale and Carole Moore and our Community Coach, Malcolm Muldoon, we are looking to launch a new Hopes programme which is targeting primary schools children.

After the lockdown has been lifted we are looking to promote a “Find the Next Star” day which will be widely publicised and invites parents to bring their youngsters to the Club for effectively, a trial.

We are also planning to increase the number of primary schools that we will be working with in the next school term in order to generate more interest from talented youngsters in our catchment area.

If you know of any parents and youngsters who may be interested in coming along to the “Find the Next Star” day then please let them know that this is coming up and that they would have an opportunity to participate on the day.

I will keep you advised of the Clubs progress as the Governments timetable progresses.

Best Wishes

Alan Ransome OBE

European Youths for Ben

European Youths

Ormesby Top Squad player Ben Piggott has been selected for the Junior (under 19’s) England Squad.

Ben will travel to Varazdin in Croatia to compete in the European Youths Championships.

The junior event runs from July 18th until the 24th.

Almost there – now its the seniors turn to play

Dear Members,

Following the Government’s announcement on Monday, I am pleased to be able to advise all of our members that we are able to invite everyone to participate in the Club’s programmes from next Monday 17^th May.

The restrictions due to the Covid virus have not been fully lifted, we are still in a restricted mode, which means that we can only use 9 tables and all of the requirements regarding masks and other procedures, remain in place but nevertheless this does allow everyone to participate in the Club’s sessions.  Social distancing, face masks and good hygiene needs to be maintained at all times.

The U18’s, both with Top Squad and the Hopes groups, have been able to operate from 12^th April.  With regard to the Top Squad, it means that the senior players who are members of the Top Squad are also able to participate from Monday.

This will also mean that parents will be able to wait in the lounge during sessions, however, the same principal of masks and social distancing must be observed.

For the Top Squad, bookings are still required with Carole Moore

50+, Hopes and Open sessions are to be booked with Brenda Stephenson brenda_stephenson@hotmail.com  Mobile: 07803 137285.

Once the session is full i.e. 18 players, then no more will be allowed into that session, so if you book late there is a chance you may not be included in that particular session.

With regards to the cafe opening, the date for this is under consideration but will not be from the start of this return.  We will keep you informed of the progress which is being made with this facility.

The programme is therefore:

Top Squad – keep training

Ben Piggott gets ready to serve

Covid-19 has proved to be a challenging time for the Junior Top Squad players at Ormesby although they have still been practicing when and wherever possible.

Zoom practice sessions have proved popular and TT robots have come in very useful.

Edward Adams left and Spencer Wardell 

Some of the Under 18’s have enjoyed playing with the England Junior and Cadet players at Ormesby TTC in combined training camps.

Juniors return to play

Ormesby Newsletter

Dear Members

Return to Play 

Following the recent roadmap from the Government regarding the relaxation of restrictions from the Coronavirus the advise from Table Tennis England, which ultimately comes from the Government, is that the junior training excluding the senior players, is likely to be possible from the 12^th April provided that the figures with the progress in overcoming the virus are in accordance with expectations.

With regard to the senior play, which may well be possible to restart provided that the players operate in bubbles of 6 from 17^th May. We are waiting further information with regard to this.  If this is not possible then provided all is on track with overcoming the virus the 21^st June is the day we would be able to fully open as we were up to 12 months ago assuming that the lockdown restriction being lifted stays on track.

BBC Archive  

There was a point of interest to members from BBC Archives, which was available earlier this week.  The BBC produced a piece for their North East sports broadcast 50 years ago in 1971 which was the year before we won the European Cup.  This seems to have gone viral on the table tennis social media.  Please find below the link to this feature which shows the club very well in its early days.

https://www.facebook.com/1097524425/posts/10222983331467233/?d=n

There was a second important feature, it was produced by a film crew from Sport England in 2004 featuring the club when it moved to Cargo Fleet Lane.  The club received a grant of £5000 from Sport England to build the social area, kitchen, gym, improve the roof and instal the car park.  This has been widely used by Sport England to promote their facilities programme.  Please find below the YouTube link which features this film.

https://youtu.be/YZVv7hmICAk

Job Vacancies 

Finally, when we know of any table tennis job vacancies in the area we tend to advise our members.  Currently there is a Sales Assistant position available at Ransome Sporting Goods in the Butterfly Table Tennis Department and details of this are attached.  There are also vacancies for two Apprentices, one in the Sales Office and one in the Warehouse.

If you know of anyone who is interested please pass on the information to them, particularly, if they have a table tennis background which is one part of the desirables for any appointments of this kind.

I will keep you advised of any Return to Play developments.

Best Wishes

Alan Ransome OBE

Happy New Year to All

As 2021 dawns let us all hope for a Healthy and Happy New Year for all our Table Tennis Friends

Ormesby Newsletter

Dear Members 

Following the Government announcement which moved Middlesbrough into Tier 4 yesterday, the guidance from Table Tennis England which comes from the Government is that the relaxation of restrictions which applies to coaching groups for Under 18 players, whilst being relaxed for Tiers 1, 2 and 3, are not relaxed for Tier 4. 

This means that the Top Squad at the club and any other club activities, for that matter, are discontinued for the time being. 

Up to now we do not have any indication of how long Middlesbrough will stay in Tier 4.  Clearly we will be watching this carefully and will contact you again as soon as there is some clarity on this or that we have notification that we can resume. 

I am sorry to bring you this notice however, I am sure you can all appreciate the second wave of the Coronavirus is very serious and we all need to keep ourselves safe. 

Finally, I would like to wish all our members a happy and successful new year.  I am confident in the information received from our Government and, in fact, the Governments across the western world, that these vaccines which are currently being offered to the population of this country will make a huge difference as far as the Coronavirus is concerned and that we will be back to normal, or as near normal as possible, in the spring or early summer. 

This means we will be able to resume the full club’s activities at that time and I will ensure that this happens at the earliest possible date when it is safe to do so. 

In the meantime, please look after your yourselves and our family and stay safe.  I am confident that 2021 is going to be a better year.

Best Wishes –  Alan Ransome

Lockdown Latest

Dear Members

As I am sure you are aware the new Government restrictions become operative from the 2nd December.   Tees Valley is in Tier 3 which imposes major restrictions on table tennis clubs such as ours.

Only the Top Squad juniors and junior coaching could go ahead prior to the lockdown.  We have had to cancel the Top Squad junior training and the junior coaching for the last month because of the lockdown, but we have been advised that we are able to restart this part of the clubs activities from the 2nd December.

We will, therefore, be planning to run sessions as before on a Thursday, Monday, Tuesday and Saturday from the 12th December up until Christmas.  We are still considering the other junior coaching.  These rules are due for revision by the Government on the 16th December so that could indicate a change, however, the likelihood is that the restrictions that are in place will remain until the new year, but we will keep an eye open for this.

I regret that I cannot bring better news across the whole club situation for our members, but clearly we need to comply with the guidelines and recommendations from the Government and Table Tennis England in respect of the above.

With regard to the Top Squad junior coaching, which is going ahead as above, I would like to remind all participants that the rules we needed to introduce to be compliant with the Covid-19 requirements are still in place and must be observed, copy attached.

I will keep you advised of developments as and when they become apparent.

Best Wishes

Alan Ransome

Second Lockdown for the Ormesby Club

Ormesby Table Tennis Club Newsletter

Dear Members

As I am sure you are aware the Government have issued a lockdown for the whole of England from 5th November through until at least 2nd December.

We have been checking with Table Tennis England to establish what the instructions  from the Government to the National Governing Body are for their member organisations.  The notice from Table Tennis England has confirmed that all table tennis clubs, such as ours, need to close down for the lockdown period.  This means that we will be unable to run any sessions, even for the under 18’s, between now and at least 2nd December, which means that all of our activities are on hold for the time being.

I will be following closely the information from Table Tennis England, will be in touch with the key people in the association and I will keep you advised of any developments.  I regret to provide this information to you but I am sure you all realise that is where we are at the moment.

This is an ideal opportunity for you to play at home if you have the facilities to be able to do so.  It may give you the chance to introduce the sport to some of your family members who are not enjoying the benefits of table tennis so far.

In any case, I wish you as good a build up as possible to Christmas in the current circumstances.

Take care and stay safe.

Best Wishes

Alan Ransome