Sidford Social Hall plays host to a badminton club that is seeing numbers drop and is now in need of some fresh new faces.

Exmouth Journal: Sidford badminton Club and the most senior meber, Dr Michael Denning together with the youngest, 10-year-old Jed Ionov-Flint.Sidford badminton Club and the most senior meber, Dr Michael Denning together with the youngest, 10-year-old Jed Ionov-Flint. (Image: Archant)

Sidford Badminton Club meets every Thursday evening from 8pm to 10pm and amongst the membership is Giles Sadler and his 20-year-old son Edward.

The club has been going for well over 40 years and they have current and Giles and Edward have been members since 2009 when they were introduced to the club by Jill Thompson (mother of Olympian Mary King MBE).

Giles says: “Jill has not been able to attend in recent weeks and she has passed on the dog-eared membership book which lists the members and club accounts to us. I was amazed to see that the first entries go back to 1972 when Jill first started playing and she still plays when she can today! (That is of course, when she’s not driving Mary’s enormous horse bus all over the country and abroad!).”

Another player still with the club who was there in the 1970’s is Michael Denning, former Headmaster of King’s School, Ottery and local horologist - who is also going strong with a particularly canny serve and now into his 80s!

Giles says: “This is slightly bizarre for me because Michael was my headmaster during the late ‘70s early ‘80s and, as a slightly unruly teenager, I was once hauled up in front of the head teachers for throwing a stink bomb outside the staff room - I would never of imagined then that I’d be playing social badminton with the same headmaster some 35 years later! It strikes me that there cannot be many active sports that are so inclusive as badminton where all ages and gender can play together in a competitive aerobic sport!”

At the club the current youngest player is 14 and the oldest 80 – so there’s no denying that badminton at Sidford is a uniquely intergenerational game!

However, member numbers are dropping and Giles says: “Over recent years our membership has fluctuated somewhat with a number of our older members retiring and some of the younger ones having left for university. Our membership is now critically low and we are in urgent need of some new blood to ensure that the Sidford Badminton Club continues for another 40 years! We are therefore appealing for new members to join us. Ideally improvers, ‘returners’ and intermediates. Ages from 13plus with a cost of £2.50 per session with a the first taster session free!”

Sociable, fun and a great way to keep fit, that’s badminton at Sidford each Thursday night. For more details, contact Jonathan on 01395 519111 or Giles on 01395 515542.