WEYMOUTH & District Table Tennis League chairman Neil Hardisty paid tribute to a highly popular recipient of this year’s Mainstop Trophy as members met for the league’s annual presentation and AGM at the Rey-nold’s Institute in Broadwey.

The prestigious, Meritorious Effort award is presented to someone who, in the eyes of the committee, have made a significant contribution to the league and there was little doubt from those in attendance that this year’s winner – secretary Andy Millar – was by far the most worthy of recipients.

In his own words, Hardisty said: “There can be absolutely no doubt that due to his energy, passion, commitment and enthusiasm there has been a renaissance in table tennis in the Weymouth and District area.

“His willingness to give his time and talent has seen the introduction of weekly after-school clubs at All Saints and Wey Valley, a schools’ league introducing more youngsters to competitive table tennis, and junior coaching on Saturdays. There can be no-one more deserving of this honour.”

Millar has been the leading light of the league’s resurgence over the last two years since taking on the dual role of secretary and development secretary. And this year his efforts met with remarkable success as Millar landed a development grant of £9,600 from Sport England that means schools will have access to much-needed equipment as the sport continues to flourish at youth level.

In his own development report, Millar listed countless success stories from the last 12 months – the highlight being the establishment of a competitive schools junior league, which saw 24 teams, including six girls’ sides, building on the progress made with after-school clubs.

A further highlight saw seven of the local youngsters attending regional development training in Bournemouth and those young players have also been invited to ETTA South-West training sessions.

Among a plethora of junior success stories, Team Solent/Wey-mouth won the National Cadet League (under-13) second division – a league that saw Ben Graham (unbeaten) and Jamie Blair represent the local outfit at Waterside while Snigdha Maganti and Sam Millar guested for Bournemouth teams.

Furthermore Lily Cherry rec-eived significant backing from the league as she travelled to Don-caster to represent the county in the English Schools Individual finals while Maganti represented Dorset for the county cadets.

In his secretary’s report, Millar also thanked his team of volunteers for their sterling efforts over a highly successful season, in particular Andy Crouch for his “vital role as fixture secretary”.

The chairman reminded members of the sad passing of three stalwarts of the league in Rob Taylor, Richard Hill and Godfrey Axe, before a few moments silence for reflection.

Members of Taylor’s family were in attendance and it was fitting that they were there to present the new Rob Taylor Trophy – a fitting tribute to a highly popular man who had made such a generous donation to the league to promote junior table tennis.

In his annual address, president Brian Copp heaped praise on those who had overseen the league’s survival and now into a resurgence which was “a tremendous achievement”.

Copp added: “We really are taking off – it’s been a great season and I have seen new faces in our tournament who have impressed with their efforts. It gives me a warm feeling knowing how we are progressing.”

* The Weymouth Schools Ind-ividual Tournament takes place on July 13 at the Wey Valley Tennis Centre, which is also set to host a Bribar bat testing session on August 3 between 11am and 2pm, which is open to all.