Burnham & District Table Tennis League

21/05/2026

A nice spread about our Presentation Dinner in today’s Essex Chronicle.

20/05/2026

Burnham AGM 2026 - Thurs 11th June @ Champions Manor Hall

Please ensure all Clubs are represented.

19/05/2026

Annual Presentation Dinner 2026

Held Friday 15 May at Forresters Park Golf & Country Club

Thank you to everyone that attended our Presentation Evening for what was an enjoyable evening of catching up with friends and sporting rivals, and of course to congratulate our League, Cup and Tournament winners.

In addition to the competitive trophies we also awared the following prizes:

Bob Partridge Trophy - for the best junior performance at the Tournament went to Peter Harverson

Most Improved Junior - across the league season, went to Luca Riedling

We awarded Shirley Carroll with a Special Recognition Award for an incredible 50 years of competing and winning the Ladies Doubles event (not always with Dawn of course!!).

and the President’s Trophy for services to the League was presented by our President Peter Ballard to committee stalwart Dawn Baldry

We also had some special guests to award trophies. Thank you to Wendy Richardson for awarding the Dan Richardson trophy for the Restricted Singles event. Similarly thank you to June Knights who attended to award the Martin Knights Cup - unfortunately our winner was away competing in the Nationals event. And lastly to our very own Dave Goody who presented Lloyd with the Brian Ellis Cup for the Division 2 MVP.

so to wrap up - Thank you to Alan Dadswell for his compere duties and for keeping the jokes to a minimum this year, to Peter Ballard for his Presidential duties, to Dawn Baldry and Kath Little for the organisation of the event, and to Eamonn Hall for arranging the trophies and the running order of the evening. Apologies if I missed anyone off!

its been emotional.........

12/05/2026

Nice spread about our Div 1 & 2 Champions in the Burnham Focus Magazine this week.

https://focus-magazine.co.uk/

01/05/2026

Press Report - week ending Friday 1 May 2026

Burnham & District Table Tennis League – Anthon Finishes on a High

The final two matches of the seasons sorted out a few positional dramas for Division 1 and the league table and Most Valuable Player lists are now complete. Woodham A secured 3rd place with a tight 6-4 win over 2-player Mapledene B, and Cold Norton A brought out their stars in the battle to avoid relegation and duly dispatched Woodham B into relegation mires with a 9-1 comprehensive victory.

Cold Norton A trio Duncan Taylor, Kevin Read, and Charles Sweeny all took singles hat-tricks in their final match together for Cold Norton A. Eamonn Hall and Peter Harverson took the doubles glory with a comfortable 4 set win over Taylor and outgoing Skipper Steve Maltby. The unluckiest player on the night was Woodham's Harry Sawford who went all the way to 5 against Sweeny, and then had 3 match points at 10-7 up in the 5th against Kevin Read before experience got the better of exuberance and Read won out 14-12 for the narrowest of wins. Read had also had tough battles with both Harverson and Hall earlier in the evening losing a leg to each. This victory preserves Cold Norton A's Division 1 status should they wish to continue next season - that fate of Woodham B is in the balance with 2 teams keen to be promoted from Div 2.

In the delayed final fixture of the season Woodham A just needed a victory to secure 3rd place, and the probability of this happening was dramatically increased when Mapledene could only field a 2 player team. So Woodham had a 3-0 headstart, and Men's Singles Champion Dan Young in their squad - so things were looking good. In the end they limped through 6-4 despite some inspired performances from the Mapledene duo. Young won his 2 singles both in 4 sets, and Dan Piglet defeated the in form Anthon Ranjit-Singh for the 6 points to secure 3rd place. Mapledene won the rest with Keith Willet taking 2 singles, and Ranjit-Singh finishing the campaign a high with his first win of the season. Willet and Ranjit-Singh then paired up for an inspired 5 set doubles victory over Young and Piglet. That final point was enough to take Mapledene B above Mapledene A and secure 4th spot in what has been a phenomenal season for the team.

That's it folks - the final playing report of the season. All the reports can be found on our TT365 page - https://www.tabletennis365.com/Burnham/Pages/press_reports_2025-26

Annual Presentation Dinner
Don't forget to get you tables to Dawn for the Presentation Dinner on Friday 15th May ([email protected])

Quiz Nite - sat 10th Oct
and please save the date for our Quiz nite in Oct.

It's been emotional....

____________________________________________
Eamonn Hall, Press Officer
Burnham & District Table Tennis League
____________________________________________

30/04/2026

CELEBRATION OF LIFE FOR CHRIS JACOB.

The Family will be holding a celebration of Chris's life on:

Saturday 30th May 2026
1pm - 4pm
Essex Police Sports and Social Club
50 St Margaret's Road
Chelmsford
CM2 6DT

It would be lovely for the family to meet anyone who knew Chris, and share some stories.

Please RSVP by Friday 18th May 2026 to

[email protected]
Or
[email protected]

So that we can plan the catering accordingly.

Chris Jacob RiP (Passed April 2026)

We are deeply saddened to announce the sad passing of former Burnham Chairman and Men’s Singles Winner Chris Jacob. Our thoughts go out to Simon and David, and all of Chris’ family and friends at this difficult time.

Chris Jacob was a familiar and respected figure across the Essex table tennis community for over five decades. A fiercely competitive player, Chris was known not only for his determination at the table, but for his unique and highly effective and awkward style of play.

Among the first in local leagues to embrace the use of a “funny bat”, Chris became renowned for his use of a long pimple rubber, employing it in an unorthodox yet remarkably successful way. Opponents often found themselves unsure whether they were playing the man or the bat; either way, matches against Chris were always memorable and rarely straightforward.

Chris competed across most local Essex leagues, including Southend, Burnham, Basildon, Chelmsford, Braintree, and Colchester, earning a reputation as a tough and respected competitor wherever he played.

Beyond his playing career, Chris was committed to the organisation of the game. He played an integral role in league administration, serving as Chairman of the Burnham League and contributing to the Southend , where he was an honorary life member and other leagues over many years.

Chris joined East Hanningfield club in 1980 shortly after becoming the local village constable and played for them for several years. He was Club Secretary 81-82, and joined the Burnham League committee in 1982, becoming vice chair in 1987, and then Chairman for the 89-90 seasons. Chris was also the Men’s Singles Champion in 1987-88 season. That was the last time we had a Jacob on our roll of honour until last month when Chris’ sons Simon and David took the Men’s Doubles title. Chris continued to play in Burnham up to the 2018-19 season.

In addition to his local involvement, Chris also represented Essex and British Police table tennis, further demonstrating his passion and commitment to the sport.

Chris will be remembered for his distinctive playing style, competitive spirit, and long-standing contribution to the table tennis community in Essex. He will be greatly missed.

24/04/2026

Week ending Friday 24 April 2026
Burnham & District Table Tennis League Press Report for the week ending Friday 24 April 2026

The Stars are Shining Bright

Over the course of every season there are some phenomenal individual and team performances but this week we honour the most valuable players across the length and breadth of the season in the Burnham & District Table Tennis League. All of the stats for every player in the league have been fed into the Editors ZX Spectrum and we can now reveal the worthy winner for each division. To be eligible players must have played at least 50% of the team matches.

Division 1 (Peter Ballard Cup) – Winner Liam Squirrell, Mapledene TTC (96%)

Liam Squirrell is the man to beat in the top Division, and this year he only lost a single match all season. A fast, forceful and resilient player – he just keeps coming at you with power and precision. This year Squirrell was pushed hardest by Dan Young of Woodham TTC, and Keith Adams of Fambridge. Squirrell will be presented with the Peter Ballard Cup by the very same Peter Ballard at the upcoming Presentation Evening (Oh yes if you're coming pls let Dawn know asap!!).

Division 2 (Brian Ellis Cup) – Winner Lloyd Bennett-Smith, Maldon TTC (89%)

Until the final game of the season it looked like Maldon’s Colin Napper had the Brian Ellis Cup all wrapped up with a win rate of 82% across the season. However by playing the final game Lloyd Bennett-Smith qualified for entry into the ZX Spectrum and with only 3 losses in this very competitive cohort after much whirring and chin rubbing he came out on top. Next year Bennett-Smith will be back in the top flight where he belongs. Not surprisingly the top 5 slots were held by players from the two promoted teams with Blackwater A’s Denis Balic and Neil Freeman coming in 3rd and 4th respectively, and Maldon’s talisman Hamish Innes taking 5th place on 74% win rate.

Division 3 (Roy Davis Cup) – Winner Gary Smith, Blackwater TTC (94%)

At one point it looked like Gary Smith would go the whole season unbeaten – but then he had his own weekus horribilus at the end of January when he lost 3 games in two matches in quick succession. After a few bouts of therapy he came back fighting and resumed his winning ways for the remainder of his phenomenal season. Smith was the runaway leader all season but the battle to chase him down was fierce. In the end the runner up was Woodham’s Simon Thomas who had a really good run in in his first season back for many a year. Much more to come from him next season no doubt. In 3rd place was the 2024 winner of the Roy Ellis Cup Blackwater’s Peter Davenport.

___________________________________________
Eamonn Hall, Press Officer
Burnham & District Table Tennis League
____________________________________________

24/04/2026

New QUIZ NITE date - Sat 10th Oct

Save the date and start working on your teams now.

It is rumoured round 4 will be a video clips round where we have to decide if the Burnham player serving is legal or illegal!!!

23/04/2026

Finals Night Videos - Coming to an end

for those involved or wanting to keep the Finals Night videos they will only be on Facebook until this saturday - after that they will drift into the ether and you wont be able to download them anymore

20/04/2026

For everyone coming to Presentation Evening it would help us enormously if you can get your tables sorted, send us your food choices and provide payment asap - just helps the organisation run smoothly, and reduces the stress levels for the organisers

Contact is Dawn - [email protected]

Menu Choices are:-

Starters
Prawn cocktail
Melon ring with seasonal berries (v)
Brussels pate with red onion chutney

Mains
Steak & Ale pie plus trimmings
Supreme of chicken plus trimmings
Tagliatelle with basil pesto and veg (v)

Desserts
Choc brownie (v)
Mixed Fruit pavlova
Lemon tart

Cost is £40ppn, £20 for under 16s

Burnham & District Table Tennis League AC
20-19-95
53145190
just add Dinner26 and your name as the reference

see you all there....

🏓 BURNHAM & DISTRICT TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE 🏓

Annual Dinner & Presentation Evening

📅 Friday 15th May 2026
🕢 From 7:00pm

📍 Forrester Park Golf & Country Club
Beckingham Road
Great Totham
Maldon
CM9 8EA

🎉 Join us for an evening of:
Awards & Presentations
Dinner & Socialising
Celebrating the 2025–26 Season

📩 Reserve Your Place

Please confirm attendance with:
Dawn Baldry (Social Secretary)
✉️ [email protected]