The finals of the club tournament were help at the Drapers farm clubhouse on Friday 31st May.

As with previous years Stuart Gibbs, President of Essex Table Tennis was our guest and this year we were also joined by former Chelmsford & Burnham League ladies champion June Crozier who was a long time member of the club

First match of the evening was the first open singles semi final between Ciaran Whelan & Steve Scholz. Ciaran raced through the first game and then pipped the second 12-10 to take a 2-0 lead. Steve then tightened his play, winning the next 2 ends to level the match. However, Steve ran out of steam in the 5th and Ciaran took the match 3-2

Next, the second semi final between Steve Whiteley & Dawn Baldry. In a tight first game Steve struggled to contain Dawn powerful smash with Dawn putting away any loose balls and running out 12-10 winner. In the next 3 ends Steve played a much tighter game and made the most of his serve to run out 3-1winner

Onto the Open Singles Plate between Tom Elder and Roger Warren. For the most part Tom was in control in this match although a break in concentration in the second end meant he squander a big lead and lost 14-12. Normal service resumed in the next 2 ends so Tom made it a 3-1 win

Handicap singles next between Steve Whiteley & Ciaran Whelan. As their handicaps cancelled each other out the games started 0-0, one set, five serves up to 21. The game ebbed & flowed but Steve was always ahead and took the title with a 21-18 win

The Handicap Singles Plate was between Roger Warren (-2) and Brian Dixon (+5). In a match that Roger managed to complete without doing a fault serve (!) he gradually pegged the game back to 19-19 but after the next 4 points were shared, Brian edged the game taking it 23-21

And so to the handicap doubles. Roger Warren & Colin Napper (-7) v Ciaran Whelan & Kym Eames (-8) Roger & Colin lead from the outset and their win was sealed after the change of ends when Kym found Colins serve too had to deal with.Roger & Colin winning 21-13

The next two events were the Ping Pong (hardbat) events starting with the doubles between arch sandpaper bat exponents Denis Crapnell & Brian Riedling versus Tom Elder and Ross Wheeler. As mentioned Denis and Brian are both comfortable with this form of the game and were never headed as the ran out 21-14 winners.

Dennis Crapnell featured in the Single final up against Steve Whiteley. Although Denis enjoys the hard bat game he seemed a bit daunted by his opponent but he gradually got back in to the game but came up short with Steve winning 21-19

The final event of the evening (albeit played out of order) was the Open Singles final between Ciaran Whelan and Steve Whiteley and after Steve had won their encounter in the Handicap final it looked promising for him going in to the match. However, Ciaran was inspired form for this match and powered his way to a 3-0 victory

At the end of the evening the Trophies were presented by Stuart Gibbs and June Crozier. A great turn out for the event and an enjoyable evening was had by all.

Particular mention goes out to Tom Elder for his efforts in organizing a great event and to every one else who contributed towards making it a success

(photos to follow)