PING pong balls were bouncing across Bournemouth at the launch of a table tennis festival on Friday.

Over 20 tables have sprung up at various locations in the town as part of the summer-long Datto Ping! event.

The Lower Gardens played host to a ‘Ping Pong Bonanza’ to signal the start of the festival, which is taking place in 21 towns and cities across the UK this season.

In Bournemouth, the event has been organised by Active Dorset in partnership with Bournemouth council and Table Tennis England.

At the launch, members of the public put down their bats to watch AFC Bournemouth mascot Cherry Bear take on Cllr Lawrence Williams.

The match was followed by a world record attempt by Chloe Thomas, a Bournemouth University student and the British Universities and Colleges Sport Singles Champion, and head coach at Dorset Table Tennis Centre, Matt Ware.

Together, they played 148 shots in one minute, matching the existing world record.

Another player out enjoying the tables at Friday’s event was 86-year-old Pam Butcher, a veteran world champion from Kent.

She said the Ping! festival was “a marvellous idea”.

“There’s so many young people having a go. If they keep it up, they’ll get really good.

“I’ve been playing on and off for around 40 years, and I really enjoy it.

“I hope to keep the sport up and, all going well, will play the next worlds in Las Vegas.”

Keely Armitt, project manager of Datto Ping!, explained why Bournemouth was chosen as the launch venue for this year’s festival, which is now in its seventh year.

“It’s a beautiful setting here in the gardens, and we’ve got a fantastic relationship with Active Dorset and Bournemouth council, who have done the majority of the work to make today happen,” she said.

“There will be approximately 750 tables all over the country this summer. All have bats and balls on them and are completely free of charge – just pick up a bat and start playing.

“Sport England, which funded the project, has a mission to increase the number of adults playing sport and being active on a weekly basis. We hope as many members of the public as possible will get involved throughout the summer months as table tennis is a really nice, sociable game, and people of all abilities and fitness levels can play.”

Keely added nearly two million people were expected to use the table tennis tables nationally during the festival.

At least two of the tables in Bournemouth will become permanent fixtures.

A map showing the locations of all the table tennis tables can be found by visiting pingengland.co.uk/bournemouth.