Manchester Table Tennis club currently operates 13 tables in Belle Vue leisure centre on a Tuesday night from 17:45 to 21:45. We have around 120 players of which 35-55 will appear over a night. We are badly in need of expansion to a dedicated facility. We have a waiting list of groups, such as an over 50s group of mainly Cantonese speaking retired players who self-organise to play four times a week in different locations. This group has approached us, and with the Table Tennis England Development officer Andrea Holt, we think it will be possible to provide coaching to this group. Andrea previously played Olympic Table Tennis, and is a very experienced coach. By transforming the basement space in World Harvest we can offer Table Tennis to all sorts of groups (over 50s Bat & Chat, disability groups (whether mental/physical) and childrens groups (children in care, scouts, children with challenges). Table Tennis changes lives for the better, creating healthy friendships and communities.

What we'll deliver:

• Improving the flooring of the basement (to make it level) and adding removable specific table tennis flooring (Taraflex)
• Improving the lighting in the basement so that it meets the correct Table Tennis England Specification
• Purchasing specific table tennis barriers so that we can divide the space into courts
• Purchase of orange table tennis balls (so that we can see them against the white/cream coloured walls)
• Clearing the adjascent storage room (also in the basement) so that we can store the tables and lock them away safely
• Adding cameras so that we can monitor the room 24 hours a day and see that the players and equiment are ok
• Adding two stage electronic locks to the entry doors so that only one person can get in at a time
• Having some money towards rent and bills for the first few months operation

Why it's a great idea:

There is no dedicated table tennis centre in Manchester and also no performance table tennis clubs (that are producing country or national level table tennis talent) within the M60. The closest performance table tennis club is Halton (which is in Widnes which is most of the way to Liverpool) which we travel to twice a week. The closest 24 hour table tennis centre is an hour and a half drive east, in Keighley. It is our wish to give Table Tennis in Manchester a proper home, and start to work with all sorts of local groups that can benefit from participation. This includes almost every group that you can think about across different ages, languages, health conditions & reason to play. The intention is to operate the venue in a similar way to Brighton Table Tennis Club. The founder of the club has previously invited me to his home and I have had experience with him coaching in prison and with the different groups they work with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMBCsRpZTcE

Steps to get it done:

• Improve Flooring (levelling)
• Get TT specific flooring
• Clear equipment storage room
• Get flooring installed
• Get equipment storage room keys/locked
• Add cameras and access system
• Improve lighting
• purchaes barriers and balls
• arrange rental contract with world harvest
• get tables and other equipment insured
• promote centre with specific groups and open

Please watch the TED talk which explains about brighton table tennis club and the impact which it has had on the local area: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMBCsRpZTcE Also these are the details for Keighley Table Tennis Club http://keighleytabletennis.co.uk/ These are the details for Halton Table Tennis Club http://www.haltontabletennis.co.uk/ These are the details for Manchester Table Tennis Club https://www.facebook.com/ManchesterTableTennisClub/ With support from the Manchester League we have seven tournament level table tennis tables, six of which we could introduce into this space. This is important as the new cost of these tables would exceed £5000 and we already have the tables. There are so many opportunities for us to expand Table Tennis in Manchester but the huge challenge is sharing a space with other sports/schools. A dedicated space can get so many local people involved in either community or performance table tennis.