In its present format, the club was formed in 1972 when the sports hall opened and two clubs that used the school facilities merged.
One of the clubs was a group that previously met on a Friday night in the school gym and the membership was parents and teachers at the school. At that time, the sports hall was in more or less splendid isolation in the playground with a small common room and office attached to it. Then the flooring was tarmac, very unforgiving on the knees even more so if you fell over.
The other group was part of the adult education scheme, an intermediate class whose members, once they had gone as far as they could in that group regularly transferred over and became part of the ABC membership. Since then, new members have arrived from various places often people who have moved into the area. Membership requirements are not onerous; an existing knowledge of the game being the most important even if they have not played recently.
One of the enduring factors of the club is that it has only ever been for social, usually mixed, badminton. Over the years there have been members that have played in the local leagues on other evenings but Wednesday has always been for social play with games being organised on a mix and match basis so that during the course of an evening’s play any one member will get to play with several of the other players.
The nearest we got to a competition was an internal club championship held on the last club night before Easter. It was a mixed, league then knockout competition, partners being randomly drawn which provided some intriguing combinations and ensured that the outcome was far from a foregone conclusion. Particularly so as at the time we had access to a room which is now part of the sixth form centre and part of the evening was refreshments brought in by players. As the evening went on, the amount of wine consumed certainly had an effect on play.
There
is also a social aspect to the club. Once the playing is over each Wednesday,
we find a pub to go to. One claim to fame is that we seem to have managed to
close several of them. Our first was the Racehorse before the first of many
refurbishments. Memorable there was the pub dog – a vegetarian great dane. Other
Warwick pubs that have “benefitted” from our custom are the Foresters, Seven
Stars (now a private house), the Roebuck, the Bowling Green, the Vine, the
Millwrights (now morphed into the Black Pug), the Unicorn and currently
the Old Fourpenny Shop. Most of these establishments have provided us with an
after play snack, chips being a vital component.
Originally, the sports hall was not available during school holidays. To keep in the habit of going out on Wednesday evening, we got into the habit of organising social events, theatre visits, a meal, bowling, pitch & putt, rounders, barbecue etc. on the holiday Wednesdays, open to member’s families including children if appropriate. That was extended in 2000 when a weekend away was organised which happened for the next 17 years. It was billed as a “walking” weekend, although for some the only walking involved was around shops and over the years the balance between walking and eating/drinking shifted increasingly towards the latter. We visited various parts of the country, our accommodation always being in a country pub.
So, Aylesford Badminton Club has continued to offer games and entertainment to a wide variety of players for 50 years to date and we hope this will be the case for many more years to come.