Eleven events were contested at Wavertree when after nine
hours of play, the successful players' booked their place in the Finals
night's programme. Although CADWA is a new venue for the Finals event,
Lancashire and Cheshire League cup finals have been staged and won here by
the Liverpool men's team while League table tennis has been played here
since the late 1940's and the club holds the record for the longest
continuous single home venue in league history, for any club. The
Association was formed in 1944 for the Welfare of Residents' in the
Chelwood and District area, hence the name, CADWA. Four Closed men's
singles champions' were members here, Wally Allanson, Gordon Birch, Keith
Williams and Kevin Dolder while Judy Crafter, Justine Thomas and Natasha
Williams won a combined total of eight Ladies' singles titles while with
the club.
On to the tournament, Kevin, with nine singles titles under his belt,
cruised into the semi's without dropping a game which included wins over
two Cadwa men, the club where he started as a thirteen year old. Last
year's runner-up Jonathan Taylor together with Paul Hutchings, the
champion in 1986 and 2003, also qualified for this stage with unblemished
records - Stewart Mudie completing the last four line up. Of the thirteen
players appearing in the 2010 finals' only four have made it to Finals
night -Stewart and Jonathan both made the semi's before losing to champion
Tomasz Rzeszotko, the latter, in the final. Keith Williams, the runner up
to Tomasz in the vets' final a year ago, didn't enter since he was on
county duty where he helped Lancashire veterans' force a draw with
champions Leicestershire, leaving the way open for Kevin to draw level
with him on ten singles victories should he triumph on Finals night.
In terms of numbers, it was again, a poor ladies' singles entry with just
four of the twenty registered bothering to enter. The quartet, headed by
holder and four times champion Cherith Graham was completed by last year's
runner up England ranked 31 Junior, Janay Gibson plus Terri Anne Nolan and
Sue Hughes. For the third time in four years, the event was played as a
Round Robin, with Cherith and Terri Anne emerging as finalists' with two
wins each - Cherith appearing in the final for the fifth consecutive year.
An encouraging Junior entry of 14 provided a tremendous competition with a
number of them, receiving regular coaching around the Merseyside area by
Keith Williams, Dave, Sylvia and Cherith Graham, Clare Langford and Jordyn
Layfield plus a number of others, I'm sure, thanks to them, the future of
junior play is looking good, although, more coaches and venues are
urgently needed.
In the lead up to the championships, the League endured a worrying time
following the Council's decision to dispense with their Paul Street depot
which has been home for our tables since leaving the Police club. We were
fortunate, just last week to obtain a suitable store room at the
Gymnastics Centre of Excellence just off Park Road in Liverpool 8. Fifteen
tables and other equipment were transported from the city to Wavertree to
be set up on Saturday, dismantled on Sunday and delivered on Monday to
Park Road. This involved committee members' plus a handful of 'helpers' or
'shifters' as they have become known. Without the assistance of those
non-committee members', some of whom have no connection with the sport,
the tournament would be in doubt. To all who may have helped in any way
however, may I on behalf of the Committee, thank them, most sincerely for
their time. I make no apology for using this message to request help at
our next event, the City of Liverpool GP in August, all being well, at
Wavertree. This brings me to Richard (Dick) Johnson, Head of Sport
Development for the City. He is singularly responsible for the League
being able to stage not only the Closed but, the Grand Prix and the Junior
4 star open in October, all, free of charge. Not many leagues' in the
country stage two open tournaments in the same season or, have the
wherewithal to do so. With the continued assistance from Richard, the
Liverpool League will endeavour to continue with these famous events.
on to Finals Night |