Student Achievement
On Friday 23rd July Matthew Cassar worked his way up to the final of the MTTA u15 ranking plate event. This was Matthews first experience outside Nursery competitions.
WELL DONE MATTHEW

58th Malta Youth Championships
30th July - 2nd August

TTN Student ADAM ZOUARI is MALTA Boys U15 Champion

TTN Student JESSICA PACE is MALTA Girls U15 / U18 Champion

     Press Release : 11 April 2010

The Sicilian Experience

During the third weekend of March 2010,  the ladies round-robin league in Sicily came to an end with our Maltese junior player Jessica Pace contributing positively to ensure that her team (Pol Liotro) secured second place in the overall classification.

Thirty females from different clubs participated, with matches taking place in Catania, Pedana, Palermo, Zafferana and Acireale and encounters were played on a Davis Cup system.  In both the singles and doubles matches, Jessica Pace and her team-mate Maria Pia Prestifilippo were involved in close and exciting matches. In the singles their toughest opponents were Loridana Rampelli, Marzia Bucca and Franka Paola Cipprioli. The participation in Sicily has served to strengthen our local youngster physically, mentally and tactically when competing against female opponents. Unfortunately, during her last trip to Sicily, Jessica also had to deal with a wrist injury.

In Malta, Jessica is eligible to play in the Under-15 and Under-18 mixed categories and once a year she has the opportunity to play the Ladies Open at the National Championships. In this category, she was runner-up last year after having won the category in 2008. Presently ranked at No. 1 in the Under-15 Boys and Girls classification, Jessica also promotes the sport on behalf of the Table Tennis Nursery by conducting demonstrations in girls' schools in an initiative to attract more participation from girls in her age-group.

Recently, TTN held its first Donic Grand Prix and players competed in three categorie namely Beginners, Emerging and Intermediate. Adam Zouari is heading the Intermediate table, Raul Fenech leads the Emerging group and Matthew Cassar is first in the Beginners category. Meanwhile parents had the opportunity to show off their skills during the Easter tournament. Bernard Cassar emerged as the winner, beating Edwin Scerri 2-1 in the final. This tournament, together with the Christmas tournament has become an annual appointment on TTN calendar.

Boys and girls interested in joining the Table Tennis Nursery can do so by logging on to http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu/ or calling on 9944 6916   

Press Release : 21 Feburary 2010

News from Table Tennis Nursery

On Friday 12^th February, 3^rd division table tennis team Comets Errea, made up of Robert Mizzi, Martin Borg, Daniel Said and Michaela Xerri, encountered the leading club of the division, Dream Team, in the second round of the national league. With a combination of talent, skill, determination and character Comets Errea managed to win the match 6-3. It was an exciting match from start to finish and it took over three and a half hours of table tennis before Comets Errea finally managed to emerge winners and inflict the first defeat of the season on the Dream Team.

The turning point of the match was when Martin Borg made a superb comeback against Olaf Magri, wining the match 3-2 despite being 2-1 and 10-7 down at one stage.During the match, the Comets Errea players showed great character and tactical awareness in overcoming difficult situations. Both Robert Mizzi and Daniel Said came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Ryan Tabone and Miguel Balzan respectively. All players, including Michaela Xerri who was a reserve on the night, received words of praise for their top performance and the team spirit shown during the match. Team Comets Errea is serving as a platform to introduce Table Tennis Nursery intermediate players to the local national league and plans for the future include the introduction of one or two other teams.

Malta's top ranked Under-15 player, Jessica Pace continued with her excellent performances with Catania based club Pol Liotro, and together with her partner Maria Pia Prestifilippo obtained two wins from three matches in another round of the Sicilian Femminile league played recently. The best individual encounters of the round were against opponents Claudia Licardi, Sabrina Grasso and Marzia Bucca. In the doubles Prestifilippo and Pace encountered difficult opposition from club Paolo Sidoti players Fiore and Licardi, but succeeded in winning 3-2, with the final score of the last match being 11-9. The national airline Airmalta is supporting Jessica with her travel requirements from Malta to Sicily and back.

The Table Tennis Nursery administrators would also like to congratulate Jurgen Sammut and Daniel Said for their performance in the 3^rd National Junior Under-13 Ranking tournament held recently. Jurgen Sammut starting on a positive note with a 3-0 victory over Jake Galea before being defeated at the semi-final stage, whilst Daniel Said made it to the final and after an exciting match, lost 3-1 to Andrea Portelli, the eventual winner.

Finally, on February 27^th, the first TTN Donic Grand Prix event will take place and the nursery players will be taking part at 3 different levels: beginners, emerging and intermediate. This is a new format being introduced this year with the objective of placing players in a competition according to their skill rather than their age. Interested boys and girls may contact the Nursery on 9944 6916 or visit http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu/ for more information.

During the TTN annual awards evening, David Pace, director of the Nursery highlighted some of last year's events and achievements. He emphasised that table tennis coaching was not limited to the conventional method and explained that the Nursery offered a holistic approach to the development of its young talents by organising talks, seminars and workshops all related to the discipline of table tennis. The Nursery also organised its first Donic Grand Prix tournaments whereby players gained ranking points and could measure their improvement in Mini Cadet and Cadet Categories.

Various international players and coaches were invited to conduct sessions and share their experience with TTN students in particular Mr Holtz and Mr Auruda from Sweeden and Portugal respectively. The introduction of Daniel Said and Micheala Xerri into the 3^rd division National League was another initiative by Nursery board member Robert Mizzi together with Dr. Martin Borg.

Nursery players last season also began to make their own individual mark at local junior ranking tournaments and players like Jurgen Sammut, David Grima, Karl Wismayer, Micheala Xerri and Ryan Cachia are all making progress and challenging more established youths. David Pace also mentioned that the Nursery was proud to see Adam Zouari win the National U18 ranking plate event and Daniel Said finishing as runner-up in the U13 category. 

The TTN has strengthened its relations with Sicilian club Pol Liotro.  Thanks to this cooperation, one of its players, 15 year old Jessica Pace, is competing in the Sicilian league. The Nursery also organised Christmas and Easter tournaments for parents that proved to be very popular and David Pace thanked all parents present for their interest and support for all the TTN issues and activities.

The introduction of a Donic robot was another sensible step as it helps coaches and players to work and improve any technical difficulties. The sponsorship renewal with Malta Sports Online confirms the supports that TTN is receiving in the development of table tennis in Malta and David Pace thanked Mr Stephen Rizzo for the support. Last year the Nursery promoted table tennis by means of school exhibitions and by constantly updating its website at http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu/.

Looking forward, David Pace told guests, parents and players that the same momentum will be kept during 2010 with new competitions and the possibility of a training camp abroad given high priority. The evening came to an end with the presentation of awards to Jurgen Sammut for Best Improved Player; David Grima for Best Technical Player; Micheala Xerri and Daniel Said for Most Dedicated Players, followed by Donic Grand Prix Mini Cadets runner up Elena Pocock and winner Sacha Pace plus Donic Grand Prix Cadets runner up David Grima and winner Daniel Said.

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At the last MTTA junior ranking tournament players from TTN were protagonists and showed a marked improvement in the development of their skills. Daniel Said reached the final of the U13 category while Jurgan Sammut was only eliminated at semi-final stage of the same group. Adam Zouari emerged as the winner of the plate event in the U18 and Jessica Pace, the only girl who participated in this category reached the final. In the U15 group satisfactory results were obtained by David Grima , Ryan Cachia , Micheala Scerri and Karl Wismayer notwithstanding that there was no representation by any of the TTN players in the final of this category.

Prior to this junior ranking Jessica Pace had just returned from Palermo and her team Pol Liotro was victorious over club Pol Sporting 3-2 and victorious 5-0 over club ASD Etneo. The full results are as follows: Jessica Pace vs Paola Platania 3-2; Jessica Pace/Maria Pia Prestifilipo vs Francesca Apario/Paola Platania 3-0; Jessica Pace vs Francesca Apario 2-3. In the encounter against ASD Etneo Jessica overcame Laura Mangia and Sonia Ivone 3-1; 3-1 together with her doubles partner Mariapia they also secured the doubles match 3-0. David Pace commented that the overall standard at cadet and junior level in Malta is rising and new faces and talents are becoming more frequent. The Nursery is proud to have players who are making their mark and emerging as top athletes.

More TTN news may be accessed by visiting http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu//

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Press Release: 27th October 2009

Table Tennis Nursery Moves On

 Martin Borg - Micheala Scerri - Daniel Said - Robert Mizzi

Under the guidance of Robert Mizzi and Dr Martin Borg, a new team, Comets Errea has been formed with the main objective being to give an opportunity to youngsters attending coaching sessions at TTN to participate in the 3^rd division of our National League.Developing students will therefore gain experience in a competition atmosphere and have the opportunity to play more competitive matches. Daniel Said and Michaela Scerri are the first to benefit from such an opportunity, with Robert Mizzi commenting that as more students from the Nursery improve, other teams will be formed to give the youngsters similar opportunities.The first match was played on the 2 October 2009 and both Michaela and Daniel performed well, with Daniel winning two points from three for his team.

Nursery player Jurgen Sammut also took part in this year's first Under-13 National Ranking tournament, and did very well by reaching the semi final against a more experienced Andrea Portelli, the current title holder of the category. The TTN team congratulates Daniel, Michaela and Jurgen for their performances. Various events are being programmed for 2010 but before the end of the year, TTN students can look forward to the 5^th in-house Grand Prix tournament and a workshop on sport psychology conducted by high profile sports consultant Ms Adele Muscat.

As part of the junior development programme TTN has reached an agreement with Pol Sporting Table Tennis club Catania so that it would be possible for Nursery players with advanced playing standard to be given the opportunity to play in the Sicilian league. Dott Bellassai president of Pol Sporting this year expressed interest in engaging 14 year old Jessica Pace to play for his club, Femmine B category. After discussions with the Sicilian counterparts a contract was signed by the parties.  Matches will be played on a Saturday and Sunday in regions around Sicily, the Maltese athlete will benefit from encountering many female competitors with different styles of play, she will also benefit from separate warm up sessions with a variety of top level sparing partners.

The first match of the league is scheduled to be played on the weekend of 3rd and 4th October.  David Pace, director of the Nursery informed us that this is a positive situation to enhance overall performance and raise the standard of emerging table tennis players. "Sicily is our connection to mainland Europe and we feel it is important to take advantage of the proximity it has with Malta, the time has come so that even in sport we measure ourselves immiedtly with European counterparts, we are confident that it is the way forward. " He also added that "any player from the TTN who reaches a high standard of play may in future benefit from this agreement".   Air Malta is in the forefront of all travel arrangements required, the company believes in such an opportunity and supports it fully to the extent that a sponsorship arrangement has been reached.

 

 

 

More information may be obtained by calling on 9944 6916 or visiting http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu/

Recently in order to assist novice players, intermediate players and high skilled players reach the maximum of their potential during training sessions the Nursery invested in a Ball computer which is designed to be electronically pre programmed to feed balls at different velocities, angles, spin and intensity. Head coach David Pace and English coach David Read told us that the state of the art DONIC ball computer commonly known as a table tennis robot will be used to its maximum. Together with conventional training, children will have the opportunity to learn the basic and more technical strokes in a more effective and faster manner. One of the main features of the robot is that it keeps shooting balls to preset targets accurately and without failure and with no time limit, consequently also enhancing their aerobic performance.

The Nursery directors told us that the robot will represent only a small but vital percentage of the training program because players still need to be guided under the supervision of experienced instructors. The acquisition of the robot was made possible due to the partnership and collaboration between TTN and Malta Sports Online, both parties having a common interest to promote table tennis to youngsters in Malta. Further information to be professionally coached may be obtained by contacting the Nursery on 9944 6916 or visiting http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu

On Sunday 29th March table tennis player Jessica Pace succeeded in winning the plate event of the Cippenham Juniors open tournament. She competed in the girl's singles category. In the final she beat Yasmin Majada from the UK with the following scores: 7 - 11, 11- 9, 13 - 11, 12 - 10. The training camps at Kingfisher and Ashford were also successful and British coach Niki Jarvis had words of praise for her efforts and performance.

 

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Press Release: March 26th 2009

London Table Tennis Tournament

Local Cadet Girls Champion, Junior Girls Champion and current holder of the Malta Ladies title Jessica Pace has been invited to compete at two tournaments in London. The first competition is a two star Junior girl's tournament which will be taking place at the Cippenham table tennis centre. Approximately two hundred players will be taking part and the competition will consist of round robin groups followed by a knock out and a plate event. We have been told that the level in Cippenham is quite high so Jessica stands to benefit from such an experience.  The second tournament will be played in Cheltenham and here the standard is even higher because as we have been told this competition attracts some of the best girls outside London too.

Through out her stay Jessica will also be attending training at the Ashford table tennis Centre under the guidance of Niki Jarvis who is one of the top Instructors in the UK. A few training sessions are also planned to take place at Reading table tennis club. Jessica is well prepared and this month she also had the opportunity to practice in Malta with top players from Italy, Luxembourg and Spain at the Malta Junior Circuit, unfortunately she was unwell when it was her day of competition and consequently had to miss out. Jessica's participation at  the London Table Tennis Tournament is being fully sponsored by Table Tennis Nursery in Malta.      

Press Release : 22nd February 2009 

TTN Players Register Progress

On Friday 20^th February, Table Tennis Nursery cadet player Jurgen Sammut obtained a positive result in the National under 13 category by reaching the semi final of the competition. Jurgen, who is an attacking left handed player remained calm in all his encounters, some of which had some exciting exchange of rallies. This was his second participation on a national level. The first time he had participated was in the under 15 competition which proved slightly tougher. Aged 9, Jurgen felt comfortable and confident in last Friday's competition and the Nursery directors would like to acknowledge his progress.

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Press Release : 3rd January 2009

Parents in Action at the Table Tennis Nursery

As part of the Christmas and end of term celebrations, Table Tennis Nursery organised a parent's tournament, a first of its kind which resulted in an event with excellent participation, enthusiasm and spirit of competition involving parents of children who receive coaching at TTN.

This time round, it was the children who cheered, supported and gave tips to their mum and dad who responded very willingly to the advice in order to reach the final. After over an hour of competition, the final was contested by Anthony Grima and Edwin Scerri. All the kids and other parents gathered to support and cheer the various rallies and exchange of strokes until Anthony emerged as winner, beating Edwin 2 - 1 in a very keenly contested and close match.

David Pace commented that this event had succeeded in going beyond table tennis. "Our Nursery managed to bridge the gap between active kids and passive onlooking parents who normally drop and pick up their children at the nursery or wait until the training session is over. Thanks to this event, parents had the opportunity to interact with each other, be active, exercise and spend some quality time with their children. It was a win win situation for everybody and we will include such an event on our calendar."

2008 was a positive year for TTN with a full training program which included fun, competition talks and seminars coupled with encouraging National results in the Girls category by Jessica Pace and Micheala Scerri together with registered progress in the Boys field by Daniel Said and Alberto Cachia. Encouraging commitment was also seen in the mini cadets sector (under 10 years) that was guided by resident foreign coach David Read. The students in this category were Sorin Nicodimescu, Luke Zammit, Sacha Pace, Elena Pocock and Yanic Dobler.

During 2009, TTN will continue to promote table tennis to youngsters with focus on the cadet and mini cadet categories. The Nursery board has also made arrangements to promote the sport in schools through extra curricula programs making coaching easily accessible to schoolchildren. A full profile of the TTN can be seen by logging on to http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu/   

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Press Release : 21st December 2008

St. Brigid's Clinic at Table Tennis Nursery

On Saturday 6^th December 2008, Dr Martin Borg, Director of St. Brigid's Clinic, delivered a talk to students who attend table tennis coaching sessions at the Table Tennis Nursery.

A number of parents were also present for the talk which focused on sports nutrition and physical preparation. David Pace commented that the Nursery policy is to educate upcoming players in a comprehensive manner. The talk, delivered by a professional in the area of sports is considered very relevant to the sport of table tennis and is part of the holistic approach being applied by the Table Tennis Nursery.

The information provided by Dr.Borg is considered fundamental for students to learn about this topic and, consequently, to implement by adopting a more professional approach when it comes to training or competition. Other interesting speeches are planned for TTN students in the coming year and anyone interested may log on to http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu/ for further information.  

 

Dr.Martin Borg, Director of St.Brigid s Clinic, delivering an interesting speech on nutrition and
physical fitness specifically for table tennis players and their parents.

Press Release: 26th October 2008 

International Umpire Guest At Table Tennis Nursery

Mr.Mark Zammit, a qualified international table tennis umpire, gave a one hour talk to players who are following a training programme at the Table Tennis Nursery. The main topics covered during the talk were table tennis rules and regulations and athlete behaviour. Mr. Zammit also communicated with players present through various demonstrations.

The players participated actively in the talk by asking Mr.Zammit relevant questions about the rules of the game. David Pace and foreign coach David Read commented that part of the Nursery prospectus also includes a number of talks, seminars and workshops in order to educate young athletes from the beginning of their road to success. Other interesting talks are planned for the future and more information may be obtained by visiting http://www.tabletennisnursery.eu

  Press Release: 8th September 2008

Keen readers of the popular kid's magazine Crackers, included with The Malta Independent every Thursday, will have the opportunity to participate in a competition organised by the Table Tennis Nursery.

The competition will be held every end of the month starting from the issue of the 28th August 2008. A short article about Table Tennis will be published, followed by a simple question concerning the same article. Every month Table Tennis Nursery will reward the first two children with a correct answer with a typical coaching and practice session at the nursery for young table tennis talents.

Press Release: 29th July 2008

Table Tennis Nursery Launches Website

As part of a forward looking policy Table Tennis Nursery has just recently launched its website: www.tabletennisnursery.eu. Users may now have access to news about the nursery via the internet and thus obtain more information about Table Tennis coaching sessions, prospectus, contacts, links ect...

In a short message David Pace told us "the site gives us and our aspirant students an identity of whom we are, what we do and where we want to go, together with continuous updates and interesting facts for our present and future students". The site would not have been possible without the support of Nursery IT manager Robert Mizzi and MYND Solutions.

Press Release 10th July 2008

Werner Schlarger Table Tennis Academy

A collaboration agreement was reached between the Table Tennis Nursery and the Werner Schlarger Table Tennis Academy, based in Vienna, Austria. Werner Schlarger's career includes memorable moments such as the one when he claimed the men's world title in Paris in a final against the Korean Joo Se Hyuk.

Discussions between David Pace and Werner Schlarger were held during the World Team Championships held in China earlier this year. The main topics discussed were the new developments in the game and youth development whereby students attending coaching sessions at the Table Tennis Nursery in Malta will eventually be given the opportunity to practice at the state of the art facilities in Austria. The facilities in the city of Schwechat will have up to 50 tables, ball computers, fitness centre, sparring partners of all levels, first class international coaches including a video analysis department

David Pace and Werner Schlarger are in regular contact so that when the right moment arrives, the Table Tennis Nursery students will be given the unique opportunity to benefit from world class training.

Table Tennis Nursery is currently conducting summer sessions and executive coaches may be contacted on 99446916 or 79976455.

Press Release: 5th July 2008

Jessica Pace and Michaela Scerri who both undergo training at the Table Tennis Nursery succeeded in reaching their objective to be the main protagonists in this year's Junior National Championships. Michaela participated for the first time in the girls under 13 category and with discipline, focus and determination succeeded in winning all her matches to reach the final encounter against Jessica Pace. In the final Jessica won and was declared champion of the category.

Head coach at the Nursery David Pace commented that "the work we conduct is baring fruit and our plan is to have more boys and girls playing table tennis for fun, fitness and competition. We are there to guide and follow young players from conception to competition at high level. We are very pleased that in such a short period our girls are at the forefront". During the same championships, Jessica Pace was also a winner in the under 18 category and semi finalist in the under 21 mixed category.

Press Release: 10th May 2008

Table Tennis Nursery Student Achievement

On behalf of the coaches, players and parents Table Tennis Nursery takes the opportunity to congratulate Jessica Pace for her performance and achievement at the last edition of the Malta National Championships where in the open Ladies final she walked away with a 4 - 2 victory in an exciting encounter against Nadia Bonett. Jessica, 13 years old, is also the youngest female to have ever claimed this title. Jessica is now practicing at the Nursery and privately in preparation for the Malta Junior National Championships. Well done and keep it up Jessica.

On Saturday 12^th January children aged between 9 and 11 experienced their first ever coaching session at the Table Tennis Nursery. Situated at the Theresa Spinelli Gym Tal Qroqq Msida and equipped with six tables the session consisted of introduction and tuition of the basic bat and ball skills together with the introduction of the basic strokes including fun games. Sessions are being conducted every Saturday from 4.15pm to 6.15pm for boys and girls. Talks with the Gzira Local Council have commenced in preparation for an open day whereby kids may come to try out the sport and check out the convenience and standard of the centre.  For further information the school may be contacted on 9944 6916.

Press Release: 10th November 2007

Table Tennis Treat for St.Monica Girls

On Thursday 8th November not less than 120 girls from St. Monica school experienced Table Tennis first hand. Table Tennis Nursery ordinated an interactive demonstration which included girls actually trying out their skills at the sport and also had time to participate in some fun games.

The demonstration is part of a promotional campaign in preparation for the first official coaching session which will be held next year at Teresa Spinelli Gym Tal Qroqq.

David Pace told us that "these demos create allot of enthusiasm and awareness and kids get to know that they are not alone should they want to develop their skills, they are informed that as from next year they may enroll to Table Tennis Nursery and be guided to playing in the correct manner "David also added that the TT Nursery is striving to create a mixed balance between boys and girls in fact 50 / 50 would be an ideal combination to ensure growth for both genders in the future. Table Tennis Nursery may be contacted on 99446916 or djp@onvol.net

Press Release: 10th November 2007

Tip Top and Table Tennis Nursery Collaborate

Leading suppliers of Table Tennis tables Tip Top have joined forces with Table Tennis Nursery by being the main corporate sponsor of the school which will be opening its doors as from January 2008. David Pace, director and head coach at the Nursery told us that "the Nursery will be delivering quality coaching and with the support and collaboration of Tip Top they are ensured to be using quality equipment throughout" The partnership will not be limited only to the supply of equipment but also to new ideas for the growth in general of both parties concerned. Table Tennis Nursery will be focusing on coaching to boys and girls aged between 8 - 12 and may be contacted on: 9944 6916 or djp@onvol.net

Table Tennis Nursery - EXHIBITION AT GUZE' BONNICI PRIMARY

The exhibition team from Table Tennis Nursery conducted a practical demonstration last Friday 26^th October at Guze Bonnici Primary School Sliema. Jessica Pace, Malta Girls Champion under 15 from TT Nursery together with David demonstrated the basic strokes and skills to boys and girls in grade 4, 5 and 6.

 Head Coach and Technical Director David Pace said " Jessica is presently Malta " s number 1 in the girls cadet category , she is inspiring to the young children who can reach the same level of skill if they were to receive coaching at our Nursery as from next year. In just one hour I could already identify a few girls and boys who have a good aptitude towards Table Tennis and it would be a pity to see natural talent just slip away. "Should anybody be interested they may contact TT Nursery on 9944 6916 or djp@onvol.net a website is presently under construction.

Press Release: 20th September 2007

New Table Tennis Nursery To Open Its Doors

Learn To Play The Elite Way. This is the mission statement of the new Table Tennis Nursery which will be opening its doors to young Maltese and Gozitan future Champions next Saturday 5th January 2008. David Pace will be the driving force behind the success of the new centre. David has immense exposure both on the Local and International scene, he is a qualified Coach approved by the MTTA with various honors including Team Champions, Italian League C2 Winners, Vice Malta Champions, Doubles Champions, Exebithion and Marathon Player.

When asked about the Nursery he said "we welcome all those youngsters who would like to practice Table Tennis in the correct manner and enhance their skills so as to climb the ladder of success, we embrace boys and girls from around Malta and Gozo between the ages of 8 and 10 years. We promise them Professional Coaching, Fun, Fitness, Mental Strength and Discipline " The doors of the Nursery will open for the inauguration session on the 5th of January 2008 4pm at Teresa Spinelli Gym, National Pool Complex Car Park, Msida

For further information or confirmation of attendance contact David on: 99446916 or djp@onvol.net