Tees Sport is today celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The company started trading on 1 September 1976 and grew into an influential business supplying equipment and supporting the development of individuals and organisations at all levels of table tennis.

Tees Sport was set up by Alan Ransome, player/coach of the English champion club, Ormesby, alongside England star Nicky Jarvis.

Their involvement with the Butterfly and Stiga brands respectively allowed Tees Sport to be the UK’s first specialist table tennis retailer and the first to introduce a specialist table tennis catalogue – alongside an equipment advice and bat makeup service.

The first introductory message in the catalogue can be seen below.

With the catalogue sent to all leading clubs and players, the company quickly saw strong demand, and received a major boost when Birmingham hosted the 1977 World Championships.

Not only did that facilitate promotion and distribution of the company’s second catalogue, but Nicky competed as one of England’s top players and Alan was the specialist commentator for almost 30 hours of BBC coverage, having won through interviews carried out by the broadcaster.

Also in 1977, the Tees Sport summer school was launched, with coaching weeks at Durham University. Jose Ransome, who came to England to be Assistant Director of the World Championships in Birmingham, joined Alan and Tees Sport and was the organiser, with Norma Bonson.

The camps ran for six weeks in the summer and around 3,000 players attended over the course of more than 20 years. Top players and coaches to be involved included Matthew Syed, Desmond Douglas, Chen Xinhua, Carole Moore, Alan Cooke, Nicola Deaton, Brian Merritt, Brian Burn, Bradley Billington, John Broe and Bob Wiley.

Jose continued to work for Tees Sport and make a major contribution to the company. She was very well known within the sport and this meant that Tees Sport had three leading personalities from the table tennis family heading the company.

The strength of Tees Sport was enhanced further in 1979 when Alan took over the Butterfly distributorship and established Ransome Sporting Goods. The company continued to grow and have stronger associations with the sport through investment and sponsorship which remains to this day.

These included being official suppliers to the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish associations, with British Para and English Schools being added at a later date.

It has also supported many of the top clubs, including Ormesby which has been a leading club throughout the whole period and is located close to the Tees Sport shop and offices in Middlesbrough.

Tees Sport Managing Director Alan Ransome OBE said: “The principles that were in place when we first launched Tees Sport was to look to provide a very good service for table tennis players in the UK. To do this we felt we needed to offer all of the very best products from each of the major brands and we have done this from day one.

“Another objective was to offer an efficient and friendly service which includes giving advice on the best bat to play with, but also on other equipment issues where we have the knowledge in house.

“We also wanted to provide support and service for the sport, which has happened as we have sponsored and had official supplier status with national associations, counties, league advertising, clubs, players and coaches. These remain our principles and we continue to strive to deliver all this.

“I’m very proud that Tees Sport has remained the No 1 specialist table tennis company in the UK throughout 50 years and has continued to employ people from the table tennis community.”

Butterfly tables have been supplied through Tees Sport to thousands of tournaments over the period including the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish National Championships at all levels, the World Championships in Manchester in 1997, European Championships in Birmingham in 1994, and many other international competitions that have been staged in the UK including Commonwealth Games in Manchester 2002, Glasgow 2014, Birmingham 2022 and the Commonwealth Championships in Glasgow 1997 and 2009.

Other domestic competitions supported over the years include: National Cups, British Clubs Leagues, National Series, County Championships and English Leagues Cup Competitions, as well as the Butterfly National Schools domestic and international championships.

A long list of international players from the UK have been supported by Tees Sport and Butterfly at all levels including Desmond Douglas, Chen Xinhua, Jill Hammersley (Parker), Alex Perry, Denis Neale, Carole Moore, Nicola Deaton, Paul Drinkhall, Don Parker, Danny Reed, Liam Pitchford, Will Bayley, Euan Walker, David McBeath, Connor Green, Lisa Lomas, Alison Gordon, Anna Hursey, Aaron McKibbin, Sophie Earley, Ella Pashley, Jason Sugrue, Ryan Jenkins and Alan Cooke.