Table Tennis Times - Winter 2019

Table Tennis 

Times 

A quarterly, independent, magazine from the world of English Table Tennis 

Issue 17 Editorial Winter 2019 

Another year is almost over and as always we are amazed at how quickly they rush by. Christmas 

festivities will shortly be with us and we are looking forward to seeing our children and grandchildren. 

We hope that you too can all spend some time with your families and friends and come back to the 

table in 2020 refreshed. 

This edition, the last of 2019, contains all the usual features and, as always, is a testament to Diane's 

research. In addition to undertaking the production of this magazine, Diane has been working on the 

creation of a website that will take her “Who’s Who” book to a much wider audience. For those of you 

who have seen it you know what to expect, but to those of you that have not, I can promise you will find 

plenty to look at. There are over 700 names which include all England senior internationals going back to 

1923 as well as all those who have received major honours and awards from the ETTA, chief officers and 

those with the highest officials’ qualifications. Currently Diane is checking the content and hopes to 

launch the website early in 2020. 

This edition also sees the last of the incredible series of articles from the pens of Ken & Karenza 

Mathews – a series that has proven extremely popular. We hope they can find time to write some more 

for us all to enjoy. 

We particularly like the picture of Jack Sibley on page 11 and we are pretty sure he will have a TT bat in 

his hand at some point, but most of all we hope he grows up healthy and strong. Congratulations to 

Kelly and Laura. 

As always we would welcome any contributions for future editions from you, our readers. Go on, pick up 

a pen, or get on the keyboard, share your experiences and see what happens. 

Have a good Christmas and we wish you a healthy and peaceful 2020. 

Harvey and Diane Webb 

Table Tennis Times 17: Winter 2019 

1

Team World Cup, Tokyo 

6 th -10 th November 2019 

Stunning results and stunning performances from England’s Men in their group at the Team World Cup 

in Tokyo. Ranked third in their group the England squad of Paul Drinkhall, Tom Jarvis, Liam Pitchford and 

Sam Walker finished in pole position after beating both Japan and Austria in style. 

England’s first game was against host country, Japan, and although the first game went Japan’s way with 

Paul Drinkhall and Tom Jarvis losing in three to Koki Niwa and Maharu Yoshimura that was their only 

group defeat as first Liam Pitchford beat Tomokazu Harimoto (WR 5) followed by Paul Drinkhall’s win 

against Maharu Yoshimura (WR 48). Liam Pitchford then finished off the match with his second singles 

win, this time against Koki Niwa (WR 11) in three. The shock of the tournament. 

Tom Jarvis & Paul Drinkhall. Photo courtesy of the ITTF 

Next in the firing line were Austria and England had a comfortable 3-0 win with Paul Drinkhall and Tom 

Jarvis winning the doubles against Andreas Levenko and Daniel Habesohn, Liam Pitchford carried on his 

singles success against Robert Gardos (WR 33) winning 3-2 and then Paul Drinkhall had a 3-0 win against 

Daniel Habesohn (WR 43) to put the team in a Quarter-final match against the team who are World 

Ranked 5, Chinese Taipei. 

Liam Pitchford. Photo courtesy of the ITTF 


2

Once again the fixture started with the doubles pairing of Paul Drinkhall and Tom Jarvis in the first 

knock-out match at the Quarter-final stage but there was no silver lining for England this time with a 

three straight loss against the Chinese Taipei pair of Cheng-Ting Liao and Chien-An Chen. This was 

followed by both Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall losing in straight sets to Yun-Ju Lin (WR 10) and 

Chien-An Chen (WR 46) respectively. 

However, newly appointed coach, Gavin Evans, must have been delighted with his players’ performance 

with some outstanding play and although they were one step below their achievement in 2018 the 

challenge this year for the team was a much more difficult proposition. 

Asian teams once again dominated the tournament with the same four teams reaching the Semi-final 

stage in both Men’s and Women’s events. China defeated the Republic of Korea in the final of the 

Men’s competition with Japan and Chinese Taipei the Semi-finalists. China were also the winners in the 

Women’s event with Japan the silver medallists and Chinese Taipei and the Republic of Korea the Semifinalists. 

Japanese Men's Team with their mascots. Photo courtesy of the ITTF 

TTR 

You’ve seen it on the tennis courts, you’ve seen it in football and rugby and now it comes to table 

tennis. TTR or Table Tennis Review was trialled and tested at the World Tour Grand Finals in December 

2019. 

A video match official can see instant replays of possible nets and edges, illegal services and other 

contentious issues, with new highly accurate ball tracking technology and slow motion replays. The 

umpire’s decision can be challenged twice in a match by the player who is faulted or not awarded the 

point, the TTR official then makes the decision on the point and relays it to the umpire and the score is 

amended if necessary. If the player’s appeal is unsuccessful then one challenge is deducted. 

Did it work? Certainly, at the first trial event a player was faulted for a service, a challenge was made by 

the player and the evidence showed that the ball was thrown back at a 52% angle, way outside the 

permitted limit. Excellent news. For too long we have seen obviously foul services that are not called by 

an umpire. Hopefully, this new technology will empower the umpires and give them more authority and 

also make those players it applies to, be more respectful of the rules. 

The ITTF have to ratify the use of TTR for future top-tier events but providing they do we can look 

forward to a more level playing field. 


3

Events Update 

It is a fairly quiet time of the season for major events both on the home front and at international level 

so it has given the opportunity to look at a couple of ITTF Junior & Cadet Opens as well as the regular 

Grand Prix report. 

Hatfield Grand Prix: 26 th -27 th October 2019 

Chris Doran at the WCPP. Photo by Michael Loveder 

The second Grand Prix of the season 

saw the welcome return to the circuit 

of Chris Doran and Chris returned in 

style winning the Men’s Singles title 

against Luke Savill along with a win in 

the Open Doubles with Adam Jepson. 

Chris was last seen in action at the 

World Ping Pong Championships in 

January 2019 and since then due to 

injury has been seen around the circuit 

more with his coaching hat on than 

playing. 

The Women’s final was between Alice 

Chang and Tee Ai Xin, both of Bedfordshire apparently, with Chang winning 3-1, the same two players 

also faced each other in the U21 Women’s Singles. Home grown talent, Mollie Patterson, reached the 

Semi-finals in both these events and also won the main prize in the Women’s Band 1. 

Slovak Junior & Cadet Open: 

Success for Charlotte Bardsley who won 

the Junior Girls’ Singles title at the Slovak 

Junior & Cadet Open in October 2019. 

Seeded at Number 2 Charlotte went 

through the tournament reasonably 

easily winning all her seven matches 

including that against home player, the 

Number 7 seed, Zuzana Pekova, 13-11, 

11-9, 11-5, 11-6 in the final. 

Charlotte with Millie Rogove and 

Norwegian, Martine Toftaker, received a 

bronze medal in the Junior Girls’ Team 

event and Sam Wilson also won a bronze 

in the Junior Boys’ Team event alongside 

Thibault Bailliet of France and Matej 

Stach of the Czech Republic. 

Charlotte Bardsley, Junior Girls' Singles Champion. 

Photo courtesy of the ITTF 


4

Portugal Junior & Cadet Open: 

This season there seems to be a significant increase in the number of English youngsters playing in ITTF 

Circuit events and this was the case in the tournament in Portugal from 13 th -17 th November 2019 in the 

town of Guimaraes with 14 English players participating. 

Mollie Patterson and Millie Rogove were the most successful players both winning two bronze medals, 

the first in the Junior Girls’ Doubles where they were seeded seventh and a second in the Junior Girls’ 

Team event when the England pair teamed up with American, Faith Tung, only losing out to the number 

1 seeds, Spain, in the Semi-finals. 

Millie Rogove and Mollie Patterson at the Portugal Junior & Cadet Open. Photo courtesy of the ITTF 

A further medal went to Connor Green, another bronze, in the Cadet Boys’ Team event where Connor 

partnered Brazilian, Iizuka Kenzo. 

On the home front Mollie is Number 2 on the England Ranking List at Junior and U21 level and Number 5 

in the Senior lists. Millie is ranked 7 at Junior level, 16 at U21 and 41 in the Seniors. An anomaly between 

the ETTU and TTE lists means Millie is not on the England ranking list at Cadet level but is still eligible to 

play in Cadet events on the international stage. Connor is ranked at Number 3 in the England Cadet 

rankings. 

Connor Green. Photo courtesy of the ITTF 


5

1965 

A Table Tennis Life: 1965 

By Ken and Karenza Mathews 

Ken: On 1st January Mary Shannon, having gained her qualification, was admitted as a Member of the 

Society of Radiographers. This was a good month for Mary as she also won the English Closed 

Championship for the second time. 

At about this time Michael Maclaren and I visited Mary when 

she was on duty at Lambeth Hospital. Michael took this photo 

of Mary operating her x-ray machine. The guy on the gurney 

looking nervously upwards is me! 

I discussed with John Jaques, the subject of a sports exhibition 

that had been arranged to take place on some patchy ground 

just by the Crystal Palace Sports Centre. I suggested that we 

could have a very effective presence there if we had a 

marquee with a table tennis table - and a rota of players 

playing exhibition games. It was duly agreed and, needing to get the rota organised, I talked to a number 

of players at the English Open, held at Brighton in March. Amongst those I talked to were two girl 

players, Di Simpson and - Karenza Smith. I had seen them both playing but had not spoken to them 

before. They said they would have to ask their parents but would like to take part. 

The English Open Championships were staged at the 

Dome and Corn Exchange, Brighton from 4th to 6 th 

March. Mary and Di won both the Women’s Team 

Championship and the Ladies Doubles. Karenza 

partnered Di Simpson to win the Girl’s Doubles title. 

This is a photo of Mary and Di Rowe at the 

Championships. 

At this time Mary and Brian played another table tennis 

exhibition. This took place at the Sun Life Assurance 

Company at Cheapside in London on Monday 12 th April. 

The evening went very well. I gave a commentary as they demonstrated the basic strokes, showed 

attack and defence and then played an exhibition match. But it was a hard evening for Mary and Brian 

who of course were playing all the time. I thought it would be a lot easier for them – and would add 

another dimension if we had more than the two players - I would give that idea some thought. 

The World Championships were due to take place in Ljubljana in Yugoslavia (as it was then) in April. I 

looked at a map of Europe and decided that the journey was feasible in the car I then owned, a 

Volkswagen Beetle. Michael Maclaren, Barry Hill and Mick Savage, a player from Croydon, said that they 

would like to go with me and so it was duly agreed. It was also arranged that we would take a large 

Jaques display and advertising board with us on the roof of the Beetle. This board folded flat but when it 

was opened up it stood on the floor in a W shape. As we were driving across Northern France I saw this 

large bird flying past - and realised the display board had come loose and was overtaking us; it really 


6

flew quite well. We drove for about thirty hours, some of it through ice and snow over the Austrian Alps. 

We got there in one piece and had a great time at the tournament for a couple of weeks. 

This was perhaps the best tournament I ever went to in terms of crowd support. The photo on the left is 

of the opening ceremony (there is a message from the then President Tito of Yugoslavia on the score 

board) and it was packed as was the hall on every day of the tournament. The crowds were hugely 

enthusiastic - particularly when any Yugoslav players were in action - when the roaring of the supporters 

was deafening. Fantastic atmosphere! 

The second picture gives an idea of the crowds; I'm not sure who is playing but on the scoreboard 

number 246 is winning 2-0. 

I don't know who took this picture, below left. In the front are Ken Baker and his wife Pat. They were 

both good players (Ken played for Kent) and they had travelled to Ljubljana to support the England 

players. Behind Ken is me and Michael Maclaren is behind Pat. 

The singles events were disappointing for England but we did better in the team events, particularly the 

women. The England women's team did brilliantly to end up in third place behind China and Japan. The 

men finished in seventh place. The picture shows Lesley Bell, Ron Crayden, Mary and Diane Rowe with 

their bronze medals. 


7

The best display by a European was by the incredible 

defensive player, Ebby Scholer of West Germany, who lost to 

the eventual Chinese winner in the semi-final - and he might 

have won that if he had not had to play a gruelling five-setter 

against another Chinese player in the quarters - earlier the 

same day! Scandalous programming! The picture shows Ebby 

taking advice during one of the matches. 

Most of the international tournaments gave the players a 

day off between the team events and the individual events. On the day off at Ljubljana the four of us 

climbed into the Beetle and drove to Zagreb hoping to find the high life – well, it wasn’t there. The place 

was dead – no-one on the streets during the evening; you expected gunmen to come out of the 

shadows and start shooting. No pubs, no bars – what a place! We ended up by going to the cinema 

where we saw a film in English with Hungarian sub-titles. I can’t remember what it was but at least we 

understood what was going on. 

Soon after we got back, Michael and I went to see England play China at the Empire Pool, Wembley - I 

have no record of the result. The Chinese team went on to play two further matches at Birmingham and 

Manchester. 

The exhibition at the Crystal Palace took place in May. It lasted for a week and I managed to get players 

there every day. Amongst these were Mary and Brian, Connie Warren, Alan Lindsay, Di Simpson and 

Karenza Smith. The first picture shows Karenza playing against Brian Wright. The second shows Connie, 

at this end, playing Alan Lindsay and the third picture is of Mary. John Jaques were thrilled with the 

success of their stand. I think the other manufacturers that had stands at the exhibition were furious, as 

ours was the only one that had live action - it attracted easily the biggest crowds! 

On Wednesday 12 th May we gave an exhibition for an insurance company, Andrew & Booth (Life 

Pensions) Ltd. It was played at the Northwood Boy’s Club, Hallowell Road, Northwood, Middlesex at 

8.00 pm. Mary and Brian played while I gave the commentary. On Tuesday 18th May, we put on an 

exhibition match for the Ministry of Aviation. They wanted a bigger team of players and so, as well as 

Mary and Brian; I roped in Ian Harrison, Chester Barnes, Di Rowe and Bobby Stevens. The exhibition, the 

largest in which I had been involved, was held at St Giles Court, 1/13 St. Giles High Street, in Central 

London. The fee that is shown in the correspondence is five guineas – I think this must have been for 

each player as I can’t imagine that they would have turned out for less. I compered the evening. 


8

By this time Mary and Brian, with me as M.C., had played a number of exhibition matches. We played 

several for local leagues – the details have been lost. Having only two players was a little limiting and as I 

said earlier, it had occurred to me that a third would make things more interesting. Karenza Smith was 

now ranked number two England Junior girl and I thought that it would be exciting to stage matches 

where the little junior, the rising star, would take on the Women’s Champion. 

On 4 th September, Mary and Brian were 

married at St. Philips Church, Worcester Park, 

Surrey. The reception was at The Woodman 

in Morden. Alma Taft, another table tennis 

player and friend of Mary was the Chief 

Bridesmaid. Alan Rhodes was Brian’s Best 

Man. 

The picture shows some of the guests at the 

wedding. From the left we have Connie 

Warren, Ken Baker, Patsy Baker, Terry 

Densham, Brian, Dave Lowe, Mary, Laurie 

Landry, Harry Venner, Jean Head, Jackie Head, Alma, Alan Rhodes, Janet Cornell and Tony Cornell. 

For Mary, apart from getting married, this had been a stunning year for her in table tennis! She was 

unbeaten in European Women’s Team events and had won the Women’s Singles in the Czechoslovakian, 

the West German and the Hungarian Open Championships. She was ranked number one in Europe and 

number seven in the world. 

Incidentally, Mary and Chester won the Mixed Doubles title in The 

Hungarian Open. In the photo they are balancing precariously on the 

top of the podium to receive their trophy. 

Karenza: Still losing, (well I must have beaten someone to get to the 

semis!) I lost to my friend Di in the semis of the Girls’ Singles at the 

Essex Open in January 1965. But at least I reached the final of the 

Under 15s at the Yorkshire Junior Open a couple of weeks later; I beat 

Linda Henwood in the semi and then lost to Maureen Heppell. And I 

lost to Maureen again in the final of the Girls’ Singles at the Midland 

Open in February. 

March was a great month for me as I was selected to play in my first 

junior international for England. This was against West Germany and was played at Belvedere in Kent on 

3 rd March. I had to play a girl called Jutta Fedderson and managed to beat her. Apparently it was a ‘most 

convincing performance’! Unfortunately, two days later I was demolished in the quarters of the Girls’ 

Singles at the English Open, 21-16 21-4 (!) by another German Jutta, this time Jutta Kruger. But, 

partnering Di, we did win the Girl’s Doubles. 

On one occasion, I think it would have been at about this time, I was told at school that I had to go to 

the Head Mistress’s office; I think her name was Miss Finch. When I got there she was holding an 


9

envelope addressed to me. She told me quite sternly that I was not allowed to have private letters 

addressed to me at the school. I hadn’t a clue who it could have been from. I opened it; it was a letter 

from the school governors congratulating me on my selection for the England junior team. She said ‘Oh, 

well, that’s okay then.’ 

Another time, I was called up on to the stage at assembly when prizes were being given out. I was given 

a ‘Special Merit Prize’. As I was not much good at academic stuff (although I quite liked English) I think it 

must have been for table tennis. The prize was a book; we still have it today. It is a book of poetry and 

contains the poem that starts: ‘’Twas the Night before Christmas…’ 

Mixed fortunes in the Sussex Junior Open in March: I lost in the semi of the Under 17s to Pauline 

Hemmings. Pauline was a very good player who was now representing England juniors. I also lost in the 

final of the under 15s to - guess who - Linda Henwood. 

Laurie Landry, who was then Captain of the England Juniors, pointed out, in an interesting article in the 

May issue of Table Tennis, that of the 23 junior tournament girls’ events played during the season 1964- 

1965, every one of them had been won by a girl whose name began with ‘H’: Maureen Heppell (9), 

Pauline Hemmings (8), Judy Heaps (3), and Linda Henwood (2). Pity my name wasn’t Hsmith. 

It may have been at about that time that I went with Laurie and the other members of the England 

Junior Team, to the Empire Pool at Wembley to see the Harlem Globetrotters. It was a fantastic show, 

very funny, with Meadowlark Lemon seeming to be able to do magic with the basketball! 

The summer had seen the staging of the sports exhibition at the Crystal Palace. The John Jaques stand 

was organised by Ken and he had asked me and Di to take part in it. It was from that time that I started 

to take part in some of the exhibitions that he was organising with Mary and Brian. 

The Kent Junior Championships were played in November at Folkestone. In the Under 17s and the Under 

15s I reached the finals losing to Pauline in the first and beating Judy Heaps in the second. Di and I won 

the Under 17s Girls’ Doubles and I won the Under 15s playing with Jill Shirley. I also managed to win the 

Girls’ Singles at the Portsmouth Open in November - I beat Judy Heaps in the final. Then came the 

Yorkshire Junior Open. There I won the Under 17s and under 15s Singles titles. 

Just after that, I played in the Middlesex Open at the Hanwell Community Centre (the coldest place on 

earth) and, partnering Di, we took a game off Mary and Di Rowe (the European Champions!) in the 

Ladies’ Doubles. This was maybe one of the 

most important games I had been involved 

in. The reason was that Di Rowe had recently 

got engaged to the great German player, 

Ebby Scholer, and they were to marry in 

January. As Di Rowe would be going to live in 

Germany it meant that Mary would not have 

a partner for the Women’s Doubles at the 

English Closed - and so she invited me to be 

her partner. Needless to say I said - Yes! In 

December I was ranked number one junior 

girl in England. To my total embarrassment, 


10

on 22nd December a journalist called Roy Moor together with a photographer from the Daily Mail came 

to the school. The photo above is the awful result: I look like the Wicked Witch of the North. 

One other event happened late that year. An inter-league match took place at The Albion and I 

represented the East London League. I can just about remember this occasion but Ken was there and 

recalls it more clearly: 

Ken: Karenza had to play Bobby Stevens who had been the Men’s English Closed Champion and who 

was still ranked in England. The match was being played on the far end table. Karenza was a very fast 

attacking player and her speed seemed to un-nerve Bobby. But even so, when she lost the first game the 

inevitable seemed set to happen. But it didn’t. Karenza fought hard and just managed to win the second. 

Now play had stopped on all the other tables as we all watched enthralled. Bobby was essentially a 

defensive player and he did all he could to stop her - but she pulled ahead and, to great cheers from us 

all, won the deciding game. Good old Karenza! 

Baby Sibley 

We were delighted to hear of the safe arrival of baby Jack Sibley, to Kelly and Laura, in the summer. 

Congratulations all round. 

Laura Sibley, baby Jack, and Kelly Sibley 


11

Home Countries International Tournament 

8 th -10 th November 2019, Isle of Man 

The second Home Countries International Tournament encompassing Senior, Junior and Cadet events 

was held in Douglas, Isle of Man over three days from 8 th -10 th November 2019. 

The Senior Men’s Team comprised Shayan Siraj and Ethan Walsh 

who both gained their first senior international caps. Congratulations 

to them. The two Senior Women, Lois Peake and Evie Collier, had 

previously played in the inaugural event in Guernsey in 2017 and 

achieved the same result again, with Peake winning the Women’s 

Singles defeating team mate, Collier, in the final and the duo taking 

the Women’s Team gold. Siraj and Walsh picked up team silver 

following a three way count back with Scotland and Wales which 

resulted in Scotland coming top. Siraj also collected a bronze medal 

in the Men’s Singles. 

New Senior Internationals 

Shayan Siraj and Ethan Walsh. 

Photo courtesy of Matt Stanforth 

Joe Cope and Rhys Davies were paired for the Junior Boys’ and they 

secured another gold medal for England in the team event but there were no podium finishes in the 

individuals. The Junior Girls, Erin Green and Gemma Kerr, lost to Ireland but won all their other matches 

so finished in second place. A better result in the singles gave a gold medal to Kerr and silver to Green. 

The Cadet Boys, Naphong Boonyaprapa and Connor Green, had a very successful tournament, winning 

the Cadet Boys’ Team event followed by gold for Boonyaprapa in the Cadet Boys’ Singles with a bronze 

for Green. The Cadet Girls, Amy Marriott and Sienna Jetha, performed well and just missed out on a gold 

team medal as they lost 3-2 to Wales. Marriott won a well deserved gold in the Cadet Girls’ Singles to 

add to her team silver. 

Medal Haul: 

Gold: Women’s Team, Women’s Singles, Junior Boys’ Team, Junior Girls’ Singles, Cadet Boys’ Team, 

Cadet Boys’ Singles, Cadet Girls’ Singles 

Silver: Men’s Team, Women’s Singles, Junior Girls’ Team, Junior Girls’ Singles, Cadet Girls’ Team 

Bronze: Men’s Singles, Cadet Boys’ Singles 

England's Squad with coaches. Photo courtesy of Matt Stanforth 


12

In Memoriam 

Derrick Marples: One of England’s best and best loved coaches passed 

away on 2 nd November 2019. Derrick was born in Sheffield on 22 nd June 1930 

but was known for his association with Chesterfield and Derbyshire. 

Many top players benefitted from Derrick’s wisdom and knowledge, 

internationals Alan Cooke, Helen Lower and Alison Gordon amongst them. 

Derrick coached Alan Cooke to six National singles titles, Helen to three and 

Alison to four. Derrick was the Non Playing Captain for England on many occasions including in Nairobi 

for the Commonwealth Championships in 1991 where he was in charge of the Men’s team who came 

away with the Team gold medal and the gold and silver in the Men’s Doubles. 

Derrick began his coaching career in 1961 and was still coaching on a weekly basis in 2015, he was a 

Level 4 coach as well as being a tutor and assessor. He received just recognition in 2005 when he was 

named ETTA Coach of the Year and a further accolade was received in 2015 when Derrick became a 

Vice-President of Table Tennis England. 

Derrick had more strings to his bow than coaching however; he won numerous Open Championship 

tournaments around the country, mainly at Veteran level in the 1970s, and he was still playing in 2015, 

aged 85 years. 

Derrick was also involved on the administrative side of table tennis and his roles included Chairman, 

Deputy National Councillor and Coaching Officer for Derbyshire and Chairman, Vice-Chairman and 

Coaching and Development Officer for Chesterfield League, at club level Derrick was involved with the 

Springbank Club for many years. 

Derrick’s love and passion for table tennis carried on down through his family with the next two 

generations both heavily involved with the game, son Neil, played and held many positions in the 

Chesterfield League and grandson, Shaun, is the Pathway Manager at British Para Table Tennis in 

Sheffield. 

Geoff Rushton: We were saddened to hear of the passing of Geoff Rushton, father of international 

Andrew Rushton, National Councillor for Lancashire and coach of many players. A guiding light in 

Andrew’s development and always a quiet but enthusiastic supporter of his son as well as many other 

youngsters he helped along the way. 

Dave Turner: Sadly, Dave Turner, National Councillor for Hampshire, passed away on Friday, 13 th 

December following a Regional Meeting at Milton Keynes. Dave was Regional Chairman for the South 

and formerly of the combined South & South-East Region. He was a passionate advocate of table tennis 

and very involved with many aspects of the game and an ever present face in the Bournemouth, 

Hampshire and all of the Southern area. 

Our condolences go to all the families. 


13

What was Happening in 1959? 60 Years Ago 

The only medal success at the World Championships was Ann 

Haydon and Diane Rowe with a bronze in the Women’s Doubles, Ann also 

reached two Quarter-finals, in the Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles with 

Zeljko Hrbud of Yugoslavia. The start of Chinese domination began with their 

first individual gold medal in the Men’s Singles. 

At the ITTF Congress England tried to convince members that 

standardisation of pimpled rubber was required but the vote did not go in 

their favour instead players now had two options, pimpled rubber or a 

Ann Haydon sandwich not more than 4mm thickness on each side. This opened the flood 

gates in England as most of the top players immediately changed to sponge 

which had been prohibited for two years in domestic competitions, only pimples had been 

allowed. The change had a significant impact at the top level, including at the World 

Championships, where the England players met those who had been used to playing with and 

against sponge during those years. 

The difference was shown after Ken Craigie, after switching to 

playing with sponge for a week, took the Welsh Open title 

defeating Jonny Leach in the final. 

Ivor Montagu was in his second year of his second stint as 

President of the ETTA, Bill Vint was Chairman, Ivor Eyles was 

Deputy Chairman, Tom Blunn held the Treasurer’s post and 

Peter Lowen was the General Secretary, now a paid position. 

Ken Craigie in action 

One new Vice-President was created at the ETTA AGM; Claud Kichenside and, the Victor Barna 

Award went to Johnny Leach. 

The ETTA moved to 652 Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2. 

Some early year successes as Bobby Raybould helped England 

defeat Ireland on 3 rd January 1959 on his England senior debut in a snow 

covered Leicester alongside Jeff Ingber, Michael Thornhill and Joyce Fielder. 

England Juniors had a satisfactory 9-0 win over Wales, Derek Grant, Paul 

Racey, Chris Gosling and Jean Harrower made up the team. Meanwhile the 

senior team of Harry Venner, Bobby Stevens, Terry Densham, Diane Rowe 

and Pam Mortimer beat Wales 6-1. 

Bobby Raybould 

After a 21 hour plane ride Micky Thornhill, Brian Kennedy and Ann 

Haydon arrived in Pakistan for the Islamia Championships in Karachi, the 

first England team to travel to Pakistan. 


14

Colin Clemett wrote an excellent article in February 1959 issue of ‘Table Tennis’ for his regular 

column ‘Umpires Corner’ on the essential qualities of a good umpire under three headings – 

competence, clarity and control. 

The Sussex Junior Open saw the increasing 

dominance of Mary Shannon as she won five junior finals, 23 

matches without defeat. A further four titles were added to 

her tally at the Cheshire Junior Open shortly after. 

Victor Barna and Alec Brook undertook a five week 

tour of Nigeria, Ghana and Portugal for exhibition matches 

Mary Shannon 

and coaching. In Lagos they were greeted by a 1,000 strong 

crowd who had waited 2.5 hours due to the plane being delayed, a calypso band was installed to 

welcome them with a specially composed Barna-Brook calypso and 100 students lined up with 

signs saying “Welcome to Lagos, Victor Barna and Alec Brook”. 

Manchester won the Wilmott Cup for the eighth time, Ron Allcock, Jeff Ingber and Peter 

Struvolitch being the winning team. The J M Rose Bowl went to Birmingham for their fifth 

successive win with their team of Pam Mortimer, Ann Haydon and Doreen Griffiths. 

England had 170,000 affiliated members and two staff, the Professional Secretary and a fulltime 

shorthand typist. 

7,000 juniors entered the Eagle and Girl competition. Nigel Ive won the Boys’ Singles and Judy 

Williams was the Girls’ Champion. 

Two Vice-Presidents died, Austin Carris who played in the first England International in 1923 and 

Mr W H Prichard, a hotel proprietor who was a good friend to many players. 

China visited England in the autumn for a six 

match tour. 

Ian Harrison topped the Men’s Ranking list and 

Ann Haydon the ladies. 

Ann Haydon opted to stop playing table tennis in 

order to concentrate on lawn tennis. She had 

made 63 England table tennis appearances and at 

the same time was playing tennis at the highest 

level representing GB in the Wightman Cup. Ten 

years later she won the Ladies’ Singles at 

Wimbledon. Geoff Pullar, a Lancashire County 

player, was also lost to table tennis as he decided 

to concentrate on cricket where he was an 

international player. 

21st November 1959, Yelton Hotel, Hastings. 

Back Row: Bryan Merrett, Ian Harrison. 

2nd Row: Cyril Downham, Colin Hyland, Jim Cleland, 

John Wyles. 

1st Row: Bill Vint, Betty Bird, Conrad Jaschke. 

Front Row: Ron Crayden, Jean Wyles. 

Photo courtesy of Colin Hyland 


15

The Good News Page 

11 year old Jakub Piwowar of Devon has been selected to be part of the Eurotalents Under 13 

group comprising 10 boys and six girls and so will receive coaching support from the ETTU. 

 

Tom Jarvis reached the Quarter-finals in the Men’s 

Singles at the Polish Open, his best result in an ITTF 

Pro Tour event, defeating home player, Jakub 

Dyjas World ranked at 73, 103 places above Tom. 

Tom followed this with another Quarter-final place 

at the Belarus Open in early November defeating 

three higher ranked players before being knocked 

out by French World 31, Emmanuel Lebesson. 

 

Maidstone League has celebrated their 100 year 

anniversary with a gala dinner. 

Tom Jarvis at the Polish Open. 

Photo courtesy of the ITTF 

Gavin Evans has been appointed England 

and GB Men’s Captain and Coach following 

Marcus Sjoberg leaving those positions. Gavin has 

also been selected for the ITTF High Level 

Coaching Course in December, one of 12 

participants. 

Gavin Evans, National Championships, 2019. 

Photo by Mike Rhodes. 

Will Bayley enjoyed a good run in ‘Strictly 

Come Dancing’ but had to retire from the 

competition due to an injured knee. 

 

Congratulations to Don Parker who has been awarded the Commonwealth Sport Order of Merit 

2019. 

 

In our last issue we complimented Josh 

Reynolds for his umpiring at the European Team 

Championships so we were delighted to learn 

he has recently become an ITTF Blue Badge 

Umpire. 

 

Good news for many veteran players who are 

now in the draw at the World Veteran 

Championships in Bordeaux in June 2020 as 

numbers have again been increased to 5,700 

entrants. 

Josh Reynolds at the World Team Cup, 2018. 

Photo by Alan Man 


16

Old Photographs 

A series of photographs of the Daily Mirror Competition finalists that were taken at Lilleshall Hall 

in 1953 and 1954. 

Ann Haydon demonstrating a shot with Jack and Elsie Carrington, left, Joyce Fielder, eighth left, 

Harry Venner and Adrian Haydon, far right 

Back Row: Eddie Still, Michael Maclaren, Gordon Lumsden 

Middle Row: Ron Carpenter, Joyce Fielder, Lily Rimmer, Elizabeth Pipe, Dorothy Jackson, Barbara Slater, Roy Morley 

Front Row: Shirley Davis, Pam Gall, Len Adams, Elsie Carrington, Jack Carrington, Harry Venner, Ann Haydon 


17

Jack Carrington coaching 

Jack and Elsie Carrington demonstrating shots in the sunshine 

A group of the finalists. Jack and Elsie Carrington, Ken Craigie and Len Adams at the back 


18

Spotlight on ETTA Treasurers: Part 2 

Last issue we focussed on the first six financial gurus so now it is the turn of the next three with the 

remaining two, Martin Clark and Keith Thomas, being featured in our next issue. 

Aubrey Drapkin: When Aubrey became Treasurer following the ETTA AGM 

in 1980 there was an office staff of 10 plus four National Coaches with Rob 

Sinclair the office junior. Tom Blunn was the Chairman in 1980 but following 

Tom’s death in 1986 John Prean took over the top job. Aubrey continued in 

post for a short while under his Chairmanship but resigned in April 1987. 

It was a time before computers, so everything was done by hand and Aubrey 

was thankful having Roy Stevens in post as the Finance Officer, Roy made 

out the cheques and regularly sent them to Aubrey along with the invoices. Finances were a great 

juggling act as the Association was working on an overdraft situation and so the timing of payments was 

critical. The 1977 World Championships had been a significant drain on resources and it was with much 

relief that the debt to Birmingham Council was finally cleared in August 1983 when the last payment of 

£10,000 was made. 

During his time in office Aubrey introduced the practice of providing monthly accounts to the 

Management Team adding in the provision of anything yet to be paid. The three main officers, Tom 

Blunn, George Yates and Aubrey had a very good working relationship which was helped by having an 

‘Officers’ Meeting’ prior to each National Council. 

Another innovation was making the league fees payable on an index related annual increase based on 

the Retail Price Index. This was eventually agreed after an increase of 20p per league place to 70p – a 

massive 40% increase but the AGM bit the bullet and the increase was passed. 

Even in those days the bulk of income came from the Sports Council and in 1984 Sports Council Grants 

totalled £140,774 which covered Administration, Coaching, Training, Tours and the Regional 

Development Officers salary. A major expenditure item that year was staff salaries which totalled 

£62,095. 

In 1985/86 income from Affiliation Fees came to £97,544 which was 31.5% of the Association’s income, 

2% of which went to the Ivor Montagu Fund and a further 2% to the Fund for Administrators, later renamed 

the Tom Blunn Fund. 

Aubrey was on many ETTA committees and also served on the Northumberland County TTA and several 

league and club committees for many years, an International Umpire and National Referee, Aubrey 

officiates regularly at tournaments mainly in the North-East. He was also the ETTA 100 Club Treasurer 

from 1982 until the summer of 2019. 

Aubrey was richly rewarded by the ETTA for all his work receiving the Malcolm Scott Award in 1982, 

becoming a Vice-President in 1993 and the first recipient of the Keith Ponting President’s Memorial 

Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2013 followed by the accolade of Honorary Life Membership in 2014. 


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Peter Hillier: Peter Hillier took over the reins from Aubrey Drapkin on 15 th 

May 1987 following Aubrey’s resignation in April of that year and served 

under John Prean the ETTA Chairman from 1987 to 1991. Peter continued in 

post under Alan Ransome’s Chairmanship from 1991 until 1997, a ten year 

period in total. 

1987 was the year the Association’s accounts were computerised which 

certainly helped with the running of the Hastings office and a tremendous 

achievement to effect the change. 

In 1988 the ETTA moved from rather cramped offices with a very rickety staircase in Claremont, Hastings 

to what was then a modern office block at Queensbury House in Hastings where they remained until the 

move to Milton Keynes in 2014. The 1989/90 season saw the last of the Leeds Sponsorship, a major 

blow as they had covered amongst other tournaments, the English Open, English Junior Open, National 

Championships and National Junior Championships, Masters, County Championships, Women’s British 

League and European League matches, giving a massive boost of £144,701. Big news in the office was 

the installation of a Desk Top Publishing package to enable staff to undertake more art work, a new 

computer and printer were also bought. Salaries this year were £108,514 for office staff and £26,876 for 

coaching staff. Income from Affiliation Fees came to £98,880, Sports Council Grants amounted to 

£220,836 (Participation £90,836, Performance 55,000, Excellence £75,000), the total income for that 

year was £549,490 and expenditure came to £408,664. 

In 1990/91 there were eight full time and one part-time staff members and by 1996/97 this had 

increased to 15 with a staff budget of £350,000. 

The Women’s British League was introduced in 1993/94 and two major tours were undertaken by the 

Chinese and Swedish teams, the former involved visiting 13 towns and cities. This was the year too that 

the European Championships were held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. Another plus was 

the provision by the Foundation for Sports & Arts of £500,000 for facility grants. 

Peter is an International Umpire and was seen in action at the European Youth Championships in the 

1970/71 season and the World Championships in Birmingham in 1977 amongst other events. He is 

closely associated with the Cippenham Table Tennis Club and has been for well over 30 years. Peter has 

also been involved with financial aspects in the Slough League and Buckinghamshire County. 

In recognition of his years of service Peter received the Malcolm Scott Award in 1989 and 1991, was 

made an ETTA Vice-President in 1990 and an Honorary Life Member in 1995. 

Barry Granger: Barry Granger followed Peter Hillier as Treasurer from 1997- 

2003 for the remaining six years of Alan Ransome’s Chairmanship. 

There were some major changes and major events during Barry’s term of office 

with the World Championships, 1997, World Veteran Championships, 1998, 

and the Commonwealth Games, 2002, all of which took place in Manchester. 

The National Training Centre was opened in Nottingham in 1998/99 as part of 


20

the World Class Plan and £1.28 million was received in that first year with an anticipated total of 

£9,000,000 over an eight year period to support the Plan. The ‘Top Club’ programme, renamed Premier 

Club was initiated this year as well. 

The year 2000 saw total income increase to £1,964,296 and expenditure stood at £1,964,084, a good 

balancing act. Income from Affiliation Fees came to £119,406 with a further £27,809 from Licences. Staff 

costs and salaries at the Training Centre came to £542,423 and a further salary bill of £174,337 for office 

staff and £255,991 for development staff took the total to just under a million pounds. Competitions did 

well with an overall surplus of £20,180, the star of the show on the financial front being the Grand Prix 

series which had a surplus of £9,609, the National Championships saw a small deficit of £307. 

2002/03 saw the first full year as a company limited by guarantee and the year ended with reserves of 

£250,000. 

Barry has also been Treasurer for Ilford TTL and Essex County and served on their committees in various 

capacities since the 1980s. As well as serving on many ETTA committees Barry was in charge of finance 

at the World Championships in 1997. 

An International Umpire who has been a regular on the umpiring circuit for many years, Barry has been 

well rewarded for his years of service at national, county, league, and club level. He received the ETTA 

Malcolm Scott Award in 2000 and was made an ETTA Vice-President in 2001; Barry has also been the 

recipient of the prestigious Corti Woodcock Memorial Trophy from Essex County TTA. 

International Events: 

Future Events 

Olympic Team Qualifiers: A new date has been added to the calendar with the Olympic Team 

Qualifiers taking place in Gondomar, Portugal from 22 nd -26 th January 2020. Two GB teams are 

participating with the Men’s squad comprising Paul Drinkhall, Tom Jarvis, Liam Pitchford and Sam 

Walker whilst the Women’s team is made up of Tin-Tin Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos from England and 

Wales’ Charlotte Carey. 

Nine teams from the Qualifiers go through to play in the Olympic Games in Tokyo next summer which 

add to the six continental teams plus the host nation who already have a place, making 16 teams in each 

of the Men’s and Women’s team events. 

There are eight knock out groups with the winner of each section qualifying. The ninth and last place will 

be decided by all the second placed teams in each of the eight sections going through into a further 

knockout group with the winner of that making it to Tokyo. Not the easiest process to explain. 

A change to the regulations means that two players from each qualifying team automatically are given 

places in the individual events which makes the team qualification even more valuable. Further 

qualification events will take place in the spring for the remaining individual places. 


21

Other Major International Events: 

World Championships*: 22 nd -29 th March 2020, Busan, South Korea. 

World Veteran Championships: 8 th -14 th June 2020, Bordeaux, France. 

Olympic Games: 24 th July-9 th August 2020, Tokyo, Japan. 

Major National Events: 

National Championships Qualification: 11 th -12 th January 2020, Nottingham. 

National Championships: 28 th February – 1 st March 2020, Nottingham. 

Cadet National Cup: 28 th -29 th March 2020, Cippenham. 

U12 National Cup: 18 th -19 th April 2020, Grantham. 

Junior & Cadet National Championships: 9 th -10 th May 2020, Nottingham. 

English Leagues Cup Competitions Finals: 6 th -7 th June 2010, Wellingborough. 

U10-U13 National Championships: 13 th -14 th June 2020, Aldersley, Wolverhampton. 

Junior National Cup: 20th -21 st June 2020, Halton. 

Grand Prix: 

21 st -22 nd December 2019 – Cardiff Satellite Grand Prix. 

21 st -22 nd March 2020 – Aldersley, Wolverhampton. 

10 th -12 th April 2020 – Jersey Satellite Grand Prix. 

30 th -31 st May 2020 – Redbridge, London. 

27 th -28 th June 2020 – Gloucester. 

*The squad for the World Team Championships has just been announced and it will be Paul Drinkhall, 

Tom Jarvis, Liam Pitchford and Sam Walker for the Men with Tin-Tin Ho, Denise Payet and Maria 

Tsaptsinos for the Ladies. Good luck to all. 

Our Contact Details 

Diane and Harvey Webb 

Pine Edge 

12 Salvington Crescent 

Bexhill-on-Sea 

East Sussex 

TN39 3NP 

Email: DianeK1414@hotmail.co.uk 

HarveyWebb17@gmail.com 

Telephone: 01424 216342 


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Table Tennis Times - Winter 2019

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