Rawreth Table Tennis Club 2011 Malta Tour - March 2011

Rawreth’s Dave Calleja, a native of Malta, arranged a Table Tennis Tour of his homeland, for a group of Rawreth Table Tennis’s Club’s leading players. The squad comprised: Dave Calleja, George Reeves, Kevin Read, Babul McLeod, Andrew Halling, Duncan Taylor, John Poysden, Keith Adams and Ken Field: sadly Charles Sweeny had to pull out at the last minute through illness.

2 cars drove to Gatwick, Ken and Dave the drivers and we all met up in the arrival lounge; the fun started there. A good flight followed and we arrived in Malta early afternoon. We made our way in our hired cars to St. Pauls Bay, where Dave and Julie have their lovely apartment and some stayed there and others in a local hotel. After we unpacked, there was time for a nice meal in one of Malta’s fine restaurants, followed by a visit to the local Casino; where it’s fair to say, no one did too badly.

Up early, we were off for Dave’s “Tour de Malta”. The morning saw us visit Mdina, the silent city. This used to be the capital of medieval Malta and was a typical Mediterranean City - part European, part Arabic, narrow streets, carved white block walls, lovely churches, town square, horse and carts, cobbled streets, very relaxing. We then all sampled the glorious (low calorie!!) cakes and beverages, in a great position at the top of the city walls with a fabulous view over Malta. Then followed a scenic trip, led by our guide, Dave, along the coastal route past Selina and ending up at Valletta, the modern capital

There, we called into the local shoe shop to meet up with the former Maltese Table Tennis Number No 1, Alex, who was so pleased to see his old friend Dave. We then had a stroll around and then we had lunch and a few beers. Relaxed we made our way back to St. Paul’s Bay to prepare for our evenings Table Tennis.

The Maltese President, Joe, met us enroute and we made our way to the excellent Table Tennis Centre that Malta players play at: 6 tables up, 5 more could have been put up if needed, international flooring and good lighting that is soon to be upgraded to International level. Our Hosts were waiting and both squads had 9 players. Added to this, Etta’s Malcolm McFarlane and his wife Dot were also visiting and Malcolm joined our squad. We played in 3 teams, with our A team of George Reeves, Duncan Taylor and Kevin Read proving a little too strong winning 9-0: although several of the games were close; the B squad of John Poysden, Keith Adams and Andrew Halling winning 8-2, this match was much closer than the score suggests and finally Babul McLeod, Dave Calleja, myself and guest Malcolm McFarlane won 8-2. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the matches and although our team was overall a bit stronger, that was exactly what our hosts were hoping for: as they said, you have to play better players to improve. Pleasantries exchanged it was back to our hotel for a shower and then out for a meal and a few more beers.

Saturday and we were up early and back to the Table Tennis Centre for a full day’s table tennis. This time the team were changed, so that the balance was better and although we again won the overall match, more games were won by our hosts. We played in the morning and afternoon and had a nice lunchtime break, where we tried the local delicacies - pea and pastries, a local drink made from oranges: all very nice and great to have a good chat before the competition recommenced. At 4 o’clock, we had all just about ran out of steam and again back to St. Paul’s Bay.

A clean up and into our best clothes and off to a Castle for a great meal. A lovely pasta starter, followed by Chicken, Pork or Fish, and a delicious dessert. Good wine, good company and interesting chats before Joe and Dave summed up the visit with the well earned thank you’s. Joe then presented some absolutely great medals (almost as good as the ones Jayne gets for Southend) and we said our goodbyes. Back to our beds, about 1.30 and then up again 4 hours later to make commence the return home.

Great flight on Malta Airlines, first class service and back we were at Gatwick for a relaxing car journey home.

Our thanks go to Dave, for organising a very memorable great trip. Dave was so proud to show us the lovely facilities at Malta, the friendly people, lovely food and places to visit and the excellent Table Tennis facilities that we played in. Dave was equally proud to introduce to his Maltese friends; his friends from Rawreth, as was all summed up so well by Dave in his thank you’s. Our thanks also to Keith for arranging the superb shirts and John for being Banker for the trip. Our thanks to our entire group for making it a must next year if we are invited again. And of course, a massive thank you to our hosts, Joe and his players.

The 2011 Rawreth TTC Maltese Tour Party.