Bedford & District Table Tennis League - Table Tennis in Bedford & Bedfordshire | Where Can I Play

This season's Plate competition has been won by Division 5 team Elstow E who comfortably defeated Division 3 team Modern E by 45 points in the final. Thanks to Simon Collier and Elstow TTC for hosting the event and Paul Birch, Chairman of the league, for presenting the trophies.

Smith Cup Winners

This season's Smith Cup has been won by Division 4 team St Neots F who defeated Division 2 team Elstow A by 13 points in a closely contested final. Thanks to Simon Collier and Elstow TTC for hosting the event and Paul Birch, Chairman of the league, for presenting the trophies.

Charity Tournament Results

Wednesday night's Charity Tournament attracted 18 participant's, all keen to have their names inscribed on the main tournament and plate trophies. The main competition winner was Owen Hewett who beat clubmate Tom McKinnon in an entertaining final 20-21, 21-12, 21-10.

The plate competition was between fourth division player Tim Crossley (Civil Service) and fifth division player Mick Beveridge (Church Lane). Tim won the first game 21-15 and then Mick established a lead in the second leg only to see it cut back with an eventual 21-20 win to Tim who has recently completed the first day of his UKCC Level 1 table tennis coaching course. The lessons he's learnt obviously came in handy.

£48 was raised for a local charity from entry fees and generous contributions from both participants and non-participants.

Paul Birch Visits 10 Downing Street

Bedford Modern School's Paul Birch was invited along with leading young table tennis players to visit 10 Downing Street before heading off for the World School's Table Tennis Championships in Sardinia next week. In attendance were David Cameron, HRH Princess Royal, Darren Campbell, Denise Lewis, Ellie Simmonds and Jason Gardener. The Prime Minister joined in with the young players to show off his prowess on the table. The full story can be found on the ETTA website.

BMS Pupils Part of Olympic Young Games Maker Programme

Bedford Modern School is delighted that two of its current pupils, Harpreet Rupal and Nishanth Narayanan and former pupil, Josh Robinson have been selected to take part at the London 2012 Olympics as part of the Young Games Maker Programme.

“The Young Games Maker interview was a chance for me to give details of our table tennis stars, Harpreet, Nishanth and Josh as they meet the criteria of 16-18 years olds who would like to be involved in a volunteering capacity at the Table Tennis event at the London 2012 Olympics to be held in July/August at the Excel Arena,” said Bedford Modern School Table Tennis Coach, Paul Birch.

“I went along for the interview with former BMS student, Ben Gardner who will be the assistant team leader, working alongside Paul Birch, and we were shown a presentation by The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited as to the requirements.

“The boys will be working on the days of the finals and semi-finals of both team and individual events. The Excel Arena covers an enormous amount of floor space and with one table set up in the centre of the hall, the boys will be involved in things like retrieving stray table tennis balls, operating in much the same way as the ball-boys at Wimbledon.

“I am tremendously excited that the Bedford Modern School Table Tennis players will be involved very close up at the London 2012 Olympic Games,” added Paul Birch.

Nick Warton - An Unsung Hero

Michael Howard, Chairman of Milton Keynes & District Table Tennis League, has written an obituary for Nick Warton which can be found on the ETTA website

Trott Captures National Title

Former Bedford Modern pupil, Andy Trott, succeeded in capturing the Veteran Men's Doubles National title at Ponds Forge Sheffield at the weekend. With partner, Chris Bartram, the No. 2 seeds eclipsed the No 1 seeds Lawrence Trumpauskas and Neil Charles -10, 9, 9, -4, 9 in the final.