TEN YEARS AGO: Skegness table tennis team make top four in nation

Table tennis stars at Richmond School, Skegness, 10 years ago.

The under 11s team would face three other teams in the national finals of the Butterfly National School Team Championships on March 20.

The team, made up of Year Six pupils Alfie Gregory and Jack Hayes and Year Five pupils Thomas Ford and Tom Jarvis, won the county competition and then, representing Lincolnshire, won through the regional East Midlands heats.

Coach Jean Taylor, a one-to-one assistant at the school, said this was the furthest the school team had got after five years of entering the competition.

She added: “Whether they come first, second, third or fourth, they are in the top four. We have never been this far. I am really, really proud of them.”

The competition was organised by the English Schools Table Tennis Team Association.

The quartet are, from left, Alfie Gregory, Jack Hayes, Thomas Ford, and Tom Jarvis.