Alan Jolly, the Club President at the time, donated money towards the building of the pavilion but with a provisor that table tennis will always be played in said pavilion.

Mr Jolly, who owned a factory off Cheapside that manufactured sporting equipment, was a great fan of table tennis and he put together a very strong team at Hyde CC and they competed in the Stockport League.

He even paid for the England team coach to visit the Club on occasions to put the team through its paces. Brian Baldwin, Harold Lomax and Tony Whitehead were the stalwarts of the early team but were soon joined by John Hilton, who later became European Champion.

A second team was formed around 1970 run by Dennis Keating and Brian Hargreaves and this is the team I joined in 1971. We played in the now defunct Hyde and District League and there were five members in each team. Dennis disappeared shortly afterwards complaining that the games finished too late and he missed his pint, in fact I remember one game when he asked the opposition if they had a spare ball. The answer was no. Two minutes later Dennis 'accidentally' trod on the ball. The time was 10.15 and last orders in those days was 10.20! Match abandoned. Brian resigned from running the team in 1973 and I took over and have been organising it ever since.

Illustrious names that have played include: Dave Shaw - who could switch from right to left handed; Mervyn Riley - played table tennis just like he bowled, begrudged every point he lost; Mike Greaves - who was once winning a game with ease until his opponent, a very attractive blonde haired girl, took off her track-suit top to reveal a skimpy tee shirt and no bra, Mike didn't win another point! Phil Greaves - who glared at me after every point he lost before I could glare at him. Poor John Wright - who for sheer enthusiasm should never have been beaten, however he played for a couple of seasons and never won a game. Gary Marlor - who would only play an away game if there was a bar! Alan Godfrey - who was convinced he had a bad heart and would check his pulse after every game and once left half way through a match at Enfield Street because he couldn’t find it!. Alan Darnell - who left because he felt the opposition was not of a high enough standard. He went to play in the Stockport League and lost every game! Nick Brown - discovered the fairer sex were far more exciting than table tennis. Josie Barnes - who terrified every opponent with her bouncing bosoms! Alan Yates- excellent player, left because he realised he'd win nowt playing with us; Alan Platt - who only had one eye, his false one came out during one vigorous rally and his opponent thought it was the ball! Mark Stringer - who threatened every opponent that he'd floor them if he lost! Jonathan ... who used to pilfer money from the till whenever I was playing or scoring as I used to do the bar on Tuesdays, little sod! And probably a few more who I can't remember.

My late wife Brenda, scored for the first team for a while but she resigned after a match, when John Hilton, who after scrutinising his opponent insisted on writing in the score before he had even played him. As the game neared its finale, John asked Brenda what score he had put down for the last set. She refused to tell him or allow him to look at the card.

The first team folded around the mid 70's when Hilton won the European title and Tony Whitehead left to live in the Midlands.

For the second team, the Hyde league amalgamated with the Ashton League c.1978/9 and became the Tameside League. Hyde CC could usually be found in Div.2 or 3 of three divisions and we won various cups and also the Div.3 title in 1993. In that same season Mark Stringer and myself took the doubles title losing only one game all season and I only had to stop him fighting once.

The Tameside League folded in 2003 and we joined the Glossop TT League, which is where we are today. Our present team comprises myself, Ian Barker, who won the Div 2 individual knockout title a few years ago and Brian Hadfield.

Last season we won the Div.3 title losing only one game all season.

Brian was also the top player in the division.

The competition is now a three man event and this season has been very difficult as we lost our other player Mark to gout before the start of the season.

We are always looking for new players, if enough could be found we could run two teams.

We practice throughout the summer on Tuesday nights so if you fancy a hit, come along.

First practice will be Tuesday April 18th.at 8pm.

Look forward to seeing you.

Lee Brown.