We’ve now reached the mid-season break, and it’s time for the half-year report…starting with the good news.

The D team juniors (plus leader Paul Lunan) are still flying high in Division 3, having dropped only 11 points in their run of 9 straight league wins, and looking as though they could well gain promotion by the end of February.

Also in Division 3, the E team are holding their own, while the youngsters of the F team are learning rapidly that competitive play is quite different from practice, but the improvement is already beginning to show.

In the 2nd Division, the A team’s early promise has faltered somewhat due to illness and next year will be difficult without John Goulding, and with Jim Irving available only from the end of February. Thankfully Colin Fyles will be back in action hoping to resume his 100% winning streak.

The bad news is that both the B and C teams are struggling near the foot of Division 2, and will need to make a sustained improvement over the next 3 months to stay in the division. Whilst we do want the D team to win promotion, we certainly don’t want the B and C teams to replace them in the bottom tier. The time for action is now, while there may still be enough matches available to recover lost ground - watch this space!

You can download the latest league tables and results from the District website.

In the knockouts, the C and D teams are the sole survivors, each having progressed to the 2nd round in both the Anon Plate and Gunson Plate competitions.

The practice evenings have once again been well attended, considering most members have match commitments in the same week.

The second half of the season starts on 5th January, giving everyone plenty of time to recover from the festivities! And on that note, may I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2009.

Alan
Secretary

Matches to be played in the week commencing 15th December 2008. Handicap points shown next to the team receiving the advantage.

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The draws for the Anon Cup and Plate competitions are as follows:

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At the bottom left of the screen, I’ve included a new facility - an online poll to gather your views on what you’d like to see different. Please select one or more of the possible answers, click on “Vote” and see the results.

It all starts again this Monday, with the ‘C team venturing to the outer reaches up at North Meols to play their ‘A’ team. Will this be the group who last season played as the ‘B’ team, now that their Division 1 ‘A’ team has dropped out? We’ll soon see.
Southport ‘A’ kicks off with a home game against St Teresa’s ‘D’, who finished just two points below them - will it be a close game this time?

Three matches take place on Wednesday: the ‘B’ team have a tough game away to St Teresa’s ‘B’; the ‘D’ team are at the hospital Spinal Unit playing their home match against Paraplegics ‘A’; and the newly configured ‘E’ team play host to Formby Holy Trinity ‘E’, who finished 4th in Division 3, and who might have done rather better with a regular line-up.

Finally, two of the ‘newbies’ of the 3rd division play each other on Thursday. Jeff Cummins leads our second juniors’ team (Southport ‘F’) into battle against Formby Table Tennis Centre’s ‘F’ team, who might also turn out to be juniors. This could be the place to spot some up and coming talent for the future. We wish both sets of players an enjoyable evening, played in the best spirit of competition.

For 2008-9 fixtures, see the links on this page.

Bill Bradley turned 80 today, and we wish him many happy returns of the day.

At a small presentation to him during last night’s practice evening, I noticed the look of awe on the faces of some of the very promising juniors when they heard he was 80. They were no doubt wondering how it is that an 80 year old can still beat them every time. Well, that’s for Bill to know and for them to find out!

Well done, Bill, and keep them guessing for many years to come.

The Club’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 17th September, at 8.00pm, at St Teresa’s CMS Club, Birkdale, Southport, PR8 5NJ.

Agenda

1. Welcome and apologies
2. Minutes of the last meeting (click to download pdf version)
3. Treasurer’s Report and presentation of Financial Statements
4. Secretary’s Report
5. Chairman’s Report
6. Election of Officers
   1. Chairman
   2. Secretary
   3. Treasurer
7. Election of Auditor
8. Amendments to Club Constitution
9. Membership fees
10. Team designations and playing order
11. Any other business

For those who have not visited the venue before, here is a map of how to reach St Teresa’s. The red pointer is Southport College and the green pointer is St Teresa’s; click on the ‘+’ or ‘-’ symbols to zoom in or out; click on ‘View Larger Map’ below the map image for directions and a larger map. (Your browser will need to allow Javascript for you to be able to see the map.)
View Larger Map

Alan
Secretary

The League’s Ordinary General Meeting (also known as the “handbook meeting”) will be held on Tuesday 9th September 2008 at St Teresa’s Club, Upper Aughton Road, Southport, commencing at 8.00pm.
The Agenda for the meeting is as follows:-

1. Apologies
2. Club Roll Call
3. Minutes of the OGM 5th September 2007
4. Matters arising
5. Issue of -
   1. Handbooks
   2. Scorecards
   3. Scorebooks
   4. Balls
6. Fixture Secretary’s Report (including  any alterations required to the Handbook)
7. Any other business