Table tennis clubs mourn the death of competitor Charlie

Table tennis clubs mourn the death of competitor Charlie

10 February 2021

THE local table tennis community will be saddened to learn of the death of Charlie McGrath, who passed away last week in hospital.

Charlie was a member of St John’s and represented his club in both the Lecale League and the East Down Churches League.

He joined St John’s on coming to live in the area where he practically build his own bungalow and quickly established himself as competent player on the local scene.

Charlie played table tennis the way it should be. Win or lose he always left the table with a smile on his face and was often heard to say “I enjoyed that”.

At the St Johns club he met Anne Maginn, who has previous played in the Lecale League with the late Pat Morgan, and the couple later married.

It addition to playing in both leagues, often in the same week, Charlie was a regular competitor in charity competitions and always gave a generous donation.

A few years ago due to health issues Charlie was advised to retire from competitive play. I recall on one of my regular Monday night visits to St John’s I met him standing at a table in the hall with a large collection of his bats on display for members to choose as a gift. He handed me one with pimpled rubber and a smile on his face, saying no one else in the club could play with it.

Although he had retired from playing, he was a regular attender at club fixtures to support his team-mates. Eventually the love of the sport proved too much for him to resist making a comeback.

He turned up unexpectedly at a charity competition at St Donard’s Hall in Dundrum and even without practice he reached the semi-finals — a sure sign of a good player.

Charlie continued to practice occasionally, health permitting. His last competitive match was a year ago when, though clearly not at his best, he helped St Johns come to within seven points of winning the Division Two Handicap Cup.

I last met Charlie with his wife at a local restaurant in November. He told me he was looking forward to playing in the new restructured league at Owenbeg when the current Covid 19 restrictions were lifted and hinted that perhaps he could persuade Anne to make a comeback. Once a table tennis player always a table tennis player.

Charlie was also keen a very keen cyclist and would have been seen regularly around the roads of the district.

People like Charlie McGrath are rare. His loyalty to the sport he loved, to his club and his generosity to worthy causes endeared him to all who knew him.

On hearing of his death the Lecale League’s social media and table tennis club websites quickly filled up with numerous posts paying tribute to a popular and much respect competitor. 

At the appropriate time the Lecale League will officially recognise the contribution Charlie made to local table tennis by staging a competition in his memory.

On behalf of the Lecale League and the local table tennis fraternity, I would like to extend deepest condolences to Anne and the family circle.

The Lecale League lost another stalwart of the early days with the death of Jim Jennings.

Jim and his late brother, Peter, were prominent members of the successful Castlewellan team which won four league titles in succession in the famous Pat Savage elite squad of the early 1960s. He was also a accomplished badminton and bowls player.

The League League committee would like to extend its condolences to the Jennings family.

Jim Ritchie