Horsforth Trinity Badminton Club still going strong after 40 years

Those who have attended the club before as ‘non members’ are also invited to the occasion.

The club was started in 1979 by local resident, Sylvia Sellers, and her babysitting circle, who decided to rent out Leeds Trinity University’s badminton courts as a way of bringing people in the community together who enjoyed playing the sport.

“I’ve always loved badminton and when I moved into the area I wanted to meet up with other people who played, so I thought one of the ways to do this was to join a babysitting circle and, luckily, most mums in the circle loved the sport,” Sellers said.

“I saw an advert from the university with regards to tennis courts/gym hire, so we decided to book a court out for three months to see how it went.

“Word then got around, as it does, and before long we had all three courts booked out every Friday night for the year. We were actually one of the first badminton clubs in the area.”

The club currently has 26 members and has seen a wide age range of people attend over the years, with some students from the university, at times, having a membership.

“To date, we’ve got people in their mid-20s and onwards, with a couple of members being in their 70s,” Sellers added. “In fact, we had a lady in her 80s who stopped playing three years ago, so there’s no age limit.”

In the early years, Sellers and the rest of the babysitting circle ran the club but, when the group disbanded in the 1980s, Sellers was left with a tough decision to make on whether to carry on the badminton club or not.

Sellers said: “Had I not loved the people and the sport as much as I do I may well have allowed another member to take over or it may even have folded.

“But it’s like my second home and the people are like my extended family.”

The family-friendly club runs 50 weeks a year and charges £50 for annual membership, with Christmas and Easter being the only times there is no session.

Sellers herself attends almost every week, whether it is to play or just to see how people are.

“I’ll always turn up, without fail,” Sellers added. “Even if I have an injury, which is often the case with my Achilles heel and calf tears, I’ll still go and chat to everyone and make sure everything’s running smoothly. The only time I won’t be there on a Friday night is if I’m away somewhere on holiday.

“I never thought we’d still be going 40 years on but it’s been a big chunk of my life now and I couldn’t imagine it not being every Friday night.”

Sellers explained how, over the years, her and fellow members’ love for badminton has been passed on to others.

She said: “A lot of our siblings have been members of the club and I introduced my son Jonathan to it, so it’s great to see we’re influencing others to take up the sport.”

With the club’s 40-year anniversary party coming up, Sellers is welcoming along new and old members.

She said: “Hopefully on June 15 we’ll have a good turnout. I’m currently in the process of going through lists upon lists of old members’ contact details to invite them along. We’ve even got Pudsey MP Stuart Andrews, attending the event as a guest speaker, so it should be a great occasion and it would be great to see as many old and new members there as possible.”

Sellers expressed how thankful she is to Leeds Trinity University for their support over the years in contributing to the club’s success. She also thanked her husband Maurice.