Crewe Central is a not-for-profit table tennis club working with people of all ages and ability to learn a new skill, develop their talent, increase their mobility and socialise with others in a welcoming and supportive environment. Founded in 2012, we have a committee of 6 key volunteers, and 4 accredited coaches, including 2 newly qualified juniors.
In the short time it has been operating, the Club has won Club of the Year at the East Cheshire ‘EVERYBODY’ ceremony, and our founder Dennis Artess won the ‘Pride of Table Tennis’ Award, ‘Club Volunteer of the Year’ in November 2016, going on to win ‘Volunteer of the Year’ in March 2017. In parallel, in 2011, Bob Hope founded Elim Table Tennis Club at Elim Church Nantwich, which became a satellite club of Crewe Central. In recognition of his work at Nantwich Elim Church TT Club Bob won South East Cheshire Volunteer of the Year Award, and then in 2019 he was recognised at the Nantwich Town Council, Salt of the Earth Awards.
Working with youngsters, our goal is to help them be the best they can be, and we are delighted to see them do well at Cheshire Schools and regional competitions.
The club has a membership serving a wide-ranging community within Crewe, including members from areas of high deprivation (IMD2-3). As COVID restrictions lifted, we quickly but safely encouraged youngsters and adults to regain their confidence both physically and mentally, through playing table tennis, and our numbers have steadily increased to pre Covid levels.
Our success has been achieved in spite of the fact that we have never had a permanent venue, having to find new premises every few years. We currently have limited weekday evenings-only capacity in our existing hall and hope to expand into a larger hall developing new sessions, with a number of local community groups including: U3a, Leighton Hospital Dementia Dept and two local schools, who have all expressed interest in participating in and supporting our table tennis sessions.
With a full-time facility, there is so much more we could offer the community and need your support to make this happen.
