Play public ping pong in the park
PING pong tables have popped up at a host of Camden landmarks in a bid to send the public table tennis crazy this summer.
Residents, tourists, commuters and even office workers on their lunch breaks are being urged to step up to the table as part of new "street ping pong" project called Ping!
In the last week free-to-play tables complete with bats and balls have appeared in St Pancras International Station, The British Library and Kings Place arts venue, all in King's Cross.
The Brunswick Centre, in Bloomsbury, and The Hub, in Regent's Park, are among 100 locations across London where the temporary tables have sprung up.
David Plumb, manager of The Brunswick Centre, said: "We're delighted to have been selected as a location for the campaign. There's no excuse for you not get involved and get Pinging!"
The British table tennis team were on hand to try out 30 tables as Ping! was launched at St Pancras International last Thursday.
Last summer, organisers Sing London left scores of decorated pianos in public places across the capital including the British Library piazza, in Euston Road.
Colette Hiller, creative director of Sing London, said: "Ping! is for everyone - those who love table tennis and those who didn't know they did.
"A quick game of ping pong en route to work or over a lunchtime sandwich? What better way to put a smile on the face of Londoners!"
Denying the tables could attract vandals, she added: "When we installed London's street pianos the public took good care of them. We think Ping! will evoke a similar sense of public spirit and good will."
The month-long initiative is supported by Sport England and the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA), which hopes to get a million people playing more sport by the 2012 Olympics.
Richard Yule, ETTA's chief executive, said: "Ping! will re-establish table tennis in the public's imagination as a fun, sociable and desirable sport to play."
Special events taking place in Camden include a table tennis quiz at the British Library, at 12.30pm on Friday and a ping pong masterclass session at The Brunswick Centre on August 5.
Table tennis was invented by the Victorians as an after-dinner game and is now the second most popular sport in the world.
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