A huge thanks to all who came along and made the Buckinghamshire County Badminton Association AGM of Tuesday 28th June 2022 a success. Given this was the first meeting for a number of years and pre-covid numbers had made previous meetings unfeasible, an attendance of 10 was mind-blowing!
Thanks also to Aylesbury Tennis and Squash Club, The County Ground, Wendover Road, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP21 9NJ for providing a perfect venue for the meeting.
A lot of good discussion and some interesting updates all of which can be found in the Minutes and Information Pack below. The headlines were:
Congratulations to the Bucks County 1st Team and a recognition for the excellent work carried out by team Captains Sam Westwood and Arthur Cheung for winning the Premiership for the first time ever!
Elite Badminton across the County is going from strength to strength with amazing Academies and Performance Centres at both ends of the County producing 6 age group National Champions including the current National Mens Singles Champion, Johnnie Torjussen.
Badminton England is stepping into a new era with a new CEO Sara Storey, previously England Netball CEO and new Performance Director Morten Frost, previous World No 1 and Danish National Coach. The focus is on being a listening Organisation, working with Counties, developing grass roots, increasing the number of full time elite players and building up elite participation and national events.
There will be 2 new international events, a Junior All-England and an International Para-Badminton event.
With the drop in participation and lack of subscriptions over covid, the finances need to be carefully monitored. On current projections we have about 2 years of continued operation.
Masters and Juniors didn’t reach the dizzying heights of the County 1st Team but performed well. Competing is heavily reliant on all volunteers reminding, cajoling and persuading players to take part, and when the Teams do step onto court, they invariably have fun!
BSBA have done such a good job in running the Junior Gold Tournaments that they have been asked to run a Buckinghamshire Senior Gold Tournament at NBC on 10th / 11th September 2022.
The management roles have stabilised with, Jim Mann President, Mark Lawrence Chair, Keith Banham Treasurer, Dave Constantine Secretary, Mike Clarke Masters Coordinator. We still need a Welfare Officer, the role being temporarily filled by Mark and Dave.
The constitution was out of date and an updated version brought to the meeting for approval. The core mission to ‘promote Badminton and work with partners to provide an inclusive pathway for all to have the opportunity to reach the standard to aspire to’ was agreed and the full constitution is available for review. This will be deemed accepted by 28th July if no comments or recommended changes are received.
A Club Listing has been published on the Badminton Bucks website at https://www.badmintonbucks.co.uk/club-listing/ and is already proving to be the most popular resource on the website. All clubs are encouraged to submit their details if they haven’t already done so, and provide updates when they happen.
The Club Listing was generated out of a Club Survey where we asked what help BCBA couple provide. The overwhelming request was more communication and help with marketing. We have tried to rationalise our approach and all communication channels are now available to all clubs in and around Buckinghamshire. We have a newsletter that currently goes to 130 subscribers, a website that has over 1000 visitors in 90 days, a facebook page @bucksbadminton followed by over 550 people and a twitter account @badmintonbucks that is just finding its feet. Everyone interested in badminton in Bucks is encouraged to like or follow these.
The Minutes and a full Information Pack for the Bucks CBA AGM can be found here:
The Information Pack includes the Minutes; Chair Report, Finance Report, Masters Report, Draft Constitution; Club Listing Introduction; Club Survey Feedback.
If you have any questions, comments on the constitution, would like to be added to the Club Listing, would like Badminton Bucks to help with your comms, or would like further information on anything covered please email secretary@badmintonbucks.co.uk