SERVE & RETURNCONNECTING THROUGH SPORT
The initial agenda of S&R was to create a free and accessible sports and social club, that would be open and inclusive to all. The name came from our joint ambition of playing ping pong while serving affordable, healthy, food and drinks to the attendees. The club did this by teaming up with local cooks and utilising wild foods growing at the Old Tidemill Garden Site.
With a small cash grant injection of £500 from Vinspired we made our own recycled tables and furniture for the club, allowing for most of the money to go towards equipment and publicity.
The club grew into a regular Saturday drop in event where all players, of any level and interest, were invited to play and enter the tournament. The club attracted players from Deptford and further afield to come and hone their skills.
In 2014 we started working with the national ping pong association ‘PING! England’, and won a larger award from Deptford Challenge Trust to deliver more open, free to use, tables in the borough and engage more players at them. Together we designed and commissioned a mobile table tennis table that could be cycled around the area and set up in any spot needing a game.
During Deptford and New Cross Free Film Festival we hosted a showing of ‘PING PONG’ that followed and documented a group of octogenarian ping pong players as they played the oldest ping pong tournament in the world. The project has since finished.
We creative directed all aspects of the project. Developing an identity including a custom typeface, and bespoke illustrations for each event.
NO TOURNAMENT IS COMPLETE WITHOUT A TROPHY
COFFEE HALL PROJECTIn 2013, during an artist in residence set up by Milton Keynes Art Centre, we hosted a D.I.Y table build and open ping pong sessions as part of engagement in a community centre at the heart of a degenerating estate in MK. The drop in acted as a place for young to come and play with older members of the community, whilst sharing different interests and stories.
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