Welcome to the ETTC web site. Here you will find the the latest information concerning one of the premier Table Tennis clubs in London..
Welcome to our Club. I hope you will enjoy a long and rewarding membership with us.
On discovering us for the first time, people often wonder why we are named after the capital city of Scotland. Well we are not Edinburgh, we are Ellenborough! The club was formed around 1936 by the Carter brothers, using a school in Ellenborough Road, Wood Green, hence the unusual name.
Carter
is a significant name in the club’s history.
There were at least four Carter brothers, one of which,
Roland,
played
Davis Cup tennis in 1946/47. Indeed our
club was an offshoot of the original Ellenborough Tennis Club, now
long gone.
Wilf Carter was probably the most important of the brothers, being Secretary/Treasurer for more than 25 years and establishing the club in the early days of the North Middlesex Table Tennis League. An annual trophy is awarded to perpetuate his name. Incidentally one of our founder members, Tom Chapman, now a life member, is still in our midst. Tom pops up now and again at AGM’s and other functions. His most recent visit was in January 2007 at our Official Opening of our completely refurbished club house.
After the Second World War the club moved to the Bowes Pavilion at Tottenhall Sports Ground, Palmers Green. There is a photograph of some of the members in the bar, which will give you an idea of the rudimentary facilities compared to our existing building. Rapid expansion took place as the number of teams in the local league increased from five to twenty under the guidance of the then Secretary, Harold Webb and Chairman, David Hope. Then in September 1973, just two weeks before the new league season, the Bowes Pavilion was completely destroyed by fire. Nobody ever found out how or why, although the local authority had just finished re-wiring the pavilion!
However the club survived this traumatic period, eventually moving to a small hut on our present site, just big enough for two tables. Then fate took a hand and the next significant name in the clubs history “Oliver” crossed our path. It was the late Ken Oliver, then a director of Fairview Estates Ltd., along with Harold Webb and the members who masterminded the erection of a new building in 1976.
With support from the London Borough of Enfield and a grant from the then Sports Council (now Sport England) enough money was obtained for a purpose built table tennis clubhouse. The balance of funds was raised by a tremendous effort from the members. Then the present refurbished version of the club re-opened on 30th October 2006 funded by a grant from the Community Club Development Fund, the North Middlesex Table Tennis League and a significant contribution from the club. At the time of closure the membership stood at 141; three years later it is 300 and counting, demonstrating the enormous impact the modernized facility is having on the local community.
So
from humble beginnings the club has progressed to its present status of
Premier
Club ‘Excellence’ and Premier Club ‘Ability’
Grade. The icing on the cake came in 2002
through a
trio of achievements, one of which effectively made us the best sports
club of
any sport in the UK and a minority sport at that. From
an entry of over 90 clubs representing over
50 sports, the Central Foundation for Sports and the Arts and the
Council of
Physical Recreation voted us “Sports Club of the Year 2002”. We also achieved first place in the English
Table Tennis Associations Premier Club “Excellence”
category “Club of the Year
- 2002” and have been recognised as a Club of Excellence every
year since (2003/4/5/6/7/8 and 9). Our
Secretary Sylvia Tyler was also given the honour of being the
ETTA’s
“Volunteer of the Year - 2002”.
In
February 2003 the club was awarded the ETTA ‘Club Mark’ for
Excellence (the
first club at this level in England) – this is surely the highest
achievable rank for any table tennis club within the ETTA Premier
Club scheme. Not bad for a voluntary
organisation which
prides itself on being family friendly and one of the oldest and
most respected
clubs in the game.
So much for the potted history! I’m really pleased that you are interested in becoming a member and assure you of a hearty welcome. I’m sure you will find exactly the level of competition you are looking for, be it league play or in one of our specialist sections detailed in this brochure.
May the Gods of Nets and Edges be with you!