"People who need people," sang Barbra Streisand, "are the luckiest people in the world." Using this criterion, we are all the luckiest people in the world. While many may fancy themselves to be introverted, antisocial or downright misanthropic, the events of this year serve to remind us how many essential roles other people play in our lives. (While some may argue that there are true hermits in the world who are 100% isolated and self-sufficient, the numbers are exceedingly minuscule. The vast majority of such cases also rely on training and materials provided by other people. Besides, if they are true to form, they certainly did not ask anyone to argue on their behalf.) At any rate, the preponderance of evidence characterizes humans as social animals. Exercise is also rumored to be healthy. In England, an initiative called "Bat and Chat" has cleverly combined the two. The name says it all, and with a more positive connotation than, say, "Paddle and Prattle" or "Racquet and Yak It." The program is the brainchild of Table Tennis England, the sport's self-descriptive national governing body. Among the program's stated purposes is that it "(r)educes social isolation and in turn improving well being of existing or new members." Aiming to attract more recreational players, "Bat and Chat" offers pointers for newcomers and tea and biscuits for all. To date, 43 such sporting social clubs have sprung up across England. The program attracts roughly equal numbers of women and men, a feat to be admired and emulated in table tennis clubs worldwide. Unfortunately, the program has suffered the same fate as all activities requiring real-life social interaction in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program has been shuttered indefinitely. The sad irony is that the social nature of "Bat and Chat" which led to its suspension would be the perfect antidote for the mandatory isolation we are all now enduring. One such club, the Kirkby Stephen chapter (pictured), has nevertheless vowed to carry on. Certainly speaking for all the national chapters, the Kirkby Stephen "Bat and Chat" social club has emphatically refuted rumors of its demise. As soon as the government's lockdown regulations are lifted, they say, they will be back with their bats, ready to chat. On that sweet day, come whenever it may, they truly will be the luckiest people in the world.

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