AT the end of the first week of the new table tennis season, Burton A, with a comfortable 8-2 victory over Natland B, are the early pace setters in Division One.

Three wins apiece from Peter Baxendale and newcomer Mike Armishaw along with two from Fran Currie propelled Burton to the top of the division.

Only a magnificent comeback by Louise Thompson, from 2-0 down against arch rival Currie, prevented Burton from capturing all nine singles matches. Thompson then combined with Bernard Pickthall for a shock win over Baxendale and Currie in the doubles.

In Division two, pre-season promotion favourites Kirkby Stephen A and Dallam B fought out an exciting 5-5 draw.

Star of the show was Paul Gosling, with three wins in the singles, but Kirkby Stephen fought back with two singles wins apiece from Dave White and Peter George, the pair then combining to take the doubles and tie the match at 5-5.

Burton D went to the top of Division Two with a 9-1 win over the youngsters of Natland E. Top performers for Burton were Martin Wakelin and debutant Bob Quick, with three wins each. Natland’s talented youngsters, Archie Catnach, Devun Whitehead and Daniel Holder, newly promoted from Division Three, fought hard and could consider themselves slightly unfortunate to lose a keenly contested match 9-1.

In the only fixture in Division Three, Grayrigg edged out Dent by 19 points to 18. A hat-trick of wins by Steve Hawley could not prevent Dent from going down by the narrowest of margins.

Meanwhile, Natland hosted the first of four coaching days for League players. The excellent sessions, run by Graham Coupe, head coach at the Garstang Regional Training Centre, was attended by 20 of the League’s players.