Club History

 By Neil Woods, May 2013

In the absence of any records, or of anyone who was there in the really early days, I’m jotting down what I recall, as the oldest member. If anyone spots any errors or inaccuracy, I’d be grateful to hear from you.

I’m reasonably sure that the club was formed in 1948 in a room at the Newport Settlement. I used to go along in the early to mid fifties with a friend. We paid our sixpence fee and took our turn with the others. The only one that I can be certain of was Tom Proudler, the grandfather of John Proudler who played for us until recently.

In the late 50’s, I went away to study, returning in 1960 when I went along to the Settlement and rejoined. By this time the Middlesbrough and District TT league had formed. People I remember from those days were Ted Mann, Eddie Shepherd, Alfie Anderson, Walter Spencer, John & Marian Sharpe, Bill Bowman, Stan Cockfield and Barry Pearson. We played at the top of the building on 2 tables.

Soon afterwards, we had Denis Neale (13) on our books. Obviously he played in a higher team than I, but I remember playing side by side with him against a Hartlepool side. I was picked because there was a Boro match on, and I was the only one available with a car! Denis, of course moved on to greater things.

It must have been around 1970, when the Settlement was ear marked for demolition that we moved to a room at the Grove Hill Community Centre in Bishopton Road. There was a lot of table tennis going on there, because Grove Hill had teams of their own in the league. We’d meet up afterwards for refreshments in The Broadway.

In 1977, one of Brian Titterington’s neighbours had the job of warden at the Kader Youth and Community Centre. They offered us a good room for 2 nights a week. There we stayed until 2011 (34 years) when the centre was closing. Thanks to some astute deals by Craig Dring we secured the excellent facilities which we now enjoy at the Unity City Academy on Ormesby Road.

So our name of Nomads is justified, and thanks to some team building by Bruce Lowther and the others, the club has achieved some first class results and now, with a secure future continues to go from strength to strength.

 Gazette 13th May 2013

A TABLE tennis club threatened with closure due to council cuts has been saved less than an hour after news of its plight hit the internet.

Members of Kader Table Tennis Club had nowhere to play after Middlesbrough Borough Council cuts forced the Acklam Community Centre they meet in to close.

Struggling to find a home the club, which has run for 50 years, posted an appeal for help on lovemiddlesbrough.com, a website aimed at promoting the town.
Before long, the news appeared on Twitter and was seen by Tees Trains CIC, which offered to sponsor the team and cover 80% of its venue fees.

Club member Craig Dring said: “We contacted more than 20 venues and the cheapest one was three times more than we were paying. Our costs have gone from £300 a year to £1,000. “We only have eight members and there was no way we could afford it. We thought we’d have to close. It was a nightmare.

“Our only get-out was a subsidy and this company has come forward and offered us 80% of our room hire costs. Without them we basically wouldn’t have a club.” The careers advisor from Ormesby said the club was lucky to find a sponsor.

Craig, 36, said: “We’re just one community group and there are probably hundreds more struggling to find venues as a result of these cuts.”
Tees Trains are a community interest company (CIC) aiming to launch new train services across Durham and Teesside from 2014.
Director David Masterman, 40, said: “We heard that the club needed help to carry on. Our ethos is all about supporting the community and we thought helping the club would be a genuinely helpful thing to do.”
The team will be renamed Tees Trains CIC Nomads and will now play at Unity City Academy School who have also helped the team by offering them a discount.

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said: “A lot of difficult decisions have had to be made due to unprecedented budgetary pressures. We don’t want to have to close any facilities but it’s good to see local groups are taking up the reins.”

 When Covid 19 started and lockdown was introduced, there was no table tennis from the end of March 2020 to September 2020. All looked to be better when UCA School announced that Nomads TTC could return to practicing on 15th September. Unfortunatally,due to financial constraints at the school, it would only be until Christmas.
The hunt was on again for Nomads TTC to find a new home. After emailing round and a few venue visits, Craig Dring found one that would be ideal. It meant an increase in subs from members in order to move. Members were consulted and it was agreed to go ahead with the move. The new venue location was at the Middlesbrough Scout Headquarters. The hall was larger than UCA so there was an option to expand the club in the future. Opening night was to be Monday 28th September 2020.