Table Tennis Club

The Winthorpe Table Tennis Club was formed in September 1949 by Geoff. Scott and twenty-three other young people of the village. They met regularly in the Village Hall room, three times a week, using a table borrowed from Col. Stewart; this was not the regulation size for match-play, so to begin with the teams were restricted to friendly matches. In the meantime, over the next few years they worked hard on organising social events to raise money for a new Spalding table, which they finally acquired in 1954, and which is still in use.

In the early years two teams were usually entered for the Newark League matches. Until 1970 the first team, consisting of R. Burch, G. Baggaley and E. Hewitt, had played regularly for the club since its foundation in 1954. They gained a notable success in 1963 when the first team won the Eric Whate Rose Bowl.

The fortunes of the club have ebbed and flowed, and interest in the game was much affected by television and other outside attractions, but a number of young people have been attracted back, and it is hoped that this is a good augury for the future. Some of the older members have left, but a second team of under-18 players is now making steady progress and it is hoped that members of the present school-age group will eventually join the club and keep table-tennis flourishing in the village.

R. White,  Hon.Sec. 1971.