The Burnham & District Table Tennis League held a very successful and well attended Presentation Evening this week. 

Prizes and cups for all the league and individual competitions were presented by League President Peter Ballard. Compere for the evening was League Chairman Alan Dadswell.

One of the highlights of the evening were the multiple junior winners of Peter Harverson, Harrison Hill and Harry Chivers – not only sweeping the board with the junior events but also winning some of the open events too, what a bright future they all have. 

Other notable achievements were Dawn Baldry and Shirley Carroll winning the Ladies’ Doubles event – a familiar feeling for Shirley as she has won this specific tournament 15 times now, and the first time being in black & white back in 1975. Duncan Taylor and Kevin Read won the Veterans’ Doubles for the sixth time as a pair.

In the main singles events the winning trophies were presented to Dawn Baldry for the Ladies’ Singles and, retaining his Open Singles title, Mr Reece Seddon (pictured top of page). Both of the singles finals went all the way beyond deuce in the deciding sets so they both earned their titles the hard way, and this was reflected in the rapturous applause for both champions.

For the League events, the Division 3 crown was presented to St Lawrence A, with the Division 3 player of the year going to Peter Davenport. 

In Division 2, Woodham C were crowned champions and were the only unbeaten team across all the divisions throughout the season. The Division 2 player of the season went to Mapledene’s man mountain Barrie Delf with a 95% win-rate. 

The Division 1 title went to Woodham A who had a perfect winning record until the very last game of the season – this is the first time in the Club’s 70-year history that they have won the top prize, and also the first time in 20 years that neither Fambridge nor Mapledene have won the league – a welcome change. 

The Division 1 player of the year and Peter Ballard Cup was awarded to Duncan Taylor of Cold Norton by the very man himself – League President Peter Ballard.

This year the Presidents Trophy – presented for services to the League – was presented posthumously to Martin Knights, and collected by his family. Martin had been the League Finance Officer for 25 years before his untimely passing earlier this year. Martin’s son John Knights paid a lovely tribute to his father and the love he had for table tennis the sport and the Burnham League in particular. A fitting end to a glorious evening.