Ormesby TTC Community Development Programme

Who We Are 

Ormesby is one of the best known table tennis clubs in the UK. The club was formed in 1958 and has regularly produced very good results in the sport including being European Mens Club Champions in 1972 and winning very many national titles, including the Premier Division of British League several times, the Junior British league and the Women's British League on many occasions.

The club are currently the British Men's League Champions and the British Junior Boys (U19) Champions and the clubs women's team finished 3rd in the women's competition with 2 local junior players in the team.

The club has always been recognised for its top level players, however, in 2004 the club's chance to become a bigger part of the local community came when it acquired the sports hall at St. Anthony's School when the school closed and the facility became the Middlesbrough Teaching and Learning Conference Centre. 

This gave the club the opportunity to expand its activities into the local community with a Development Plan at the time, produced in conjunction with Table Tennis England and Sport England.  The sports hall gave the club the chance to be full time with 15 playing courts, a lounge with cafe, a gym, changing rooms, car park and other facilities making it possibly the best table tennis club in the UK.  The Club has a lease on the sports hall for 125 years for a peppercorn rent with Middlesbrough Council.

The club embarked on a community programme including activities for 50+, schools, disability and a local coaching programme which has been very successful for the last 19 years. 

Why We Are Crowdfunding

We have ambitious plans to extend our activities much further into the wider community to increase the chances for more people from the local area to play table tennis.  Included in this plan is the improvement of the club facilities to make the environment more welcoming to both new people and existing members. To assist with this the club has registered as a charity, please see the video above from the Chairman of our Trustees, Alan Ransome OBE, explaining why we are crowdfunding. https://youtu.be/E5Q0Dkd5g5M 

How The Funds Will Be Used

The funding from this Crowdfunder is to partly increase participation in sections of the community including the 50+, disability, schools and senior groups as well as to upgrade the facility for all users.

We will increase the number of people who play the sport and the number of sessions we run every week.

The funding will be also used towards the upgrade of the club. The current facilities of the club are largely based on the former school sports hall and whilst they have worked well for the 17 years that the club has been operating an upgrade of the facilities is really needed.  This will include a new specialist ITTF approved floor to replace the one that was in place when we took over the sports hall and to improve the changing facilities and toilets to bring them up to modern standards. Improve the presentation of the exterior of the club as some aspects are becoming tired including the signage and the facia boards around the top of the building.  Replace the table tennis tables which worked very well for the club over the period but do need to be renewed and new tables will clearly provide a playing improvement.

Above: Picture of the ITTF approved floor used in the Commonwealth Games

Above: Butterfly Centrefold Table Tennis Table as used in the Commonwealth Games

Above: Ormesby Table Tennis Club restoring the original.

Local Kids Becoming National Champions

The club has produced a conveyor belt of young players who live locally and have gone on to win national titles and representing England many times in international competitions. 

Above: Karina le Fevre is a many times senior international player who first joined the club as an U12 player.

Above: Ben Piggott and Ella Pashley - two Ormesby players who are members of the current English Junior squad.

50+ Group

The 50+ group meets regularly to help local people in this age group stay fit and enjoy the sport which is relatively easy to play at a recreational level. 

Above: Senior event at the Ormesby TT Club including many of the 50+ group

Disability

Table tennis is a sport which is played widely amongst disability groups of all kinds and features prominently in the Paralympic Games. The club plans to increase participation for disabled groups of all types including expanding the number of our wheelchair players and extra sessions for people with Parkinson's disease, as well as working with the local NHS to help patients who are recovering from serious operations.

Above: A disability group at the club with certificates that they have won

Schools

Expanding our schools programme, we already work regularly with four primary schools and many of the youngsters from those schools already come to coaching sessions at the club. The club, also in conjunction with Table Tennis England, is part of the national TTKIDZ coaching programme aimed at giving more youngsters introductory sessions and the chance to join the club.

Above: TT Kidz session organised in conjunction with Table Tennis England

Events

The club promotes Ormesby through the success of its teams and by hosting events, both national and regional as well as local. Senior British League matches are played regularly at the club in the Premier Division and lower Divisions. For youngsters there are the National Junior and National Cadet Leagues, the North East Regional competitions and local competitions including two winter local leagues and one summer. The local schools competitions are also played at the club as part of the development programme.

We are looking to expand the number of competitions played at the club including hosting some open tournaments.

Above: Ormesby hosting a Senior British League Premier match

Above: The Cleveland School Team Tournament held at the Ormesby TTC

Working with the Community

The club has a wide programme working with local primary schools encouraging youngsters to play at school and then to join the club. There are also sessions with senior players at a recreational level. The Club is open on average between 50 and 60 hours per week.

The club is very reliant on its volunteers who carry out much of the clubs work, although the club does have one development coach full-time and a part-time top level Top Squad coach.

Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022

The club were enthused by the table tennis event in the Commonwealth Games and several club members bought tickets and travelled to Birmingham. Several of our officials were working at the NEC in Birmingham throughout the Games and the table tennis event was widely publicised throughout the club and through its newsletter and social media.

Ormesby Table Tennis Club welcomes major events coming to the UK.

How to Contribute

It is simple to make a contribution in order to help us meet our target. We have included some rewards for generous donations including vouchers, theatre tickets, signed books, table tennis equipment. Please support the club and take advantage of one of these exciting offers.

Help to spread the word of our project and our Crowdfunder page by sharing it on social media, with your family, friends, colleagues and local community in order to get more people behind us. 

Don't forget, if you are a local business you can get involved by donating a reward we can offer to our supporters and we in turn will promote you!

Our Crowdfunding page is only open for 8 weeks so please help us to reach our target, which will go a long way to achieving our goals.

Thank you so much from all of us at Ormesby Table Tennis Club for your donations and for taking advantage of one of our rewards. As a result of the support given we will be able to enhance and improve the environment at Ormesby Table Tennis Club for all its members and the local community.