Baddow Village Table Tennis Club was formed in April 1982 following a decision to separate the tennis and table tennis activities of The Great Baddow Recreation Ground Tennis Club. It was originally called the Great Baddow Table Tennis Club. Several of its founder members remain members today.

The Club's first chairman, appointed at a meeting in April 1982, was Edward (Ted) Harris. A position Ted held with character and dignity for 17 years until he retired in May 1999. The picture below shows Ted being presented with an engraved plate marking his service to the Club on the occasion of his retirement. The presentation was made by Mr Arthur Clark, secretary of rival club Essex County Council Staff & Sports Association, a long time adversary of Ted's on the table. 

As with many private members clubs BVTTC has enjoyed its ups and downs over the years. It has however been able to consistently offer a "club night" where all members and their guests can come to play table tennis on a purely social level. Visitors and potential new recruits have also always been welcome at these sessions, held on a Friday evening, on a "come and try" basis. Baddow is one of the few clubs in the Chelmsford area to consistently offer this facility. And it has helped to maintain the family friendly atmosphere that the club has. 

The club is a member of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League (C&DTTL) and through it affiliated to the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA). Although it is a fairly modest club in size - regularly averaging just over 30 adult members - the club were delighted in the year 2000 to gain admittance to the ETTA PremierClub scheme. The only club in the Chelmsford League to have so far gained entrance to that scheme.

Over the years the club has taken part at every level of the Chelmsford League. It currently operates 8 senior and 3 junior league teams which span the 6 divisions of the league. And the League Handbook (which can be found at www.cdttl.org ) testifies to the Club's success over the years showing that it has won every main division in the period since 1982 - with the exception of the very top division. But who knows, one day our turn will come.

The club has also enjoyed success in League Cup competitions having at various times won the Restricted KO Cup and the Handicap KO Cup.

Being a family club BVTTC has always been keen to promote table tennis among young people. It encourages junior members and has a reduced fee structure to support that. Currently it has a thriving and growing junior section, who often make Club Night somewhat interesting!

For many years the highlight of the club calendar was an annual Barn Dance, often held in the nearby village hall. But times change and that has now given way to the "Quiz Night", a less active but no less enjoyable social occasion. the Club also have an annual club dinner, currently usually held around the end of the playing season.

As a private members club we are governed by our constitution and decision of our members in General Meeting, with the AGM being held in mid May. The Club is prudently managed, preparing annual audited accounts to 30 April which are made available to all members and approved at the AGM. 

Since 1991 the Club has produced its own annual Newsletter "BVTTC News" and recent examples of this can be found on this site. One of the main features of that Newsletter is a review of the Club tournament. This is known as the Tom Burns Trophy. The Cup having been presented to the memory of one of the clubs founder members Mr Tom Burns. In addition to this trophy which is competed for on a handicap system, so as to give all an equal chance of success, the Club also now run a fun doubles competition for the Purkiss Robinson trophy. This trophy is named after and presented by two of our longest serving members who, as you might have guessed, specialize in doubles play. The Club also introduced a new trophy in 2000 as a tribute to the service of the retiring chairman Ted Harris, which is aptly known as the Ted Harris Youth Trophy and is competed for by the club's under 21's section.  

All in all Baddow Village is a good club to belong to. If you would like to know more about participating or joining see the "Frequent Questions" page of this site.