Ken was involved in the organising and running of the Liverpool & District Table Tennis league for many many years, ending in the positions of Hon. Treasurer, Tournament Secretary, he sat on the sub committees for Rules, Development, and Discipline, was the League coaching secretary, and  was the main catalyst for stability, He received the Stamp Award of Merit in 1997 for outstanding work to Table Tennis. All the foregoing were for his work in Liverpool, he was also acknowledged and respected for his wider work for table tennis Nationally and Internationally.

He was also Editor for many years of the L&DTTL magazine, the Digest, stepping in to keep it going after Jack Lambert, that's when I really got to know Ken, due to the amount of table tennis work he was  into, I relieved him of the burden of the Digest in order to keep it going, Ken always said it must keep going!!. That was also when I started taking photo's relating to local table tennis, so the following photo's in the slideshow of Ken's local involvement are only from the last 5 / 6 years.

He's going to be a hard personality to follow!!

Roly Wright Digest Editor

use the 'play -stop' buttons to control the slide show

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     OBITUARY.  by Stan Clarke                          

    KENNETH ARTHUR ARMSON M.B.E. 

It is with the deepest regret that I have to announce the death, at the age of 77, of my close friend and colleague Ken Armson.

Many of you will have had the privilege of meeting Ken over the years and most of you will, I am sure, have fond memories of him, he was a man of immense charm and had a great passion for the sport of table tennis.

I first met Ken through our mutual involvement in the Liverpool and District Table Tennis League, Ken was the secretary of the Wavertree Labour Club, a position he held for over 50 years and only reluctantly surrendered when his health failed him.

He served on the management committee of the Liverpool league for so long that I can’t conceive of the committee without his presence, holding many posts, including Treasurer, Coaching secretary, Development Officer, Magazine editor etc. etc.

Ken spent his working life as an employee of British Rail, except for a short period when he was called up for National Service where he spent two years in the Royal Corps of Signals as a teleprinter operator, before returning to the railways. His service to the rail industry was rewarded with an M.B.E. on his retirement.

His retirement from working life meant that he was able to devote more time to his beloved sport of table tennis, having qualified as a County Umpire in 1972 he quickly discovered the Tournament circuit and plunged head first into it, travelling the length of the country to hone his umpiring skills. He qualified as a National Umpire in 1992 and passed his International exam in 1994.

It was after this time that he became interested in the job of a referee and with a little prompting passed his Tournament Referee qualification in 1995, then the National Referee qualification in 1999 and the pinnacle of his career came when he passed the International Referee exam in Paris in 2005. That is an awful lot of qualifications to pack into a comparatively short time. But that is not the end of the story; he became Chairman of the B.T.T.A.D. and did much to invigorate the fortunes of that organisation. He umpired or refereed in Croatia, France, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Italy, Slovakia, Taiwan, the Shetland Isles and the U.S.A. along with many domestic tournaments and national events.

Ken was , for a long time, concerned with the welfare of Umpires and in 2004 he was responsible for the setting up of the Association of English Table Tennis Umpires and served as secretary until stepping down at the 2007 A.G.M. as he felt that his presence was causing some problems in relationships with the E.T.T.A. Can’t have been that bad as he was elected as a Vice President of the Association.

He also held the posts of, Vice Chairman of Lancashire T.T.A., deputy National Councillor for Lancashire, and County Umpire Secretary, a position very close to his heart, which he filled with great aplomb, he recruited more Umpires than any other C.U.S. during his term of office.

A life long Liverpool fan, and it comes hard for an Evertonian to mention that, Ken rejoiced in the City of Liverpool which he referred to as Gods Country, the place were the sun always shone and the streets were paved with gold. He will be sorely missed both by his family and friends, locally and nationally.

Stan Clarke.