From the Worcester Evening News, 19th June 1999

More younger blood is needed
WORCESTER Table Tennis League chairman Martin Birbeck reported that the league was in a stable position regarding the number of players, at its recent annual meeting.
However, he expressed concern that the league did not seem able to attract younger players into competitive play.
The League does not have a venue for a social players night to be run on a regular basis for all levels of play, or volunteers prepared to help with the organization.
The attendance on finals night was disappointing - and some teams who had won trophies were not present to collect them.
On a sad note, one of the League's Vice Presidents, Joe Oakley, passed away during the year. Joe had been involved in Table Tennis for many years when Lea and Perrins teams were in the league.
The chairman thanked Brian Ovington and Doug Young for their efforts with the handbook, and league secretary David Elliott for all his hard work.

Grateful
The league enjoyed regular publicity through the Evening News for which it was grateful.
He thanked the League Secretaries - Stuart Richardson (Division One), taking Division Two himself and Chris Farrer (Division Three), who had done a good job in his first year under difficult circumstances.
John Turner is still doing sterling work with the juniors with help from Jim Foley, David Elliott, Steve Dorrell and Beryl Shammon.
He also thanked Dave White for running the Premier Cup, Brian Ovington for the Challenge Cup, Stuart Richardson for the Knock-Out, Doug Payne for the County League and Dianne Moss for the Championships and all members of the committee.
Treasurer Judy Birbeck gave her report and announced that for next season only, to commemorate the Millennium and hopefully to encourage more teams to enter the league, the £10 team subscription would be waived.
Doug Payne reported that Worcester had finished third in the County League, while John Turner said that the Cadets, despite being a very young team, had all made considerable progress during the season. Worcester had finished second in the Worcestershire Games.
Colin Mapp was re-elected as president and Birbeck as chairman, but will resign from this post at the end of the season.
All other offices were re-elected for the forthcoming season.
Jim Foley reported on a Development Officer Course he recently attended at University College Worcester and appealed for more efforts to be made regarding publicity to entice more juniors to take up the sport.
The President explained how all the league's efforts in the past had not succeeded, but promised the Committee would bear his remarks in mind and after testing the feelings of the meeting regarding a possible coaching course, It was hoped that such a course could be arranged as a first step.
Anyone wishing to enter a team in the league next season should contact David Elliott on 01905 724599 as soon as possible.
Summer coaching continues at the YMCA Henwick Road on Tuesdays. Anyone interested should contact John Turner on 01905 454796.