Centenary celebration
Table Tennis England’s Centenary celebrations commenced on 7th November 2021.
Table Tennis England is 100 – how we are celebrating our Centenary.
Our Centenary heralds the 100th anniversary since our sport came under the umbrella of a national governing body – firstly in 1921 as the Ping Pong Association, then as the Table Tennis Association in 1922 and the English Table Tennis Association between 1927 and 2014, before our more recent rebranding as Table Tennis England in 2014.
This unique occasion in our lifetime not only presents a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the achievements and journey over the past 100 years but is also a time to focus on the future that lies ahead.
It provides an opportunity for us to remember the major events, to honour the important personalities of the past, but also to build a legacy, taking the opportunity to reinvigorate and refresh as we emerge from the pandemic.
Join us, as we take inspiration from our great past and signpost our future path.
Official Centenary Book
Table Tennis England has published a wonderful commemorative book – English Table Tennis at 100: A Century in Photographs – capturing key moments, events, performances and people to mark our 100-year history.
From our beginnings in 1921 right through to the current season, two editions of this hardback book are available, providing a vivid and fascinating pictorial record of English table tennis.
We are now taking orders for both the Official Edition and a limited-number autographed Special Edition featuring the signatures of Desmond Douglas, Jill Parker and Will Bayley, three of the greats of the English game – click here to read more about the two editions.
We are grateful to Centenary Book Sponsors Butterfly and Tees Sport for their support of the book.
Butterfly Japan and Butterfly Europe, with their UK distributor Ransome Sporting Goods and Tees Sport, have provided significant support to the sport across more than four decades, at every level from the grassroots to major international events, as illustrated in a special section of the book.
In addition, more than 150 people are Named Supporters of the book. Click here to view the list of Named Supporters.
Centenary Gala Dinner
A glittering fundraising Centenary Gala Dinner took place on Sunday 27th March 2022 at the De Vere East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham.
This star-studded evening marking 100 years of English table tennis featured centenary and guest speeches, the unveiling of 10 members of the Centenary Hall of Fame, the Pride of Table Tennis Awards, plus a silent and live auction in support of the Table Tennis England Centenary Legacy Fund.
We were also honoured to receive gifts from the International Table Tennis Federation, European Table Tennis Union and Butterfly/Tees Sport.
Further information about our Centenary celebrations will appear on this page, in our newsletters and on our social media platforms.
Watch the Launch Event
The event shared our ambition for our Centenary, and launched our key projects and plans to celebrate our Centenary over the season.
Speakers included:
- Jill Parker MBE – President
- Steve Joel – Centenary Project Manager
- Sandra Deaton – Chair