WE go into New Year with Ramsbottom A leading the Bury Table Tennis League First Division with a massive 21 point lead after a 9-1 victory over Radcliffe CC.

Little Lever only lost the doubles against Carlton Club A and are in second place. Another 9-1 victory came the way of Burning Desire A against Seedfield Meths A.

In the remaining match in the top Division, Bill Russell scored a treble but was still on the losing side when Ramsbottom B beat Hilton Bury 6-4.

The top of Division Two is much the same as the top of Division One, with a Ramsbottom side the C team having a 20 point lead over St Philips A.

This week they came up against Adelphi, who did well to take four points from them. It looks as though the battle in this Division will be for runners up spot, between Burning Desire B and St Philips A.

St Philips A won 9-1 against Hamer, whilst Burning Desire B had an 8-2 win at home to Ramsbottom D.

The Prestwich A team had little difficulty in winning against their C team by 8-2, and Ken Crimes was undefeated for the Prestwich B team in their 6-4 win over Maccabi A. Alan Bamford was another treble winner for Carlton Club B as they beat St Philips B by 7-3.

The mid-winter break sees ELPM A at the top of Division Three, just three points ahead of Seedfield B and five points ahead of third placed Elton Vale A.

The top two both had 8-2 victories against YMCA Sports and Maccabi C respectively, whilst Elton Vale went down 6-4 against Stand CC for whom Chris Sutcliffe won all three sets.

Bryan Beer scored three wins for Prestwich D as they beat their own E team 6-4, and Peter Gregory did likewise for BGSOB A, as they beat Shawfield A by the same 6-4 scoreline.

Martin Nichols scored three wins for Claybank but this was not enough to prevent his team going 6-4 to Maccabi B.

Holmar A moved back to the top of Division Four by just two points, after their maximum 10-0 victory over Elton Vale C whilst Seedfield Meths C dropped three points against Carlton Club C.

Alan Carse scored three wins for Seedfield in their 7-3 win. Holmar B are in third position after their 8-2 win over Maccabi with Trevor Candler undefeated for Holmar.

Seedfield D had a good 6-4 win over Elton Vale B, but the E team went down 7-3 at home to ELPM B. BGSOB B are still without a win but thanks to Graham Hiltons three wins they managed their second draw of the season against Prestwich F.

ELPM C have tried hard to keep pace all season with new team Shawfield B but have been unable to prevent them taking a 12 point lead at the top of the table. Shawfield B lost just one set this week when Steve Richardson of Walshaw A won the one point whilst ELPM C won 10-0 against Seedfield F.

ELPM D won 9-1 against Walshaw B, but the last game in Division Five was much closer with Shawfield C beating Holmar C 6-4, thanks to three wins from Gordon Chadwick.