The most recent in a series of Club and Volunteer Conferences welcomed 25 delegates representing 16 different clubs or leagues to Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester.

Delegates attended a variety of workshops and engaged in networking opportunities with Table Tennis Engalnd staff and like-minded volunteers from across the region and beyond.

Kelly Southward and Robin Cosgrove both collected their Pride of Table Tennis awards for winning the regional round in the Volunteer of the Year Award and Young Volunteer of the Year Award category respectively. Congratulations were also extended to Beverly Sharp (Coach of the Year) and Brenda Bailey (Contribution to Table Tennis) for their success in respective categories.

Feedback on the day included the following comments:

• Good NW regional response and good networking took place.
• Good to learn about ways to attract new players and to retain them in the sport.

Table Tennis England were also joined by Rahul Bissoonauth, Director of Business Development at Oaks Consultancy, who delivered a one-hour workshop on income generation. The workshop provided a variety of hints and tips on grant funding and sponsorship.

Speaking of the event, Rahul said:

It was great to learn about the work clubs are doing already and the plans they have in terms of running more participation initiatives and improving the facilities they use to run club sessions. Club members seemed really engaged during the workshop, asking a lot of questions as many had never explored grant funding before and were keen to learn of the plethora of opportunities that are available to them.

In total to date, 84 individuals representing 52 organisations have joined Table Tennis England staff at Club and Volunteer Conferences across the country. Table Tennis England look forward to organising events in the South East, Yorkshire and South West regions over the coming months. Information on these will be shared on the Table Tennis England website and within the Clubs Newsletter.