Brian began his journey in table tennis at the age of 14 when joining a local youth club in High Wycome and by the age of 16 he was not only competing in the local league but was already showing skills in committee work as he became club secretary and also organised a Junior league for interested teams.
In his playing career Brian won a number of local league titles and went on to represent Buckinghamshire at both Senior and Veterans level. In 1982 he became Vice-Chairman of the High Wycome league and also the development officer and also had two spells as Buckinghamshire county match secretary.
In 2002 Brian moved to Derby and quickly established himself as a member of the Draycott & Long Eaton Table Tennis Club playing in both the Derby & Loughborough leagues, which he continued to do so until the end of 2014 season, seeing him complete an amazing 58 years (across 7 decades) of continuous league and competition play.
In 2004 the Draycott club were searching for a new chairman and knowing that Brian had nearly 50 years’ experience in table tennis he was put forward as a candidate and was duly elected.
During the next two years the club underwent a massive £450,000 refurbishment which saw Brian heavily involved in the development of the new Draycott Table Tennis Centre.
In 2007 due to the potential increase in the Centre’s activities, Brian stepped down as chairman but was asked to take on the very demanding and challenging role of chairman of the newly formed Draycott Table Tennis Centre Management Committee with a remit to develop the Centre’s weekend activities.
Brian has been outstandingly successful in this role which during the last 10 years has seen the Centre stage more than 250 important and several very prestigious events including a Women’s International, several County & British League weekends, the County Cadets Premier Division, Vets County Premier, National Cadet (U/15) Masters, the ETTA National Team Finals, Senior British League Play-off finals, County Closed Championships for Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire and town championships for Derby, Nottingham & Loughborough, four Open Days plus TTE Coaching seminar weekends, some England Junior Training Camps and tournaments for the Civil Service, HM Revenue & Customs and BTTAD Disability competitions.
Among his many other Volunteer activities Brian was a member of the ETTA’s Marketing Committee for eight years and also organised several very successful Midland Masters at Wolverhampton on behalf of the Table Tennis England’s VETTS Association. He was also chairman of the Derby Table Tennis Leagues Development Committee so regularly attends Derby League Committee meetings
Brian (along with the help of his wife Terrie) gained a growing reputation for staging well organised events at the Draycott Table Tennis Centre providing a friendly and efficient service including providing both hot and cold food and refreshments and on many occasions refereeing the event.
Brian was also a qualified umpire and could be seen umpiring at several top Table Tennis England events including the National Junior Championships and the National U/11 – U/14 Championships
He also had a heavy involvement with the marketing for both the 2009 & 2011 English Open, taking on the role in his usual enthusiastic manner.
High praise was constantly heaped on this hard-working and enthusiastic individual and all those who have visited and played at the Draycott Table Tennis Centre would have appreciated the fantastic effort that he made to ensure that every event was a success.
Brian passed away at home on February 21 after a short illness following an operation. His experience, drive and commitment will be sorely missed.
His funeral will be at 11.20am on March 8th at Markeaton Crematorium. Family flowers only, donations to the Derbyshire Air Ambulance.
The family has requested that those attending wear red, white or blue.