The lesser spotted Richard Woodley making only his 2nd appearance of the season was an early visiter but where were his team mates?

Eventually as the clock ticked onto 7.30pm there was a knock at the door and there were the 3 wise men Mal Kent , Colin Mitchell and league legend Brian Crolley. Had they been guided east by a star in the sky ? No I think it was the illuminations from Blackpool visible on a clear crisp night.

Instead of gold , frankincense and myrrh these 3 Magi brought with them a wealth of experience , ability and knowhow of how to win table tennis matches and that is exactly what they achieved.

Captain Nick was first up to play Mal and remarkably the enforced absence seemed to do him no harm at all as he took the first mach 3 straight.

Derek then eclipsed Richard in a close 5 setter - 2-0 to the Princes.

The visiters restored order with wins for Brian against Peter,Mal against Andy and Colin against Derek to leave the score at 2-3.

Next a tactical masterstroke ( actually a complete piece of luck ) by Captain Nick when he called 2nd doubles and he and Peter suprisingly beat Colin and Richard , 3 straight.

Brian then rolled back the years with a wonderful display of chop return and controlled hitting to take out Andy .

Nick redressed the balance by beating Colin in an excellent match before Formby asserted their dominance by taking the remaing doubles and Richard played the Grinch by denying Peter a singles win on his debut.

The visiters were shocked that there were no mincepies with their half time cuppa only for Ebeneezer Scrounge Foss to complain that he was the only E streeter to ever bother with bringing tea and coffee and that he wouldn't bother in future ... bah humbug!

The Hall closed for the night with frost in the air and the sound of Mariah Carey "All I want for Christmas" belting out from the nearby pub.

Merry Christmas everyone.