Dumfries Table Tennis Club
About
The Dumfries Table Tennis League was formed in 1948, with two tables in the basement of the town’s YMCA. In 1976, club secretary James Wallace spearheaded the purchase of the top storey of the Trades Hall, with £20,000 raised by members, and Dumfries Table Tennis Club was born. The new venue opened in 1976 and had five tables, a canteen and other facilities.
Membership soared to more than 150 in the 1980’s, with Keith and Linda Powell in charge of coaching and Bill Goldie as president. The club was outgrowing its premises, until in 1987, John Drummond of Guinea Properties offered to buy the old venue and build a new state-of-the-art table tennis hall in Shakespeare Street. The new club was officially opened in April 1988, with space for 12 tables. The playing area was named the James Wallace Memorial Hall.
Since then, our venue has been an important centre for table tennis locally, regionally and nationally, including hosting a Scotland vs China match in 1988 to celebrate the club’s opening. We have nurtured some of Scotland’s finest players over the years, with many competing at the top level nationally and internationally.
We are extremely grateful to the sponsors, partners and hard-working club members who have enabled us to create one of the very few purpose-built table tennis facilities in Scotland. We have a hall of approximately 18 x15 metres, with a sprung floor, and excellent lighting and energy efficient heating powered from our solar panels. We also have male and female changing/shower facilities, a kitchen and social space downstairs and a canteen and meeting room upstairs that can comfortably hold 20 people.
We are keen to see the hall used even more, and can offer very competitive rates to other sports or interest groups who would like to hire our facilities, particularly if they can fit around our non-core usage. Our upstairs room upstairs is also available for meetings. Email info@dumfriesttc.co.uk for more information, or drop by the hall (check opening times) to see the premises.
We aim to inspire the next generation of table tennis players while giving as many people as possible, young and old, the chance to play table tennis, regardless of where in the area they live. If your community group, youth group or local school is interested in playing more table tennis, please get in touch