Christmas was celebrated at Cippenham on Thursday with a "Festive Evening" for members and their families. The evening included the presentation of the annual awards and a friendly hard-bat competition for those who simply can't stop playing just because it's Christmas.

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Despite the wet weather, the event was extremely well supported and the organisers were very pleased with the attendance of over fifty people. It was delightful to see so many families attend with their children. There was mulled wine, mince pies and plenty of other tasty stuff to eat and drink. The whole evening was set-up and organised by Martin Adams, to whom we extend our grateful thanks,

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The first event of the evening was the presentation of our annual awards, presided over by Graham Trimming. For very many years this has been a highlight of the year with our junior and senior players of the year honoured and the prestigious award for outstanding contribution made to our most valued volunteer of the year.

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The first presentation was for the Alan Farral and Terry Boxall Junior Players of the Year. This year there were two players nominated, one boy and one girl. Unfortunately, Rachael Iles, who has risen during the year to number four on the England junior girls' ranking list, was not able to attend. However, Sai Prasanna Kumar, who has swept all aside on the national and international stage and retained his number one position in his age group on the national ranking list, was there to accept his honour. The Senior Player of the Year award went to Mary Heffernan for her performances in both the Maidenhead League and the British league last season.

 

The highlight is always the presentation of the Karen Mitchell Outstanding Contribution Award. This year the award went to Jan Chapman for her devoted service is assisting Ken Phillips at the weekly Monday and Wednesday coaching sessions. This is the third time that Jan has won this prestigious honour during a spell with the Club over more than a quarter of a century.

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Of course, we could not let the evening go by without a little table tennis. Twenty-seven players took to the tables for a friendly hard-bat competition. The players were organised into nine groups with the group winners progressing into the knock-out stages. The quarter-final winners were Jamie Woodford over Wikas Hussaib, Maciej Dlugozima over Mistry, Priyanka Sabharwal in a spectacular five games, including four deuce games, over Chloe Ireland, and Sai Prasanna Kumar over Mustafa. Last year's winner Jamie was victorious over Maciej in is semi-final as was Sai over Priyanka. A five-game final saw Jamie retain his title over Sai.