Teams: Popps: ‘A’ Terry Allington, John Davenport, and Alan Wood
Suma: David Blackburn, Brian Chapman, Derek Harwood.
After their successful winter season, Popps ‘A’ were brought down to earth after this defeat by Suma.
In the first set, Terry A and David Blackburn set the standard with a marathon which lasted an hour. A long, pushing game [...]

Popps B (0) v Spartans (9) July 12 2010
Popps Team: Alwyn Kershaw, Dennis McGuinness & Robin Thomas.
Spartans: Steve Hansen, Mick Mullins, Karthick Shetty
Spartans are a Division 2 side in the winter league and had already delivered a convincing defeat in our earlier match, so Popps were not expecting any miracles.
Last time, Spartans were missing a [...]

Tuesday 6th July 2101. POPPs B Terry W, Dennis and Tom:  Evergreens Mick, Dave and Michael
I was somewhat surprised to learn that it is not only POPPs members who read this blog!  My advice to our other readers is ‘get a life’. There must be something you could be doing that is more worthwhile than [...]

Monday June 28, 2010. Popps Team: Terry Wassall, Robin Thomas, Alwyn Kershaw.
We do not know much about Suma or what it stands for. We know that Suma 2 played in the 2nd Division last year, so assuming the same personnel we, as the ‘B’ Team, would expect a hard fight. But then one would obviously [...]

Monday 21 June
Team: Alan Wood, Derek Greenwood & Terry Allingto
Result EMBASSY 4   POPPS ‘A’ 5
This was another good win for Popps, with Terry winning 3, Alan one and Derek one.
In the first set, Terry faced the experienced Clive Sherratt with his baseball hat and playing in stocking feet. As usual, Clive played all 3 sets [...]

In their latest summer league match Popps B (as last week, Alwyn, Tom and Terry) met the formidable Marsh Cons – the dad and son pairing of Adrian and Tom Normanton plus John Schofield. Once again Popps B salvaged a smidgen of respectability by winning one set and avoiding a white wash. Whereas Alwyn was [...]

Popps B entertained (in more than one sense of the word) Embassy in their latest match. The venerable Popps trio of old hands (attached to equally old bodies), Terry, Alwyn and Tom, faced up to their formidable and slightly nicotine stained opponents, Hugh, Clive and Tom. Clive played all three of his sets at the [...]

Dolphins were able to deal with our ‘B’ team with relative ease, but against our ‘A’ team, they would be up against a different level of foe. Whereas the ‘B’ Team was devoured by the hungry Dolphins as they ploughed through the waves, our ‘A’ team would be harder to be chewed up by [...]

This was the first match of the summer season for Popps ‘A’ team, and for the first time featured two star signings from Sowerby, who concentrate on bowls, tennis and boozing during the summer months, hence the welcome addition of Phillip Parry and John Korner to play alongside the experienced Terry Allington. Representing Evergreens were: [...]

These Dolphins normally hunt in the choppy waters of the Winter League’s Division 2, whilst our ‘B’ Team operate in the murky depths of the pond, devouring the odd stickleback, but generally being at the mercy of the bigger fish. Given the concentration of talent into 2 leagues, we knew we would be up against [...]

For POPPs B first match of the Summer League season they faced up to Spartans, a division 2 team in the normal season. Their full team did not turn up so Steve Hanson and Rod Veal were joined by Joe Broadbent from the Rams team. The POPPs B contingent was made up of two new [...]

Not knowing the Handicap allowance till the end of the match made it quite exciting.
Peter Mc Started the battle with a hard attacking effort against David Blackburn.Davids retrieving from 20′ back was amazing and eventually won him the game 42-30 — still a satisfactory start for Popps.
John T. had a similar result against Brian Chapman [...]

POPPS ‘B’ v Old Town Hares Handicap Doubles QF played at the HX Centre, Tuesday March 30 2010. Popps B lost by 26 points.
In the first round, POPPS ‘B’ defeated Div 1 Batts, courtesy of probably a fairly generous handicap. In round 2, they met a side lower than themselves in the league, Sowerby 3 [...]

Popps A 420 Panthers B 375
Our top doubles partnership, Terry Allington and John did not get off to their usual good start, only managing 15-42 in the first game. We feared the worst against the First Division team who had Robert Wood, James Foster and Matthew Stevens playing for them.
With [...]

In our last encounter, up in the wilds of Old Town, we scored an easy victory with only 2 players, but would it be the same team? Could they have improved? We were about to find out.
Match 1 saw Robin defeated by Jo Sweeny, whom he had previously defeated. But this time she was a [...]

Lions 5 Popps A 4
Terry Allington continued with his amazing form winning all 3 sets in 3.
His defensive strategy and cunning block shots were unbeatable. It was as if he had got the rabbit hypnotized in his headlights !
On the other side of the spectrum Peter Mc was lack-lustre and turned victory into defeat several [...]

Popps A 9 Northowram MPM 0
Faint hopes of promotion maintained with another good 9-0 win.
Terry Allington, Derek Greenwood and Peter McMullen all played their part in this match which keeps our chances still alive (Till next week when we grapple with the hungry Tigers once again !! )

Popps A 9 O.T.Hounds 0
Popps A kept their faint hopes of promotion alive with this result, not dropping a game in the whole match.
This was a creditable performance and shows the continuing improvement of Popps; we just managed a 5-4 victory in the prevous encounter.
John Taylor, Terry Allington and Peter McMullen all scored a max. [...]

Lions are one of the contenders for winning the division this year so POPPs B expected a tough night and so it turned out to be. Terry W, John M and Alan W of POPPs took on Ben Speak, John Tallis and Hannah Kendal and generally gave a good account of themselves with 4 sets [...]

March 10, 2010
From past experience, we knew this would be a difficult fixture, but we could only do our best. Like John Terry, we would be playing away, although the pleasures would only involve ball and bat. Our opponents would have the advantage of knowing the table well and would know their way to the [...]

8th March 2010. Popps A Pipped by Artful Hares
Having been told their “No.1″ , Neil Coneron had to go home early to feed the cat (or was it the wife?) we agreed to let him play his sets early.
With PeterMc beating Neil, Alan Wood doing extremely well in beating No 2 Phil Ward in a [...]

Oakland Raiders 348 v. Popps A 258
We expected Oakland Raiders, being favorites for promotion to the 1st Division, would hammer us.
So Peter started the proceedings and gave a creditable performance (he said) narrowly loosing the 2nd game (2 games to 21), total score 31-42.
The irrepressible Terry A then played Dave Whiteley and won the 2nd [...]

Old Town Hares are currently Division leaders so POPPs B (third from bottom currently) framed themselves to save face and attempt at least to win some games. So the formidable Hares trio of Simon, Phil and Neil faced the rather less than formidable POPPs B team of Alan W, Terry W and John M. However, Alan [...]

Terry A started proceedings but never really got warmed up in his first set against Barbara Gee and lost 3-0. Peter Mc then played and beat Rob Gee by the same score, followed by John T who did the same to Josh Gee. Score 2-1 to us.
Barbara was next opponent for Peter who was dispensed [...]

Popps A (combined ages 201!) beat Senior Citizens (combined Ages 216!!!) 9 nil.
A great way to celebrate being at the top of Div 3 (albeit having played more matches than the nearest challengers). Terry A lead the way with another flawless display of getting everything back —- an excellent example to all of us on [...]

POPPs B played Northowram G on Monday 15th February and lost 0 – 9.  Unlike the last time we played the G family team (when we won 5 – 4) they were at full strength. The POPPs team of Alan, Joan and Terry W all played well and both Alan and Joan troubled the scorer [...]

This could be yet another predictable report where the result will not have been in doubt from the onset. As last time, we could have taken the result as read and departed earlier for the Old Shears. But we’re not like that and honour required us to play out this battle under the unyielding white [...]

POPPS B were beaten 9 nil. However Joan and Alan put on a worthy performance but were no match to the Seniors superior skills, tricky serves and dodgy spin. John was man of the match for POPPswithout a doubt having taken Roy Aldroyd to 5 sets (or is that in tennis?). John won his 1st game  in his other 2 matches but Alwyn & Harry [...]

Excellent debuts by both the Woods partnership.  Alan with a maximum for Popps, assisted by John T and Peter Mc  lead us to the 9 – 0 victory.  Norma, Alan’s wife, guested ( and starred ) for the visitors who were  one  short.   She provided a scintillating display of power hitting which the home team had to [...]

This match was played on 26th January with POPPS B the home team. We were looking forward to this match as it gave us a rare opportunity to play a higher division team and get some idea of the level of competition we need to aspire to. Given our lowly position languishing near the bottom [...]

POPPS ‘B’ IN WINNING MOOD AGAIN
For the home match against this team in October, POPPS ‘B’ registered an historic first win. However, we did have the experienced John Taylor subbing, so we knew that things might be different this time. In addition, we would be playing away. Perhaps Sowerby had a strange table only playable [...]

In a match of fluctuating fortunes Terry A excelled with a flawless exhibition of immaculate control (or was it conception?). The hard hitting Tradesmen banged not only the ball but their heads too trying to find a way past his superb defence.
He started the match off well with a 3-0 win against their No [...]

POPPS B: John Mitchell, Terry Wassall and Alan Partington
Tradesmen 2: Marcus Reynolds, Sam Clayton and Matt Knapton
Our first sight of the opposition was a bit disconcerting. The Tradesmen’s team looked more like the sort of group you would find knocking on your door in shorts during  ’Bob a job’ week. It is only a slight exaggeration to say [...]

Good to be back in action after the break, particularly with a win! We need a few 9 – 0’s however to be back in contention for promotion.
Derek’s arthritus robbed us of a couple of points in this match but he will be back to normal as soon as the weather improves I am sure.

Northowram Edge to 5-4 Win
Teams
Northowram Martyn Halliday, Josh Gee, Robert Gee
Popps ‘B’ Terry Wassall, John Mitchell, Robin Thomas
Fighting their way through a cold wintry night, Popps entered the cold wintry room to see the walls covered with toddlers’ paintings and a set of rules: Be kind, share, don’t swear, play, don’t fight, be polite, good [...]

November 23rd. Old Town Hares  7, POPPS A  2 . No further details as I was in the wilds of Cambodia at the time. 
December 14th.  POPPS A 4, Halifax Lions 5. 
A topsy turvy, exciting, awe-inspiring (or was it ‘oh, uninspiring?) match.
Other teams players came from miles around to watch, and even had the audacity to [...]

POPPS ‘B’ WIN AGAINST THE ODDS
Monday December 14 at the Chapel, Old Town
The last time Popps ‘B’ ventured into the wilds of Old Town, they were incorrectly directed to the wrong venue by a mistake in the handbook. The resultant cold wait did not help their performance as two members phoned round to find where [...]

Popps ‘B’ Through to Next Round!
Having eventually won their 1st round against blood-sucking BATS, courtesy of a generous handicap and after some rapid on-the-job learning, we were now due to meet a side below us in the league—barely possible you might think-so they would receive a useful handicap. Consistency and cool heads would be needed. [...]

Wed 2.12.09 . Old Town Hounds 4 — Popps A 5

2 wins each from Derek and Peter and 1 from John helped us to a narrow victory, despite the fact that they had a “ringer” playing for them from their first team. A return to winning ways was very welcome and caused some singing in the [...]

POPPS THROUGH TO NEXT ROUND!
This should have been played a couple of weeks ago, but BATS, a 1st Division side, couldn’t raise a team: one member was in custody, one had swine flu and the other was hiding in a wardrobe, waiting for his girl friend’s husband to go to sleep. We refused their offer [...]

Lions finished mid-table last year, above Popps, so we knew this was a fixture which would be a challenge. Then we heard that Joan had gone down with pneumonia! We wish her a speedy recovery. Your team secretary roped himself in, only to find that John Mitchell had to pull out at short notice to [...]

Tuesday November 24, 2009.
This team finished above Popps last year and currently are one place above us.  A win could take us above them, but would we be able to demonstrate some consistency against these experienced campaigners?  We arrived ready to play at 7.15 and waited for our opponents to turn up. They eventfully arrived [...]

The match got off to a late start as the POPPs team, playing away, had taken the venue details from the Handbook which was incorrect. After a number of phone calls and, in Terry Wassall’s case, a stop at the Hare and Hounds pub and Old Town Cricket Club for directions, we all found our [...]

16th November. Northowram ‘Team G’ (M Halliday 1, J Wasilewski 2, B Gee 3)   6    v   HxTTC Popp A (T Allington 2, J Taylor 1, D Greenwood 0)   3
This was the A team’s first lost match this season playing the formidable full strength Northowram G Team. Unfortunately Derek had to withdraw with the occurance of [...]

Now we know why this team is called ‘G’. Two of their members are from the Gee dynasty, although on this occasion, the legendary Barbara Gee was missing.
From the Popps point of view, we knew we would put in an improved performance with the knowledge that Terry Allington would be playing for us, as we [...]

Monday 2.11.09. Senior Citizens 1 v Popps A 8
The winning run goes on — bragging but we have to say it whilst we can — we have to play the best teams yet !
In this match, the Clash of the (elderly) Titans, Terry A lead the way with 3 excellent wins. Incidentally his last point [...]

And so inevitably, with two teams in the league, we would meet each other, and on the basis that we had selected the ‘A’ team to be the stronger combination, the result would probably be predictable. Table Tennis is not like football, where a minnow can despatch a big name in a cup tie, helped [...]

At first sight, the prospect of playing a side called Senior Citizens might bring up an image of doddery blokes with Zimmer frames, slopping their tea all over their trousers, but we knew this team should not be underestimated. They have already won a number of matches this year and have those great ingredients of [...]

‘B ‘Team achieves first win 9-0!
Sowerby 3 finished 2nd in Division 3 last year, so our team approached this fixture with a degree of apprehension. However, we know that teams change their personnel and in addition, we had John Taylor, covering for a poorly John Mitchell. So if John could get us off to a [...]

Table Tennis Report. Tradesmen V Popps ‘B’
Tuesday October 6, 2009
 
The B team entered its third match of the season still waiting for a win, and with Mark Knapton, last year’s number 2 in the Div 3 averages playing, they knew it would be difficult. Mark himself would arrive later, by agreement, so the matches were [...]

The POPPs B team (John M, Terry W and Alan P) took on Northowram MPM (Martyn H, Paul M, and Oliver B) and, after a spirited match, lost 3 sets to 6. The unlikely top POPPs player this time was Terry with two wins of 3 – 0 but, along with the rest of the [...]

The new season in the Halifax Table Tennis League started this week with a new look setup for the POPPs table tennis teams. Yes, teams, in the plural. We now have two teams which we have imaginatively named POPPS A and POPPS B. This reflects a welcome growth in the number of members who want [...]

When we considered taking part in the summer league, it was made clear that we would find the competition even tougher than  Winter  league 3, on the basis that we would come across some league 2 players. So it has proved and we have found life difficult in this league. However, the games have been played [...]

First our official complaints (not excuses I hasten to add) :–
 
1. They tried to dint our enthusiasm by telling us that they won  last winter Third Division  by a  margin of 30 points. Totally out of order.
2. Their No 2, David, topped Div 3 averages last year and he regularly runs marathons  (fit bugger !).  [...]

Spartans won 7-2.  POPPs team David, Peter and Terry.  David was the only set winner for POPPs with a win of 3-0 against Spartan’s Steve Hanson and a hard fought 3-2 win over Michael Mullins.
Peter took a game from all 3 players, Michael, Karthik Shetty and Steve. Terry failed to win a single game thus confiming his [...]

Result POPPS 4-5 Tradesmen Team
Peter 1 win, David 2 wins, John 1 win.
A close match which went to the last game in which Peter was unable to get the better of his wiley opponent (Ken, Denise’s husband). Could have gone either way but we couldn’t complain in the end and the learning curve continues to [...]

POPPs (Peter, John Taylor and Terry) faced up to the Evergreens (Mick, Dave and Mark) in confident but deluded mood. To cut to the chase, POPPs lost 9 sets to nil. We had our moments, some good rallies where a passing observer may have briefly assumed a hard fought close match was in progress, and [...]

SO CLOSE BUT SO FAR
7.29 and POPPS are confident of a whitewash victory due to the no show of the opposition who we believe to have heard of our fearsome reputation and decided there was little point in actually playing the game.
7.30 they’ve turned up and its downhill from here on.
9.30 it’s all over and [...]

In keeping with tradition for summer league matches Popps lost to their opponents 2 sets to 8. There were five aspects to this defeat – it was very hot, the combined ages of Lions was probably about 135 years less than the Popps team of David, John and Terry, youngsters don’t respect their elders these [...]

POPPS played Keighley On Tuesday 23rd June. Due to illness POPPS found themselves a man short although fortunately were able to find a last minute replacement: Alan2. We onlly managed 1 win courtesy of Alan2, the final score being 8 – 1 to Keighley.
David and Alan found themselves fighting a vertically rearguard action against players [...]

Headline – Partington Wins his 1st Match–crowd goes crazy! ( All 3 of them ) However POPPS lose 6/3 – John and Peter put on their usual fine display of vintage table tennis with lots of encouragement to rookie Alan – who said on leaving the arena that his agent’s negotiations with the Chinese were [...]

Friday 29 May saw the majority of the team in the elegant surroundings of Villa McMullan at the 4th in a series of social events for the POPPS table tennis team since its formation in the autumn of 2008. Armed with various contributions of food and drink, the members arrived in a variety of garb [...]

Monday night saw Popps first match of the summer league, against Spartans. This, we are told, is a rather more relaxed and sociable affair compared with the cut and thrust and naked ambition of the winter league. Our team was made up of two of our stars. John and Peter, and Terry playing his first [...]

POPPS POOPED BY WARRIORS
Popps lost out by just 1 point (378 v 377) courtesy of the handicappers who gave us a 279 start. The scores tell all. Warriors of course scored 21 in all the games and Pops scored as follows:
John: 3 3 9 8 4 1
Peter: 12 [...]

Popps trounced the trembling Tradesmen by 6-3. (Please insert picture of naked lady holding ping pong bat here to increase circulation; currently at 3 including 1 demented dog).
Popps stormed to a 4-0 lead in the match before the Tradesmen chiselled their way back into contention at 4-3. It needed a solid performance by John to [...]

In a highly charged atmosphere at the Club Lane stadium last night the minnows of the 3rd division triumphed over their illustrious division 1 opposition. From the first pong, Popps took the wiff to the opposition and showed them no mercy as they swept to an overwhelming victory.
John (aka the pieman) played number 1 and [...]

This team gave us a heavy defeat last time, so could we improve now that we had gained more league experience? Could Derek capitalise on the return to fitness of his dodgy shoulder? Would John recover from an overdose of pie’n’peas and how would Robin perform after food and beverage excesses in Hong [...]

Result: POPPS won overall and by 6-3
Popps had a handicap advantage of 63 but did enough to win comfortably even without the handicap. (by 100 plus).
Peter, David and John all won 2 of their 3 matches. They all lost to the Lions number 1 player but only by fairly small margins which were more than compensated for [...]

Result:  POPPs won 7-2
A good display all round by POPPS who secured a hard fought victory after some closely fought encounters. John and David had been training on a new “winalot” diet and that was exactly what they did, winning all their matches. Peter was a little off colour, lacking that shiny coat and energetic [...]

Surviving, as we barely manage to do, in the culvert ridden, monster infested nether regions of League 3 in the Halifax League, we already, in our first season, have had to face up to dramatic and enforced changes in our perception of table tennis (or ping pong) as a major obsession of the world’s leaders, [...]

Playing: PETER ‘Silver Streak’ MCMULLEN/JOHN ‘Pie Man’ TAYLOR/DAVID ‘Doggy Blanket’ MELBOURNE  v. Mick Curry/Dave Lewis/Brian Hanson
Set 1: PETER v Mick – result 11-3/5-11/12-10/10-12
Game 1: Tentative start from Mick with Peter achieving an apparently relaxed approach with good focus, maintained throughout the game to victory for Peter. Good start that promised well.
Game 2: Better start for [...]

This is the first poem written for the POPPs table tennis team by our Poet in Residence, Robin Thomas (who also happens to be Team Secretary, Social Secretary, Team Player, Team News Reporter and much else besides). The poem was read out as part of the entertainment at the team’s social evening last Wednesday as [...]

POPPs table tennis team enjoyed a social night out 4.03.09 at The Works, Sowerby Bridge.  Host: Robin
Having negotiated the use of a private and spacious room off the main bar area of his local ‘real ale’ pub, Robin touristically informed us of all local facilities, available to residents and visitors; these included zimmer-frame hire, frequency of [...]

POPP players were Peter. David and Derek. Old Town players were Derek, Phil and Sue
Game 1: Phil v. David: result 12-10 11-9 11-9
First two games were evenly matched but in the third Phil turned on the pressure and proved a faster mover and better at returning the ball generally. David played well and could have [...]

Once again the new boys were in unchartered territory, with the handicap only to be revealed at the end of the match. Therefore all points would be valuable, the message being to keep doing your best, even in apparent defeat.
Match 1 saw our Derek (Greenwood) against their Derek (Briggs). This was fairly even [...]

The detailed report notes of this match were mislaid before completion and so this is a much shortened version.
POPP players were Peter, David and Derek. Old Town players were Jo, Don and Cynthia
Peter and David played consistently throughout and easily achieved three-game victories in all their sets. Don was potentially a good “long-table” player with [...]

This video was recorded to publicise the POPPs sponsored over 50s table tennis sessions held at the Halifax Table Tennis Centre Tuesday and Thursday mornings 10.30 to 11.30am (not as in the video opening captions!) – starring team members Derek and Robin sounding remarkably coherent. All are welcome. Make new friends, discover or rediscover a [...]

Popps turned out Terry, John and Peter for this return match against Ram 2. To cut a long story short we lost 2 sets to 7 and, although this was an improvement on our first meeting with Rams when we lost 1 – 8 last October, it was a slightly disappointing result. I think it is [...]

Playing: Terry/Peter/Derek
 
Game 1: Peter/Derek v Dave/Shamir
 
Knowing that this team were currently third in League 1, we approached the match with an inevitable bucketful of trepidation, tempered, only slightly, by the fact that they, like us, had lost their first round match. Both Peter and Derek struggled initially to get into the game at all, the [...]

POPPS have now played all the teams in division 3 once so this is halfway through our first season. As the table below shows we are third from bottom at the moment, in 9th place. We had hoped to finish near the top of the bottom half at the end of the season. This is [...]

We don’t seem to be getting results for every week and when we do they are often incomplete. These are the results for Division 3 for the first matches of 2009
Division Three

Old Town Hounds (D Williamson 3, P Ward 3, R Tipton 3)  9  v  Old Town Hoods (D Sweeney 0, D Coneron 0, J Sweeney [...]

Would Popps be suffering from post Christmas hangovers, weighed down with mince pies and turkey, or would they spring into the New Year like youthful lambs? In the event, it was more like lambs to the slaughter at the hands of a more worldly-wise Sowerby team, who demonstrated the virtues of patience, even to the [...]

The last match before the Christmas break was lost 3 – 6 to the Tradesmen and we came away reasonabley happy in the circumstances. I was not due to play and was suffering from a cold (although I’m pretty certain this didn’t make any difference to the outcome of my sets) and Derek was supposed [...]

Popps were well beaten by Old Town Hounds but Peter, playing at No.1 for Popps, saved our faces by winning 2 of his sets. It could have been closer with 2 other sets going to 5 games but the Hounds showed dogged determination and managed to sniff out a victory in both. We took the lead at [...]

The highlights of this match were wins by John Taylor and Derek Greenwood, and a welcoming cup of tea and a kit kat provided by our hosts. After venturing out in the bitter night to the frozen wastes of Northowram, our team took time to warm up and adjust.
John Taylor took one game off John [...]

Just found a new table tennis coaching web site. It mainly consists of a number of short high quality videos on basic strokes. Worth a look – http://www.tabletenniscoach.com/main.html. Sponsored by the Northumberland Table Tennis Association.
“This site provides excellent video tutorials ranging from basic to advanced skills. ETTA coach Bernie Morris talks you though the different [...]

The last post here was about our defeat in the first round of the Halifax Table Tennis League handicap tournament. Coincidently, a week too late, a new post on Greg Lett’s table tennis web site offers some good advice and tips on how to play doubles. There is a possibility that a consolation tournament will [...]

POPPs were beaten by 7 points overall by SUMA 1 last night after a tense and, I must say, very tiring match. We all played 6 double games each to 42 and often had to play in consecutive games. Because of the format of the games and our modest success in some of them this often meant [...]

POPPs was well and truly beaten by Lions last night losing 8 – 1. The combined age and experience or our team (Derek, Terry and Peter), about 186 years between us, was not enough to overcome the youthful exuberance, speed and rather disconcerting flexibility of the Lions – Chie, Ben and Hannah – all who [...]

Division 3 results for week commencing 10th November 2008. Full leagues results can be found in the Results section.

Northowram (B Gee 3, J Wasilewski  1, R Gee 0)  4   v  Sowerby 3 (a Whiteley 2, J Korner 1, P Parry 2) 5
HxTTC Evergreens (M Curry 3, D Lewis 3, M Higgins 3)  9  v  HxTTC Popp [...]

Taking place at the Halifax TT Centre, with Evergreens hosting, expectations were realistic in the POPPS camp, in view of the strong reputation of their opponents. In the opening set, John Taylor had the best result by winning his third game 11-4, but having struggled to find his form in the first two games, losing [...]

Results for week commencing Monday 3rd November. Full results an be seen in the Result page.
Division Three

HxTTC A.R.K. (K Broadbent 1, A Feetham 1, R Oldroyd 0)  2   v  HxTTC Evergreens (M Curry 3, D Lewis 3, B Hanson 1)   7

Old Town Hoods (J Sweeney 0, C Scott 0, P Dean 0)   0   v  HxTTC Rams [...]

What a lovely bunch Halifax Table Tennis League Division 3 players are! We played Old Town Robins on Monday and once again the match was played in an excellent spirit. This is not to say that we are not competitive -  there was plenty of huffing and puffing and tutting when errors were made or [...]

Looks like we haven’t been sent the results for week 3. This might be because we had a bye and they are only sent to teams that played. We will check on this and fill the gap if we can. Division 3 results for week 4 commencing 27th October are as follows:

Old Town Robins (S [...]

Last night we played Old Town Hoods in our 3rd match of the season. Once again we were impressed with the friendliness of the teams in the league (or at least in division 3!) and we had a thoroughly enjoyable and sociable evening, made even better than usual because we won!! The final score was [...]

Table Tennis Things I know…. is an interesting post by Greg Letts on the excellent tabletennis.about.com web site. Greg feels he would be a very much better player today if a number of now seemingly obvious things had dawned on him earlier in his career. Most of us in the POPPs team are returning to [...]

It seems the results that come through each week to our secretary are not complete and do not refer only to that week.  There should be 5 results in Division 3 per week but not all of these come through immediately.  I will update these results posts retrospectively so that all the same week’s results [...]

The POPPs team played its second match on Tuesday, an away meeting with Rams 2 at the Halifax Table Tennis Centre. This time the other 3 players in our squad of 6 took the stage – John, Peter and Robin – so this was their debut. The result was the same as last week with [...]

Full results for week 1 can be viewed on the Results page (new item in the sidebar menu Pages section). The results for Division 3 for week 1 commencing October 6th are as follows:

HxTTC A.R.K (K Broadbent 3, A Feetham 2, R Oldroyd 3)  8   v  HxTTC Popp (D Greenwood 1, M Konrad 0, T Wassall [...]

The business plan for the next 3 years has just been published for comment. Essentially the plan is to try and secure sufficient funding for the centre to continue. You can view it by clicking on this link – HxTTC Business Plan. Comments, ideas and observations will be very welcome. You can either add your [...]

The first match is over and we acquitted ourselves pretty well. Our opponents were HxTTC A.R.K. The team was called Senior Citizens last year, finishing 3rd in the division, but renamed this year after their names – Alan, Roy and Keith. We couldn’t have asked for a more friendly bunch to play our first ever match against. We had [...]

Last night the POPPs team, joined by a sprinkling of partners, enjoyed a pre-season social at the Lord Nelson at Luddenden after which we repaired to the home of our Secretary, Mieszek, for a homemade barszcz and bread supper. The barszcz , a Polish beetroot soup, was absolutely delicious. The get together was primarily social [...]

We have now received the fixture list for the coming season. Our first match is next Monday, 6th October, at the Halifax table Tennis Centre. Personally I feel quite nervous about this and I may not even be playing! Working out the complete fixture details was quite complicated involving looking at 3 different pages to find [...]

I have just discovered the English Table Tennis Association’s (almost monthly) on-line magazine, or e-zine. Looks pretty good and, in addition to news and events there is a blog we can comment on and a Table Tennis Tips section. For instance the current August edition has a section on serving, including the use of the long serve and [...]

Alan has now started the Thursday morning sessions at the Halifax Table tennis Centre. These are for 10.30 to 11.30. If you live in the general area and have the time and inclination why not come along and give it a go. It’s a friendly group and great fun as well as being a good [...]

We have just learnt that the first matches of the season will be in week commencing Monday 6th October. Our home evening will be Mondays so, if the first week is a home week for us, we may well be playing our first match on the 6th. In the meantime one of our players has [...]

Every week we get advice and tips from Alan, perhaps too much for aged brains to absorb and remember! I thought it would be a good idea to keep notes of the main tips as we get them as a reminder. So a new section has been started on Coaching tips. This section may also [...]

Helen from POPPS attended our Tuesday session today and had a knock. Apart from various documents we need to fill in to get the team properly set up so we can apply for funding, she has also provided a couple of CDs full photos of session members for the web site. Some of these will [...]

Today a new page has been added to the site that lists articles about table tennis in news papers and other media that are available on line and may interest visitors to this web site. The page, called  Table tennis in the news, is listed in the Pages section in the side bar menu. Hopefully [...]

We have a full complement of 6 players now David has joined us. We have 2 members who are experienced players and 4 comparative beginners from which we have to field a team of 3 players each week. Given our intention to share the matches as evenly as we can between us, the overall strength [...]

After a fair bit of messing about (this web site uses a blogging and content management system called WordPress that I am struggling to learn) and consulting a useful book called ‘WordPress for Dummies’ we have got this web site up and running.
We have made good progress in the last week. Some of us had [...]

Every week we get advice and tips from Alan, perhaps too much for aged brains to absorb and remember! I thought it would be a good idea to keep notes of the main tips as we get them as a reminder. So a new section has been started on Coaching tips. This section may also [...]

I have just discovered the English Table Tennis Association’s (almost monthly) on-line magazine, or e-zine. Looks pretty good and, in addition to news and events there is a blog we can comment on and a Table Tennis Tips section. For instance the current August edition has a section on serving, including the use of the long serve and [...]

Table Tennis Things I know…. is an interesting post by Greg Letts on the excellent tabletennis.about.com web site. Greg feels he would be a very much better player today if a number of now seemingly obvious things had dawned on him earlier in his career. Most of us in the POPPs team are returning to [...]

Just found a new table tennis coaching web site. It mainly consists of a number of short high quality videos on basic strokes. Worth a look – http://www.tabletenniscoach.com/main.html. Sponsored by the Northumberland Table Tennis Association.
“This site provides excellent video tutorials ranging from basic to advanced skills. ETTA coach Bernie Morris talks you though the different [...]

Table Tennis Things I know…. is an interesting post by Greg Letts on the excellent tabletennis.about.com web site. Greg feels he would be a very much better player today if a number of now seemingly obvious things had dawned on him earlier in his career. Most of us in the POPPs team are returning to [...]

The last post here was about our defeat in the first round of the Halifax Table Tennis League handicap tournament. Coincidently, a week too late, a new post on Greg Lett’s table tennis web site offers some good advice and tips on how to play doubles. There is a possibility that a consolation tournament will [...]

Popps were well beaten by Old Town Hounds but Peter, playing at No.1 for Popps, saved our faces by winning 2 of his sets. It could have been closer with 2 other sets going to 5 games but the Hounds showed dogged determination and managed to sniff out a victory in both. We took the lead at [...]

This video was recorded to publicise the POPPs sponsored over 50s table tennis sessions held at the Halifax Table Tennis Centre Tuesday and Thursday mornings 10.30 to 11.30am (not as in the video opening captions!) – starring team members Derek and Robin sounding remarkably coherent. All are welcome. Make new friends, discover or rediscover a [...]

Friday 29 May saw the majority of the team in the elegant surroundings of Villa McMullan at the 4th in a series of social events for the POPPS table tennis team since its formation in the autumn of 2008. Armed with various contributions of food and drink, the members arrived in a variety of garb [...]

After a fair bit of messing about (this web site uses a blogging and content management system called WordPress that I am struggling to learn) and consulting a useful book called ‘WordPress for Dummies’ we have got this web site up and running.
We have made good progress in the last week. Some of us had [...]

We have a full complement of 6 players now David has joined us. We have 2 members who are experienced players and 4 comparative beginners from which we have to field a team of 3 players each week. Given our intention to share the matches as evenly as we can between us, the overall strength [...]

Helen from POPPS attended our Tuesday session today and had a knock. Apart from various documents we need to fill in to get the team properly set up so we can apply for funding, she has also provided a couple of CDs full photos of session members for the web site. Some of these will [...]

We have just learnt that the first matches of the season will be in week commencing Monday 6th October. Our home evening will be Mondays so, if the first week is a home week for us, we may well be playing our first match on the 6th. In the meantime one of our players has [...]

Alan has now started the Thursday morning sessions at the Halifax Table tennis Centre. These are for 10.30 to 11.30. If you live in the general area and have the time and inclination why not come along and give it a go. It’s a friendly group and great fun as well as being a good [...]

I have just discovered the English Table Tennis Association’s (almost monthly) on-line magazine, or e-zine. Looks pretty good and, in addition to news and events there is a blog we can comment on and a Table Tennis Tips section. For instance the current August edition has a section on serving, including the use of the long serve and [...]

We have now received the fixture list for the coming season. Our first match is next Monday, 6th October, at the Halifax table Tennis Centre. Personally I feel quite nervous about this and I may not even be playing! Working out the complete fixture details was quite complicated involving looking at 3 different pages to find [...]

Last night the POPPs team, joined by a sprinkling of partners, enjoyed a pre-season social at the Lord Nelson at Luddenden after which we repaired to the home of our Secretary, Mieszek, for a homemade barszcz and bread supper. The barszcz , a Polish beetroot soup, was absolutely delicious. The get together was primarily social [...]

The first match is over and we acquitted ourselves pretty well. Our opponents were HxTTC A.R.K. The team was called Senior Citizens last year, finishing 3rd in the division, but renamed this year after their names – Alan, Roy and Keith. We couldn’t have asked for a more friendly bunch to play our first ever match against. We had [...]

The business plan for the next 3 years has just been published for comment. Essentially the plan is to try and secure sufficient funding for the centre to continue. You can view it by clicking on this link – HxTTC Business Plan. Comments, ideas and observations will be very welcome. You can either add your [...]

The POPPs team played its second match on Tuesday, an away meeting with Rams 2 at the Halifax Table Tennis Centre. This time the other 3 players in our squad of 6 took the stage – John, Peter and Robin – so this was their debut. The result was the same as last week with [...]

POPPs was well and truly beaten by Lions last night losing 8 – 1. The combined age and experience or our team (Derek, Terry and Peter), about 186 years between us, was not enough to overcome the youthful exuberance, speed and rather disconcerting flexibility of the Lions – Chie, Ben and Hannah – all who [...]

POPPs were beaten by 7 points overall by SUMA 1 last night after a tense and, I must say, very tiring match. We all played 6 double games each to 42 and often had to play in consecutive games. Because of the format of the games and our modest success in some of them this often meant [...]

The last post here was about our defeat in the first round of the Halifax Table Tennis League handicap tournament. Coincidently, a week too late, a new post on Greg Lett’s table tennis web site offers some good advice and tips on how to play doubles. There is a possibility that a consolation tournament will [...]

Just found a new table tennis coaching web site. It mainly consists of a number of short high quality videos on basic strokes. Worth a look – http://www.tabletenniscoach.com/main.html. Sponsored by the Northumberland Table Tennis Association.
“This site provides excellent video tutorials ranging from basic to advanced skills. ETTA coach Bernie Morris talks you though the different [...]

The highlights of this match were wins by John Taylor and Derek Greenwood, and a welcoming cup of tea and a kit kat provided by our hosts. After venturing out in the bitter night to the frozen wastes of Northowram, our team took time to warm up and adjust.
John Taylor took one game off John [...]

The last match before the Christmas break was lost 3 – 6 to the Tradesmen and we came away reasonabley happy in the circumstances. I was not due to play and was suffering from a cold (although I’m pretty certain this didn’t make any difference to the outcome of my sets) and Derek was supposed [...]

POPPS have now played all the teams in division 3 once so this is halfway through our first season. As the table below shows we are third from bottom at the moment, in 9th place. We had hoped to finish near the top of the bottom half at the end of the season. This is [...]

Popps turned out Terry, John and Peter for this return match against Ram 2. To cut a long story short we lost 2 sets to 7 and, although this was an improvement on our first meeting with Rams when we lost 1 – 8 last October, it was a slightly disappointing result. I think it is [...]

The detailed report notes of this match were mislaid before completion and so this is a much shortened version.
POPP players were Peter, David and Derek. Old Town players were Jo, Don and Cynthia
Peter and David played consistently throughout and easily achieved three-game victories in all their sets. Don was potentially a good “long-table” player with [...]

Once again the new boys were in unchartered territory, with the handicap only to be revealed at the end of the match. Therefore all points would be valuable, the message being to keep doing your best, even in apparent defeat.
Match 1 saw our Derek (Greenwood) against their Derek (Briggs). This was fairly even [...]

POPPs table tennis team enjoyed a social night out 4.03.09 at The Works, Sowerby Bridge.  Host: Robin
Having negotiated the use of a private and spacious room off the main bar area of his local ‘real ale’ pub, Robin touristically informed us of all local facilities, available to residents and visitors; these included zimmer-frame hire, frequency of [...]

Result:  POPPs won 7-2
A good display all round by POPPS who secured a hard fought victory after some closely fought encounters. John and David had been training on a new “winalot” diet and that was exactly what they did, winning all their matches. Peter was a little off colour, lacking that shiny coat and energetic [...]

Result: POPPS won overall and by 6-3
Popps had a handicap advantage of 63 but did enough to win comfortably even without the handicap. (by 100 plus).
Peter, David and John all won 2 of their 3 matches. They all lost to the Lions number 1 player but only by fairly small margins which were more than compensated for [...]

This team gave us a heavy defeat last time, so could we improve now that we had gained more league experience? Could Derek capitalise on the return to fitness of his dodgy shoulder? Would John recover from an overdose of pie’n’peas and how would Robin perform after food and beverage excesses in Hong [...]

In a highly charged atmosphere at the Club Lane stadium last night the minnows of the 3rd division triumphed over their illustrious division 1 opposition. From the first pong, Popps took the wiff to the opposition and showed them no mercy as they swept to an overwhelming victory.
John (aka the pieman) played number 1 and [...]

Popps trounced the trembling Tradesmen by 6-3. (Please insert picture of naked lady holding ping pong bat here to increase circulation; currently at 3 including 1 demented dog).
Popps stormed to a 4-0 lead in the match before the Tradesmen chiselled their way back into contention at 4-3. It needed a solid performance by John to [...]

POPPS POOPED BY WARRIORS
Popps lost out by just 1 point (378 v 377) courtesy of the handicappers who gave us a 279 start. The scores tell all. Warriors of course scored 21 in all the games and Pops scored as follows:
John: 3 3 9 8 4 1
Peter: 12 [...]

Friday 29 May saw the majority of the team in the elegant surroundings of Villa McMullan at the 4th in a series of social events for the POPPS table tennis team since its formation in the autumn of 2008. Armed with various contributions of food and drink, the members arrived in a variety of garb [...]

When we considered taking part in the summer league, it was made clear that we would find the competition even tougher than  Winter  league 3, on the basis that we would come across some league 2 players. So it has proved and we have found life difficult in this league. However, the games have been played [...]

The new season in the Halifax Table Tennis League started this week with a new look setup for the POPPs table tennis teams. Yes, teams, in the plural. We now have two teams which we have imaginatively named POPPS A and POPPS B. This reflects a welcome growth in the number of members who want [...]

The POPPs B team (John M, Terry W and Alan P) took on Northowram MPM (Martyn H, Paul M, and Oliver B) and, after a spirited match, lost 3 sets to 6. The unlikely top POPPs player this time was Terry with two wins of 3 – 0 but, along with the rest of the [...]

Table Tennis Report. Tradesmen V Popps ‘B’
Tuesday October 6, 2009
 
The B team entered its third match of the season still waiting for a win, and with Mark Knapton, last year’s number 2 in the Div 3 averages playing, they knew it would be difficult. Mark himself would arrive later, by agreement, so the matches were [...]

‘B ‘Team achieves first win 9-0!
Sowerby 3 finished 2nd in Division 3 last year, so our team approached this fixture with a degree of apprehension. However, we know that teams change their personnel and in addition, we had John Taylor, covering for a poorly John Mitchell. So if John could get us off to a [...]

At first sight, the prospect of playing a side called Senior Citizens might bring up an image of doddery blokes with Zimmer frames, slopping their tea all over their trousers, but we knew this team should not be underestimated. They have already won a number of matches this year and have those great ingredients of [...]

And so inevitably, with two teams in the league, we would meet each other, and on the basis that we had selected the ‘A’ team to be the stronger combination, the result would probably be predictable. Table Tennis is not like football, where a minnow can despatch a big name in a cup tie, helped [...]

Monday 2.11.09. Senior Citizens 1 v Popps A 8
The winning run goes on — bragging but we have to say it whilst we can — we have to play the best teams yet !
In this match, the Clash of the (elderly) Titans, Terry A lead the way with 3 excellent wins. Incidentally his last point [...]

Lions finished mid-table last year, above Popps, so we knew this was a fixture which would be a challenge. Then we heard that Joan had gone down with pneumonia! We wish her a speedy recovery. Your team secretary roped himself in, only to find that John Mitchell had to pull out at short notice to [...]

POPPS THROUGH TO NEXT ROUND!
This should have been played a couple of weeks ago, but BATS, a 1st Division side, couldn’t raise a team: one member was in custody, one had swine flu and the other was hiding in a wardrobe, waiting for his girl friend’s husband to go to sleep. We refused their offer [...]

Wed 2.12.09 . Old Town Hounds 4 — Popps A 5

2 wins each from Derek and Peter and 1 from John helped us to a narrow victory, despite the fact that they had a “ringer” playing for them from their first team. A return to winning ways was very welcome and caused some singing in the [...]

Popps ‘B’ Through to Next Round!
Having eventually won their 1st round against blood-sucking BATS, courtesy of a generous handicap and after some rapid on-the-job learning, we were now due to meet a side below us in the league—barely possible you might think-so they would receive a useful handicap. Consistency and cool heads would be needed. [...]

POPPS ‘B’ WIN AGAINST THE ODDS
Monday December 14 at the Chapel, Old Town
The last time Popps ‘B’ ventured into the wilds of Old Town, they were incorrectly directed to the wrong venue by a mistake in the handbook. The resultant cold wait did not help their performance as two members phoned round to find where [...]

November 23rd. Old Town Hares  7, POPPS A  2 . No further details as I was in the wilds of Cambodia at the time. 
December 14th.  POPPS A 4, Halifax Lions 5. 
A topsy turvy, exciting, awe-inspiring (or was it ‘oh, uninspiring?) match.
Other teams players came from miles around to watch, and even had the audacity to [...]

Northowram Edge to 5-4 Win
Teams
Northowram Martyn Halliday, Josh Gee, Robert Gee
Popps ‘B’ Terry Wassall, John Mitchell, Robin Thomas
Fighting their way through a cold wintry night, Popps entered the cold wintry room to see the walls covered with toddlers’ paintings and a set of rules: Be kind, share, don’t swear, play, don’t fight, be polite, good [...]

Good to be back in action after the break, particularly with a win! We need a few 9 – 0’s however to be back in contention for promotion.
Derek’s arthritus robbed us of a couple of points in this match but he will be back to normal as soon as the weather improves I am sure.

POPPS B: John Mitchell, Terry Wassall and Alan Partington
Tradesmen 2: Marcus Reynolds, Sam Clayton and Matt Knapton
Our first sight of the opposition was a bit disconcerting. The Tradesmen’s team looked more like the sort of group you would find knocking on your door in shorts during  ’Bob a job’ week. It is only a slight exaggeration to say [...]

In a match of fluctuating fortunes Terry A excelled with a flawless exhibition of immaculate control (or was it conception?). The hard hitting Tradesmen banged not only the ball but their heads too trying to find a way past his superb defence.
He started the match off well with a 3-0 win against their No [...]

POPPS ‘B’ IN WINNING MOOD AGAIN
For the home match against this team in October, POPPS ‘B’ registered an historic first win. However, we did have the experienced John Taylor subbing, so we knew that things might be different this time. In addition, we would be playing away. Perhaps Sowerby had a strange table only playable [...]

This match was played on 26th January with POPPS B the home team. We were looking forward to this match as it gave us a rare opportunity to play a higher division team and get some idea of the level of competition we need to aspire to. Given our lowly position languishing near the bottom [...]

Excellent debuts by both the Woods partnership.  Alan with a maximum for Popps, assisted by John T and Peter Mc  lead us to the 9 – 0 victory.  Norma, Alan’s wife, guested ( and starred ) for the visitors who were  one  short.   She provided a scintillating display of power hitting which the home team had to [...]

POPPS B were beaten 9 nil. However Joan and Alan put on a worthy performance but were no match to the Seniors superior skills, tricky serves and dodgy spin. John was man of the match for POPPswithout a doubt having taken Roy Aldroyd to 5 sets (or is that in tennis?). John won his 1st game  in his other 2 matches but Alwyn & Harry [...]

This could be yet another predictable report where the result will not have been in doubt from the onset. As last time, we could have taken the result as read and departed earlier for the Old Shears. But we’re not like that and honour required us to play out this battle under the unyielding white [...]

POPPs B played Northowram G on Monday 15th February and lost 0 – 9.  Unlike the last time we played the G family team (when we won 5 – 4) they were at full strength. The POPPs team of Alan, Joan and Terry W all played well and both Alan and Joan troubled the scorer [...]

Popps A (combined ages 201!) beat Senior Citizens (combined Ages 216!!!) 9 nil.
A great way to celebrate being at the top of Div 3 (albeit having played more matches than the nearest challengers). Terry A lead the way with another flawless display of getting everything back —- an excellent example to all of us on [...]

Terry A started proceedings but never really got warmed up in his first set against Barbara Gee and lost 3-0. Peter Mc then played and beat Rob Gee by the same score, followed by John T who did the same to Josh Gee. Score 2-1 to us.
Barbara was next opponent for Peter who was dispensed [...]

Old Town Hares are currently Division leaders so POPPs B (third from bottom currently) framed themselves to save face and attempt at least to win some games. So the formidable Hares trio of Simon, Phil and Neil faced the rather less than formidable POPPs B team of Alan W, Terry W and John M. However, Alan [...]

Oakland Raiders 348 v. Popps A 258
We expected Oakland Raiders, being favorites for promotion to the 1st Division, would hammer us.
So Peter started the proceedings and gave a creditable performance (he said) narrowly loosing the 2nd game (2 games to 21), total score 31-42.
The irrepressible Terry A then played Dave Whiteley and won the 2nd [...]

8th March 2010. Popps A Pipped by Artful Hares
Having been told their “No.1″ , Neil Coneron had to go home early to feed the cat (or was it the wife?) we agreed to let him play his sets early.
With PeterMc beating Neil, Alan Wood doing extremely well in beating No 2 Phil Ward in a [...]

March 10, 2010
From past experience, we knew this would be a difficult fixture, but we could only do our best. Like John Terry, we would be playing away, although the pleasures would only involve ball and bat. Our opponents would have the advantage of knowing the table well and would know their way to the [...]

Lions are one of the contenders for winning the division this year so POPPs B expected a tough night and so it turned out to be. Terry W, John M and Alan W of POPPs took on Ben Speak, John Tallis and Hannah Kendal and generally gave a good account of themselves with 4 sets [...]

Popps A 9 O.T.Hounds 0
Popps A kept their faint hopes of promotion alive with this result, not dropping a game in the whole match.
This was a creditable performance and shows the continuing improvement of Popps; we just managed a 5-4 victory in the prevous encounter.
John Taylor, Terry Allington and Peter McMullen all scored a max. [...]

Popps A 9 Northowram MPM 0
Faint hopes of promotion maintained with another good 9-0 win.
Terry Allington, Derek Greenwood and Peter McMullen all played their part in this match which keeps our chances still alive (Till next week when we grapple with the hungry Tigers once again !! )

Lions 5 Popps A 4
Terry Allington continued with his amazing form winning all 3 sets in 3.
His defensive strategy and cunning block shots were unbeatable. It was as if he had got the rabbit hypnotized in his headlights !
On the other side of the spectrum Peter Mc was lack-lustre and turned victory into defeat several [...]

In our last encounter, up in the wilds of Old Town, we scored an easy victory with only 2 players, but would it be the same team? Could they have improved? We were about to find out.
Match 1 saw Robin defeated by Jo Sweeny, whom he had previously defeated. But this time she was a [...]

POPPS ‘B’ v Old Town Hares Handicap Doubles QF played at the HX Centre, Tuesday March 30 2010. Popps B lost by 26 points.
In the first round, POPPS ‘B’ defeated Div 1 Batts, courtesy of probably a fairly generous handicap. In round 2, they met a side lower than themselves in the league, Sowerby 3 [...]

For POPPs B first match of the Summer League season they faced up to Spartans, a division 2 team in the normal season. Their full team did not turn up so Steve Hanson and Rod Veal were joined by Joe Broadbent from the Rams team. The POPPs B contingent was made up of two new [...]

These Dolphins normally hunt in the choppy waters of the Winter League’s Division 2, whilst our ‘B’ Team operate in the murky depths of the pond, devouring the odd stickleback, but generally being at the mercy of the bigger fish. Given the concentration of talent into 2 leagues, we knew we would be up against [...]

This was the first match of the summer season for Popps ‘A’ team, and for the first time featured two star signings from Sowerby, who concentrate on bowls, tennis and boozing during the summer months, hence the welcome addition of Phillip Parry and John Korner to play alongside the experienced Terry Allington. Representing Evergreens were: [...]

Dolphins were able to deal with our ‘B’ team with relative ease, but against our ‘A’ team, they would be up against a different level of foe. Whereas the ‘B’ Team was devoured by the hungry Dolphins as they ploughed through the waves, our ‘A’ team would be harder to be chewed up by [...]

Popps B entertained (in more than one sense of the word) Embassy in their latest match. The venerable Popps trio of old hands (attached to equally old bodies), Terry, Alwyn and Tom, faced up to their formidable and slightly nicotine stained opponents, Hugh, Clive and Tom. Clive played all three of his sets at the [...]

Monday 21 June
Team: Alan Wood, Derek Greenwood & Terry Allingto
Result EMBASSY 4   POPPS ‘A’ 5
This was another good win for Popps, with Terry winning 3, Alan one and Derek one.
In the first set, Terry faced the experienced Clive Sherratt with his baseball hat and playing in stocking feet. As usual, Clive played all 3 sets [...]

Monday June 28, 2010. Popps Team: Terry Wassall, Robin Thomas, Alwyn Kershaw.
We do not know much about Suma or what it stands for. We know that Suma 2 played in the 2nd Division last year, so assuming the same personnel we, as the ‘B’ Team, would expect a hard fight. But then one would obviously [...]

Tuesday 6th July 2101. POPPs B Terry W, Dennis and Tom:  Evergreens Mick, Dave and Michael
I was somewhat surprised to learn that it is not only POPPs members who read this blog!  My advice to our other readers is ‘get a life’. There must be something you could be doing that is more worthwhile than [...]

Popps B (0) v Spartans (9) July 12 2010
Popps Team: Alwyn Kershaw, Dennis McGuinness & Robin Thomas.
Spartans: Steve Hansen, Mick Mullins, Karthick Shetty
Spartans are a Division 2 side in the winter league and had already delivered a convincing defeat in our earlier match, so Popps were not expecting any miracles.
Last time, Spartans were missing a [...]

Teams: Popps: ‘A’ Terry Allington, John Davenport, and Alan Wood
Suma: David Blackburn, Brian Chapman, Derek Harwood.
After their successful winter season, Popps ‘A’ were brought down to earth after this defeat by Suma.
In the first set, Terry A and David Blackburn set the standard with a marathon which lasted an hour. A long, pushing game [...]

The first match is over and we acquitted ourselves pretty well. Our opponents were HxTTC A.R.K. The team was called Senior Citizens last year, finishing 3rd in the division, but renamed this year after their names – Alan, Roy and Keith. We couldn’t have asked for a more friendly bunch to play our first ever match against. We had [...]

Full results for week 1 can be viewed on the Results page (new item in the sidebar menu Pages section). The results for Division 3 for week 1 commencing October 6th are as follows:

HxTTC A.R.K (K Broadbent 3, A Feetham 2, R Oldroyd 3)  8   v  HxTTC Popp (D Greenwood 1, M Konrad 0, T Wassall [...]

The POPPs team played its second match on Tuesday, an away meeting with Rams 2 at the Halifax Table Tennis Centre. This time the other 3 players in our squad of 6 took the stage – John, Peter and Robin – so this was their debut. The result was the same as last week with [...]

It seems the results that come through each week to our secretary are not complete and do not refer only to that week.  There should be 5 results in Division 3 per week but not all of these come through immediately.  I will update these results posts retrospectively so that all the same week’s results [...]

Last night we played Old Town Hoods in our 3rd match of the season. Once again we were impressed with the friendliness of the teams in the league (or at least in division 3!) and we had a thoroughly enjoyable and sociable evening, made even better than usual because we won!! The final score was [...]

Looks like we haven’t been sent the results for week 3. This might be because we had a bye and they are only sent to teams that played. We will check on this and fill the gap if we can. Division 3 results for week 4 commencing 27th October are as follows:

Old Town Robins (S [...]

What a lovely bunch Halifax Table Tennis League Division 3 players are! We played Old Town Robins on Monday and once again the match was played in an excellent spirit. This is not to say that we are not competitive -  there was plenty of huffing and puffing and tutting when errors were made or [...]

Results for week commencing Monday 3rd November. Full results an be seen in the Result page.
Division Three

HxTTC A.R.K. (K Broadbent 1, A Feetham 1, R Oldroyd 0)  2   v  HxTTC Evergreens (M Curry 3, D Lewis 3, B Hanson 1)   7

Old Town Hoods (J Sweeney 0, C Scott 0, P Dean 0)   0   v  HxTTC Rams [...]

Taking place at the Halifax TT Centre, with Evergreens hosting, expectations were realistic in the POPPS camp, in view of the strong reputation of their opponents. In the opening set, John Taylor had the best result by winning his third game 11-4, but having struggled to find his form in the first two games, losing [...]

Division 3 results for week commencing 10th November 2008. Full leagues results can be found in the Results section.

Northowram (B Gee 3, J Wasilewski  1, R Gee 0)  4   v  Sowerby 3 (a Whiteley 2, J Korner 1, P Parry 2) 5
HxTTC Evergreens (M Curry 3, D Lewis 3, M Higgins 3)  9  v  HxTTC Popp [...]

POPPs was well and truly beaten by Lions last night losing 8 – 1. The combined age and experience or our team (Derek, Terry and Peter), about 186 years between us, was not enough to overcome the youthful exuberance, speed and rather disconcerting flexibility of the Lions – Chie, Ben and Hannah – all who [...]

POPPs were beaten by 7 points overall by SUMA 1 last night after a tense and, I must say, very tiring match. We all played 6 double games each to 42 and often had to play in consecutive games. Because of the format of the games and our modest success in some of them this often meant [...]

The highlights of this match were wins by John Taylor and Derek Greenwood, and a welcoming cup of tea and a kit kat provided by our hosts. After venturing out in the bitter night to the frozen wastes of Northowram, our team took time to warm up and adjust.
John Taylor took one game off John [...]

Popps were well beaten by Old Town Hounds but Peter, playing at No.1 for Popps, saved our faces by winning 2 of his sets. It could have been closer with 2 other sets going to 5 games but the Hounds showed dogged determination and managed to sniff out a victory in both. We took the lead at [...]

The last match before the Christmas break was lost 3 – 6 to the Tradesmen and we came away reasonabley happy in the circumstances. I was not due to play and was suffering from a cold (although I’m pretty certain this didn’t make any difference to the outcome of my sets) and Derek was supposed [...]

Would Popps be suffering from post Christmas hangovers, weighed down with mince pies and turkey, or would they spring into the New Year like youthful lambs? In the event, it was more like lambs to the slaughter at the hands of a more worldly-wise Sowerby team, who demonstrated the virtues of patience, even to the [...]

We don’t seem to be getting results for every week and when we do they are often incomplete. These are the results for Division 3 for the first matches of 2009
Division Three

Old Town Hounds (D Williamson 3, P Ward 3, R Tipton 3)  9  v  Old Town Hoods (D Sweeney 0, D Coneron 0, J Sweeney [...]

POPPS have now played all the teams in division 3 once so this is halfway through our first season. As the table below shows we are third from bottom at the moment, in 9th place. We had hoped to finish near the top of the bottom half at the end of the season. This is [...]

Popps turned out Terry, John and Peter for this return match against Ram 2. To cut a long story short we lost 2 sets to 7 and, although this was an improvement on our first meeting with Rams when we lost 1 – 8 last October, it was a slightly disappointing result. I think it is [...]

The detailed report notes of this match were mislaid before completion and so this is a much shortened version.
POPP players were Peter, David and Derek. Old Town players were Jo, Don and Cynthia
Peter and David played consistently throughout and easily achieved three-game victories in all their sets. Don was potentially a good “long-table” player with [...]

Once again the new boys were in unchartered territory, with the handicap only to be revealed at the end of the match. Therefore all points would be valuable, the message being to keep doing your best, even in apparent defeat.
Match 1 saw our Derek (Greenwood) against their Derek (Briggs). This was fairly even [...]

Result:  POPPs won 7-2
A good display all round by POPPS who secured a hard fought victory after some closely fought encounters. John and David had been training on a new “winalot” diet and that was exactly what they did, winning all their matches. Peter was a little off colour, lacking that shiny coat and energetic [...]

Result: POPPS won overall and by 6-3
Popps had a handicap advantage of 63 but did enough to win comfortably even without the handicap. (by 100 plus).
Peter, David and John all won 2 of their 3 matches. They all lost to the Lions number 1 player but only by fairly small margins which were more than compensated for [...]

This team gave us a heavy defeat last time, so could we improve now that we had gained more league experience? Could Derek capitalise on the return to fitness of his dodgy shoulder? Would John recover from an overdose of pie’n’peas and how would Robin perform after food and beverage excesses in Hong [...]

In a highly charged atmosphere at the Club Lane stadium last night the minnows of the 3rd division triumphed over their illustrious division 1 opposition. From the first pong, Popps took the wiff to the opposition and showed them no mercy as they swept to an overwhelming victory.
John (aka the pieman) played number 1 and [...]

Popps trounced the trembling Tradesmen by 6-3. (Please insert picture of naked lady holding ping pong bat here to increase circulation; currently at 3 including 1 demented dog).
Popps stormed to a 4-0 lead in the match before the Tradesmen chiselled their way back into contention at 4-3. It needed a solid performance by John to [...]

POPPS POOPED BY WARRIORS
Popps lost out by just 1 point (378 v 377) courtesy of the handicappers who gave us a 279 start. The scores tell all. Warriors of course scored 21 in all the games and Pops scored as follows:
John: 3 3 9 8 4 1
Peter: 12 [...]

Headline – Partington Wins his 1st Match–crowd goes crazy! ( All 3 of them ) However POPPS lose 6/3 – John and Peter put on their usual fine display of vintage table tennis with lots of encouragement to rookie Alan – who said on leaving the arena that his agent’s negotiations with the Chinese were [...]

POPPS played Keighley On Tuesday 23rd June. Due to illness POPPS found themselves a man short although fortunately were able to find a last minute replacement: Alan2. We onlly managed 1 win courtesy of Alan2, the final score being 8 – 1 to Keighley.
David and Alan found themselves fighting a vertically rearguard action against players [...]

In keeping with tradition for summer league matches Popps lost to their opponents 2 sets to 8. There were five aspects to this defeat – it was very hot, the combined ages of Lions was probably about 135 years less than the Popps team of David, John and Terry, youngsters don’t respect their elders these [...]

SO CLOSE BUT SO FAR
7.29 and POPPS are confident of a whitewash victory due to the no show of the opposition who we believe to have heard of our fearsome reputation and decided there was little point in actually playing the game.
7.30 they’ve turned up and its downhill from here on.
9.30 it’s all over and [...]

When we considered taking part in the summer league, it was made clear that we would find the competition even tougher than  Winter  league 3, on the basis that we would come across some league 2 players. So it has proved and we have found life difficult in this league. However, the games have been played [...]

The new season in the Halifax Table Tennis League started this week with a new look setup for the POPPs table tennis teams. Yes, teams, in the plural. We now have two teams which we have imaginatively named POPPS A and POPPS B. This reflects a welcome growth in the number of members who want [...]

The POPPs B team (John M, Terry W and Alan P) took on Northowram MPM (Martyn H, Paul M, and Oliver B) and, after a spirited match, lost 3 sets to 6. The unlikely top POPPs player this time was Terry with two wins of 3 – 0 but, along with the rest of the [...]

Table Tennis Report. Tradesmen V Popps ‘B’
Tuesday October 6, 2009
 
The B team entered its third match of the season still waiting for a win, and with Mark Knapton, last year’s number 2 in the Div 3 averages playing, they knew it would be difficult. Mark himself would arrive later, by agreement, so the matches were [...]

‘B ‘Team achieves first win 9-0!
Sowerby 3 finished 2nd in Division 3 last year, so our team approached this fixture with a degree of apprehension. However, we know that teams change their personnel and in addition, we had John Taylor, covering for a poorly John Mitchell. So if John could get us off to a [...]

At first sight, the prospect of playing a side called Senior Citizens might bring up an image of doddery blokes with Zimmer frames, slopping their tea all over their trousers, but we knew this team should not be underestimated. They have already won a number of matches this year and have those great ingredients of [...]

And so inevitably, with two teams in the league, we would meet each other, and on the basis that we had selected the ‘A’ team to be the stronger combination, the result would probably be predictable. Table Tennis is not like football, where a minnow can despatch a big name in a cup tie, helped [...]

Monday 2.11.09. Senior Citizens 1 v Popps A 8
The winning run goes on — bragging but we have to say it whilst we can — we have to play the best teams yet !
In this match, the Clash of the (elderly) Titans, Terry A lead the way with 3 excellent wins. Incidentally his last point [...]

Lions finished mid-table last year, above Popps, so we knew this was a fixture which would be a challenge. Then we heard that Joan had gone down with pneumonia! We wish her a speedy recovery. Your team secretary roped himself in, only to find that John Mitchell had to pull out at short notice to [...]

POPPS THROUGH TO NEXT ROUND!
This should have been played a couple of weeks ago, but BATS, a 1st Division side, couldn’t raise a team: one member was in custody, one had swine flu and the other was hiding in a wardrobe, waiting for his girl friend’s husband to go to sleep. We refused their offer [...]

Wed 2.12.09 . Old Town Hounds 4 — Popps A 5

2 wins each from Derek and Peter and 1 from John helped us to a narrow victory, despite the fact that they had a “ringer” playing for them from their first team. A return to winning ways was very welcome and caused some singing in the [...]

Popps ‘B’ Through to Next Round!
Having eventually won their 1st round against blood-sucking BATS, courtesy of a generous handicap and after some rapid on-the-job learning, we were now due to meet a side below us in the league—barely possible you might think-so they would receive a useful handicap. Consistency and cool heads would be needed. [...]

POPPS ‘B’ WIN AGAINST THE ODDS
Monday December 14 at the Chapel, Old Town
The last time Popps ‘B’ ventured into the wilds of Old Town, they were incorrectly directed to the wrong venue by a mistake in the handbook. The resultant cold wait did not help their performance as two members phoned round to find where [...]

November 23rd. Old Town Hares  7, POPPS A  2 . No further details as I was in the wilds of Cambodia at the time. 
December 14th.  POPPS A 4, Halifax Lions 5. 
A topsy turvy, exciting, awe-inspiring (or was it ‘oh, uninspiring?) match.
Other teams players came from miles around to watch, and even had the audacity to [...]

Northowram Edge to 5-4 Win
Teams
Northowram Martyn Halliday, Josh Gee, Robert Gee
Popps ‘B’ Terry Wassall, John Mitchell, Robin Thomas
Fighting their way through a cold wintry night, Popps entered the cold wintry room to see the walls covered with toddlers’ paintings and a set of rules: Be kind, share, don’t swear, play, don’t fight, be polite, good [...]

Good to be back in action after the break, particularly with a win! We need a few 9 – 0’s however to be back in contention for promotion.
Derek’s arthritus robbed us of a couple of points in this match but he will be back to normal as soon as the weather improves I am sure.

POPPS B: John Mitchell, Terry Wassall and Alan Partington
Tradesmen 2: Marcus Reynolds, Sam Clayton and Matt Knapton
Our first sight of the opposition was a bit disconcerting. The Tradesmen’s team looked more like the sort of group you would find knocking on your door in shorts during  ’Bob a job’ week. It is only a slight exaggeration to say [...]

In a match of fluctuating fortunes Terry A excelled with a flawless exhibition of immaculate control (or was it conception?). The hard hitting Tradesmen banged not only the ball but their heads too trying to find a way past his superb defence.
He started the match off well with a 3-0 win against their No [...]

POPPS ‘B’ IN WINNING MOOD AGAIN
For the home match against this team in October, POPPS ‘B’ registered an historic first win. However, we did have the experienced John Taylor subbing, so we knew that things might be different this time. In addition, we would be playing away. Perhaps Sowerby had a strange table only playable [...]

This match was played on 26th January with POPPS B the home team. We were looking forward to this match as it gave us a rare opportunity to play a higher division team and get some idea of the level of competition we need to aspire to. Given our lowly position languishing near the bottom [...]

Excellent debuts by both the Woods partnership.  Alan with a maximum for Popps, assisted by John T and Peter Mc  lead us to the 9 – 0 victory.  Norma, Alan’s wife, guested ( and starred ) for the visitors who were  one  short.   She provided a scintillating display of power hitting which the home team had to [...]

POPPS B were beaten 9 nil. However Joan and Alan put on a worthy performance but were no match to the Seniors superior skills, tricky serves and dodgy spin. John was man of the match for POPPswithout a doubt having taken Roy Aldroyd to 5 sets (or is that in tennis?). John won his 1st game  in his other 2 matches but Alwyn & Harry [...]

This could be yet another predictable report where the result will not have been in doubt from the onset. As last time, we could have taken the result as read and departed earlier for the Old Shears. But we’re not like that and honour required us to play out this battle under the unyielding white [...]

POPPs B played Northowram G on Monday 15th February and lost 0 – 9.  Unlike the last time we played the G family team (when we won 5 – 4) they were at full strength. The POPPs team of Alan, Joan and Terry W all played well and both Alan and Joan troubled the scorer [...]

Popps A (combined ages 201!) beat Senior Citizens (combined Ages 216!!!) 9 nil.
A great way to celebrate being at the top of Div 3 (albeit having played more matches than the nearest challengers). Terry A lead the way with another flawless display of getting everything back —- an excellent example to all of us on [...]

Terry A started proceedings but never really got warmed up in his first set against Barbara Gee and lost 3-0. Peter Mc then played and beat Rob Gee by the same score, followed by John T who did the same to Josh Gee. Score 2-1 to us.
Barbara was next opponent for Peter who was dispensed [...]

Old Town Hares are currently Division leaders so POPPs B (third from bottom currently) framed themselves to save face and attempt at least to win some games. So the formidable Hares trio of Simon, Phil and Neil faced the rather less than formidable POPPs B team of Alan W, Terry W and John M. However, Alan [...]

Oakland Raiders 348 v. Popps A 258
We expected Oakland Raiders, being favorites for promotion to the 1st Division, would hammer us.
So Peter started the proceedings and gave a creditable performance (he said) narrowly loosing the 2nd game (2 games to 21), total score 31-42.
The irrepressible Terry A then played Dave Whiteley and won the 2nd [...]

8th March 2010. Popps A Pipped by Artful Hares
Having been told their “No.1″ , Neil Coneron had to go home early to feed the cat (or was it the wife?) we agreed to let him play his sets early.
With PeterMc beating Neil, Alan Wood doing extremely well in beating No 2 Phil Ward in a [...]

March 10, 2010
From past experience, we knew this would be a difficult fixture, but we could only do our best. Like John Terry, we would be playing away, although the pleasures would only involve ball and bat. Our opponents would have the advantage of knowing the table well and would know their way to the [...]

Lions are one of the contenders for winning the division this year so POPPs B expected a tough night and so it turned out to be. Terry W, John M and Alan W of POPPs took on Ben Speak, John Tallis and Hannah Kendal and generally gave a good account of themselves with 4 sets [...]

Popps A 9 O.T.Hounds 0
Popps A kept their faint hopes of promotion alive with this result, not dropping a game in the whole match.
This was a creditable performance and shows the continuing improvement of Popps; we just managed a 5-4 victory in the prevous encounter.
John Taylor, Terry Allington and Peter McMullen all scored a max. [...]

Popps A 9 Northowram MPM 0
Faint hopes of promotion maintained with another good 9-0 win.
Terry Allington, Derek Greenwood and Peter McMullen all played their part in this match which keeps our chances still alive (Till next week when we grapple with the hungry Tigers once again !! )

Lions 5 Popps A 4
Terry Allington continued with his amazing form winning all 3 sets in 3.
His defensive strategy and cunning block shots were unbeatable. It was as if he had got the rabbit hypnotized in his headlights !
On the other side of the spectrum Peter Mc was lack-lustre and turned victory into defeat several [...]

In our last encounter, up in the wilds of Old Town, we scored an easy victory with only 2 players, but would it be the same team? Could they have improved? We were about to find out.
Match 1 saw Robin defeated by Jo Sweeny, whom he had previously defeated. But this time she was a [...]

POPPS ‘B’ v Old Town Hares Handicap Doubles QF played at the HX Centre, Tuesday March 30 2010. Popps B lost by 26 points.
In the first round, POPPS ‘B’ defeated Div 1 Batts, courtesy of probably a fairly generous handicap. In round 2, they met a side lower than themselves in the league, Sowerby 3 [...]

For POPPs B first match of the Summer League season they faced up to Spartans, a division 2 team in the normal season. Their full team did not turn up so Steve Hanson and Rod Veal were joined by Joe Broadbent from the Rams team. The POPPs B contingent was made up of two new [...]

These Dolphins normally hunt in the choppy waters of the Winter League’s Division 2, whilst our ‘B’ Team operate in the murky depths of the pond, devouring the odd stickleback, but generally being at the mercy of the bigger fish. Given the concentration of talent into 2 leagues, we knew we would be up against [...]

This was the first match of the summer season for Popps ‘A’ team, and for the first time featured two star signings from Sowerby, who concentrate on bowls, tennis and boozing during the summer months, hence the welcome addition of Phillip Parry and John Korner to play alongside the experienced Terry Allington. Representing Evergreens were: [...]

Dolphins were able to deal with our ‘B’ team with relative ease, but against our ‘A’ team, they would be up against a different level of foe. Whereas the ‘B’ Team was devoured by the hungry Dolphins as they ploughed through the waves, our ‘A’ team would be harder to be chewed up by [...]

Popps B entertained (in more than one sense of the word) Embassy in their latest match. The venerable Popps trio of old hands (attached to equally old bodies), Terry, Alwyn and Tom, faced up to their formidable and slightly nicotine stained opponents, Hugh, Clive and Tom. Clive played all three of his sets at the [...]

Monday 21 June
Team: Alan Wood, Derek Greenwood & Terry Allingto
Result EMBASSY 4   POPPS ‘A’ 5
This was another good win for Popps, with Terry winning 3, Alan one and Derek one.
In the first set, Terry faced the experienced Clive Sherratt with his baseball hat and playing in stocking feet. As usual, Clive played all 3 sets [...]

Monday June 28, 2010. Popps Team: Terry Wassall, Robin Thomas, Alwyn Kershaw.
We do not know much about Suma or what it stands for. We know that Suma 2 played in the 2nd Division last year, so assuming the same personnel we, as the ‘B’ Team, would expect a hard fight. But then one would obviously [...]

Tuesday 6th July 2101. POPPs B Terry W, Dennis and Tom:  Evergreens Mick, Dave and Michael
I was somewhat surprised to learn that it is not only POPPs members who read this blog!  My advice to our other readers is ‘get a life’. There must be something you could be doing that is more worthwhile than [...]

Popps B (0) v Spartans (9) July 12 2010
Popps Team: Alwyn Kershaw, Dennis McGuinness & Robin Thomas.
Spartans: Steve Hansen, Mick Mullins, Karthick Shetty
Spartans are a Division 2 side in the winter league and had already delivered a convincing defeat in our earlier match, so Popps were not expecting any miracles.
Last time, Spartans were missing a [...]

Teams: Popps: ‘A’ Terry Allington, John Davenport, and Alan Wood
Suma: David Blackburn, Brian Chapman, Derek Harwood.
After their successful winter season, Popps ‘A’ were brought down to earth after this defeat by Suma.
In the first set, Terry A and David Blackburn set the standard with a marathon which lasted an hour. A long, pushing game [...]

Today a new page has been added to the site that lists articles about table tennis in news papers and other media that are available on line and may interest visitors to this web site. The page, called  Table tennis in the news, is listed in the Pages section in the side bar menu. Hopefully [...]

Popps were well beaten by Old Town Hounds but Peter, playing at No.1 for Popps, saved our faces by winning 2 of his sets. It could have been closer with 2 other sets going to 5 games but the Hounds showed dogged determination and managed to sniff out a victory in both. We took the lead at [...]

Playing: Terry/Peter/Derek
 
Game 1: Peter/Derek v Dave/Shamir
 
Knowing that this team were currently third in League 1, we approached the match with an inevitable bucketful of trepidation, tempered, only slightly, by the fact that they, like us, had lost their first round match. Both Peter and Derek struggled initially to get into the game at all, the [...]

POPP players were Peter. David and Derek. Old Town players were Derek, Phil and Sue
Game 1: Phil v. David: result 12-10 11-9 11-9
First two games were evenly matched but in the third Phil turned on the pressure and proved a faster mover and better at returning the ball generally. David played well and could have [...]

POPPs table tennis team enjoyed a social night out 4.03.09 at The Works, Sowerby Bridge.  Host: Robin
Having negotiated the use of a private and spacious room off the main bar area of his local ‘real ale’ pub, Robin touristically informed us of all local facilities, available to residents and visitors; these included zimmer-frame hire, frequency of [...]

This is the first poem written for the POPPs table tennis team by our Poet in Residence, Robin Thomas (who also happens to be Team Secretary, Social Secretary, Team Player, Team News Reporter and much else besides). The poem was read out as part of the entertainment at the team’s social evening last Wednesday as [...]

Playing: PETER ‘Silver Streak’ MCMULLEN/JOHN ‘Pie Man’ TAYLOR/DAVID ‘Doggy Blanket’ MELBOURNE  v. Mick Curry/Dave Lewis/Brian Hanson
Set 1: PETER v Mick – result 11-3/5-11/12-10/10-12
Game 1: Tentative start from Mick with Peter achieving an apparently relaxed approach with good focus, maintained throughout the game to victory for Peter. Good start that promised well.
Game 2: Better start for [...]

Surviving, as we barely manage to do, in the culvert ridden, monster infested nether regions of League 3 in the Halifax League, we already, in our first season, have had to face up to dramatic and enforced changes in our perception of table tennis (or ping pong) as a major obsession of the world’s leaders, [...]

Monday night saw Popps first match of the summer league, against Spartans. This, we are told, is a rather more relaxed and sociable affair compared with the cut and thrust and naked ambition of the winter league. Our team was made up of two of our stars. John and Peter, and Terry playing his first [...]

POPPs (Peter, John Taylor and Terry) faced up to the Evergreens (Mick, Dave and Mark) in confident but deluded mood. To cut to the chase, POPPs lost 9 sets to nil. We had our moments, some good rallies where a passing observer may have briefly assumed a hard fought close match was in progress, and [...]

Result POPPS 4-5 Tradesmen Team
Peter 1 win, David 2 wins, John 1 win.
A close match which went to the last game in which Peter was unable to get the better of his wiley opponent (Ken, Denise’s husband). Could have gone either way but we couldn’t complain in the end and the learning curve continues to [...]

Spartans won 7-2.  POPPs team David, Peter and Terry.  David was the only set winner for POPPs with a win of 3-0 against Spartan’s Steve Hanson and a hard fought 3-2 win over Michael Mullins.
Peter took a game from all 3 players, Michael, Karthik Shetty and Steve. Terry failed to win a single game thus confiming his [...]

First our official complaints (not excuses I hasten to add) :–
 
1. They tried to dint our enthusiasm by telling us that they won  last winter Third Division  by a  margin of 30 points. Totally out of order.
2. Their No 2, David, topped Div 3 averages last year and he regularly runs marathons  (fit bugger !).  [...]

Now we know why this team is called ‘G’. Two of their members are from the Gee dynasty, although on this occasion, the legendary Barbara Gee was missing.
From the Popps point of view, we knew we would put in an improved performance with the knowledge that Terry Allington would be playing for us, as we [...]

16th November. Northowram ‘Team G’ (M Halliday 1, J Wasilewski 2, B Gee 3)   6    v   HxTTC Popp A (T Allington 2, J Taylor 1, D Greenwood 0)   3
This was the A team’s first lost match this season playing the formidable full strength Northowram G Team. Unfortunately Derek had to withdraw with the occurance of [...]

The match got off to a late start as the POPPs team, playing away, had taken the venue details from the Handbook which was incorrect. After a number of phone calls and, in Terry Wassall’s case, a stop at the Hare and Hounds pub and Old Town Cricket Club for directions, we all found our [...]

Tuesday November 24, 2009.
This team finished above Popps last year and currently are one place above us.  A win could take us above them, but would we be able to demonstrate some consistency against these experienced campaigners?  We arrived ready to play at 7.15 and waited for our opponents to turn up. They eventfully arrived [...]

Popps A 420 Panthers B 375
Our top doubles partnership, Terry Allington and John did not get off to their usual good start, only managing 15-42 in the first game. We feared the worst against the First Division team who had Robert Wood, James Foster and Matthew Stevens playing for them.
With [...]

Not knowing the Handicap allowance till the end of the match made it quite exciting.
Peter Mc Started the battle with a hard attacking effort against David Blackburn.Davids retrieving from 20′ back was amazing and eventually won him the game 42-30 — still a satisfactory start for Popps.
John T. had a similar result against Brian Chapman [...]

Dolphins were able to deal with our ‘B’ team with relative ease, but against our ‘A’ team, they would be up against a different level of foe. Whereas the ‘B’ Team was devoured by the hungry Dolphins as they ploughed through the waves, our ‘A’ team would be harder to be chewed up by [...]

In their latest summer league match Popps B (as last week, Alwyn, Tom and Terry) met the formidable Marsh Cons – the dad and son pairing of Adrian and Tom Normanton plus John Schofield. Once again Popps B salvaged a smidgen of respectability by winning one set and avoiding a white wash. Whereas Alwyn was [...]