Welcome!
Welcome to the first edition of the new Regional
Magazine produced thanks to the efforts of our Regional Development
Officer Chris Newton in the main. Chris has now been in post for
almost 6 months and he is there to offer guidance and support in
your development efforts. If you have a project you are thinking
about then talk to Chris first.
I am pleased to say things are starting to
move again on the Development Front with the mid year introduction
of the Lottery Small Grants Program which will give organisations
that have the ideas and will to progress, the opportunity to attract
the funding which is often so necessary.
It was a pleasure to meet so many of you
at the Regional Conference in Sandwell just before Christmas and
the message of that conference, that there has possibly never been
a better opportunity for development of Table Tennis than there
is at this time, needs to be realised and acted on by all organisations
and players in the region.
We held our first meeting of the reconstituted
Regional Committee in November, at that meeting we agreed that the
Regional Committee would concentrate on programs to enhance both
the numbers of and standard of coaches, umpires and administrators.
The result of this decision should see a series of courses and seminars
for these people in the coming year. Please consider taking up or
expanding your activities in these areas.
Table Tennis in the West Midlands (as elsewhere
in England) runs only because of the untiring efforts of a small
minority of committed volunteers and that minority can only be stretched
so far, if we are to see major progress in provision of opportunities
for people to take up the sport then we also need major progress
in the provision of people to guide those newcomers in their initial
steps in the game we all love.
To close it was gratifying to see the level
and numbers of juniors and cadets from all the counties within the
region participating in the Regional Trials in Warwick just after
the New Year. My congratulations to those who qualified for the
National Trials.
Malcolm
Macfarlane
Regional Chairman
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