School Table Tennis Championships Sponsored by Belgrave Carpets

Darwen firm Belgrave Carpets is sponsoring the British Primary Schools International Table Tennis Championships which are being held in Blackburn for the third successive year.

The championships, which take place in April, will be held at St Bede’s High School on Green Lane in the town.

Organiser David Pilkington, said “I am absolutely delighted to have secured such a prestigious international competition once again. I hope that holding the competition in St Bede’s we help to raise awareness of the sport in our primary schools and across the borough as a whole.

Along with organising the event, David is also acting as team coach to the England boy’s team, he says “There is much hard work ahead prior to staging this event but it will be worthwhile when play gets underway. The players are all under 12 yet play to a standard that belies their years, it is a pleasure to be part of the whole event.”

David added: “I’d like to thank Steve Lee at Blackburn with Darwen Council for his help and dedication and to Des Callaghan, head teacher at St Bede’s and the board of Governors for allowing the school to host the competition, along with our sponsors Belgrave Carpets of Darwen.

Councillor Michael Law-Riding, executive member for leisure and culture for the Council said: “This is excellent news for the town and for the borough as a whole. The whole experience will be shared by students from St Bede’s who will be assisting with the championship.

“Those acting as umpires will gain a Junior Umpires qualification and along with these there will be a small army of volunteers working in the background to ensure all runs smoothly.”

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