Neville Patterson wins the LSG Christmas Handicap 2023
A great days table tennis saw 18 take part in the annual Christmas KO. Some great performances from Dave Morris and Simon Chapman saw them reach the Semi's but both narrowly missed out getting beaten by stalwarts Neville and Peter Ainsworth. This set up a cracking final which saw Big Nev power past Peter.

LSG win the Scamperer Trophy the trophy is played every year in memory of our great friend Martin Machin between Rainford and Leigh St George.

This year a new format was introduced with six players for each team taking part in two seperate matches with the total scores added together.
Match 1 Rainford 21 ( Paul Melling, Andy Rhodes and Josef Koudelik - LSG 15 (Peter Ainsworth, Minh Le and Esmond Mok
Match 2 Rainford 14 (Ray Elliot, Ian Mason and Peter Crichton - LSG 22 ( Ruwani Goonawardena, Scott Crielly and Chris Garfin)
The total score Rainford 35 LSG 37
Player of the match Ruwani
Great night of TT and afterwards enjoyed a pint or two with a nice tray of sandwiches.
Thanks Paul and all at Rainford see you all next year at LSG

AGM will be on Saturday 4th March at the Mill at 11 am.
Please can all members and all who train or take part in any sessions try to attend this meeting. This is an important meeting to discuss the future of the club and which direction the club needs to go to provide the best for all who are involved. Everything will be discussed so please come along and get involved.
cheers Chris

Paul Foster

It is with a heavy heart that I have to report the very sad news that Paul has lost his battle with cancer and has passed away. Paul became a member of LSG playing in the Warrington League and won the player of the year for LSG B last season.

Paul was a lovely bloke with his own distinct style of table tennis. He was a very long-serving member of Wigan League, initially with St. John's and for the last few years with Standish TTC. I personally have played against Paul for the past 10 years in the Wigan League and we always had a great battle usually 3 - 2 to one of us.

Paul will be sadly missed and all of us at LSG express our condolences to his family and close friends

Paul's funeral will be on Tuesday 7th March at Wigan Parish Church at 2 pm and then 3pm at Ince crematorium.

Everyone welcome

Chris

The passing of Her Majesty The Queen has deeply saddened everyone connected with Leigh St George Community Table Tennis Club. I have posted an official condolence message on our website from the club.

The thoughts of everyone at LSG are with the Royal Family at this time.
The Funeral is on Monday 19th September.
The league games on Monday 19th September have been cancelled as a remark of respect. The teams involved are LSG Raiders, LSG Dragons and LSG Knights all these fixtures have been moved to Monday 19th December.

Message from Emma & Friends who visited LSG on Thursday 28/07/22

Hi Chris, my friends and I had a fabulous time at your club! There were a lot of laughters and everyone made us feel welcome. We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere truly! I played a few singles with Pete and he's very good and fair! Ning and I played doubles with Pete and Kevin. My other two friends were referees and we all had fun! Kevin, Dave and Paul chatted with Wendy and Yan a lot, made us very happy 😆 Thank you so much - you have a fantastic club, social group in a historic building. I love the people there, the place and table tennis. It's a great game and hugely beneficial. My friend Wendy lives about 12 minutes away and she will pop in again. I'll definitely come back again whenever I visit Wendy. Best wishes, Emma Xiu Ji 😊

The individual Summer League list is now on the wall.
Hopefully, we have enough entries to make 3 evenly matched divisions of nine. I will be trying out a new handicap system ( what I'm calling a rolling H/C ) this will be explained when we start. It should be a good, competitive, and fun competition. Have a go cheers, Chris

The Scamperer Cup ( Martin Machin Trophy ) This prestigious trophy was won by Rainford Smash who took the last leg 23 -15 and in doing so the match 71 - 45. Rainford the deserved winners won all 3 matches which were fearlessly contested and table tennis was outstanding in all matches. Jacquie was on hand to present the Cup and also the Scamperer medal for the player with the most points for their team which went to Adam Davies 22 pts (shame the rest of the Dragons team didn't perform). The great crowd enjoyed the entertainment and the bar after. Thanks, Jacquie see you all next when we will win it back.
Martin's Celebration of Life memorial is on the 28th May 2022 at Manchester Catherdal everyone is welcome to attend from 5 pm onwards.

Who's that asleep

Adam looking ropey, boozing with
the big boys and girl

Adam being presented his medal by Jacquie

The winners

The teams

It is with great sadness to inform you that Eamon Cuthbert passed away last week. Eamon was a strong supporter of the club attending all club functions and supported his son Thomas for the best part of a decade playing for various LSG teams.

Eamon will be sadly missed and our thoughts are with Thomas and his family during this difficult time.

Mill Update 28th Dec 2021

We are back sessions to start week commencing 10th January 2022, see below for days / time of sessions (under training).

Please be patient with us as we try to build it back up.

Thanks everyone for staying with us through this frustrating period.

Martin Machin Trophy
The first leg of this prestigious trophy took place last night (15th Nov 21). The Dragons team of Lee, Adam and Scott took on a strong Smash side of Nick, Mike and Rob. After some excellent TT played by both sides it is Rainford who take the advantage going into the second leg of three 23-15. Nice to see a bumper crowd to support this trophy which means so much to these fearous but very friend rivals.

Man on a mission

Congratulations go to Neil Sunderland who completed the 161 mile bike challenge to raise money for Maggies Charity which is the local drop in version of McMillian. He set out to raise £150 but with the kind hearted people of this club and friends managed to raise a staggering £1010. Neil handed over the cheque to Maggies on Tuesday 12th Oct. Well done Neil and all who donated a job well done. Excellent effort

Great Sadness..... Kath Ball

It is with sadness that we inform all our club members of the death of Kath Ball, who was a member of our Seniors Section.

Kath who passed away last week after a short illness was a lovely lady and a very popular member who made many friends at the club and will be sadly missed by all of us.

Our thoughts at this sad time are with her husband and family.

Richard Reading

Richard was born in Stockport on 4th April 1943. His older brother died at birth so he grew up as an only child. Home life wasn’t easy after the break up of his family and Richard joined the army at the age of 16.

During his time in the army Richard enjoyed sports, particularly Table tennis. His ability to read and memorise any information was quickly recognised and it shaped his active service. But his military career was cut short by a spinal injury which confined him to a wheelchair. Richard was told he would never walk but such was his personality that he considered that to be just the challenge he needed.

Richard had very strong arms. He began doing wheelchair sporting events and won 4 world titles in Shot Put, discus, Javelin and later sprinting on crutches. And numerous other awards. But it was wheelchair basketball and table tennis he most enjoyed, spending many years playing and coaching them.

He eventually managed to walk, although he couldn’t feel his legs. But he continued working with disabled young people, encouraging them to join in. He bought a van and had it adapted to carry wheelchairs so that he could drive them to events.

Richard started Bolton Bulls Wheelchair basketball team with the help of Brian Tite, a great friend who ran several sports centres. It was a registered charity and is still active today.

Richard lived in Westhoughton and was married to Kath who shared in his disabled sporting activities and apparently was a fantastic arm wrestler herself – but sadly she died when Richard was in his forties. They didn’t have children.

Edna Ross became a friend of Richard and Kath when Richard invited her 13-year-old son Neil to join in with the disabled basketball events. Ed was a widow with two sons, Ian and Neil. Neil was a wheelchair user, and that invitation was the start of a great sporting career for him.

Ed eventually got drawn in to helping with the sporting events. Years later - after Richard was widowed - their friendship deepened and developed into a romance that lasted to the end of his life. They were married in December 1995 when Richard was 52.

They continued their involvement in sport together starting another team in Wigan called Wigan Warriors after the famous Rugby team.

Richard was Vice Chair of GB Wheelchair Basketball Association and was a great advocate for the sport. He made many friends in those days including John & Jo Sharp. John was involved in ‘Running Basketball’ but started to referee the disabled team games. They now live in Lincoln but have kept up the friendship.

Richard had a great gift of public speaking and in demand as an after-dinner speaker at Men’s Groups and even the WI. He was engaging and entertaining, holding people’s attention.

He also made a very authentic looking Santa Claus, cutting a dash in his Santa suit. Again, always in demand in December. Some children were a bit afraid so Ed made herself a Mother Christmas outfit and they did the gigs together after that.

We first met Richard when he rang to enquire about he and Ed joining our Community Choir, All Singers Great and Small. They enjoyed the weekly meetings and concerts and Richard sang solo in some concerts with a group of women joining in the chorus. We called them Richard and the Rickettes which he was quick to point out wasn’t Rickets!

Richard and Ed came along to a weekly Singing group for older people called Memorable Melodies where we sand old pop songs and songs from the war. They helped lead the singing and percussion section, and give out refreshments. Again, making some good friends there, particularly Jean and Dennis Taylor. After Dennis went into Residential Care, they encouraged Jean to join the Community Choir.

5 years ago Richard and Ed celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary with a blessing service in our local church. Friend Bob Green walked her down the aisle with Yvonne and Muriel following on as Bridesmaid. John Sharp was the photographer. I was privileged to officiate as they renewed their wedding vows and the community choir were asked to sing Beauty and the Beast, and Love changes Everything. Afterwards there was a celebration in a local hostelry with friend Chris acting up as Best Man with the usual jokes and insults.

We had bought them a Lords Package as a gift. One square foot of land in the grounds of Dunan’s Castle which allowed them to use the title Lord and Lady of Chaol Glenn. They were thrilled with the link and we later had a couple of days holiday together visiting the castle and investing in some tartan. Richard recently bought us all Covid masks in the Dunans tartan.

More recently Richard started to play table tennis with Leigh St Georges Community Table tennis club, again winning awards and medals, but more importantly to him making some good friends including a Methodist minister and a funeral director - both called John. John Dawson is our funeral director today and has been amazing.

When I first met Richard, he told me he didn’t do church and he hadn’t had a great experience of Vicars. Not long after that Richard and Ed joined our local church and Richard was baptised and Confirmed. They joined the church choir and he grew in faith, he started doing Bible readings for services and led prayers at last year’s Remembrance Service.

It was that faith that sustained him in the last few difficult weeks, discovering that he had a tumour in his liver. With current restrictions nobody could visit him but his words on the phone were “We are in his hands”

So today we say goodbye to Richard. We give thanks for his life and we let him go, safe in the knowledge that he is indeed in God’s hands.

Richard may the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you. May the Lord be merciful to you and grant you peace. AMEN

The LSG TT Club have recently been advised that the Leigh Spinners Milll have received notification to state that certain sections of the Mill can reopen to the general public.
We are of the understanding that there are certain units on the second & third floor that will be allowed to reopen to accommodate users whose units meet the Fire Safety parameters. Unfortunately our unit on the second floor does NOT comply with the necessary Fire Safety Regulations and will remain closed for the foreseeable future. All units on the fourth & fifth floor will remain closed.

In order for our members to understand and appreciate the seriousness of the situation, we are advised that the work required to meet the required Fire Standards for our unit will take months rather than weeks to complete, with no completion date stated.

It is with sadness that we make this brief report to all our members both young and old alike, but this is the current status at the Mill as we understand it.

We will endeavour to keep all members in the loop on the club website should any further developments change from the current position. For members information, we are currently in the process of attempting to source different premises in order to provide members with practice facilities.

Thank you letter for the session Chris and Adam Davies did on Monday 17th Feb 2020

TTkidz for 7-11 year old is under way and on

the evidence of the first two weeks a great success.

A big thank you to everyone who are involved in this project.

Thank you note Xmas Handicap KO

Hi Chris,

I really enjoyed my day playing in the competition. It wasn't about winning, it was about getting involved. Apart from some of the Wigan league players and yourself I knew little of the other members.

What a nice group of people, young, old, social players, even the people there just to help in some way. I had some interesting talks with players all enjoying their table tennis, irrespective of their levels and abilities.

What came across was this is a great club of mixed age groups, male, female players all striving to improve...... what a nice atmosphere.

I was very privileged that day to be allowed to play with a great group of people.

Chris, keep up the good work, it's an amazing club.

Mick Winder ("Topspin")

Ps. Thank the ladies for the food, it was fabulous.

Christmas Handicap was won by Peter Ainsworth beating Malcolm Rumsey in an excellent final 22 - 19.
Peter handicapped zero pulled through some tight matches to claim the shield for the second time.
The first Junior/Parent Christmas tournament also produced some great TT with Prateek beating Gary in the final 11 - 8 to take the trophy, to keep it in the family son Karan won best placed Junior losing in the semi's.

AGM 2019

Leigh St. George Table Tennis Club AGM

Held 7.30 pm 14th August 2019 at Leigh Miners Welfare Club

The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting with 30 members present, there was one apology.

The following committee was appointed,

C Garfin Chairman

Peter Ainsworth Vice Chairman

Gary Chadwick Secretary

Gill Bannister Treasurer

David Haines Welfare Officer

David Hollingsworth Seniors Co-ordinator

Adam Davies Youth Rep’

David Mawdesley Webmaster

Kevin Meredith Press Officer

Geoff Hayes Rules/Umpire

Peter Libbey Sponsorship

Neil Sunderland Support Sponsorship

Scott Crielly Level 2 Coach

2019/2020 Membership Fees

The following fees were approved commencing 1 September 2019.

Adult full Playing Member £68

Junior full Playing Member £50

Senior Membership £50

Training Sessions for non-club members at the Mill £2 per session.

Training sessions for members are free, but any voluntary donations would be appreciated.

It was noted that the fees for TTE remained at £16 and £8 for juniors, an additional cost of £7 was necessary to maintain the TT365 website for all league clubs, these costs are included in the member’s annual fees.

Treasurers Report.

The balance sheet provided showed a Bank balance of £4494.01 and cash in hand of £139.07, it was explained by the Treasurer that there had been further transactions since the report and that approximately £1500 would be taken from the account, a final balance sheet for end of year 31 August 2019 would be available soon for inspection. A query was raised regarding the figure for Age Concern of income and expenditure of £1319.83, it was explained that this was the Grant from Age Concern for the new match tables for use at the Mill. The Treasurer promoted all members to join the Easy Fundraising website were the club would receive a small percentage of the total cost spent by Members, this would provide the club with additional income without any effort, the Treasurer was thanked for the report.

Wigan and District Table Tennis League Re-Organisation for Season 2019/2020

It was explained by the Chairman to the members that the League had re-formulated into a Premier division and three other divisions, as opposed to the three divisions of last season. Each division would consist of eight clubs who would play against each other three times during the season that would commence on 16 September 2019. The season would be slightly shorter but would be complimented by a Cup competition subject to approval by the League.

The LSG Club would be represented as follows in the new League structure.

Premier Saints

Div.1 Titans and Dragons

Div. 2 Slayers and Knights

Div. 3 Crusaders and Raiders

The Chairman went on to name the players in each team and answered queries that arose from these changes with the majority of members in agreement with the new league set up.

All matches will be played at the Leigh Miners with Saints/Raiders, Dragons/Crusaders and playing home fixtures on Monday evenings with Titans/Slayers and Knights playing on Wednesday evenings.

It was noted that a new League rule change will be in operation this season, this allows each team to postpone one fixture when in agreement with the opposing captain without permission from the League but it is essential that the home captain contact D Mawdesley to record the postponement.

As in previous seasons members were informed that they could access scorecards and league tables etc. onTT365 website with all club Captains for the season having approved permission for telephone details to be included on the website.

Warrington League

The club have decided to register two teams, LSG A and LSG B, to in play in the Warrington League this season, with one team in each of the divisions, Div. 1 having 12 teams and Div. 2, having 11 teams, it is the intention for the club to field an additional team in the Div. 2 after Christmas, this being made up hopefully from our more advanced Senior members to allow each division to have the same number of teams. The season commences on the 23 September 2019 with all home games being played at the Mill on Thursday evenings, members were requested to contact the Team Captains Lee Smith and Neil Sunderland if they wished to play, and there is no maximum number of players that can be registered in any team.

LSG Seniors Group

Another successful year was reported with further new members welcomed into the group, which averages between 25/28 in attendance each week every Thursday between 1.0pm and 3.0pm. Thanks were expressed to club playing members who attend the sessions and help with the organisation/coaching of members. The group has light refreshment in the mid-session interval and good fellowship is had by all. It is an inclusive group and growing, we now have two members who play from wheel chairs .The Seniors moved from the Leigh Miners to the Mill at the beginning of April this year and have quickly settled in at the new venue that allows all present to play simultaneously without the need to wait for an available table as was the case at the Miners.

Juniors

The Junior Section is going well with 6 under 11’s attending for coaching each week, they are all attaining a good standard and all enjoyed a recently held Mini Tournament to showcase their new skills. Additionally, there are a further 4 juniors in development complimented by our first disabled junior who is enjoying developing his skills.

The club has plans to contact local schools in order to set up a local schools league, a competition to be held at the Mill. A request was made from the Chairman for more volunteers to help with this ever growing section of the club, the club will reap the benefits of the effort of volunteers who can dedicate time to our young members.

Training Update

The members were informed of the training/coaching days and times at the Mill, these were as follows.

Juniors: Monday: Beginners 6.30pm - 7.30pm. Intermediate/Advanced 7.30pm – 9.00pm

Adults: Monday: 1.00pm – 3.00pm Seniors

Adults: Tuesday: 6.30pm – 9.00pm Beginners/Intermediate

Ladies: Wednesday: 7.00pm – 8.30pm

Seniors: Thursday: 1.00pm – 3,00pm

Adults: Thursday: 6.45pm – 9.00pm Intermediate/Advanced

Parent and Child: Saturday 9.30am – 11.30am

From 1 September there will be individual and team training, these will be specifically structured via planned timescales by the clubs coaches to suit the particular needs/skill set of the members who attend the sessions.

Sponsors Day

The club is to organise a Sponsor Day on 7 September 2019 at 11.00am inviting all current and potential sponsors to view the now completed training and match room’s facilities and to see how their contributions to the club have enhanced the club development. The Chairman requested all members to attend in kit to showcase their skills during this event so to encourage further sponsorship in November when the current contracts expire. Light refreshments will be provided during the event.

AOB

There were a number of items raised; briefly these were brought up as follows:

A job list will be provided with specific jobs for members to volunteer and to spread the work load more evenly across the club, members were encouraged to sign up to do jobs.

At Leigh Spinning Gate Shopping Mall a “ Ping Pong Parlour “ is being set up with 3 tables at the former Argos outlet, club members were encouraged to support this venture by the local community.

Club Tee shirts will shortly be for sale at a cost of £7, purchase at the Mill.

Good housekeeping at the Mill, all members were asked to ensure when leaving the building all areas are left clean and tidy and in readiness for the next session, especially around the robot and serving area.

Disabled parking availability of spaces was sometimes was problem.

Coaching badges, this will be followed up with Andrea Holt for accreditation.

The Robot has now been returned after repair, certain members will be identified who can operate this device and will be provided with training re operation to ensure a recurrence of the problem.

The Chairman and Gary Chadwick were thanked on behalf of Bedford Hall Primary School for organising two consecutive Friday afternoons to show 30 + Year 6 children how to play the game.

A vote of thanks was passed by the meeting to club chairman Chris Garfin for the work done on behalf of the club for the past twelve months.

The meeting closed at 9.15pm

K Meredith

15 August 2019