Darlington's improving table tennis youngsters continue to enjoy success across the country.

Twelve-year-old David Meads played his first match for England in the Home Nations Championships last week in Dublin but he is only one of a growing number of successful Darlington juniors.

Meads has leapt up the national ranking list and took all three junior singles titles (Under-12, 14 and 17) at the recent Durham County Championships where Darlington dominated the junior and senior events.

He also is in the elite English Masters event at Under-14 level where clubmate Stephanie Donnelly also competes.

In the Under-17 Masters both Andrew Leighton and Claire Wilson feature among the countries best invited players.

Darlington took both girls and boys divisional titles in the Junior British League, and provided Durham County with an unstoppable junior side winning all seven matches. Even the senior side profited from the young talents with Joanne Meads and Kevin Wilson joining their junior colleagues in a Durham team that won all six matches to clinch promotion to Division One.

And there is more to come says Darlington head coach Keith Wilson. "This group of players have have brought much credit to the town. They are very successful, work incredibly hard to improve, and deserve a lot of recognition."

That support is needed with the club trying to raise £14,000 to take up an invitation to compete in the ITTF World Youth Championships in Hungary this June.

Despite efforts to attract commercial sponsorship, the team kit is still without a sponsor.