HISTORY OF THE CTTA

History of the Cheltenham Table Tennis Association - 1923 to 2005
By Stan Johnstone

When Cheltenham President John Boyd first asked me if I would write a digest of the above history I thought about it only in general terms as my association with the C.T.T.A. only began when I arrived at Cheltenham in 1969. Quite clearly there were huge gaps in my knowledge of the early years but by great good fortune Dick Prior has unearthed some valuable information from an old 1973 handbook which I now produce in full.

Entitled '50 years of the Cheltenham Table Tennis Association - From Ping Pong to Table Tennis' by R.M.C Dawkins (Chairman 1972/73)

Ron begins:
When our predecessors met in 1923 to establish the Cheltenham Ping Pong Association, I am sure that they little realised either how the game would develop in the subsequent 50 years or that we today would be interested in their activities. Needless to say, facts concerning the first few years are hard to come by: I have consulted the archives of the Cheltenham Echo and have spoken to several of our venerable players and ex-players but naturally faces rather than names, impressions rather than facts, come to mind and, of course, with the passage of time, recollections became blurred. But there is a considerable consensus of opinion which, although not supported by written evidence, can be regarded as factual.

Firstly I am assured that the Cheltenham Ping Pong Association was founded in January 1923. Rules were left to the interpretation of players and the quality of the tables left a little to be desired by our present standards: bats were made of wood - sandpaper bats first appeared later in the 1920’s - a considerable advance!

Of the clubs playing in those days, All Saints and Park Old Boys are no longer with us, but Cheltenham YMCA and Gas Green are still in our League today. Personalities are hard to find in those early days, although

R. Smith and J. Smith are still recalled and it was also in the 1920’s that H. C. (“Jimmy”) Robinson (who later played for the Cricket Club and was still playing just a few years ago) first tried his hand at Ping Pong.

In 1926 it was reported in the Echo that the recently formed Cheltenham & District Ping Pong League consisted of two divisions.

The Division 1 sides were:- Bethseda, Cambray, Pilley, Salem, St John’s and YMCA;
The Division 2 sides were:- Parish Church, Pilley II, Salem II, St John’s II and YMCA II.

The rules of this period differed from our present day rules in one important respect, as will be seen from this extract: “The winner of a game of ping pong is he who reaches 21 points first. Three games are played by each player to make a set. It is the total number of points that count for the side.”

Hence the results YMCA (314) beat Pilley (172) and Salem (260) lost to Cambray (303). The players in these matches were:-

C. M. Key A. Billinger K. Weatherstone G. Page

In 1927 the first Town match was played, against Evesham at the YMCA. The Cheltenham team of T. V. Pratt, C. C. Atwood, H. Lewis, F. J. Smith, E. G. Lucas, W. Vick, L. Mills and S. G. Winnett, (reserve - W. Pitman) beat Evesham by 452 points to 415.

At the AGM in 1927 the Association was re-named the Cheltenham Association. T. G. Cook was re-elected President and T. V. Pratt was elected Hon. Secretary and Treasurer. 1928 saw the first Town match against Gloucester which resulted in a win for Gloucester. The Cheltenham players were H. Symonds, T. V. Pratt, G. H. Dunks, C. Tilling and A. H. Lewis. Each played one game against each of the Gloucester players but although H. Symonds won all his five games, Cheltenham lost 10 - 15.

In the early 30’s the pimpled rubber bat took over from all other types of bat and spin. The finger spin service in particular became an important factor in the game. Modern players would be appalled at the laxity of rules regarding services. Reg Jenkins (who incidentally, is still playing at the ripe old age of 67) can vividly recall viciously spun services with players either spinning the ball before striking it or holding the ball against the surface of the bat.

Successful clubs of the 1930’s, but no longer in the league today, included Bristol Trams, L. V. and S., Old Centrals, H. A. Partridge Ltd., St Peter’s, Burrows, The Famous and Bennington Hall.

During the war the league was kept very much alive and in the 1942-43 season the first men’s singles competition was won by D. M. Thompson (later to become chairman of the Association and the first chairman of the Gloucestershire County Association) who beat G. Pike 21-19, 21-12, 21-16. It was during the later 1940’s that several household names in the realm of Cheltenham Table Tennis first appeared. Bob Griffin with his outstanding attacking game; Molly Jones, who also had the honour of playing for England; Peter Cruwys, who has done so much for Cheltenham Table Tennis in so many fields; his brother Stan; and last but not least, the person who, with his wife, worked so hard for so many years as a member of the Management Committee, Mr. W. E. Griffiths, ‘Griff’ as he was known to all, became the Association’s first life member in 1971.

During the late 1940’s - a highlight of which was an exhibition in the Old Town Hall by Victor Barna, Johnny Leach, Jack Carrington and Elizabeth Blackburn - the league had grown to four divisions plus a Ladies division, which was first won by the Clarence Club team consisting of Mrs Wright, Miss Spencer and Miss Smith who went through the season undefeated. In 1947-48 the following promising juniors were selected for special coaching by Jack Carrington: M. Leach, W. Riley (now the Association’s auditor - 1973) R. Jones, A. Wellon and S. White - the last named pair are still playing today, for Gotherington and Charlton Kings respectively.

In 1949 the Montpellier Pavilion became the home of Cheltenham Table Tennis and the facilities it offered led to an immediate rise in standards. In the 1950’s Cheltenham’s best known player, who became England’s number one, Ian Harrison, came to the fore, but during this period there was a wealth of good players in the town. K. Edwards, K. D. Griffiths, K. Tarling and R. Tarling come to mind and more than one of these were picked for an England Junior team. During this period our President, Frank Newell was Chairman and under his leadership the league flourished as it has not done since. Cheltenham reached the final of the Wilmott Cup only to lose to Manchester. The Cheltenham team was I. Harrison, P. Cruwys, K. D. Griffiths and R. Griffin.

The 1960’s saw the loss of the Montpellier Pavilion and we can now see with hindsight what a blow this was for Cheltenham Table Tennis. In the 1960’s we lost several of our top players and the advent of the sponge bat. Names of successful players that come to mind are Martin White, Tony Smith, Johnny Mower (who long reigned as Veterans champion) John Marshall, Les Gresswell (recently appointed as E.T.T.A. coach), “Chalky” White and Derek Grant.

This brings me up to the present time (1973) with the prospects for the future looking brighter than for some years. Players such as David Harvey, Bob Thornton, Malcolm Green and Peter Slack should show that the fact that both the men’s and the Junior teams, who won their divisions of the Midland league last season, was no flash in the pan.

I am afraid that I have just scratched the surface in going over these 50 years. I have had to omit many personalities and many events, but I trust that these few words have illustrated what great progress has been made from small beginnings. But one must remember that the players who do not make the headlines, and the teams who have not won honours are the backbone of our Association. Finally we must not forget the many officials who, over the years, have given so freely of their time. All have played a part in the progress we have achieved over these 50 years.

We are extremely grateful to Ron for providing such an insight to our game in Cheltenham during those formative years. (Stan Johnstone commenting). Table Tennis or Ping Pong, as it was first known and played in the 19th century, never really appeared in its present form until an Englishman, James Gibb, a prominent athlete, while visiting the USA in 1900 brought back some coloured plastic balls which he had noticed were children’s playthings. It must have occurred to him that these would be better to use for the new Parlour game of “Ping Pong” than a child's rubber ball which had been mainly used up to that date?

Gerald Gurney’s book 'Table Tennis - The Early Years', which is perhaps the best authority on how the game developed, states that celluloid balls were first introduced about 1900, and it would seem that, ever since, the game has been attractive to countless generations of youngsters and parents who always sought to control that bouncing ball. Yet for something like 20 years the game remained in the doldrums and one must ask why this should be so? Ron gives us many of the answers because we may say with some conviction that it must have been played with a great deal of interest in Cheltenham prior to 1923, as when a National tournament was organised by the Daily Mirror in that year there were more than 30,000 entrants across the UK. Wow!

Yet this must have been only the tip of the iceberg as these are only the one’s who fancied their chances.

Ron tells us that the Cheltenham Ping Pong Association was formed in January 1923 and this fits in with our scant knowledge that the above tournament was played in 40 areas, from February to May 1923, the finals being played in London.

On the question of rules we may say that the (English) T.T.A. had formulated some rules largely due to the efforts of Ivor Montagu, son of Lord and Lady Swaythling He also changed the name from the Ping Pong Association to the Table Tennis Association, but it was not until 1926 that the I.T.T.F. got into the act. They currently represent 186 Affiliated Associations.

It was interesting to read from those early days that the results of matches depended on the total number of points scored by a team.

With reference to the old venue of Montpellier Pavilion which served Cheltenham so well in the past! Venue’s have always been a problem over the years to our C.T.T.A. Committees and Peter Cruwys must take much of the credit for linking us with our present magnificent venue at the Cheltenham College. This has meant having to adapt our playing habits to our new circumstances, where so many teams play their matches at the same venue, but there is nothing in the rules that prevents any team from having its own venue providing the conditions are suitable.

The Golden Age and Johnny Leach 
London hosted the first official world championship in 1927. The sport enjoyed a golden age in the 1930s and 1940s when 
it was dominated by players predominantly from Eastern Europe, like Hungary's Victor Barna, and young upstarts from the 
USA like New York hustler Marty 'the Needle' Reisman. England's Johnny Leach won two World titles in 1949 and 1951, 
becoming a household name for the table tennis coaching camps he ran at Butlins.  'The Needle'  Marty 'the Needle' 

Reisman holds a special place in the hearts of ping pong aficionados. A stick-thin, charismatic maverick from New York in 
the 'Hurricane Higgins' mould, Marty won the British Championship in 1949 and challenged for World titles in the 50s, only 
to see his dreams of glory scuppered by clashes with the authorities, a penchant for gambling on high stakes ping pong 
and the arrival of the infamous sponge bat in 1952. Ping Pong's 'great contender' and a tireless self-promoter, he remains a 
colourful and amusing character obsessed with the glorydays and what might have been. A Hollywood movie of his life is 
rumoured to be in the works.

The Introduction Of Sponge
In 1952, a little known Japanese player, Hiroji Satoh, arrived at the World Championships in Bombay, India, with a new racket that would revolutionise the sport and shift the
balance of power inexorably from the west to the east. The sponge bat used a layer of foam rubber to impart baffling spin and speed on the ball - almost overnight, the great
European and American players raised on hard, pimpled rubber bats found their skills had become obsolete. Satoh claimed the title and ushered in fifty years of Asian
dominance.

The Rise of the East
Ping Pong is the most popular sport in Asia - Japanese players initially dominated in the 1950's but China overtook them in the 60's. Mao Tse-Tung was a keen player and
encouraged the sport in an effort to promote China on the world stage. Asian players traditionally grip the racket in the 'penholder' style, much as they would a pair of
chopsticks; western players hold the racket in the 'shake-hands' style.

Ping Pong Diplomacy
In April 1971, in the middle of the Cold War, the table tennis World Championships were held in Nagoya, Japan . When American table tennis player Glenn Cowan missed
his team bus after a training session, he accepted an invitation to hitch a ride with the Chinese team. Cowan bonded with Chinese hero Zhuan Zedong and the pair exchanged
gifts - when the media got wind of the encounter there was pandemonium. After years of hostility between Communist China and America , suddenly there was an unlikely
opportunity for a thaw in the Cold War. Mao and the Chinese government invited the American table tennis team to visit the country, leading to an unprecedented tour - on
April 12th 1971 the US team became the first Americans to visit China since Mao's communist party had come to power, 22 years earlier. The success of the American
trip laid the foundations for President Richard Nixon's historic visit the following year.

Table Tennis Today
Competitive table tennis today is struggling as a spectator sport. The development of 'speed glue' - a layer of adhesive that gives the bat a propulsive quality - means that
games are played at lightning speed and rallies last just seconds. Sweden 's Jan Ove Waldner emerged in the late 80's as one of the few European players who could defeat
the Chinese, claiming several World titles, and is widely hailed as one of the best players of all time. But the soul of the sport is at stake in the ongoing battle between art
and science...

I cannot say when our Newsletter first received its name of “Net and Edge”, but the first one I hold is dated March 1976 when Viv Pyner was Editor. It was two pages long and had the main necessary items of league tables and averages which all players want to see. There was County Closed Tournament results, News and Views (extract) The Jumble Sale held on December 13th was very successful and raised just over £50, most of which will be spent on buying some new nets, a die for making the centres used on our trophies, and the extra trophies we now require for our tournaments.

There is a gap of “Net and Edges” until Issue 1 of Sept 1983 when Gill Smith became Editor. Gill introduced in Jan. 1984 a new Logo drawn by Cartoonist Andrew Keylock and from then on and for the next 5 years we had cartoons from Andrew which were a source of amusement to us all. Gill has been for most of the 80’s decade our longest serving Editor of the Cheltenham Newsletter.

I said when I took over from her in March 1990 that she had for many years carried out a dual roll as Chairperson of the CTTA and having to deal with all the complexities of our sport in local circles. To me she has always seemed blessed with more than her fair share of ideas, most of which she has used on your behalf. Whenever or whatever she has written her spirit has seemed to me to jump out of the pages. She has always written in this bright manner and with a great sense of humour. I might add that since then she has gone on to be a first class Tournament Referee and you will always find her presiding over and sorting out the results of the contestants.

If nothing else since those days there has been a huge increase of content from subscribers to the “Net and Edge” so that it has gone from strength to strength. Under Graham Slack (93 to 96) it was commonplace to find issues of 12 to 14 pages. After he left, Peter Cruwys held the Fort for one issue (March 96) until Mike Brown took over. Mike brought in a new subscriber - the mysterious Northern Correspondent - who was read with great interest. Mike was also very much into computers and it SHOWED in the new presentation with its sharp black script against the white background. When I think of how I used to slave with the C.T.T.A. typewriter whose keys used to make holes in the paper and which I tried to make presentable!!! I have never told anybody this before but when I had finished my Editorship I took it along to a Charity shop and offered it to them. “How much would it be worth?” they asked. Putting £5 on the price I said "£5"

Mike had four seasons until 2001 when Dave Cosnette took over and who is currently our present Editor. Dave has made it even more professional with his clever use of graphics, even the adverts compare favourably with the “Times“. I particularly like the small neat photos of individual players and the ease with which it is read. Contributions continue to be consistently good.

Many of the teams in the 1976 edition of the Net and Edge remain with us. Winchcombe being quite prominent with many teams in the divisions, while Moreton, Aluminium and Charlton Kings are not mentioned now. Quoting the Div.1 averages of those days we see some familiar names:

D. Harvey P48 - W48, S. Moreman 48-46, A. Giles 39-35, M. Collier 39-31, B. Cain 54-41, P. Slack 53-40, A. Williams 57-43, R. Henshaw 54-40,

In modern times we have seen some imaginative team names such as the Cretins, the Trihards and the Amigos but teams from Gloucester, Cirencester, Evesham, Apperley, Tewkesbury, Tuffley and Tirley have all played their part. It is now becoming difficult to distinguish the highlights in the continuing development of Table Tennis in the Cheltenham area but high on the list must be the foundation of the Cheltenham Table Tennis Club at the College.

One of the great things about Table Tennis is that you can move from one town to another or even one country to another and always find a place to give someone a game. You need never feel alone. Cheltenham has always had its fair share of cosmopolitans and one of the most heartening sights I have seen in recent times is watching young Chinese boys and girls competing with our best at the College.

It is hard to leave anybody out of this renaissance, such as Dave Harvey’s tremendous success in being the number one Veteran of England in 1991 and his huge coaching experience, but what are we to say about Peter Cruwys?

With a lifetime of service to our game I have always thought of him, in my mind, as 'Mr. Table Tennis' himself.

Editors comment: Due to the advent of the internet, it has been decided that the Net and Edge Magazine will finish its run in mid 2007. This website carries all the information that appeared in the magazine and is constantly updated every week with the latest results and news, something that could not be done with a bi-monthly magazine. As editor of the magazine since 2001, I have enjoyed putting the articles together and receiving feedback about our league. I do believe however that this website is the way forward for future CTTA information. Table tennis results can be added within hours of receiving them and a large database can be built for anyone anywhere in the World to read.

As I write, the Association is still moving onwards and upwards for the good of our game locally. The current season sees the streamlining of the league to 3 Divisions with 10 teams in each. Having personally played in local leagues since 1983, I don't think I've ever seen so many youngsters showing an interest - it can only mean great things for the future! This of course is probably due to the brilliant training scheme that has been held at the Cheltenham College for the past few years with Pete Cruwys at the helm.

The game continues to progress (although some may say otherwise) with the recent introduction of the 40mm ball and stricter service rules. Our County teams are still a force to be reckoned with. The recent promotion of the Cheltenham Town team to the Premier Division, a first for the team in 40 years, is testament to that. We have seen some lean years over the last couple of decades, but which local sport hasn't? The league is still producing top class players, Dave Harvey, a veteran of many years who still ranks high in the Division One averages and Harry Shahlaei, the youngster returning to the league after a short break who should once again be a force to be reckoned with. Milan Dragojlovic is probably the brightest star that has emerged over the past few seasons who could go very far if he keeps the enthusiasm that he shows for the sport today. These are just a couple of names that conjure up how good our league is at the present time.

Our association is now in its 84th year, making it one of the oldest leagues in the Country. Of course, a successful league can only prosper for so long when it has good leadership and a solid committee. The present committee has done incredible things in such a short amount of time. A couple of successes that spring to mind are the Cheltenham Table Tennis Club which has become a Premier Club and the England internationals that the Town hosted a couple of years ago. Add to that the regular Tournaments that we host which are attended by players from all over the Country, and its not hard to understand why the C.T.T.A. is held in such high esteem by many other leagues.