Would you like to start the first game uphill or downhill? Not a question you would expect to hear before a league match, and yet that is exactly what used to happen at Britannia TTC!

Mick Talbot unearthed that gem as he worked on the history of the Ipswich-based club, which we have now published on our County, League and Club history page.

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The club was officially founded in 1955, although likely existed in different guises before then. It is known they played in a wooden pavilion in the 1950s and, when the site it was on was sold, the club was given the building – which they dismantled and moved to a new location.

However, things did not quite go to plan, as Mick discovered. In his history, he writes: “The club was based in this small, re-erected building for a short time when things started to go wrong.

“The building stood on short timber piers, the foundations of which were paving slabs buried a couple of feet underground. Something failed and the building developed a very distinct ‘lean’ toward one end.

“The choice was either level the table up by ‘blocking’ one end (making that end of the table higher than the rules said) or to play on the sloping surface. They opted for the latter! Not so much a matter of choosing which end you want to start your first game, but do you want to play uphill or down?”

The club was soon on the move again, and Mick’s history charts its journey to various locations around the town.

He covers the drafting of the first constitution, the development of various sections of the club, a successful bid for National Lottery funding, taking on maintenance of their site from the local authority and other milestones in the club’s history.