page revision date : 31st May 2009
George and Barry
are on the ball
George Bushnell is now 83 years young and Barry Chambers is six years his junior, yet they play table tennis at STP School main hall with the skills of players half their age and the enthusiasm of teenagers starting out in the game.
They play every Wednesday evening throughout the years against players half their age and more than hold their own, using the wealth of experience they have gained from many years in the game.
They both enjoy competing, but play with a sense of fun that is catching, and the two hour stints from 7pm to 9pm, allow them to continue taking part in a game they love, at an age when many others have decided their sporting days are over.
Half century plus for George
George has been playing for nigh on 55 years, starting when he was demobbed from the Marines and worked in a North London post office for a year. They had a table tennis table in the recreation room and he took to the game like a duck to water, soon turning out for them in the Civic Service League and more than holding his own.
But there was a lot of travel across London and after a 5.30am working start it demanded real commitment – and when he changed jobs he stopped playing for almost a decade, but when he was 35 his work allowed him to return to the game. Soon he was playing three nights a week in the Willesden League and St Albans and District Leagues, as well as the Civil Service League.
Pembrokeshire player – and Carmarthen and Swansea, too
He continued until he retired in 1985 and came to live in Pembrokeshire, taking up his bat again at the Meads Leisure Centre where the late Joe Ackroyd was heavily involved. He joined the likes of Barry Chambers in playing again at STP School in Haverfordwest and also helped create a link at Carmarthen.
When they started in the Swansea League, he helped them gain promotion from two divisions in as many seasons. He was still playing when needed at 78 and even now enters the Carmarthen Club’s annual tournament in the super vets’ competition. But he is most happy playing at Haverfordwest and is adamant that when he gets his dodgy knee fixed he will be back as good as ever.
Six decades now for Barry
Barry started even earlier, in 1945, at a church club in Plymouth and he became so proficient that within a year he was playing in league table tennis.
His first bat, a Barna, cost him the princely sum of six shillings and six pence (that is 32p to you youngsters!) whilst the same quality bat today might cost in the region of £50-plus. Now, 61 years later, he is playing really well at Haverfordwest and still enters the Dyfed Championships at Carmarthen.
Widely travelled
for table tennis
His travels in the RAF have taken him to far-flung places like Singapore and Germany and he always kept up his playing for the RAF and turning out for his command team wherever he was stationed. In Germany, he played in the Bundesliga and could be proud of his 75% win record against some very fine players, and had to carry a card which indicated he should be seeded at competitions. Barry also represented the Anglesey county team and also played in London for a while. When he was posted to Trecwn as a production manager in 1987, he met up with Harold Rees, another excellent player from Fishguard, and started playing regularly with Harold and a few other players.
He was unable to travel to league matches because of family commitments and so he enjoyed his weekly round of games at Haverfordwest, whilst managing to play annually in the Dyfed Veterans’ Championships, and winning the event in 1990 with the aid of his flashing backhand, which is still a potent weapon today.
He is renowned for the fun he derives from the game and is a great man to learn against since he is not intent solely on winning. Indeed, taking part each week is something that gives him far more pleasure than really competing.
Still having fun as golden oldies
Barry joins George each Wednesday evening in taking on younger players like Bernie Armstrong and Clive Kinsella from Fishguard, Nigel Smith and Bill Carne from Haverfordwest and both still give a good account of themselves. Talk to either for a short while and their enthusiasm rubs off and it is easy to understand why they still derive so much pleasure from the indoor game.
Watch them play and you’d be surprised at their skill and dexterity, and if you don’t believe me then pop along to the Sports Centre on a Wednesday night and take them on – you would certainly learn a thing or two from these two lovely gentlemen of sport in general and table tennis in particular!
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