THE Weymouth and District League is is set for another big year as the season gets underway.

Last season Divisions Two and Three were both won by young teams from Budmouth, however one match in Division Three highlighted one of the many advantages of table tennis, that you are never too old to compete.

The combined age of Budmouth D was just 38 in total, whereas the combined age of the Pilgrims B squad was 235.

The Pilgrims B outfit is made up of a squad of five players – Ken Winship, Richard Ellerby, Frank Dalimore, Alex Bailey and Barry Thomas, who joined from Colliton last season.

They play out of the Springfield Club in Weymouth and only for-med as a B Team last term.

They previously played as Pilgrims and had won the Divi-sion Two title five times since the turn of the millennium. Pilgrims A will be playing in Division One this season.

Ellerby started playing table tennis when he was 14 and his first league experience was in the Chiltern League at the age of 20.

He won the league’s Open Handicap Tournament in the 2002-03 season and he and Dalimore also won the Division Two doubles title in the same year.

Winship started playing for a youth club side in the Grays & Tilbury League in 1949 when he was twelve and still enjoys training and playing today.

All five members of the Pilgrims B squad have had long, enjoyable careers playing table tennis and, hopefully, this is something that the current youth players in Weymouth can also look forward to.

The league is still looking for new teams to join regardless of ability.

If you would like some further information, contact the fixtures secretary Andy Crouch at andy.weyttl@btinternet.com