Author: Stephen Horton

Local leagues are preparing for a return in the very near future and after a recent meeting we have made the following decisions which will operate until until league play commences. All decisions will be reviewed periodically.

1. The current on-line booking system will remain in place for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sundays until league play commences.

2. The club remains a members only club and all players at Woodfield must be members. There are no guest fees.

3. Team secretaries who have not returned during the pandemic will need to re-join membership and go through the usual procedures to register teams for the coming season. WOLVERHAMPTON league is planning to start in early October and match nights are TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY. This change was made by request to avoid Thursday clashes with other leagues – Birmingham League as an example.

4. The current table set up must be left in place as we need this for the on-line system to work. Any other table tennis activities that require additional tables must use the wheeled fold out tables from the store room but MUST RETURN THE ROOM TO THE 4 TABLE SET UP after use.

5. We will still continue to keep a record of people using the hall and wearing of masks is optional. We do encourage good personal hygiene and request that tables are cleaned after use.

6. Tuesday night from 6-11 will be a CLUB NIGHT with the focus on PREPARING FOR LEAGUE PLAY. No booking is needed – just turn up and play. THIS WILL START ON TUESDAY 17TH AUGUST. There will be 4 tables and you will be expected to rotate every 10 minutes. A top table format can be used. The idea is that you get a variety of play and members can mix in more as opposed to the more prescriptive choice of practice partner through the booking. Many club members have made this request so will are blocking off the bookings on Tuesdays until leagues start. All players MUST BE MEMBERS. £87 for adult membership for a year still represents great value compared with similar clubs around the country.
Enjoy the return to competition and we look forward to seeing returning members and new faces.

Table Tennis at Woodfield returned on Monday 17th May therefore members can plan their sessions in the usual way using the on-line booking system. We have picked up where we left off by adhering to our covid risk assessment policy to help minimise the risk of covid infection. New members or members who did not renew in August are welcome to the club. Please fill in the relevant membership form from the bar and make the appropriate payment before playing. Laura – our new Stewardess will process this for you.
Coaching returns on Friday 21st from 6 – 8pm and Saturday commencing at 10 am. Please book your place through coach Chris Tarr. Chris is also available for 1 to 1 coaching but you will need to arrange this with Chris.

Woodfield Table Tennis section will be closed from 10pm tonight with the exception of Junior coaching tomorrow morning. Sadly, we must comply with new restrictions brought in this morning by TTE and also consider the viability of the club and the fact that we have players from tiers 1 and 2 attending the club. We will await further clarification in the coming week(s) from TTE and Woodfield Sports and Social management committee. Not the best news considering how well things have been going at the club recently. I will update you as soon as I can so please await further information.

Following restrictions being put in place by the government on 22nd September, there will be no major changes to our current set up.
The Social and Sports club requires you to wear a mask on entry to the table tennis hall and when you are walking around the club for various reasons.
We also ask you to continue to follow the covid policy that has been in place for 6 weeks now. It is really important that you register your name in the track and trace book on entry to the hall and that when you have finished your session you leave the playing facility and avoid socialising inside the hall.

Thank you to all the volunteers who attended the meeting last night, for your valuable comments and kind offers of help to give up hours of time. We now have people in place to supervise our return to play club policy. This is great news as we are putting in that extra layer of safety and monitoring for our returning and new members and to help us to operate as well as we can. Hopefully we can open up more opportunities as we progress – this is the plan.

The booking system is now live on the website with information to help you book. A big thank you to Ben Willson for providing this for us. Book now but you must pay membership on Friday 14th August or before you intend to play. Also to read and sign our return to play policy with your membership form.

PLEASE BRING YOUR OLD MEMBERSHIP CARD WITH YOU AND VISIT THE BAR TO SUPPORT THE CLUB. THIS COULD BE A GOOD SOCIAL SESSION

On the timetable I presented in my previous post there will be Junior coaching sessions run by Chris Tarr on a Saturday and Sunday mornings. You will need to arrange this through Chris as there is no online booking for this due to the software set up.. You can contact Chris on 07789-619-886 for anything you need to know about these sessions. The sessions start on Saturday 15th August. PLEASE CONTACT CHRIS DIRECTLY

We are requesting that you bring your own hand sanitiser after the first week of bookings as we need to keep our running costs to a minimum.

Please arrive promptly for your booking slot and wait outside – socially distanced until the current players leave the room ON TIME. There will be supervision for every session to help with a smooth transition.

I have no doubt that there may be teething problems and nothing is perfect so please be patient and feedback in a constructive way and be grateful that we have the opportunity to play in some form in these strange times. The club will not be like it was before the pandemic but let’s see and fingers crossed that there is not another lockdown before we get started. Just remember – we are just getting started and not picking up where we left off. We should just enjoy playing and keeping active.

On a personal note – any further questions will be addressed on Friday 14th August as I will not be available for 6 days.

Steve Horton

Table tennis will resume on Sat 15th August following a new temporary timetable and appropriate covid-19 safety guidelines.

Sat morning – Junior coaching with Chris Tarr

Sat 2.15 pm – 7.15 pm members

Sunday morning – Junior coaching with Chris Tarr

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 6 – 9.45 pm members

This can be done using the online booking system from 9 am Sat morning – 8th August. Details for booking will be put on the website. It is a booking only system for members and all sessions will be monitored and recorded for track and trace purposes. Rules will also be posted.
If things go to plan then more slots will be added to the booking system after a short initial evaluation period. Please be patient and thank you to Ben Wilson for setting this up for us.

Membership renewal will be on Friday 14th August 5 pm- 10 pm to fill in membership forms, sign covid-19 policy agreement and distribution of activated membership cards. There will be no table tennis on this night but why not support the club with a visit to the lounge bar.

Prices remain unchanged
Adult £87
Adult couple £156
Family £186
60+ £71
60+ couple £142
Junior £46

Looking forward to seeing returning and new members on Friday 14th

Best wishes
Steve Horton

I am pleased to inform members that we intend to open our doors for a ‘return to table tennis’ on Saturday 15th August. We will be returning by strictly following government and TTE guidelines regarding indoor sports and stage 2 – limited club activity. We are a community club with members ranging from young cadets to super, super veterans (90+) so we have to be very cautious and respectful regarding rules to keep everyone safe.

We will start, initially with a reduced timetable as advised by TTE and review this on a regular basis with a view to opening up more activity based on how things progress. I would like to thank those people who have volunteered to act as covid officers during these sessions to keep a watchful eye and help with the various recording mechanisms for track and trace purposes.

Membership expired at the end of March so returning members will need to renew their membership before playing. This will last until September 2021. Woodfield is strictly a members only club and all who play there MUST be members. There will not be any visitor payments or guests as all of our risk assessments and insurance policies are linked to members only. Juniors receiving coaching must also be members. As always, we are happy to welcome new members.

Andy Rich and myself will be available at the club on Friday 14th August from 5 pm-10 pm to take payment, issue new club cards and various information.

All details about membership costs, timetabled sessions and the booking system will be posted on this website and the facebook page as soon as those details are finalised.

We are really looking forward to seeing our returning members and getting the club up and moving again.

Steve Horton