Badminton

Having a father that frequently played badminton and went on to coach adults, it seemed a natural progression to play the game myself.   As club captain, he ran Downland Club for many years and a second club at St.Pauls in Croham Valley Road.

Just before his retirement he was playing on court at the TA Hall in Dingwall road Croydon when he  suffered a fatal heart attack.

Unfortunately I was there, at that time, and being understandably emotional, I decided I couldn’t return,  so I joined 2 other clubs.  One at Lower Barn near Riddlesdown and the other at PURC in Purley.

We both shared the love of the game…I still do, along with my daughter and sons.

Other members from my Dads club would on many occasions,  invite me back to St.Pauls,  so all in all, I was suddenly playing sometimes 5 nights a week.

In 1981, John the Captain at PURC, invited me to help run the Juniors and have been acting a group leader ever since.  Having only the one court we have a limited membership of around 21 but all seem consistent and remarkably they enjoy the sessions while using up so much energy.

With the help of the #Croydon feed on Twitter and the local Croydon Advertiser, we manage to keep the membership on a good average.