Latest News:

It is finished. The building was opened in March 2008 !

• Paul Solt will now be running the group coaching twice a month.
• A seperate newsletter will be dedicated to the junior club.
• Several new competition formats will be trialed.
• Closing time will be set earlier; to 9:00pm.
• Parent volunteers will be asked to help with specific areas on a roster.

The second annual veteran’s tournament was held on Saturday 20 March. 28 entries were received from as far afield as Kapiti and Manawatu.

Many games were played and much enjoyment was had. Grateful thanks to our sponsors: TTSports, Andro and Butterfly.

Results can be found on the Competitions page.

The Club’s AGM was held last Monday 15 March.

General Business items included:
  - Proposed free membership for board members – this will be implemented immediately.
  - Proposed stadium membership – the board will consider this further.
  - Stage II stadium redevelopment – the board will progress this and feedback will be sought from members.

Members wishing to send feedback on the above items can do so to chairperson@empirett.org.nz

Presentations were made to outgoing board members Maggie Dyer (Services Convenor for the last 10 years) and Ron Menchi (Committee/Board member since 1955)

Stephen Hope was elected as board Chairperson; Rose Douglas was elected to the role of Services Convenor

John Nguyen won the multi-trip ticket.

"Why is ping pong suddenly a glamour sport?"

TV1's Good Morning programme interviewed Ron Menchi and featured Empire club members (Eddie Moore, Joy Mozer, Merv Allardyce and Diane Hope) last February 10th. 

Video clips of the programme can be accessed via TVNZ's On Demand website.  For direct links, click below:

Note for viewing the clips, Adobe's Flash player should be installed.  Other requirements, see TVNZ's video FAQ. 

Saturday 20 March 2010, 9:30am – 4:30pm

Empire Stadium, Marine Parade, Petone

Over 40, 55 and 70 events for men and women.

Singles and doubles events.

Event prizes are being sponsored by Yasaka, Joola, Andro and Butterfly. Spot prizes will also be awarded.

Entries to activities@empirett.org.nz by Thursday 18 March.

Registration entry form download here.  More tournament information details.

Table Tennis Wellington is running a Summer Interclub competition on Wednesday evenings.

This will commence on Wednesday 24 February and run for 7 weeks.

Fees are yet to be set and the venue is likely to be Empire but this is yet to be confirmed.

The competition is open to all players. There will be two sections.

If you are interested in playing in this competition, either every week or as a reserve, please contact Activities@empirett.org.nz by Monday 15 February.

Depak Patel has offered coaching to members on Monday nights from 6:30-7:10pm and 9:00-9:40pm. 

20 minute sessions must be booked with the Monday night organisers.

Malcolm Wong spent time overseas as an international umpire this year. His story was printed in the August 2009 Newsletter. We have some additional photos from his trip. Commonwealth Championships and Officials Photo at French Junior Open

The time capsule hasn't been "buried" yet. This will be our gift to the members of 2034, our centenary year. Read all about it in the information sheet. Last minute contributions will be accepted.

The jubilee is all over. Follow the jubilee link for galleries of the years events.

The club is about to enter a new year and our charges have been reviewed for 2010.
Session fees have increased to $4 for members / $7 for non-members.
Annual subscriptions are the same as 2009.

Happy New Year to all our members and their families. The stadium is closed for a few weeks over the holidays but play resumes early in the new year. The opening sessions are:

The Board would like to invite all members to join us for the 2009 Xmas and prize giving dinner. Details as follows:

Prizes will be awarded to Club Championships winners, interclub award winners and special prize winners. Nominations for special prizes are:

Empire Table Tennis Club Cup for Most Outstanding Individual Performance

Eddie Moore
Tony Rutledge
Martin Young

JR Capstick Cup for Most Improved Player

Mike Aldred
Melanie Armstrong
John Gan
Bill Hoon
Hayden Kirkbeck
Raewyn Young

RE Mitchell Cup for Best Sportsperson

Merv Allardyce
Norman Chan
Jason Giles
Mary Law
Depak Patel
Joyce Skinner
Chris Talbot

Dick Gray Cup for Best Club Member

Norman Chan
Ping Chui
Maggie Dyer
Diane Hope
Stephen Hope
John Kane
Eddie Moore
Graham Sole

Allardyce Family Trophy for Team of the Year

Hurricanes (Bruce Connolly, Uy Tang, Chris Williams)
Storm (Depak Patel, Chris Talbot, Ian Talbot,)
Tornado (Mike Aldred, Hayden Kirkbeck, Graham Sole)
Typhoons (John Gan, Jason Giles, Raewyn Young)
Over 70 Men’s Team (Leo Barnett, Eddie Moore)

Please help the Empire Table Tennis Club by completing our 2009 survey. The deadline has been extended to November 6. You may either complete a form at club or complete the online version (link below).
All surveys (with names) received by November 6 will go in the draw to win a $30 multi-session ticket. Good luck.

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/start.asp?sid=3awgt164c0vjuij660794

All survey answers will be used to help us with our 2010 planning. Everyone’s input is appreciated. All members are welcome to attend our planning session that will be held in mid-November. Details will be advised when they are confirmed.

The preliminary rounds of the club championship handicap singles were contested by 44 players on Monday 14/9. The top 16 placings will contest a knockout final next Monday starting at 7:30pm. The top 20 from Monday are as follows:

Empire held it's annual midweek tournament on September 3. Follow the link above to results.

Approximately 70 people attended the wine and cheese event that launched the jubilee book, "75 Years Old and Growing". Our photographer, Lindsay Gibbs, took a lot of photos of the evening. Follow the link above to see them all (unedited). Contact us if you would like a high resolution copy of any image.

Empire is holding a public Open Day on Sunday, September 20. Non-members can come along and learn about our club. Tables will be available for use. Entry will be free. There are some loan bats available for visitors but please bring your own bat if you have one.

Members are encouraged to come along and give us a hand welcoming visitors and having a game.

TTW is holding a closed tournament in Newtown September 12-13. Entry Form

Empire's Sunday Club will offer members rates to any visitors on that weekend as Newtown is being used for the tournament.

A newsletter full of the latest jubilee information has been published.

Jubilee registrations have officially closed but places are still available if you contact the organisers soon.

Interclub results are published on the new TTW website.

As previously advertised we are holding a handicap competition at Monday Club over the next 2 weeks as part of the 2009 Club Championships.
Entry fees are the usual $3 for members, $6 for non-members.
Play will start at 7:30pm so please register before this time to allow us to get organised. A doubles warm-up will be held from 7:15pm.
Randomly selected tables of 4 will play a round robin using the same scoring and handicapping system used a few weeks ago in our trial.
The top 16 club members will compete in a knockout final the following Monday. If you win 2 or 3 games and cannot make the following week please let us know so that others can compete for the trophy.

Registrations for the jubilee weekend officially closed this weekend.
However, the registration deadline has been extended by 2 weeks. Anyone who has been meaning to register but hadn’t got around to it still has a chance.
If you want to register for the jubilee, please let us know as soon as possible. Please do not call our home number previously advertised as it is currently unavailable. Email correspondence is fine. Alternatively, call Ron Menchi on 970 4581. Information is also available on the website.

This is a once in a generation opportunity to celebrate the past and future of Empire Table Tennis Club and catch up with old friends.

Registrations close Friday, August 28.

A summary of the weekend:

Friday Night: Mix and Mingle at the Stadium
Saturday: Fun tournament during the day, dinner in the evening
Sunday: Open day 9-12 

If you are unable to attend, you are encouraged to send us a message. We have already listed a few messages on the jubilee page.

The 10th Manawatu Vets Doubles Tournament is on August 22. A number of Empire Players will be attending.

Entry Form

The August newsletter is available.

The Empire Club Championships attracted only a small number of entries but there were still a lot of keenly contested matches.

Depak Patel triumphed in the Open Singles over Chris Talbot. In the Open Doubles, Chris and Ian Talbot were victorious over Raewyn Young and Depak Patel.

In Division 2, the singles were won by Martin Young who narrowly missed out on the open event after losing in 5 sets to eventual winner Depak Patel. The doubles was won by Jason Giles and Diane Hope. Runners up were last year's winners, Allen Tso and Norman Chan.

All photos of the action from the championships are available on the club champs page.

The latest newletter provides information on the upcoming book launch and club championships.

See some images from junior club . These photos were taken on June 5, 2009.

2009 is the 75th Anniversary of the formation of the Empire Table Tennis Club.

Details of Jubilee merchandise are now available on the Jubilee page.

The main dates to remember are:

Details will be published on the website and in newsletters as they become finalised.

Please let any old table tennis buddies know and ask them to contact us so that we can make the events a huge success.

Volunteers are being sought for a committee to help organise the jubilee celebrations. Please contact promotion@empirett.org.nz if you can help.

The latest jubilee newsletter can be viewed here.

Three deadlines occur this week!

RSVPs for the Jubilee Book Launch close on Tuesday June 30.

Early bird registrations for the main jubilee celebrations close Wednesday July 1

Entries for the club championships close Wednesday July 1

The Empire Club Championships are being held on Saturday July 4 with Open and Division 2 finals on Sunday July 5 (morning). Our aim is to have an event for everyone and to give everyone a reasonable number of games to test their ability. In the process we will find Empire's best player. There is a social competition as well as the Open competition. The social compeition is not available to players of premier interclub standard.

Download the entry form 50kB (pdf 28kB) and enter today. The entry is just $10. Lunch will be available for purchase at the stadium on Saturday.

Table Tennis Wellington is holding an Autumn Open at Empire on May 23 and 24. Entry forms are available at club. When this item was loaded no information was available on the TTW web site. Sunday club will still operate on Sunday morning.

Time is running out to put your name down. Contact Diane (977 6486) ASAP.

Due to a private boking, there will be no Sunday club on May 31. We apologise for any inconvenience.

The NZ Veterans Championships were held in Christchurch over Easter. Midweek club organiser, Eddie Moore, did particularly well, winning four gold medals in the Over 75 Men's Singles, Men's Doubles and Mixed Doubles as well as teaming with Leo Barnett to win gold in the Over 70 Men's B teams event. See our competitions page for all Empire winners and runners up.

Two newsletters are being distributed to members:

PDF versions of the Club Newsletter and Jubilee Newsletter can be downloaded for printing.

Tickets ($20 each) are now available for our movie fundraiser, The Reader, starting Kate Winslett, Ralph Fiennes and David Kross. Proceeds aid our building fund.

Supper from 7:30pm, Movie at 8pm

Venue: Lighthouse Cinema, Beach Street, Petone

On March 29, 22 players from as far away as Manawatu attended the Empire Veterans Tournament. The tournament was intended as a warm-up for the NZ Veterans Championships held over Easter.

All players had a solid workout with about 5 singles and 5 doubles matches each.

Winners on the day were:

Although this was a jubilee event, we hope to continue it next year.

Some new blood was elected to the board at the AGM. Michael Xu was elected to the finance portfolio and John Kane to the building portfolio. Diane Hope was re-elected to activities. She has held that position for the past 12 months. Tony Seymour has also volunteered to help the board with strategic planning but is not an official member of the board.

Due to a Table Tennis Wellington training camp, there will be no Sunday club on April 19. We apologise for any inconvenience.

The Friday night junior club starts this Friday - March 27. More information.

AGENDA

1. Welcome by the Chairman
2. Roll call of voting members
3. Apologies
4. Confirmation of the minutes of the AGM held on 31st March 2008
5. Matters arising from the minutes
6. Adoption of the annual report for the year ended 31 December 2008
7. Adoption of financial accounts for the year ended 31 December 2008
8. Election of Board Members

Activities Convenor – Diane Hope
Buildings Convenor – John Kane
Finance Convenor – Michael Xu

9. Appointment of auditor
10. Election of Life Members
11. Notification of General Business
12. Re-introduction of honorariums (Eddie Moore)

Please note:

1. All Club members may attend and speak at the AGM
2. Only members who paid a subscription in the 2008 season may vote
3. If attending the meeting please bring your copy of the Annual report and Agenda

As part of the 75th jubilee we will run an Open Veterans Tournament on Sunday March 29. This will be an ideal warm-up for the NZ Veterans Championships at Easter. Intended events are singles and doubles in over 40, 50, 60 and 70 year age groups. Players can only compete in 1 age group. Preliminary rounds will be in a round robin format to ensure players have a reasonable number of matches.

Entries close Thursday - March 26.

Info and Registration Form or as PDF

Apologies to anyone that was looking forward to the Quiz night on March 21 but we have had to postpone this social event. We hope to reschedule this for later in the year.

Due to lack of corporate teams we have had to postpone the start of our corporate competition and open the competition up to a wider audience. Teams no longer have to come from the same work place or any work place at all! This new competition is aimed at social players.
If you have some workmates or friends that play table tennis in the lunch room or have a table at home then get them involved in our after work competition. Members can participate too!
The competition now starts on Tuesday 17 March and runs for 7 weeks. Start times will be 4:00 and 5:30pm.
2 player teams will contest each round with 2 singles and 1 doubles per player. Each match will be best of 5 games to 11.
The cost is $70 per team ($5 per week per person) and must be paid before the competition starts.
Registrations close Friday 13 March
Enquiries and registrations:
Diane Hope 977 6486 (home) or activities@empirett.org.nz

Download Factsheet and Entry Form (or entry form as PDF)

The Empire Table Tennis Club Annual General Meeting will now be held at the stadium on Monday, March 30 at 8pm. All members are encouraged to attend. Click the link above to view the AGM Notice. Please disregard the date information in the notice.

Enquiries: Maggie Dyer maggie@empirett.org.nz

Visitors to Monday club in recent weeks will have seen our new technology in action. We have invested in a data projector and laptop to help with running games and club administration.
It is intended that these will be used by all club sessions, although we are focussing on Monday sessions initially.
Please be patient with us we get the software up and running.

The February newsletter has been published. Copies have been emailed to those on our mailing list.

Empire is holding another Open Day on Sunday February 22 from 9am until noon. Entry is just $1 for two half hour playing slots. All welcome. This is a great opportunity to try out the stadium before the corporate competition.

Enquiries: Stephen Hope 977 6486 (home) or promotion@empirett.org.nz

The final night for 2008 will be on Friday 28 November. The Club will be open by 6.45pm.

About 8.00pm those who competed in the recent championships will receive their winner or runner-up certificates and those who attended regularly during the year will receive attendance certificates. Supper will follow the presentations. Please bring a plate with finger food for supper. We hope that parents (and grandparents etc!) will join us on this special occasion and take part. You don’t have to be table tennis players - just come along as your attendance will ensure the success of the evening. If you can only come for part of the evening then your presence for the presentations and supper will be appreciated.

2009 Friday Club

Next year’s sessions will probably start after daylight saving finishes in March. When decided, the exact will be advised to all those for whom we have a postal or email address. Until then, Sunday club is operating from 9:30-11:30am. This is an ideal chance to have a game with your family and/or friends. Usual fees apply.

The club held a presentation dinner this year. 52 members and friends attended. The club's trophies were presented (see below) and we reviewed the highlights of 2008.

Venue: Petone Working Men's Club, Kensington Restaurant
Time: 7:00 for 7:30pm on Saturday, November 8, 2008
Cost: $20 per person

Interclub Awards

Special Trophies

The NZ Nationals were run at Walter Nash Stadium from October 1-11, 2008. Many Empire players were involved. Use the link above to see the results. Some of our midweek players were medallists.

Individual Results

A club session is now running on Sunday mornings from 9:30 until 11:30. We have had around 20 players present for the first two sessions. Normal session charges apply. These sessions are very informal with no organised games at this stage. It is the ideal opportunity to bring the family along for an hour or so.

This competition is being contested over 5 weeks starting November 12 and finishing December 10 on Wednesday nights from 7pm. Results should be available on the TTW web site.

Please note that the Premier 3 Grade Championships will be held on Tuesday 21 October at the Empire Stadium, starting at 7.00pm. The Premier 2 Grade Championships will be held on Wednesday 22 October at the Empire Stadium, starting at 7.00pm. 

The October newsletter has been published. Copies have been emailed to those on our mailing list.

Empire Typhoons won the P1 final 6-3 over Titan/Kapiti

James Harter, Yotam Bar-Shalom and Thom Nguyen

Results for week 15 (September 16-17):

The season is over except for the Premier 1 Grand Final. On Tuesday September 23 from 7pm, Empire Typhoons will play Titan/Kapiti in the Grand Final at Empire Stadium. Come along and support our young team of Yotam Bar-Shalom, James Harter and Thom Nguyen. It has been a long time since we have won a P1 title.

The Empire Hurricanes team of Bruce Connolly, Tony Rutledge, Uy Tang and Chris Williams won the P2 grade convincingly.

Grade champs will be held on October 21-22.

Team Summary

Thom Nguyen became the Open Men's champion of the Empire Table Tennis Club at just 13 years of age. We are yet to confirm if he is the youngest winner ever. Nine different players were winners in the finals. Results of the finals were:

Preliminary round results are available via the following links:

Open Singles

Open Doubles

Social

The club now has a multi-session ticket for sale. Save 10% on the regular price and avoid the hassle of finding change for each session. Tickets are $30 each and this allows you to come to 11 sessions. You must bring your ticket along to get “clipped” at each session. Ask the organisers of club sessions if you want to purchase one.

Recently the stadium lease was extended for a further 35 years. This ensures our future for at least another generation!

• Contribute your Empire Table Tennis Club memorabilia for inclusion in the time capsule
• Purchase a piece of time capsule letter head to write a personal message to your family/friends (one photo can be included)
• Write a message in the guest book

Contributions need to be handed in to the club by 7 March for burial at the opening of the new playing area (date yet to be decided but hopefully early in 2008).
The time capsule will be unearthed at our 100th Jubilee celebrations in 2034.
Time capsule letterhead $10
Guest book entry $5

The next event on our social calendar is the Quiz Night on Saturday, September 27.

The Quiz Night is being held at the Empire Stadium. We only have 100 chairs so please register your team before the night to get the best seats. To register, let us know your team name and the number of people in your team by email or phone 977 6486. Teams can have up to 6 members. If you want to be put in a team, you can register as an individual.

Entry is $10 per person. Supper is provided but drinks are BYO. Register from 7pm. The quiz starts at 7:30pm.

Thanks to all the members and visitors who attended our Open Day on September 14. We had about 80 attendees and quite a few first timers came back the next day to Monday club.

Don't forget - Sunday Club starts October 5 at 9:30am. See you there!

The Empire Table Tennis Club Open Day is being held on Sunday September 14 from 9am-12.

Entry to the Open Day is FREE.

This is a chance for Empire to show off our 16 table stadium and introduce some new players to the club. With the help of members we hope to have demonstration games, coaching, and the opportunity for visitors to play a game. Information about the club will be on display.

This day will help kickstart an official Sunday Club - beginning October.

The August newsletter has been published. Copies have been emailed to those on our mailing list. Printed copies will be available at club sessions this week for those without email.

An email newsletter has been sent to the club email list. If you have an email address and missed out, please let us know. Email promotion@empirett.org.nz

100 club members and friends attended the movie night on July 9. We saw the movie, Happy Go Lucky and an awesome supper was prepared by Maggie and her helpers. Spot prizes were won by Chris Talbot and Margaret Low.

Midweek players will visit Kapiti on July 28.

The next event will be a Quiz Night. This will be held at the Empire Stadium on Saturday, September 27. Be at the stadium from 7pm for a 7:30pm start. Supper and prizes will be provided. Entry fee is $10 per person and teams are limited to 6 maximum. If you want to come solo we will find you a team. BYO drinks.

B Grade and P3 competitions are finished. A new competition starts July 22-23. Please contact the activities convenor if interested in participating.

Winter Interclub Roundup

Interclub players are enjoying a break but play will resume next week for P1. Other grades resume a week later, on July 29/30.
New competitions start after the break for P3 and B grades. The Tsunami team (Russell Buchanan, Dong Jiang, and Chris Palmer) were victorious in the first round P3 competition.
We had two other teams competing in P3. Tornado finished 4th and Thunder finished 6th.
The B grade competition was hotly contested. Our teams finished 2nd (Crusaders), 3rd (Invaders) and 5th (Trojans).
In P1, Typhoons (Yotam Bar-Shalom, James Harter, Thom Nguyen) are placed 2nd at the midway point of their competition. We have three other teams in P1 - Storm (5th), Whirlwinds (6th) and Tempest (8th).
In P2, the Hurricanes (Bruce Connolly, Chris Williams, Tony Rutledge, Uy Tang) lead the competition. The Cyclones are 4th.

The Empire Table Tennis Club invites you to join us for another Movie Night

The Movie: Happy Go Lucky

The Story: Poppy (sally Hawkins) is an irrepressibly cheerful primary school teacher who won’t let anyone or anything get her down. Even when her bicycle, which she so happily rides through the busy streets of London, is stolen, her first thought is only: “I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.”
Living with her flatmate Zoe (Alexis Zegerman), Poppy has a gift for making the most of life. Determined to learn to drive she finds herself matched with Scott (Eddie Marsan), an uptight driving instructor who is everything she is not.
From director Mike Leigh (Vera Drake) HAPPY-GO-LUCKY is a laugh out loud comedy about having fun, looking for love and getting on with life.

The Details
Lighthouse Cinema, 52 Beach Road, Petone
Nibbles at 6:00pm, Movie at 6:30pm
Cost: $20 per person

More information:
www.lighthousepetone.co.nz www.happy-go-lucky-movie.co.uk

Email Maggie Dyer (maggie@empirett.org.nz) to reserve your ticket now.

The latest newsletter has been sent to the club email list and will be available at club sessions this week.

We can finally reveal that Kirti Kumar is the new finance convenor on the Empire Board. A profile on Kirti will be published in the next newsletter.

There is a full list of placegetters on the Competitions page. Use the link above

Highlights from week 2: James Harter emerged as the Tall Poppy with 3 from 3 matches in week 2 and 5 from 7 over the 2 weeks.
Tony Pearson was the most successful player over the 2 weeks, winning 6 from 6 matches. 3 other players were undefeated but only played 3 or less games.
Jalil Sadool remained the biggest mover in spite of only winning 2 from 5 matches. Obviously he won the important matches!

Team Summary

Only 1 week to go for B grade and P3.

Team Summary

Empire teams are top of table in all 4 grades.

Team Summary

B Grade started this week.

Team Summary

Team Summary

We have created a new events calendar for the club. Please check it out!

Arthur Lee has unfortunately resigned as finance convenor but we have a replacement already. The replacement board member will be announced once the person is officially elected at the next board meeting in early June.

Premier 1
Empire Typhoons defeated Empire Tempest 11-0
Empire Storm lost to Waterloo Wasps 3-8
Empire Whirlwinds lost to Belmont Bruisers 4-7
Empire Tempest lost to Empire Typhoons 0-11
Premier 2
Empire Hurricanes defeated Waterloo Whippets 11-0
Empire Cyclones defeated Waterloo Wiseguys 11-0
Premier 3
Empire Tsunami defeated Empire Tornado 6-5
Empire Thunder defeated Karori Kometz 6-5
Empire Tornado lost to Empire Tsunami 5-6

We want to make Empire as good as it can be. To understand your needs we have prepared a survey of Empire players. Forms are at club. Please complete one by Monday 12 May. Results will be made available on the club noticeboard.

Since last months AGM, Leo Barnett and Stephen Hope have filled the two vacant board positions.
Leo Barnett was appointed as chairperson of the Empire Table Tennis Club Board. Leo takes over from Graham Sole who unfortunately was unable to continue as chairperson.
Also appointed to the board as Promotions Convenor is Stephen Hope. This role replaces the Membership role vacated by his wife Diane.
Diane has taken up the Activities portfolio following the resignation of Russell Buchanan. Russell’s work commitments have prevented him from continuing in this role.
We are pleased to advise that Maggie Dyer was re-elected to the Services portfolio.

Empire members won gold at the NZ Vets Champs in Palmerston North over Easter.
Ron Menchi & Merv Allardyce won gold in the B section of the over 70 men’s teams competition. Seeded No 5 of 6, this determined pair fought their way through a series of sets, repeating the pattern of 2 games down (on the ropes), to 2 all  (fighting chance) and clinching the final game.
In the final of the over 75 men’s doubles, Merv Allardyce & Paul Bargh beat Eddie Moore & Hugh McIlraith 3-2. Not to be outdone, Eddie Moore & Betty Meads beat Merv Allardyce & Joyce Woodward 3-2 in the over 75 mixed doubles final.
Since the publication of the newsletter we have found out that Bruce Connolly and Chris Williams won gold in the Over 60s and Tony Rutledge was half of the team that won gold in the Over 50s.
Congratulations to all these players.
Full results are available at
www.tabletennis.org.nz

Highlights from week 1: Chris Talbot retained top position with 3 wins from 3 matches. The biggest mover was Jalil Sadool (a newcomer) who rose 14 places! Tony Rutledge, Tony Pearson and Victor Huang won all their games. Hopefully most of the computer problems of week 1 are resolved.

TTW Winter Interclub starts 13/14 May. Please let Diane Hope know by May 5 if you are interested in playing.
Phone 977 6486 activities@empirett.org.nz.
All games start at 7pm. Premier 1 and Premier 3 play on Tuesdays. Premier 2 are on Wednesdays. There will be no play during school holidays. Finals will be played at the end of August . Other grades will start later in May.
Playing fees are $8 for seniors, $7 for beneficiaries and $6 for juniors/students.

The stadium will be open from 6:45pm until 9:30pm every Friday night including school holidays until the end of November.

For more information contact Ron Menchi 970 4581 or Merv Allardyce 973 6682

The grand opening of the new playing facilities was held on Monday, March 10. The extension was officially opened by the mayor of Hutt City, David Ogden. Also in attendance amongst the crowd of nearly 100 people were Gerald Davidson, chair of the Petone Community Board, and Cr Ross Jamieson. Entertainment was provided by Bluegrass band, Dixie Lix, who sang the Ping Pong song. Leo Barnett was also in fine voice, singing the national anthem. After the opening, club members from 8 to 80 played demonstration games.

We have posted a gallery of photos on the web. If others have good photos to share, please email the webmaster.

The club is in the process of developing a strategic plan. All four sessions have been completed and a draft has been presented to the board. The board will soon be developing detailed action plans.

Thanks to the following people for their participation in the process: Diane Hope, Stephen Hope, Glenn Lucas (SPARC), Ron Menchi, Graham Sole, Maggie Dyer, Len Hunter, Merv Allardyce, Jack Lou, Joy Mozer, Eddie Moore, Mary Law, Seu Law, Leo Barnett, Tony Williams, Arthur Lee

Read the latest newsletter. Find out about upcoming events and the progress of our interclub teams.

The building has been in use since late February, 2008.

Can you be the tallest poppy at Empire? Find out where you rank amongst all the Monday night players.
This challenge will be held over 2 Monday nights from 28 April. Play will be between 7pm and 9pm.
Matches will be 3 games to 11 (or advantage).
Challengers beating their opponent 3-0 will swap places with them on the ranking list.
Challengers beating their opponent 2-1 will take their place on the list and the loser will drop one ranking place.
Challenge games will be arranged and are at the discretion of the organiser.
The rankings list will be updated after each night of play.
The player at the top of the rankings list at the conclusion of the competition will be the TALL POPPY until the next competition.

The Annual General Meeting is being held on March 31 at 8pm in the stadium. Some board positions are up for re-election: Chairperson, Membership Convener, and Services Convener. The position of Activities Convener will also become vacant on March 31. Position descriptions are available on the board page.

The junior club had their final night for the year on Friday 30 November. Certificates were awarded to winners and runners-up for the junior championships and to those that attended regularly. We took some pictures on the night.

Find out who won the special trophies. See pictures taken at the recet trophy presentations.

Club championships will commence on 19 October with Grades 9 to 12. The other grades plus the Girls and under 13 Boys championships will be held on the following Fridays. Any changes to these arrangements will be advised at club night.
While each championship is being held there will be organized play for those not involved.
It is planned to have the final night for the year on 23 November. Information on this will be sent to members in mid-November.
Hanna Squire has been visiting the club regularly to assist, especially, our girl members. It is a great opportunity for our younger members to talk with and learn from a NZ representative, especially one who started her table tennis career as a Friday club member. Thank you, Hanna, for making yourself available.

The Club is running wine raffles at present to help raise funds for the redevelopment and to use some of the wine left over from the Variety Evening. We are selling 100 tickets at $1 each for the raffles with the aim of a quick turnover. So far two raffles have been completed with the winners being Glenis Simpson and Pat Todd. Please support these fundraisers when you can.

We are offering a trial Corporate Membership from
01/10/2007 – 17/12/2007
The cost is $50 per workplace.
This entitles up to five* employees from the participating workplace to come to the senior club night at Empire each Monday from 6.30pm (until the end of 2007) for the member rate of just $2.50 per night.

Enquires to membership@empirett.org.nz

Former club stalwart of ETTC, Neil Menchi, passed away last Thursday (5/7/07). Our condolensces to the family.

After the school holiday break new competitions will be run for Premier 3 (commencing Tuesday 24 July) and B grade (commencing Wednesday 25 July). If you are interested in playing please contact Russell activities@empirett.org.nz

The first round of the TTW Winter Interclub Competition has now concluded.
Congratulations to Empire Invaders (Maggie Dyer, Margaret Cloughley and Alistair Hicks) who won B grade.
Empire Crusaders (Nola Borrell, Joy Mozer and Zac Sun) were placed 3rd in B Grade.
Empire Typhoons (Dawn Dorresteyn, Diane Hope, John Kane and Margaret Connolly) were placed 3rd in Premier 3.