9TH ANNUAL (NOT AT CLEVELAND ST) TABLE TENNIS COMPETITION
Well, last weekend saw the annual table tennis competition (as above) take place in the studios here in downtown Lilyfield.
You may well ask what is this all about? Well, I’ll tell you….it’s the continuation of a 9 or may be 10 year tradition of staging a friendly, amicable and totally absurd afternoon of table tennis. It started at the home of a good friend of mine, Ann Maree (aka Pat McGroyn) however, due to extenuating circumstances (nothing to do with any illegal practises) the event had to be moved to a new location. I put my hand up for an alternative venue and at the same time, managed to score a 2nd hand table from the antique dealer next door (who closed down shortly after the sale of the table). God was on our side. The event was not in danger of folding in fact it was about to take on even greater momentum and notoriety.
For example here’s the poster we formulated to promote this years competition. It features Pat (the Hostesse with the Mostesse and official adjudicator – her word is final) in her competition outfit as the face of TTTT (Table Tennis Today Tonight Tomorrow). It is customary that a general theme is devised for each year. This years theme was “Stuff Peace – Give War a Chance”. The theme is accompanied by a dress code which was…..”Dress for Conflict”!
Basically the afternoon is designed as “friends coming together for a bit of fun and a chance to be silly together”. The table tennis competition acts as an engaging focal point for this main activity. Some even have a serious competitive approach to their game (can you believe it?), others are happy just to be part of the fun and don’t mind at all if they are knocked out in the early rounds.
Once the games have been won or lost, the winners emerge. A medal ceremony takes place, including awards for “the worst dressed”, “The most disliked”, “the most incorrect” and so on…….. My friend Jonathan Turner (Rome based art curator), each year at the end of the proceedings, formulates an hysterical “Court Report”. The Court Report is an paradocial, inside view of what happened during the afternoon with some deep insights into the motivations of some of the players. A must read!
Here are a few further shots from the day…..all in all, a lot of fun!
