Topspin TTC Durham women’s day brings 40 players together in County Durham

Forty women and girls filled Quebec Village Hall in County Durham for Topspin TTC Durham’s seventh women and girls’ day, and the number matters for more than the turnout sheet. In a region where table tennis membership is still around 87% male and 13% female, the four-hour session gave the North East another working model for how clubs can pull in newcomers, keep current players involved and open a path toward coaching and competition.

The hall’s nine tables were in constant use as players rotated through games, advice and short coaching stops. The day mixed smashes, pushes, serves and equipment talk with demonstrations that were folded naturally into play, which is exactly the point of this format: it lowers the barrier for beginners without boring the players who already know their way around a bat. Food and raffle activity added to the tempo, but the value was in repetition, contact and confidence, the raw materials any club needs if it wants people to come back next week, not just sample the sport once.

That is why Topspinners’ wider programme matters. Table Tennis England has said the club’s weekly women and girls’ sessions can attract up to 19 participants, with ages ranging from 10 to 80, and that sort of spread is the clearest sign this is not a one-off novelty. The club’s sixth Women & Girls’ Day, held on Saturday 13 December 2025, brought in 31 participants aged from 6 to 82, with women travelling from Durham, Newcastle, Sunderland, Cleveland and North Yorkshire. The progression from a single afternoon to regular attendance is the real metric here.

The pathway has already produced something bigger than social play. Durham hosted the first Women & Girls 1* competition in the north of England in March 2024, with 24 of 25 places filled and players arriving from NETT, Ormesby, Darlington, Swerve and Ackworth. Table Tennis England described that event as a blueprint for more women and girls’ competitions in the region, and Topspin’s work now sits squarely in that lane.

Clare Flynn, the North East Women and Girls Ambassador, has repeatedly framed these sessions as a way to create a safe, supportive and inspirational environment and to build more coaches, umpires, league players and role models. The money raised from the Durham day will support the Alzheimer’s Society and Topspin’s development of its playing space, giving the club both a charitable angle and a practical investment in its own future.