New Milton Table Tennis Club took the unusual step of nominating two of its officers for the “Club Volunteer of the Year” award under Table Tennis England’s Annual “Pride of Table Tennis” awards scheme. Looking at the nominations below shows why the club felt that both Steve Hemmings and Malcolm Floyd were worthy of this honour:-

Steve took on the role of club chairman in 2014 to which he brought the qualities of leadership and professionalism acquired from his previous roles in IT and Project Management businesses. Despite a very busy professional life, running a number of family businesses, Steve works extremely hard for the club and is always on hand to support other club officers in their duties. Steve was the prime mover in the club’s very successful relocation to the Dorset Table Tennis Centre at the Grange School in Somerford. Steve is always looking for ways to return value to the club membership, for example he organised a series of very successful free coaching sessions for members in 2016. In terms of the current year, Steve was highly involved in the club’s recent clubmark re-accreditation, and continued to captain the A team in the local Premier league. As usual, he organised the club’s presence in the annual Rugby Club Fun Day at which PING! New Forest was launched. Being of a highly practical disposition, inter alia, Steve also repairs the club’s damaged table tennis tables, even enlisting the help of long-suffering wife Lynn on the most recent occasion. Steve does not shout his achievements from the rooftops, rather he just gets on with things in his quiet and unassuming manner, making him truly one of Table Tennis’ “unsung heroes”.

Malcolm has worked on the New Milton Committee for many years, providing professional guidance and active support in many areas. Over the last year he has carried out the role of club Treasurer, whilst simultaneously being Press Secretary and Minutes Secretary. As a qualified accountant, he fulfils the role of Treasurer with skill, providing the necessary returns and financial guidance to the committee. In his role as Press Secretary, he collates all team results and posts a weekly summary on the club web site; he also provides a similar report to the local press for publication. In addition, Malcolm took on the role of Minutes Secretary following the resignation of the previous incumbent and these are now of the highest quality. On top of this, Malcolm volunteered to take the lead role in the club’s Clubmark re-accreditation process earlier this year. This involved a considerable amount of work collating, updating and entering the many documents and evidence required. Through his guidance, the club obtained re-accreditation in under 5 weeks, an achievement celebrated on the TTE web site home page.

Table Tennis England duly issued the certificates which were presented to Steve and Malcolm by Club Secretary Bev Scott-Johns at a small ceremony at a recent club night at the Grange, Somerford (photo below; l-r Malcolm, Bev, Steve).

Both winners will be considered into the Regional Pride of Table Tennis Awards which will be announced next year. Malcolm wished Steve good luck in the regionals and Steve responded likewise, humbly adding that he thought Malcolm the more deserving case. Malcolm begged to differ!

Secretary Bev Scott-Johns was the recipent of the Club Volunteer of the Year award last season and was delighted that his fellow officers had been similarly honoured. The club is indeed fortunate to have these three chaps at the helm.