Query on Local Clubs

[vetsa]

Hi, I am looking to try and join a badders club, having arrived from South Africa and suffering from badders withdrawal symptoms desperately. I was playing club and competitive badders regularly, club league matches every week or fortnight and club nights twice per week from 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm. Unfortuntely I am having a hard time trying to locate clubs in my area. Can anyone point me in the right direction. At the moment I am playing socially for one hour per week, but the standard is lower than I want to play at, we play with plastics, and it is more of a social knock around than a proper game. Help.... is there a web site or anywhere I can get a list of local clubs with contact names, tel. nos. (eg. secretaries, chairman etc.) When I lived here 20 years ago I used to play for ICI Wilton Rec. Club and played in the Cleveland League, Clevedale League and Yorkshire League. Are these still up and running. Any info would be appreciated.
Also, is there still a Badminton Magazine one can buy or subscribe to. I asked at WH Smith but they couldn't help with without the correct magazine name. I am living in the Stockton Area and any info/help with the above would be great.
Do all clubs now play with plastics and not feathers ? Surely not.

[BrianH]

Wilton packed in a few years ago but I currently play at Ormesby, Club nights on Thursdays 7 till 10.00, during season, matches usually played on Monday nights. Out of season we have 2 club nights Mondays and Fridays,we play at Middlesbrough Badminton Club Highfield Road Feathers used all time we have a membership of about 30 and we are currently getting Juniors playing 1hour b4 club nights. We have 2 mens teams 3 mixed teams 2 Ladies teams and 1 team currently playing in the Yorkshire League we also have a few people from Wilton playing here so you might Know a few.
I can give you more info on other clubs if you wanted but we are always on the lookout for new members our club nights can be very competitve but I am sure you would enjoy playing.When you join a club which is affiliated to BAOFE then a mag is sent out on a 2 monthly basis I dont think it can be bought in the shops though. All clubs in the area use feathers for club nights and matches.

[Site Support]

Sorry this may not be much help at the moment, but we are currently building a club database.

Starting in the UK, this will become the biggest badminton club database in the world, and you will be able to find clubs local to you simply by using your postcode.

For other countries, you will be able to search by region.

[thgoh]

There's a couple of sites with pretty good list of clubs. One is BadmintonUK, URL :
http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~mark.taylor/badmintonuk/intro.html
and the other one is CentralSports, URL : http://www.centralsports.co.uk/ (go to the bottom on the page and click on the ">>>" drop down list, and select "Clubs"). Hope this helps.

[vetsa]

Thanks for responding Brian Harland. Please could you give me more info on local clubs.

How many local clubs are there in my area - looking to play in or around Stockton area if possible - as I don't have a car. Do you have any contact names and nos. for me.

Alternatively, are any of your clubs members living in my area and whom I could possibly catch
a lift with to your club, so I could at least try it out for an evening or two.....

Am very keen to start playing at a proper club, and with feathers !!! Do you charge a visitors fee (and how much). Do you wear club colours/kit ?

How often do you play league fixtures ?

Please reply asap. Thanks a stack.
Waiting in anticipation, racquet and shoes at the ready...

CARMEL

[BrianH]

Hi Carmel
There are 3 local clubs in the Stockton area I know of
1. Stockton SC who play at Stockton Sports Center these play on a Tuesday and a Saturday night only a small club but very good standard their 2 teams could be promoted to the A Division of mixed and Mens this season.

2. David Lloyd also runs a club over at Tees Barrage I dont know if you need to join D Lloyds to enrol .

3. Thornaby Pavillion again play on a Tues night again a quite popular club all clubs use feathers in these leagues.
These are the closest clubs to you in Stockton but if you were interested in coming to our club night on a Thursday night if you wanted to contact me I would be willing to give you a lift so you could see what it was like.
I actually live in Middlesbrough but we have one person I know who lives in Stockton visits on a regular basis and and I am sure arrangements could be made actually if you used to play at Wilton you might know Roger Cook who used to run Wilton.
We usually charge 2 or 3 pounds for up to 3 visits then you could join all feathers supplied no team colours just a good night out with some good Badminton.

[vetsa]

Hi there again Brian. Thanx for getting back to me with info on local clubs. I would quite like to come along to your club in M'Bro (Ormesby Club) if I could catch a lift with any of your club members who live in Stockton. That would be great. You didn't mention which divisions of league your teams play in. Are there a number of divisions ? I imagine your club members are of a strong standard, if you have a team in Yorkshire League ! ??? When does your season run here ? In South Africa we played league season from March through to late October/early November. Most clubs played socially out of season from January through to late Nov/early Dec. We only really took a break when the hot, summer weather was very humid (over the Xmas period in the Southern Hemisphere). Anyway, hope to hear from you. Thanx again.
Carmel

[BrianH]

Hi Carmel we currently run 2 Mens teams one in A Division, one in B Division who should b promoted this year. We have 3 mixed teams again the A team in Div 1 the B and C team in Div2 and the C team(new this year) in Div 4 again poss promoted this year. Also 1 Yorkshire league team .
The season runs from October to April but we play all the year round club nights Monday and Thursday during season and Mondays Fridays out of season although this could change.
If you want to contact me at either brian.harland@ntlworld.com or brian_harland@hotmail.com (for messenger if you use it) I would be willing to get you to a club night and back and as you meet people from Stockton try to arrange lifts if you enjoy, if you contact via e mail I will give you my personel details so the decision is in your court regarding meeting, my wife will vouch for my good behavior.
Incidently where have you been playing socially with plastics ? would it be the Rainbow Center at Coulby Newham if so we might have already met.
Hope to hear from you soon.

[redkingjoe]

we are currently building a club database.

Starting in the UK, this will become the biggest badminton club database in the world, and you will be able to find clubs local to you simply by using your postcode.


the database seems very interesting. i can see that a lot of ppls coming constantly to the site asking for club(not wooden club) information. would u please kindly give us an update on the project. (and than someone will say i'm giving more things for SS to do!!! and than someone will talk about teacher's vaction...hehehe)

thanks