Celebrating 20 Years of Table Tennis at Wensum TTC: Cooke & Deaton's Trip to Norwich

The weekend of March 16^th-17^th, the Cooke & Deaton Table Tennis team travelled to Norwich, for a full packed two days’ of coaching and an evening exhibition celebrating Wensum Table Tennis Club’s 20^th Anniversary!

The trip commenced with two exhilarating days of coaching, with 16 participants on the first day and 20 on the second across two renowned clubs: Wensum Table Tennis Club and Norwich City Table Tennis Club. It was great to see lots of new faces as well as some familiar ones, including the extremely loyal Greg and Susie, who travelled from Kelly’s club, Lillington TTC, for the training weekend!

At Wensum, the atmosphere was buzzing as players donned matching shirts, marking the club's 20th Anniversary—we can’t believe it’s been 20 years since we first helped with the opening of the club! The coaching session went really well, with Nicola hosting a multi-ball session while Alan and Kelly provided personalised guidance during the one-to-ones.

It was a quick turnaround from coaching to the evening's exhibition – thank you to everyone who helped out with setting up the event and making sure everyone arrived smoothly. The exhibition unfolded with a video tribute to Wensum TTC's history, crafted by Steven, evoking nostalgia and admiration from all present. Alan and Kelly took on a couple of the coaching participants in some excellent challenge matches, then we had an unprecedented Cooke & Deaton challenge match - Kelly and her former cadet partner, Lauren Charles (née Spink), took on Alan and Neil Charles in a thrilling doubles match. This was a brilliant watch, great to see Lauren and Kelly back playing doubles again. Lauren showed she’s still a great player and inspiration to the players at the club, as well as her and Neil’s daughter, Sienna, who was a crowd favourite in mini challenges held throughout the evening!

As the evening drew to a close, the Cooke & Deaton team indulged in a well-deserved feast, organized by Dale of course, featuring legendary burgers from Zak’s. Special thank you to Dan for kindly giving us a lift to the restaurant!

Day two unfolded at Norwich City Table Tennis Club, where familiar faces from the previous day were joined by some newcomers, all who were excited to get on the table and learn from our coaching team. Huge thank you to Stuart for helping to organise this and letting us use the venue to host another brilliant coaching day.

Some final thank you’s to Mark and Lindsey Dare, as well as Wensum’s main man, Dale Ajeto! We’ve never heard Dale receive so much praise in his life, but his commitment has been instrumental in ensuring Wensum TTC is still thriving after 20 years, long may it continue!

We’re pleased to see both of the clubs we visited were full of players from all age groups all keen to learn from our experts and generally enjoying the sport! Hopefully this time it won’t be 20 years before we return!

 See photos from the event here!