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Jubilee Weekend 18-20 September 2009 An Open Veterans Championships was held on Sunday March 29. Results are below. Singles
Doubles
Jubilee Book - Launch Date July 8, 2009 Empire started its 75th jubilee season with the launch of a club history. Building on the original history by founder Alf Harding for the 50th jubilee, “Empire Table Tennis Club, 75 Years Old and Growing” contains much meticulous research by its editor, John Kiley, as well as contributions from other members, including two of the youngest, aged six and nine.
To order merchandise complete an order form (pdf) and email to promotion@empirett.org.nz. September 18-20, 2009. The following people registered for the jubilee weekend.
Friday Night: Registration and mix and mingle at Empire Stadium. 45 people attended this event. Photos are available at this link. Saturday Morning (10-1pm): Fun tournament at Empire Stadium (included lunch). Only 17 people played in this event but a lot of fun was had. We cannot recall who won. Monique Macartney took some photos during the day. Saturday Night: Jubilee Dinner Venue was Jetty Cafe, 160 The Esplanade Petone. About 50 attended the dinner and we were entertained by guest speaker, Peter Horne who spoke about his sporting career. Peter was once a table tennis player at Empire but went on to greater fame as a lawn bowler at the Paralympics. See photos of the dinner. Sunday: Club Open Day A chance for an informal hit. Some of the jubilee participants showed up but it was mainly a day for the public. About 60 came and enjoyed our facilities. From Chris Clegg I was a very active junior member in the late 1970's and 1980's but have been living outside New Zealand now for almost 20 years. It is now unlikely that I will return as I am currently living in London, UK.
On the occasion of the 75th Jubilee - I would like to ask you to pass on my best regards to any active members that remember me and particularly those that I still hold in high regard. In no particular order I would include among those Ron Menchi, Merv Allardyce, John Kiley and Tony Rutledge. I hope they are all still active and in good health. Other members who have passed on who I remember well from that period include Alf Harding, "Kiwi" Keith Pointon and the infamous John Lelliott.
As a junior member I learnt many life lessons at the Empire Table Tennis Club, and I have many clear recollections of my table tennis times with the afore-mentioned members - you might want to share some of them with active members.
John Lelliott was an unforgettable and controversial figure as he was always an activist pushing some agenda or other - however he had the relatively rare virtue of being able to agree to disagree and move forwards. A true story from the late 70's is that Ron Menchi gave me a ride down to club night 1x a week for many years in my junior days and I'm particularly appreciative of the availability and good humor that he showed towards me. Ron had patience in buckets (i'm sure I used up more than my fair share of it) and was always ready with a humorous quip. I recall Merv as being somewhat the opposite of John Lelliott - a modest and self-effacing gentleman with the ability to make astute observations - particularly on my table tennis technique! I remember John Kiley as a very generous and wise person towards me, his cocktail of defense and offensive style at the other side of the court was one of my first intellectual hurdles as a teen ager! I have a clear memory of some real 70's long hair - I can't even imagine him with short hair! Tony and I played singles and doubles together many, many times - a particularly good natured and jovial person with a pimpled bat - I can still remember many of the acrobatic points that we played together - Tony was always very good company.
For those interested members I include a little personal history from the last 20 years.
The last time I played competitive table tennis was when I was living in New York in the early 1990's when at the time I was working as an investment banker on Wall St. for JP Morgan. I moved to London in 1996 to work for Europe's largest bank - Deutsche Bank - and I recall that I was unable to find anywhere in central London, where I live, to play table tennis! All the clubs are out in the more distant suburbs - as a result I started to play lawn tennis during the limited spare time that I had. Last year I retired from investment banking and these days I spend my days following the global financial markets - stocks, bonds, currencies and the like - and also playing with my 4 month old son - Matteo Patrick - born to my Italian wife, Stefania in March this year. Last year I started to play lawn tennis competitively here in London and although I have not played in rated tournaments this year due to my other commitments and lack of time to do fitness training, I am somewhat surprised to note on the UK LTA ranking list that I am still ranked No. 2 in the Over 40 category in the county of Middlesex which includes Greater London. As it happens, I am playing in the National Club League this afternoon which is the premier tennis interclub competition in the UK - it is Wimbledon fortnight so there is always a risk that it will be rained out!
Again please accept my best wishes for the jubilee celebrations and my best regards to all members of my era!
Chris Clegg
Glenys Morgan I will be unable to attend, but wish the ETTC all the very best for their celebrations and hope it goes well. Could you please register my apologies. Organisation of the jubilee was headed by board members Diane and Stephen Hope. Thanks to the following people for their help on the jubilee committee: Stephen Hope, John Kiley, Michael Xu, Nola Borrell, Merv Allardyce, John Kane, Len Hunter, Chris Williams, Margaret Connolly, Diane Hope, Yvonne Airey, Ron Menchi, Maggie Dyer
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