Keighley Table Tennis Centre (KTTC)’s Open Day and Race Night last weekend was a great success, raising just short of £1000 for the centre and its resident club, Haworth Hawks.
The spirit of generosity that prevailed was key. The climax of the annual event is an auction race, where participants place bids to own a particular animal and the winner is awarded half the auction takings.
This year the winners, a local family, were kind enough to donate all the money back to the Club. In a similar spirit, the young woman who won a t-shirt signed by the world’s top table tennis players in a raffle that raised £130, also donated her prize back. The t-shirt, signed by such players as the legendary Ma Long, Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov, will be framed and displayed in the centre’s sitting room.
The money raised by all the various events and raffles will be split between the centre and Haworth Hawks Table Tennis Club, where it will go towards establishing the club’s first ever Annual Presentation Evening, an event set to take place in 2013. This represents an exciting development for the club, who are hoping to engage local celebrities and table tennis dignitaries to establish a regular prize-giving ceremony for both junior and senior players who have shown prowess in Keighley and District Table Tennis League.
Over a hundred people attended both Open Day and Race Night and enjoyed participating in the games, exhibitions and activities that the club laid on, including one man who came in by mistake and was so impressed that he bought a table tennis bat and vowed to rekindle his youthful passion for table tennis.
Andy Bray, director of KTTC said, ‘The Open Day was a huge success in attracting new people to the Centre, people who had travelled from all corners of Keighley and beyond. The evening fundraiser offered people a chance to relax and enjoy a fun but low cost evening at a time when many are struggling with money. The funds raised will be reinvested in sport, another step towards providing a strong legacy following on from the Olympic Games.’
The Keighley League is now a month into the 2012/13 season, with 36 league teams battling it out each week for the top position in 3 leagues. The table tennis centre will host several school competitions in the build up to Christmas and is looking forward to another successful year.
For more information, please call the Centre on 01535 872029.
Date of issue: 22nd October 2012.
Press contact: Andy Bray on 07766 428307.