The Crewe and District Badminton League have always tried to extend the game of Badminton to as many people as possible. Over the years we have succeeded in developing the league to accommodate open age mens, mixed and ladies (before many others had done so). We were an early adopter of veterans (now masters) badminton and still are one of the most progressive leagues in this age group Our Junior League for all kids up to 18 is well established. That leaves one age group for which we have not done anything specifically. Lots of players who have enjoyed competing in the league drift away from the game once the competitive (or even club) spirit starts to wane, and in many cases reluctantly. We are testing an idea to see if a periodic badminton  session would appeal to people in this category. It will not be a particularly formal arrangement, no leagues, no strict competitive element. This is for players who just want to play a proper game of badminton with likeminded people in a social environment, many of whom they know from earlier times.

There is going to be an initial session to test the water. In broad terms we are thinking of inviting any of our over 65 players whether they are currently playing in clubs or have dropped out of the game. For the initial session Terry Sumner has offered to organise the courts which will be somewhere with   courts that are available during the day. The session is likely to be a couple of hours with a distinct likelihood of going to the pub afterwards for lunch or afternoon tea. The social element will be important so we are not expecting to make everyone play 12 games and drop down exhausted. It will be easy going but properly played, using feathered shuttles that we can source from Sue Mills. It will not be connected to league activities in any way. It will be organised as a one-off, all costs of the day will be split equally amongst the players and will not involve league finances. There will be no formal tracking of results or league tables on the web site but of course we can post information about it in the news section.

If you are over 65 and would like to participate, or you know of people who might be interested please call Terry Sumner (01270 215032 or email terry.sumner@gmx.com) or let one of the executive know. Terry will set up an initial session in the next couple of months and if it proves popular the intention would be to decide on the next session each time so we don’t commit to too many sessions  for too long in places people don’t like. Crewe and District could become the first league to offer badminton for people from 1 to 100 (or shall we say 9 to 90 to be practical?)